This item is a Central Desert fluted hunting boomerang ( throwstick ) made by Aborigines in Australia out of Mulga hardwood. Red ochre applied to the deep grooves on the upper surface. The construction technique used a combination of stone and metal tooling. Both ends and the handle have steel file marks and the fluting looks to be made with a stone scraper. The lower surface has many shallow adze marks. This construction technique is typical for Central Desert throwsticks. The fluting is interrupted on the handle and on the trailing edge of the end opposite the handle. There are no cracks or dings. There are however a few shallow flakes missing from the surface because of construction. The workmanship is very nice. It is not a tourist item. It was made for hunting and the grain runs true to the plan form. Based on the color of the Mulga wood, I estimate the date of manufacture to be between 1940 and 1960.

This type of boomerang is a long range hunting model. In the desert, vegetation is sparse and the flight range of the Central Desert hunting boomerang has to be very long and accurate because the hunter cannot get as close to his prey as a hunter can in a forest habitat. I have thrown this type of throwstick many times and the flight range is usually 50-75 metres with accuracy and 100-200 metres without accuracy, depending on the strength and skill of the thrower.