A Learning Vacation Down Under Sydney’s Little-Known, No-Fuss Boomerang School Rounds Out The Australian Experience

When I spotted Duncan MacLellan’s Boomerang School, something pulled me inside. Perhaps it was the sign: FREE LESSONS. Or maybe it was my girlfriend, Signe, yanking me by the arm and saying, “C’mon, free lessons!”

My only prior experience with a boomerang consisted of throwing a Nerf boomerang around my college dorm room, where I managed to break nearly everything in the room but the sofa, which a) was broken already and b) smelled like old underwear.

At any rate, I’m glad I went in. Duncan MacLellan, 75, is one of Australia’s true folk heroes: a genuine Aussie curmudgeon right down to his no-nonsense DNA.

“I’d like to enroll in your Boomerang School,” I said.

“Look, here’s my card. There’s a map on the back. Show up at that spot on Sunday for the lesson. Goodbye.” “Should I buy a boomerang first?” I asked, noticing what must have been over 10,000 boomerangs adorning his small office.

“Just show up on Sunday, have a throw, then you can buy a bloody boomerang if you want to.”

I was the first student to arrive Sunday morning. MacLellan was sitting on the park bench with his kangaroo-skin bag filled with boomerangs. We had a chat while we looked out across the harbor at the Sydney Opera House. MacLellan has been in the boomerang business for over 35 years. He learned from Joe Timbury, the Aboriginal champion of the ‘50s.

“Joe never charged me for a lesson, so why should I charge anyone?” MacLellan said. “You’re not goin’ to get much out of life if you don’t put somethin’ in.”

When he decided it was time to start the lesson, MacLellan removed his shoes and socks and took off his pants. I asked if this was his special boomerang outfit.

“Hell, no, they’re just regular shorts. And I’m ‘fraid to bend over ‘cause there’s a big hole ‘n the crotch.”

Over the last 35 years, MacLellan has probably taught more people to throw a boomerang than anyone else in the world. His former students include Elton John and travel writer Arthur Frommer. (“Frommer came here about 23 years ago when he was doin’ ‘Australia On $5 A Day.’ Now it’s up to about $50 a day and he’s probably a millionaire livin’ ‘n California with 10 sheilas crawlin’ all over him,” MacLellan remarked. “Well, he asked if I wanted to be ‘n his book and I told him, ‘I don’t care. Just pay me the bloody $5 you owe me for that boomerang ‘n your hand.”’)

I picked up a boomerang, at MacLellan’s instruction, and aimed it nearly perpendicular to the ground at a 45 degree angle to the wind. I took a big windup and released it. The boomerang flew out 10 meters, went straight into the ground, bounced over the guard rail and into Sydney harbor.

“Oops,” MacLellan said, “That’s a left-handed boomerang. You need a right-handed one.”

“I’ll pay for that,” I said apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it,” he comforted me, “These boomerangs are cheap plywood crap.”

I tried with a right-handed one and, much to my surprise, the thing actually came back. Which wasn’t very comforting. Because it is a weapon. And it was coming after me. I had to duck to get out of its way.

“Activate yourself and catch it!” MacLellan shouted. “You might bleed a little, but you’ll heal up.” “Yeah, catch it!” yelled Signe, who was viewing the deadly boomerang toss safely through a telephoto lens from behind a tree across the park.

Chris, a young German chemical engineer, showed up. Then an American couple and middle-aged German with his father. MacLellan was extremely encouraging with everyone. He’d yell, “Bue-TeeFull!” if we just got the boomerang in the air. If something went wrong, he’d say, “It slipped out of your hand.” If we threw it straight into the ground and it bounced up, he’d say, “That’s a Kangaroo!”

“Is it really called a Kangaroo?” I asked him.

“No, but it seems to make people feel better if I say it.”

After 30 minutes, MacLellan had us all throwing fairly accurate “returns.” Most of us managed to catch our own throw, though I also managed to hit the elderly German man once and a guy sitting on the park bench twice. I figured it’s just part of the learning curve. And besides, throwing a boomerang is not much of a spectator sport.

After the lesson, I went to MacLellan’s office to buy a boomerang. He had several different kinds. I picked up one with an Omega-shaped curve.

“What’s this one called?” I asked.

“A boomerang.”

“I mean, does it have a special name?”

“Sure, white people have all sorts of bloody rubbish names for them, but the Aboriginals just call them boomerangs. And that’s what they are. Boomerangs.”

“Who invented it?”

“An Aboriginal invented it; threw it at a kangaroo, missed and it came back and hit him ‘n the head,” MacLellan said. “That is why many Aboriginals now prefer the Frisbee.”

I asked MacLellan about his motivation for teaching.

“I like seein’ people go away with a good feelin’; that they got somethin’ for nothin’ so long as they showed up with the right attitude. Take that old German guy today - he couldn’t throw for crap at the beginnin’, but eventually he got it. I probably fought against that old bugger ‘n World War II, but today I taught him how to throw the boomerang.”

Through all the stories and the instruction, one thing was perfectly clear: MacLellan enjoys his work. And his philosophy of life is, appropriately enough, like a boomerang. I heard him say it several times: “If you put good things into the world, you will usually get good things back.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO MacLellan MacLennan’s Boomerang School, 200 William St., Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia. Phone: 358-2370. Teaching, demonstrating and selling of Aboriginal boomerangs. Free lessons each Sunday morning; boomerangs provided. “Australia - A Travel Survival Kit,” Lonely Planet Publications 1996, $24.95. “Voices of the First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal Dreamtime,” Lawlor, Robert, Inner Traditions International 1991. Australia Tourist Commission, 100 Park Ave., 25th Floor, New York, NY 10017; (800) 333-0199, (212) 687-6300; fax: (212) 661-3340; WWW: http:/ /tourism.gov.au/ Australian Tourist Commission, Century Plaza Towers, 2049 Century Plaza East, Los Angeles, CA 90067; (310) 229-4870, (847) 296-4900. The Boomerang Page: http:/ jcn.com/mx/home “Insight Guide to Australia,” APA Publications 1996, $23.95.