Thread: The boomerang – a lethal weapon or just a myth?

You need to understand how returning boomerangs and non-returning boomerangs were used.
I assume you are asking the returning boomerang. Its primary purpose was not to kill, so your question isn't really relevant.


[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang"]Boomerang - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
An important distinction should be made between returning boomerangs and non-returning boomerangs. Returning boomerangs fly and are examples of the earliest heavier-than-air man-made flight. A returning boomerang has two or more airfoil wings arranged so that the spinning creates unbalanced aerodynamic forces that curve its path so that it travels in an elliptical path and returns to its point of origin when thrown correctly. While a throwing stick can also be shaped overall like a returning boomerang, it is designed to travel as straight as possible so that it can be aimed and thrown with great force to bring down game. Its surfaces therefore are symmetrical and not uneven like the aerofoils which give the returning boomerang its characteristic curved flight.

The most recognisable type of boomerang is the returning boomerang; while non-returning boomerangs, throwing sticks (or shaunies) were used as weapons, returning boomerangs have been used primarily for leisure or recreation. Returning boomerangs were also used as decoy birds of prey, thrown above long grass to frighten game birds into flight and into waiting nets. Modern returning boomerangs can be of various shapes or sizes as can be seen in a photo in the Modern use section.

The Wankangaroo people around Lake Eyre, among others had sword boomerangs that could chop into the chest cavity, also they were designed so they could throw them from a distance and it kind of bounced a little in front of a victim and the sharp "handle end" goes up into the gut.
Only came back though if the intended victim picked it up and threw it back.

2 stroke...please.....I don't know if your spelling is intentional.....try Wonkonguru....I have met some of these people...I'm sure they would not appreciate it. I have not heard of their sword boomerangs,(probably because I never asked them) but will ask a couple of them next time I'm in the area, it's very interesting. I do know they hunted with returning boomerangs using one as a decoy to set birds in flight and the second thrown into the rising flock . Some of them were quite large. There were/are a number of tribes from this region and different stories abound, depending if you talking at midday in the shade of a rare tree or over the bar.

When I was a kid there were people who went around to the schools teaching all this stuff and our teachers also taught it as part of Australian history, I found this on youtube


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCL6w0Cfnf4]Boomerang Throwing - YouTube[/ame]

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

2 stroke...please.....I don't know if your spelling is intentional.....try Wonkonguru....I have met some of these people...I'm sure they would not appreciate it. I have not heard of their sword boomerangs,(probably because I never asked them) but will ask a couple of them next time I'm in the area, it's very interesting. I do know they hunted with returning boomerangs using one as a decoy to set birds in flight and the second thrown into the rising flock . Some of them were quite large. There were/are a number of tribes from this region and different stories abound, depending if you talking at midday in the shade of a rare tree or over the bar.

I only got this from a book I bought at Birdsville and the name was spelt both ways, a lot of the book's content was taken from the diaries of "protectors of Aboriginies" from the early 1900's. Stories as told by the older tribal folk of the time. Unfortunately I lent the book and haven't seen it for a long time.

Several years ago I was working at Paradise Country on the Gold Coast. At that time part of the daily shows included boomerang throwing demonstrations until one day an Asian woman jumped up and tried to emulate the park staff in catching a boomerang. It struck her in the head and caused injuries requiring medical assistance...as you can imagine, she was whisked away very quickly. So I have seen a boomerang do damage to a person. Btw, since that day HR, (of course) banned the throwing of boomerangs at Paradise Country, so tourists may never see them thrown now.

thanks 2 stroke...yes its spelled in 4 different ways that I know. A lot of name places and terminology are being changed back to what is the most acceptable spelling as accepted by tribal members now. They had no alphabet or written language and so have to accept our phonetics to write their language. It's very interesting if an aborigine takes time to talk to you about this as its a constant source of anguish for them.

Boomerangs were not necessarily an Australian invention they were found in Egypt as well.
The returning boomerang was used for taking out waterbirds as they lifted off water when startled.
The throwing sticks or Kali as they were referred to in Central Australia were used for breaking the legs of Kangaroos making them easier to catch.
Returning boomerangs even though you can buy them in the tourist shops and be told all about them by some well meaning white fella were never used in the Centre.