Jim Goll, age 11,
How does a boomerang work?
The early visitors to Australia returned home with many weird and wonderful tales. They described the kangaroo, the wallaby and all sorts of strange animals with built‑in pouch for carrying their babies. And the natives they found there were just as amazing. The primitive brown man of Australia, it seems, could throw a strange stick into the air and wait for it to follow a long curved path and land at his feet, The Australians called this educated stick a boomerang. The western world was so fascinated with it that the word was adopted into our language. We still say a plan boomerangs when it goes wrong: when it turns around arid comes back to whack us in the face.
We use the word boomerang in relation to plots and plans, But, chances are, if you or I threw one of these strange Australian gadgets it would not boomerang for us. It might fly, cutting a path through the air, and maybe end by smashing a window or landing high in a tree. But it would not fly in a graceful arc and return to drop at our feet. That trick requires skill and much practice.
The Australian native lives a simple life, close to nature. T o him, the boomerang is an art, a toy and a weapon. He begins to practice with it early in life. Even the little tots have toy boomerangs to develop their muscles and throwing skills. Later they learn to use special boomerangs for playing games, for hunting food and for weapons.
The wood for each special boomerang is cut from a sturdy tree. Some are cut from the angle of trunk and branch. Same are cut from the graceful slope where the trunk widens at ground level. The rough shape is then hardened over glowing embers. It is tested and reworked until its owner can control it as he wishes.
The wood is polished and the edges are honed until they are sharp as knives.
The boomerang is roughly a bent stick with an angle or curve and two sides. One side of the stick is flat, the other side curves in a rounded hump. When the Australian throws it, the knife edge slices through the air and the streamlined surface glides smoothly. As it moves, air piles up over the humped side. In almost the same way, air piles up around the wings of a speeding airplane,
As it flies, currents of air push and pull along the complex curves and lines of the boomerang. These currents of air make the strange stick weave and curve along its complicated path.
The skilled boomerang thrower can do amazing tricks. He can toss it up, watch it make three loops and fall straight down at his feet. He can throw it along the grounds make it bouncd and return to him with a series of hops. He can look at a flying bird, turn his back on it and send his boomerang to bring it down, Used as a weapon, the boomerang is deadly: It rises in an arc, spinning all the time. It falls straight down to strike the victim with terrific force.