''Toas'' are small composite and painted artifacts made by members of the

Diyari The Diyari (), alternatively transcribed as Dieri (), is an Indigenous Australian group of the South Australian desert originating in and around the delta of Cooper Creek to the east of Lake Eyre. Language Diyari is classified as one of the Ka ...

and collected by Lutheran Missionary Johann Reuther at the

Killalpaninna Mission Killalpaninna Mission, also known as just Killalpaninna, or alternatively Bethesda Mission, was a Lutheran mission for Aboriginal people in northeast South Australia, whose site is now located in the locality of Etadunna. It existed from 1866 ...

in South Australia beginning in 1904. Reuther claimed they were used as 'signposts' on vacating a camp to tell those following where they had gone. Each ''toas'' thus represented a particular place, by way of its carved shape and painted detail. In 1906 Reuther retired from the mission and sold 385 ''toas'' to th
South Australian Museum
(images of ''toas'') for £400. They probably have more in common with 'marker pegs' than

message stick A message stick is a graphic communication device traditionally used by Aboriginal Australians. The objects were carried by messengers over long distances and were used for reinforcing a verbal message. Although styles vary, they are generally ...

s. The ''toas'' combined Aboriginal and European technologies and were made within a frontier context at the mission. They often used gypsum as substrate for painting and incorporating object such as shells, gypsum paste also hid European methods of joining pieces of wood which provided the armature. Gypsum was often used in Aboriginal mourning ceremonies. While there is no doubt the manufacture and form of the ''toas'' are Aboriginal and that they mythologically encode place names, it is suggested that they were made at the mission in response to an easy supply of surplus gypsum and the active interest of an inquiring German missionary. As such they are now regarded as precursors of the Western Desert Painting Movement. The origin of the word ''toas'' for these objects is probably an idiosyncratic usage by Reuther, perhaps in a mission pidgin, extending terms (from the Bilatapa language as well as of Diyari) which imply burying, covering up, inserting, or sticking into the ground. Less generous commentators have said that Reuther was just setting himself up with an exit fund by supplying authentic Aboriginal artefacts to an under-supplied market. The names of those who may have had a role in producing the ''toas'' are Petrus or Peter Pinnaru, Emil Kintalakadi, Elias Palkalinna (Diari), Elisha Tjerkalina (Diari), Andreas Dibana, Johannes Pingilina (Diari), Moses (Tirari), Titus (Diari) and Joseph Ngantajlina (Diari Lake Hope). A contemporary artist re-envisioningIrene Kemp ''The Coopers Creek''
a
Culture Victoria
/ref> the ''toas'' i
Irene Kemp

References

Jones, Phillip G. (2007). ''Ochre and rust : artefacts and encounters on Australian frontiers'' Kent Town, S. Aust., Wakefield Press.

Notes

{{Indigenous Australians Archaeological artifacts Australian Aboriginal bushcraft Australian Aboriginal art