A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Sydney - Australian Museum
The basic killing stick, the wooden spear, and the spear thrower were in use pretty much everywhere in the world prior to the introduction of metal, but the Aboriginal people of Australia refined the killing stick into the boomerang. Their wooden swords were made from very hard wood and although not very impressive to look at could be lethal in the hands of an experienced warrior. As soon as indigenous people met Europeans the art of war changed dramatically. Metal made all of the difference in the world. A simple metal band from a ship's wooden water cask could be made into a knife or a spear and the person possessing it literally had the edge over his opponent.
