DESCRIPTION 
This is our new gift pack consisting of 2 authentic Australian Aboriginal items in a gift pack:

- Clap sticks 
- Message stick

They are nestled on a bed of wood wool (made from a farm in Tasmania), in a natural kraft cardboard box with a lid, with an accompanying gift card made from recycled paper and natural inks from Earth Greetings.

DIMENSIONS, MATERIAL AND ARTIST AND MAKERS DETAILS
CLAPSTICKS: 38 cm (15 inches) long and 6 cm wide (2.6 inches)
MESSAGE STICK: 37 cm (15 inches) long
MATERIAL: Australian native timbers
FINISH: Hand painted using acrylic paint
ARTIST: Josh Skeen 
TRIBE: Birri Gubba – in the Bowen area of North Queensland
MATERNIAL: Kuku-Thaipan- North Queensland
MADE IN: Greenbank, Queensland, Australia

WHAT ARE CLAP STICKS 
Australian Clap Sticks are the main traditional percussion instrument of all Aboriginal people. They are used to provide rhythmic accompaniment for song and dance. They are often used alongside two wooden boomerangs that are also clapped together in Aboriginal musical song and dance. Clap sticks consist of two sticks crafted from various woods and are often intricately decorated. The usual technique employed when using clap sticks is to clap the sticks together to create a rhythm that goes along with the song.

WHAT IS A MESSAGE STICK
The message stick is an authentic Australian made Aboriginal message stick, handmade and hand painted by prominent Aboriginal artist and artifact maker Josh Skeen.

Message sticks are a form of communication between different Aboriginal tribes. Aboriginal tradition says they were passed between different clans and language groups to establish information and transmit messages. They were often used to invite neighbouring groups to corroborees, set-fights and ball games. Josh Skeen says they were also sometimes used like a passport granted by a tribal elder to a messenger to show other tribes as the messenger asked permission to travel across their land. Aboriginal elders from different tribes respected each other and message sticks were used like an official travelling document and the carrier was treated with respect and allowed safe passage.

MAKER AND ARTIST

These traditional artifacts have been handmade and hand painted by prominent Aboriginal artist and artifact maker Josh Skeen. Josh is a fourth-generation Aboriginal. He is the son of world-famous boomerang maker 87-year-old tribal elder Joe Skeen Senior, and works alongside his father at their farm every day in Brisbane, Australia. This message stick and set of clapsticks has been painted in traditional Aboriginal track designs by Josh Skeen.

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
We provide a certificate of authenticity for each item in this gift pack, stating the heritage of the maker, Josh Skeen. We guarantee that all products are hand made in Australia and genuine handcrafted by Australian Aboriginal peoples.