The first tool they learn to use is a little digging stick. Almost as soon as they are able to run alone one of these little instruments will be put into their hands and they will be shown how to use it. With these they learn very quickly how to dig for grubs and edible roots, and as they get a little older they may be seen making little "humpies" of sand. But the most wonderful of all their weapons is the boomerang. No other people in the world is known to use it though some have thought that it was once in use among the very ancient Egyptians. There is a very interesting theory as to the origin of the boomerang. Some children, it is said, were playing one day with the leaf of a white gum tree. As the leaves of this tree fall to the ground they go round and round, and if thrown forward with a quick jerk they make a curve and come back. An old man was watching them playing, and to please them he made a model of the leaf in wood. This was improved upon from time to time until it developed into the boomerang.
Boomerangs are of two kinds—war-boomerangs and toy-boomerangs or boomerangs proper. The first kind are rather larger and usually less curved than the others, but do not return when thrown. They are often about thirty inches long and have a sharp cutting edge. They are made entirely of wood, the branches of the iron-bark or she-oak tree being preferred. The necessary cutting and shaping has to be done entirely with sharp flints or diorite, the only tools except stone axes, which the natives in their wild state employ. They naturally take a very long time to make, but, when made, are very deadly weapons. They can be thrown as far as a hundred and fifty yards, and even at that distance will inflict a very severe wound. When thrown from a distance of sixty yards they have been known to pass almost through a man's body.
Boomerangs proper are usually about twenty-four inches long, but there are seldom two of exactly the same size and pattern. They are rather more curved on the under than on the upper side. A man or boy who wants to throw one of them first examines it very carefully and then takes equally careful notice of the direction of the wind. He then throws it straight forward giving it a very sharp twist as he throws. At first it will keep fairly close to the ground, then after it has gone a certain distance it will turn over and at the same time rise in the air. Completing its outward flight, and perhaps hitting the object at which it was aimed, it turns over again and comes back to within a few feet of the man who threw it. Boys may often be seen practising for hours at a time with their little toy boomerangs, and by the time they are men many of them have become very proficient in throwing them.
A skilful thrower can do almost anything he likes with his boomerang. A native has been seen to knock a stone off the top of a post fifty yards away, but very few of them are quite as clever as this. None the less it would be rather dangerous for an unwary spectator to watch a party of native men and boys throwing their boomerangs. An enemy or a hunted animal hiding behind a tree would be quite safe from a spear or bullet but could easily be taken in the rear and seriously injured by one of these extraordinary weapons when thrown by a skilful thrower. Kangaroos and emus find it almost impossible to avoid them whilst they work the most amazing havoc among a number of ducks or cockatoos just rising from water, or even among a flock of parrots on the wing. Many a supper has an aboriginal boy brought home with the aid of his trusty boomerang.
In Western Australia most of the aboriginals use a smaller and lighter boomerang than those in use in the other parts of the continent. This is called a kylie or kaila, and is very leaf-like. It will also fly further than the heavier weapon.
Next to the boomerang or kylie the weapons in most frequent use are spears. These, too, are very remarkable and vary much in length and character. Some are quite small and can be used without difficulty by a child. Some are as much as fifteen feet long. The simplest form of spear is no more than a pointed stick, but the wild blacks seldom content themselves with these. Often a groove is cut in one or both sides of the spear, and pieces of flint are inserted in the groove and fastened with native gum. More frequently deep barbs are cut at the sides and these will inflict a very ugly and painful wound, especially when, as is often the case, they have been previously dipped in the juice of some poison plant. The most elaborate spears are those with stone heads. These heads are often beautifully made and are securely fastened to the spear with twine or gum. Where there are white men glass is often used instead, the glass being chipped into shape in a perfectly wonderful way with tools of flint. The patience displayed in their manufacture is admirable indeed. When the telegraph line was first erected in wild Australia the natives caused endless trouble to the Government by knocking off the glass or porcelain insulators and using them for spear heads.
Spears are sometimes thrown with the hand, but perhaps more frequently by means of a special instrument called a meero or wommera. This is a flat piece of wood about twenty-four inches long, with a tooth made of very hard white wood fastened to its head in such a way that when the wommerah is handled the tooth is towards the man who is holding it. This tooth fits into a hole at the end of the spear. Spears thrown with the wommerah will travel further and with much greater force than those thrown with the hand.
As a protection against an enemy's spear the aborigines usually provide themselves with a wooden shield or woonda. These are usually about thirty-three inches long and six inches wide and have a handle cut in the back. They are cut out of one solid block; and have grooved ridges on the front. The hollow parts between the ridges are frequently painted white with a kind of pipe-clay and the ridges are stained red. Why they are marked in this way and why the grooves are cut at all no one seems to know. The native men are extraordinarily quick in the use of these shields, and will sometimes ward off with their aid a very large number of spears thrown at them in rapid succession. It is very important that boys should become proficient in making and using all these things as in after days their food-supply and even their lives may depend upon their proficiency.
While the men and boys are hard at work making these different implements the women and girls very likely busy themselves manufacturing bags and baskets. The baskets are made of thin twigs and the bags with string spun from the fibre of a coarse grass called spinifex, or perhaps from animal fur. In them they contrive to carry all their worldly goods as they travel from camp to camp, and occasionally baby also is safely stowed away in the same receptacle.