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Sports – Boomerang – History

Australia, the continent of Kangaroo, the marsupial, is a wonderful land. The aborigines of Australia were excellent workers – craftsmen – on wood. All other metal hand tools, implements etc., came to Australia with the English settlers. Aborigines were roaming about in search of food i.e., they were nomads. Naturally they carried with them only minimal baggage. Since they had mastery over woodwork, which in fact was developed over 25,000 years ago, they were dexterous, skillful and energetic. Their main weapon of hunting was the Boomerang. The most exciting thing about boomerangs is that, when thrown correctly, it can hit the target on land or on the sky and come back to the thrower, who catches it with ease! 

The Aborigines knowledge on a variety of tools and implements is well known, but what is not known is that they never seemed to have used a bow and arrow neither for hunting nor for fighting, even though they were most skillful and adept craftsmen of wood! They were relying on the Boomerang! There are two types of boomerangs used by Aborigines – (1) the returning type and, (2) the hunting or non-returning type. The boomerang seems to have developed from the “throw-stick”, a heavy weapon, which was not designed to return to the thrower, used mainly for hunting. The Aborigines of Australia called it a “Kylie” and the Native Americans called it a “rabbit stick”. 

The throwing of wood in the capacity of a hunter’s tool or an instrument to fight was found even in the Neolithic Age. (The latest saga of Stone Age believed to be of some 10,000 years ago when people used to live together in small groups and make stone tools and weapons. The use of wood just started then”. 

With the British settlers taking over the continent, the amazing story of Boomerang spread to all parts of the world! 

In Europe it is known from rock carvings that a system of throwing wood was prevalent during Paleolithic period. Gauls and the Tartans used a wooden instrument similar to the returning boomerang (approx. 90 to 110 AD). Though the Romans were never known to throwing wood, the Greeks were adept at it even during 2000 BC.