Fun Facts About Boomerangs

  • Most boomerangs don’t come back and were never intended to do so. The returning variety are thought to have evolved as a special form, for recreational use and for scaring birds into hunters nets.
  • It is believed that boomerangs are amongst the first flying objects invented by humans, which were heavier-than-air.
  • Boomerang was first described in detail and recorded as a “boumarang” in 1822.
  • The existence of the traditional boomerang is restricted to the Eastern and Southern Australia. It was unknown to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, Tasmania, half of South Australia and the northern parts of Queensland and Western Australia.
  • The oldest boomerang found was in Olazowa Cave in Poland. Made out of a Mammoth tusk, it is has been dated to be about 30,000 years old.
  • The largest boomerang was over 259 centimetres in length.
  • The world’s smallest boomerang to travel more than 20m was 48mm.
  • King Tutankhamun, the famous Pharaoh of ancient Egypt, who died 2,000 years ago, owned a collection of boomerangs of both the straight flying (hunting) and returning variety.
  • The longest time in the air for a boomerang is over 2 minutes.
  • 2251 consecutive boomerang catches is the current world record.