COLLECTION OF ABORIGINAL BOOMERANGS AUSTRALIA carved wood, a selection of eight fine boomerangs of varying form (8) (largest 99.8cm long) Provenance: A private Scottish collection of Aboriginal boomerangs formed over the past thirty years Note: The boomerang is one of the most iconic forms from Aboriginal culture. Indeed, for Aboriginal people the boomerang is considered as old as the continent of Australia itself – with many of the creation myths regarding the formation of the Australian landmass featuring the weapon as a sculptor of the valleys and mountains. With a vast array of designs and sizes, the majority of boomerangs were not designed to return. They were used for the hunting of game, fish and even large marsupials such as kangaroo, boomerangs were also used in warfare, both as throwing weapons and larger heavier examples in hand-to-hand combat. They were further used for the starting of fire, in ritual dances and as percussive “clapper” instruments. These versatile objects even appear in rock art paintings which may be as early as 50,000 B.C., making the boomerang one of the longest continuous art forms on the planet.