Message sticks are tools of graphic communication, once used across the Australian continent. While their styles vary, a typical message stick is a flattened or cylindrical length of wood with motifs engraved on all sides. Carried by special messengers over long distances, their motifs were intended to complement a verbally produced communication such as an invitation, a declaration of war, or news of a death. It was only in the late 1880s that message sticks first became a subject of formal anthropological enquiry at a time when the practice was already in steep transition; very little original research has been published in the 20th century and beyond. In this article, the author reviews colonial efforts to understand these objects, as recorded in documentary and museum archives, and describes transformations of message stick communication in contemporary settings. He summarizes the state-of-the-art in message stick research and identifies the still unanswered questions concerning their origins, adaptations and significance.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚信息棒：旧问题，新方向

信息棒曾经是图形交流工具，曾经在整个澳大利亚大陆使用。尽管它们的风格各不相同，但典型的信息棒是平整或圆柱状的木材，其各面均刻有图案。由特殊的使者远距离携带，其图案旨在补充口头上所产生的交流，例如邀请，宣战或死亡新闻。直到1880年代末期，信息棒才开始成为正式的人类学研究的主题，而当时这种做法已经处于急剧的转变之中。在20世纪及以后，很少有原始研究发表。在这篇文章中，作者回顾了殖民地为了解这些物品所做的努力，如纪录片和博物馆档案所记录的，并描述了现代环境中信息杆通信的转换。他总结了信息棒研究的最新技术，并确定了有关其起源，适应性和重要性的尚未回答的问题。