talking stick

plural talking sticks

1. A ceremonial stick that grants the holder the right to speak in a group discussion.

   Synonyms: speaker's staff

2. AustraliaA piece of wood which is used by aboriginal Australians as part of or a form of communication either by being carved or by another method.

   The same day that he read the talking-stick, he had asked permission to go to his own country, […]

   1903, Ada Janet Peggs, “Notes on the Aborigines of Roebuck Bay, Western Australia”, in Folk-lore, volume XIV, London: David Nutt, page 335

   2 more examples

   These "talking sticks" appear to have been made according to some conventional design known among the tribes using them.

   1901, R. H. Mathews, “Pictorial Art Among the Australian Aborigines”, in Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain, volume XXXIII, London: Harrison and Sons, page 304

   Since that time I've put a mark or two on trees telling the news to the Wàddygalos in the talking stick language, but I expect they knew all about it.

   1909, Coo-ee [AKA William Sylvester Walker], “The Promised Land”, in What Lay Beneath, London: John Ouseley, page 168

   Synonyms: message stick, stick letter