waddy
A waddy, nulla-nulla, leangle or boondi is an Aboriginal Australian hardwood club or hunting stick for use as a weapon or as a throwing stick for hunting animals. Waddy comes from the Darug people of Port Jackson, Sydney. Boondi is the Wiradjuri word for this implement.
Also recorded as nulla nulla · hunting stick
waddy
User:FA2010 · Public domain
- Field
- weapon
- Region
- Australia
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
getty · 500122221 · gnd · 134548817 · gnd · 137527533X · wikidata · Q1131830 · wikipedia · Waddy
In this article
Construction
Construction
The waddy was made by both men and women and could be painted or left unpainted. Its construction varied from tribe to tribe, but it was generally about one metre in length and sometimes had a stone head attached with spinifex resin and at least one string. It was made from where a branch met the tree or from a young tree that was pulled up with its roots from the ground.
Alternative spellings
Alternative spellings
Waddy has also been spelled as wadi, wady, and waddie. The spelling stabilised around the mid-nineteenth century, partly to help distinguish it from the Arabic - Lebanese word wadi, a dry water course. Nulla-nulla has been recorded with the following variations: nullah-nullah, nilla-nilla and nolla-nolla.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Australia
Named but not plotted · 1
waddy is associated with Australia.
Country
Description and use
Leangle is a Djadjawurrung word for a club with a hooked striking head. • Illustration — Waddies made by the Arrernte people • Illustration — Aboriginal man carrying waddy, woomera (spear-thrower) and spear, South Australia, c.
A waddy is a heavy pointed club constructed of carved hardwood timber; it was a traditional weapon developed by Aboriginal people in Australia. Waddies were used in hand-to-hand combat and were capable of splitting a shield. They could also kill or stun a prey. They could be used as projectiles or to make fire and make ochre. The waddies were sometimes used to punish those who broke Aboriginal law.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1131830: waddy
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Waddy”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Waddy, revision 1353099639 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Peters, Pam, The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide, Cambridge University Press, 1995,
- 2.Paul Greenwood. Land of the Wiradjuri: Traditional Wiradjuri Culture. Lockhart Shire Council. 23.
- 3.Club. Dja Dja Wurrung. Ben Nevis, Central, Victoria, Australia. pre 1860. Museums Victoria Collections.
- 4.Pardoe, Colin. Violence and Warfare Among Hunter Gathers, M.A. Allen & T.L Jones Ed. Routledge. 117–118. 2014.
- 5.Ransome, W. S. The Australian National Dictionary: A Dictionary of Australianisms on Historical Principles. Oxford University Press. 1988. 0-19-554736-5.
References
Citations
References
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authority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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