The Visitor Information Center has a cabinet holding a number of Aboriginal artefacts on display. These artefacts were all found in the Girraween area. There is an information board along the back of the cabinet with descriptions of the items and their use.
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These were a general, small tool used much like a knife for cutting, piercing and scraping meat, sinew and fur. They were also used to sharpen the tips of wooden spears and as saws and chisels for other woodworking. Sturdy, steep-edged flakes were used to sharpen shellfish hooks.
Flakes were created by hitting (or knapping) a piece of stone (called a core) with another stone (hammerstone). As only strong, sharp flakes could be used as tools; many of lesser quality were discarded.
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The flattened anvil stones were used as a hard base for making tools or preparing food.
Hammerstones were used for pounding a variety of things against an anvil stone; such as knapping other stones to make tools, breaking up lumps of ochre to make pigments, softening and shredding bark, and cracking tough nuts and seeds for food.
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Axes were a multipurpose tool used to strip bark from stringybark trees when making shields, huts and canoes. Axes were also used to cut toeholds for climbing trees and to enlarge holes in tree trunks when hunting possums. They were also used as weapons.
The axe head was made from a stone that had been knapped into the right size and shape and then ground at one end to produce a sharp edge. The head was then fixed with plant materials to a wooden handle.
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Trading between Aboriginal groups was common. This donut-shaped Papua New Guinean artefact - a tool possibly used in making weapons - may have passed through many hands until it finally came to its Granite Belt owner.
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Grindstones have smooth depressions worn into them as a result of rubbing or grinding (rather than pounding) from another stone. These stones were used similar to a mortar and pestle for grinding up foods such as seeds, fruit, nuts and insects. They were also used to grind lumps of coloured ochres into a powder to make pigments for painting artefacts, rock walls and body decoration.
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