What is a boomerang?

A boomerang is a curved wooden throwing tool developed by Aboriginal Australians for hunting, fighting, music-making, and ceremony. The earliest known boomerang in Australia, found at Wyrie Swamp in South Australia, is about 10,000 years old, and similar tools are believed to date back much further across the continent.

Two main types of boomerang are made. The returning boomerang is shaped to fly in a curved path back toward the thrower and is widely associated with sport and demonstration today. The non-returning boomerang, often heavier and straighter, is used for hunting kangaroos, emus, and other game and does not return to the thrower. The non-returning boomerang is the more common traditional tool across most of Aboriginal Australia and is the type that travelled with hunters into open country.

Boomerangs are made from hard, dense timber such as mulga, gidgee, or white mangrove, shaped using stone tools, fire, and water. The carved surface is often decorated with ochre patterns or incised designs that record the country, ancestors, or ceremonial associations of the maker. Some boomerangs are made specifically as musical instruments and are clapped together as rhythm sticks during ceremony, particularly in central Australia.

The boomerang has become one of the most widely recognised symbols of Aboriginal Australia internationally, and it appears on tourist merchandise, sporting logos, and government emblems. Authentic Aboriginal boomerangs, made by Indigenous artists using traditional methods, can be purchased through art centres and reputable galleries in cities and regional centres. New citizens are encouraged to support Indigenous makers when buying a boomerang and to be cautious of imitations made in Asia, which are sometimes sold without acknowledgement of the cultural origins of the design.