Armed and Ready

On display here is a small selection of weapons used by the Dutch in the 1600s. In contrast are some of the weapons with which First Nations people equipped themselves to oppose them. Most of the items are well known and require no description, but what about that pair of sticks, down the bottom, with the red things attached to them? It looks like a giant barbecue lighter, but it is really a tool rather than a weapon. The description on the accompanying display label is ‘Fire Stick’. It is believed to have originated from the northwest of WA and was used for fishing by Aboriginal communities. The red berries, stuck to the end of the sticks with resin, come from a tree which grows up north and contains a mild poison. With leaves from the tree jammed down into the fork created by the two sticks to help swirl the water, a fisher would dip the end of the fire stick into the water and leave it to give the poison a chance to leach out. When fish in a billabong, for example, were stunned by the poison they would float to the surface where they could be gathered. The fire stick would then be removed to be used on another fishing trip.