On this date in 1997 the world's smallest boomerang, measuring 48 mm or 1.8 inches long and 45 mm or 1.77 inches wide was thrown successfully by Sadir Kattan during the Australian National Boomerang Championships in Melbourne. 10 facts about boomerangs:
It is believed that boomerangs are amongst the first heavier than air flying objects invented by humans. Depictions of boomerangs being thrown at animals, such as Kangaroos, appear in some of the Indigenous Australian rock art of the Kimberley region, which is potentially up to 50,000 years old.
Although usually associated with Aboriginal peoples of Australia, they existed elsewhere – King Tutenkhamen owned a collection of boomerangs in ancient Egypt, and Native Americans in California and Arizona, and in southern India used them as well.
The oldest boomerang found was in Olazowa Cave in Poland. It was made from a Mammoth tusk, and has been dated as about 30,000 years old.
In Australia, not all the Aboriginal people even knew about them. It was only the people in Eastern and Southern Australia who used them. Boomerangs were unknown to those in the Northern Territory, Tasmania, half of South Australia, the northern parts of Queensland and Western Australia.
Nor do most boomerangs actually come back. They weren’t supposed to. They were used as weapons for hunting animals and could kill or maim even large animals like kangaroos or Emus as well as small birds or mammals. Boomerangs that come back evolved for recreational use.
There’s evidence that they were used in warfare as well, against other human beings. There’s even a variety with a sharp hook at one end.
The name derives from the word used for these weapons by the Turuwal tribe in New South Wales. They were also known as "throwsticks" or "kylies".
The first recorded mention of boomerangs by Europeans was at Farm Cove (Port Jackson), in December 1804, when its use was witnessed during a tribal skirmish.
We know about the smallest boomerang. What about the largest? The largest boomerang was over 259 centimetres long.
The longest time in the air for a boomerang is over 2 minutes.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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