The Australian Aboriginal counting system was used together with message sticks sent to neighbouring clans to alert them of, or invite them to, corroborees, set-fights, and ball games. Numbers could clarify the day the meeting was to be held (in a number of "moons") and where (the number of camps' distance away). The messenger would have a message "in his mouth" to go along with the message stick.
A common misconception among non-Aboriginals is that Aboriginals did not have a way to count beyond two or three. However, Alfred Howitt, who studied the peoples of southeastern Australia, disproved this in the late nineteenth century,[citation needed] although the myth continues in circulation today.[1]
The system in the table below is that used by the Wotjobaluk of the Wimmera (Howitt used this tribal name for the language called Wergaia in the AIATSIS language map). Howitt wrote that it was common among nearly all peoples he encountered in the southeast: "Its occurrence in these tribes suggests that it must have been general over a considerable part of Victoria". As can be seen in the following tables, names for numbers were based on body parts, which were counted starting from the little finger. In his manuscripts, Howitt suggests counting commenced on the left hand.
Wotjobaluk counting system
Aboriginal name
literal Translation
Translation
Number
Giti mŭnya
little hand
little finger
1
Gaiŭp mŭnya
from gaiŭp = one, mŭnya = hand
the Ring finger
2
Marŭng mŭnya
from marung = the desert pine (Callitris verrucosa). (i.e., the middle finger being longer than the others, as the desert pine is taller than other trees in Wotjo country.)
the middle finger
3
Yolop-yolop mŭnya
from yolop = to point or aim
index finger
4
Bap mŭnya
from Bap = mother
the thumb
5
Dart gŭr
from dart = a hollow, and gur = the forearm
the inside of the wrist
6
Boibŭn
a small swelling (i.e., the swelling of the flexor muscles of the forearm)
the forearm
7
Bun-darti
a hollow, referring to the hollow of the inside of the elbow joint
inside of elbow
8
Gengen dartchŭk
from gengen = to tie, and dartchuk = the upper arm. This name is given also to the armlet of possum pelt which is worn around the upper arm.
the biceps
9
Borporŭng
the point of the shoulder
10
Jarak-gourn
from jarak = reed, and gourn = neck, (i.e. is, the place where the reed necklace is worn.)
throat
11
Nerŭp wrembŭl
from nerŭp = the butt or base of anything, and wrembŭl= ear
earlobe
12
Wŭrt wrembŭl''
from wŭrt = above and also behind, and wrembŭl = ear
that part of the head just above and behind the ear
13
Doke doke
from doka = to move
14
Det det
hard
crown of the head
15
A similar system but with one more place was described by Howitt for the Wurundjeri, speakers of the Woiwurrung language, in information given to Howitt by the elder William Barak. He makes it clear that once counting has reached "the top of the head. From this place the count follows the equivalents on the other side."
Howitt, A.W. 1904. The native tribes of south-east Australia. London: McMillan and Co. Reprinted. 1996. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. pp. 696–699 describe the system in Wotjobaluk, while p700-703 describe the Wurundjeri system.