The boomerang is the Australian symbol par excellence. The Aborigines, the original inhabitants of Australia, still make and use this throwing stick. The idea to give a piece of wood aerodynamic shape, in order to extend its throwing distance was also used in other places in the wolrd. <BR> The boomerangs are made of several types of Robinia wood, a hardwood species. Aborigines recognise a distict curve in a branch or tree root as a potential boomerang. The rough shape is hewn out with a stone axr with the Aborigen using his legs and feet as a bench-vice.<BR> The shape can be altered by first moistening th e boomeranf and subsequently drying it over a fire until it reaches the required form. The boomerang is then polished with a piece of flint or a polishing stone after which it can be engraved with a kangarootooth or pointed stone. The boomerang is actually finished by rubbing it with grease, sometimes mixed with red ochre's. This is particularly the case with central Australian and the hook, or 7-boomerang, so called, because it has the shape of a 7. Boomerangs are also engraved and painted with symbols that refer to the ancestors and places that are associated with the Dreamtime. <BR> Although, nowadays, many boomerangs arebeing made with iron tools, there are still a lot of aborigines who are real masters of the traditional craft.