Message stick

Hey kiddo! Have you ever seen a message stick? No? Well, it's like a special stick that Aboriginal people in Australia used a long time ago to send messages.

It's made from a piece of wood that's about as long as your arm, and it's usually decorated with colorful paintings or carvings that tell a story. Each message stick is unique, just like a fingerprint.

When someone needs to send a message to another person or group, they would give the message stick to a trusted messenger, who would carry it to the intended recipient. The messenger would show the stick to anyone they met along the way to prove they were on a mission and needed safe passage.

When the messenger arrived, the recipient would use the stick to understand the message. They might consult with others in their community to interpret the story told on the stick or they might already know what it means from previous conversations.

After the message was understood, the recipient would prepare a reply using a new message stick, and then the original messenger would carry it back to the sender. This way, important information could be shared even between people who lived far away from each other.

Pretty cool, right? The message stick is an important part of Aboriginal culture and history in Australia.