Item C05
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The current price is listed on the Collectable Boomerangs link. Instructions for ordering can be found on the How to Order web page. |
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This plastic traditional boomerang was made by Stephen Silady for Frank Donnellan in 1962. Frank decorated the upper surface with hot poker art depicting a Koala in a tree on the elbow and an Emu and a Kangaroo on the blade tips. The words " The Perth Games 1962 " are burned into the arms. The message" Return Guaranteed by Champion Frank Donnellan Granville N.S.W. " are burned into the underside of the elbow. This is the only plastic Donnellan traditional that I have seen made out of plastic with a tan color. It is also the only one I have seen with hot poker art. This kind of art was usually reserved for Frank's plywood models. This boomerang is in excellent condition. I purchased this boomerang from Ben Ruhe in 1987.
Frank Donnellan was one of Australia's earliest boomerang champions and record holders. Frank did amazing feats and he claimed to be the holder of "all records" long before there were any official boomerang clubs or sanctioned competitions. On May 4th, 1934, Frank threw a long distance boomerang of his own construction at Centennial Park, Sydney in the presence of "Sun" news representatives. The boomerang circled a pole 140 yards away and then it was caught on the return. This, and other feats included throwing over Watson's Bay Gap one hundred yards over the water and caught on the return and throwing off the "Sun" Office Buildings seventy-five yards out over the city, and caught on the return. Frank made and sold boomerangs well into the 1950s. His commercial models were constructed out of plywood and his long distance models were constructed out of Whalebone, a composite material similar to Paxolin, but made out of pressed whale baleen and saw dust. Whalebone was used by railroad companies to line the inside of box cars to absorb shock and protect the cargo. Frank obtained his whalebone material by jumping into empty box cars as trains passed by his home and he would rip out a sheet and take it home to make his long distance boomerangs. Frank's commercial boomerangs were plentiful in the 1940s and early 1950s, but they have become scarce over the years. |
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