The general form was “something like a half-moon” (John Morgan) or “shaped like a young moon” (Mark Kershaw). Roderick J. Flannagan provided a minute description of its construction: “about three-eighths of an inch thick in the middle, gradually tapering off towards the extremities, and rounded on each side from the centre until brought to an edge.”
He further specified its dimensions using a geometric diagram: “the chord AD E = 18 inches; the perpendicular, B D = 17 inches; the width, BC=5 inches.” According to Carl Lumholtz, “it is twisted so that the ends are bent in opposite directions.
Adapted from The Aborigines of Australia by Roderick J. Flanagan
The final step often involved decoration. Spencer and Gillen in The Native Tribes of Central Australia stated that “as a general rule the boomerangs are coated with red ochre,” and might be further ornamented with “a few rings of white kaolin or yellow ochre.” Some, particularly those traded from Queensland, featured intricate “incised patterns shaped like the figure 8 laid on its side.”