This Woomera (spear thrower or atlatl) from the Central Desert region of Australia was made in the middle of the 20th Century. The Aborigines of the Central Desert travelled on long walkabouts where they had to carry light weight and multi-purpose tools. This light weight Woomera is called a Miru by the indigenous Central Desert people. The Miru is a spear thrower and the curved interior section is used much like a coolamon bowl for the preparation of food, preparing ochre for ceremonial purposes, etc. The central section has a thin and uniform thickness along the entire length. This example is from Western Queensland. It is a little smaller than the average and it incorporates a stone blade or scraper at the handle end which is embedded within the Spinifex resin ball. The peg is tightly bound with fine sinew. There is a small natural wood flaw near the peg on one side. A natural crack does propagate through, but there is no failure and this Miru is still plenty strong enough to use. Similar to eBay items that recently sold for $190 and $262. Length = 49 cm ; Weight = 160 gm