RECORDS OF. THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM Vol. XI, No. 1 Published by The Museum Board, and edited by the Museum Director AvevaibE, May 8, 1953 PRINTED AT THE.HASSELL PRESS, 104 CURRIE STREET NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES ON THE ARCHER, KENDALL AND HOLROYD RIVERS, CAPE YORK PENINSULA, NORTH QUEENSLAND BY URSULA H. MCCONNEL, EAGLE HEIGHTS, QUEENSLAND Summary This paper describes in technical detail, material collected during field research in 1927, 1928 and 1934 in the Gulf of Carpentaria region of Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland, and particularly on the Kendall, Holroyd and Archer Rivers, which is housed in the South Australian Museum. This material is complementary to that obtained by Hale and Tindale (1933) on the east coast of the Peninsula and demonstrates Papuan and Torres Straits Island influences upon mainland culture. The specimens, which are fully listed and illustrated in plates and drawings, are described in relation to the cultural background to which they belong. NATIVE ARTS anp INDUSTRIES on THe ARCHER, KENDALL ann HOLROYD RIVERS, CAPE YORK PENINSULA, NORTH QUEENSLAND By URSULA H. McCONNEL, Eacie Heicuts, QUEENSLAND, Plates i-xvii and text figs. 1-4. SUMMARY. THis paper deseribes in technical detail material collected during field research in 1927, 1928 and 1934 in the Gulf of Carpentaria region of Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland, and particularly on the Kendall, Holroyd and Archer Rivers, which is housed in the South Australian Museum. This material is complementary to that obtained by Hale and Tindale (1933) on the east coast of the Peninsula and demonstrates Papuan and Torres Straits Island influences upon mainland culture. The specimens, which are fully listed and illustrated in plates and draw- ings, are described in relation to the cultural background to which they belong. INTRODUCTION. The material described in this paper was obtained by means of grants from the Australian National Research Council in 1927-28 and 1934, since when I have been awaiting an opportunity to prepare it for publication, an opportunity recently afforded by courtesy of the Director of the South Australian Museum, in which institution it is now housed and where I have had the assistance of members of the staff in sorting, repairing, describing and photographing the specimens shown in these plates. I am particularly indebted to Mr. Norman B. Tindale for his help in classifying and describing specimens; the technical descriptions of which are largely his. The compilation of the material has been further assisted by a grant made towards typing costs by the Science and Endowment Fund of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Organisa- tion, which I gratefully acknowledge here. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the late Government Botanist, Mr. Cyril White, in identifying plants referred to, and to Mr. B. C. Cotton for identifying shells. I am also indebted to my brother, Mr. K. H. MeConnel, F.R.I.A., for the drawings of text 2 RECORDS OF THE S.A. MUSEUM figures, and to Miss M. Boyce for the preparation of the ethnographical photo- graphs. My task as a social anthropologist is to place these artefacts in their social setting and to describe their function in the way of life to which they belong. This way of life may have existed for thousands of years and would still be existing indefinitely if it had not been disturbed. The specimens are all from Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland, and, unless otherwise stated, from the Archer, Kendall and Holroyd Rivers, which flow into the Gulf of Carpentaria on the Queensland side. The area in question forms part of a Native Reserve extending along the Gulf coast from the Batavia to the Mitchell River. A list of specimens is appended, fully illustrated by plates and drawings, together with their registration numbers in the South Australian Museum. Native names of specimens, unless otherwise stated, are given in the Wikmunkan language. The phoneties of the Wikmunkan language are as outlined in my previous paper (McConnel 1945). S in Sivri is a northern sound, not used in the Wikmunkan language; [ is sometimes a cerebral 1 not previously recorded, but usually a palatal; 7 is sometimes a retroflex palatal r and ¢ is sometimes an interdental f. I am indebted to Prof. A. P. Elkin and the Australian National Research Council for arranging the use of a special symbol used in setting up one of the native words given herein. Archer, Kendall and Holroyd Rivers area is sheltered from northern con- tacts by the mangrove-clad and crocodile-infested Archer River (five miles wide at the mouth), and from the eastern coast by the Great Dividing Range. It is low-lying country, perfectly flat for thirty to forty miles inland, and inaccessible to stock on account of its innumerable water channels, its net-work of lagoons, swamps and water holes, with bogs in all directions. As it teems with wild life, it is a veritable paradise for its native inhabitants. I chose this field for research because nowhere else in Queensland was I likely to find a native culture less disturbed. In 1927 I accompanied the Aurukun (Archer River) Mission’s first journey overland into these parts, which had at that time been but partially surveyed. Apart from a few sandal wood- getters, and a visit by the Mission lugger, little other white contact had been made, though some of the men had visited the Mission the previous year, and some had signed-on for work on pearling luggers. Here the natives pursued their customary life oblivious of an outside world. John Burke’s steamer, on its monthly voyage down the Gulf to Normanton, was regarded as a corpse in the course of cremation—inspiring, appropriately enough, a funeral dirge. McCoNNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 3 INFLUENCE OF PAPUA AND ISLANDS OFF CAPE YORK ON THE MAINLAND CULTURE In studying the culture of the Peninsula in general, one has to take into consideration the proximity of the mainland to Papua and the Torres Straits Islands, Contact undoubtedly has been made, over a long period, apparently by means of the double ovt-rigger canoe, whieh is made and used by Papuans, Islanders and tainlanders ulike, as Tarsouth as Princess Charlotte Bay (Stewart River) on the east coast, and the Batavia and Archer Rivers on the Gulf Coast, Haddon and Hornell (1987) have wade a detailed study of the canoes in this area, Haddon (1912) speaks of these vanoes as voyaging to the mainland from the Islands in 1888 and demonstrates the sinrilarity of Island customs and arte- facts to those of the Papuan mainland, Lt is not surprising, therefore, to tind cultural similarities existing also between the Islands and the Cape York main- land, particularly where direct contact by canoe has been made. Owing to the early establishment of a Government Resident at Somerset, near Cape York, however, there is little evidence left of such contact in the area nearest the Islands, where it must have been most obvious at one time. Eyidenee of this eutural contact diminishes inland and southwards as direct links by canoe recedes, borrowed enstoms bemg adapted and simplified to meet inainland requirements and the conditions of a hunting rather than a village Jife, This external influence extends farther south on the eastern coast than on the western Gulf coast, because the eastern coast is more accessible by canoe. This eastern coastline of the Peninsula, and particularly the Princess Charlotte Bay region, has been studied and recorded in detail by Hale and Tindale (1935). They also discuss the use of double and single out-rigger canoes. In this area of direct contact on the east coast, Thomson (1933, 1934) deseribes the use by the Koko Yaz'o (Pascoe River, Princess Charlotte Bay) of drums, bark-strip skirts, masks and dance enclosures in the cult of the craro- dile. These were reported also by Roth (1909) in the Margaret Bay area and oceur also in the dances of the sea-eavle, sea-oull and Torres Straits pigeon cults of the Tys'yandys and Yu:pyati tribes, south of the Batavia River on the Gulf Coast, as do also the dvum and the bow and arrow, recorded by Thomson (1934 ) and by MeConnel (1936), but which are not foynd elsewhere on the mainland and are typically Torres Straits Islands and Papuan. Sivri, the seagull, is said to have made his drum of two kinds of wood, the hollow stem of the pandanus tree for soft sounds, and messmate wood for loud sounds, and ta have covered both ends with goanna skin. The specimen shown here in Plate vii, fig. a, has only one end closed, a type which is also found in Papua. The palm of the hand is used for low sounds and the fingers for high sounds, Sturt is also said 4 RECORDS OF THE S,A, MUSEUM to have made his bow from the wood of « native shrub and its string from the fibre of the bean tree root. It is in the totemie pattern of the mainland that these sea-going heroes should be said to have voyaged, in the direction of the migratory birds they respectively represent, to Maubiag Island and the Papuan mainland, and, on returning thence, to haye introduced these arts to the mainland. The song and dance of the seagull and Torres Straits pigeon resemble those used in the Islands and Papua, and the Maubiag cult is regarded as a brother-cult to that of Stems on the mainland, “these objects are not in daily use, however, and oceur only in the ceremonial danees. In addition to such objects found only in these dances and common also to Papua and the Islands, are the plaited pandanus palmleaf armlets, pearl shell pendants, cowrie and pearl-shell necklets and head bands, nautilus shell nosepees, large wooden ear-eylinders (worn suspended in (he ear-lobe which has been piereed (Plate i, fig. a) and gradually stretched for the purpose), anc ornamental clubs, all of which are either traded-in or copied, and ure in use to sore extent all over the northern part of the Peninsula. Customs shared with the Isliuds and Papua whieh have permeated the conmon life of the mainlanders are (a2) the use of the sleeping platlorm, whieh is sometimes two-storied like those shown in use on the Islands by Wilkin and Haddon (1912) and Roth (1910); (b) the round bark-house which is also shown by Wilkin and Haddon (1912) in use on the Islands; (¢) the Papuan communal pipe, made of bamboo or hollow wood (Gulf area), sealed at both ends with wax, with holes on the top at either end used respeetively for holding the cigarette and for inhalation, This isa pipe which ean be passed around, with a finger over the smoke-hole, and shared when tobacco is searee; (d) the weaving of baskets from NXerotes multiflora as described by Haddon (1912), and most. striking of all, perhaps, (e) the practice of mummification, described by Roth (1907), with its attendant inourning restrictions and observances, its mourning dance or wake, and its coneluding feast and wrestling mateh—thouel these rites are far less elaborate and spectacular on the mainland than those described for Papua and the ‘Torres Straits Islands by Haddon (1912) and Harris (1912) and end in cremation. Tyist, the fishhawk, a hero of the Ndras'anit tribe (north of the Archer River), is said to have introduced these funcral rites in honour of his brother Mbu:, the ghost, who was killed fighting (Plate vi, fig. c, e and f). According to the legend, reeorded by MeConnel (1935), this hero, after remoying the intestines and liver, ete., through an openine made in the side, tied the body McCONNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 5 of Mbuz to a Jong pole and suspended il on iwo forked sticks to dvy near w fire. Then the body was rolled in ti-tree bark (Plate vi, fig. e-f), tied round with bush string aid carried to his parents, and a big dance was held, The corpse is kept thus on forked sticks for the required period, ie. for anything up Lo two or three years according to the wishes of the relatives, aud is guarded always by them in a seeluded spot, the wake being periodically performed by the women, if and when the corpse is in vamp. ‘These rites have already been described by MeConnel (1936). Relatives of the opposite moiety are subjected to food obliga- tiuns and speech taboos, especially the widow, who has to sil und weep, and eats only when given certain foods by the deceased's relatives, 1o whom she muy not speak. She must remain apart from the camp, her head covered with ashes and tutts ol hair fastened with beeswax over her head, Mourning ends with the eretmation ol the hody at dawn after an all-night vigil kept by women iu relays aecompanied by & continiows wailing and performance of the mourning dance. The ereniation ts followed by a feast, when the recognized food debts are paid, and a wrestling mateh takes place (between members of the same moiety ouly), after which the widow's head is shaved, her remarriage arranged, and all food and speech taboos are lifted. 1 witnessed a cremation on the Areher River in 1927, which was probably the last to be performed near the Mission there. ‘hese practices then extended as far south as the Mdward River, and probably even further along the Gull Coast. Along the east coast the type of nunimifieation varies. Harris (1912) and Roth (1907) have deserihbed the various forms found as far south as southert) Queensland. A legend of the Kamdyu (near Coen) reported by MeConnel (1937) shows that burial also was practised on the Peninsula. Roth (1907, p. 399) reports the eating of the deeeased’s flesh by the widow, a eustom also recorded for the orres Straits Islands, I myself have nothing to report of this nature in the Gulf area; but in the Mossman-Daintree area on the cast coast an informant had eaten a park of the thigh of his sister, and expected thereby to become better at finding yams, in which art she had excelled. The eating of certain parts of a dead relative's flesh was an accepted duty that one should honour if not enjoy, Roth (1907) records the carrying of the deeceased’s bones by certain relatives, Tis custom was still practised south of the Archer River in 1927-28; the carrying ol the leg bones was said tu be a means of preventing the deceased’s ghost from walking about the camp alter death, Haile and Tindale (1928, p, 94) deseribe simular burial eustonis at Princess Charlotte Bay on the east coast, In contrast to these Island and Papuan affinities, it is interesting to note the absence on the Peninsula of the boomerang and shield, so typical of the 6 RECORDS OF THE $.A, MUSEUM south. The use of the former is, however, recorded in a Wik-kulkun tribe legend as haying been used to clear scrub. The boomerang can be made, but it is not now used. The shield is used on the Mitchell River to the south, Tt assumes untisual proportions on the east coast in the Cairns-Port, Douglas revion in asso- ciation with the large wooden fighting sword, peculiar to these parts (sce MeConnel 1935, 1). Absent also from this part of the Peninsula are the rite of cireumcision and the four-section system; aceording to Tindale (1940) the former does not occur east of Burketown and the latter occurs only to the south of Princess Charlotte Bay. FOOD SUPPLIES AND ECONOMIC PURSUITS. The Gulf Coast is rich in food supplies—in animal, bird, fish and plant lite. The sea yields dugong, sea-turtle and large salt-water fish for those who own an outrigger canoe. The tidal rivers bring in a plentiful supply of fish with every incoming tide, which men spear from the prow of the iudivenous bark canoe. Kish are eooked in the coals. Stingray, a delicacy reserved for older men, is favoured by rolling the cooked flesh around the previously removed heart and liver, wrapping all in ti-tree bark and cooking in an antbed oven. The sandbeaeh supplies crabs, sea-turtles' eggs and shellfish of many kinds, which the Women gather at low tide and cook in the coals (the heat opening the shell). Oysters cluster thickly on the roots of the mangrove frees edging the months of certain salt-water ereeks (Plate i, fie, ¢), Th the salt-water creeks women collect mud-mussels ((elawia coaema), erawling along the creek bed on all fours as they feel for the shells with their fingers in the mud, dropping them into dillvbags suspended from the neck or held in the teeth. River beds and fresh- water channels inland are interspersed with deep water-holes (left after flood- ing). These harbour fish and the fresh-water crocodile, the eggs of whieli are dug out of the sand and eaten as a delicacy, especially when nearly hatehed. The freshwater turtle is eooked upside down in the ashes; then, after knocking out the under-shell and removing the head and limbs, the shell is used as a soup toureen; juices from the body make a soup which is imbibed by dipping a. frayed end of a stick into the juices and sucking it. The eges are sometimes fried in the juices of the up-turned shell. The salt-water turtle’s ege@s, which are solt-shelled and do not set when cooked, ave usually sucked raw. Swamps, lagoons and waterholes are the haunts of wild fowl—duck, geese, ibis, native companion, jabirn, ete. Kmn are to be found in certain localities inland, and flying-fox camps are numerous in mangrove and other serubs, Kangaroo (inland) and wallaby abound. Men spear all these by stealing up McConNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 7 close, merging with their surroundings und disguising themselves with branches in open ¢ountry. In the dry winter months, the grass is burned off and kangaroo and wallaby ave speared as they flee belore the flames. Women follow in the wake of the flames, digging out from the holes, in which they have taken refuge, bushrat and bandieoot, iguana, snakes and lizards, ete.. with the aid of thei yamsticks and the domesticated dingo, All these foods are vooked in antbed, as are emu and all large birds aud animals, the skin and viseera being discarded only after cooking, The anthed oven is inade by digeing a hole in the ground, lighting a fire in it and heating ¢hunks of antbed in the fire. When hot, the fire is removed and the food then placed between the pieces of hot antbed and covered over with elean strips of ti-tree bark, over whieh the sand or earth is piled to preserve the heat, This method of cooking is that of a slow oven and preserves all the jnices in the meat, Swamps near the coast are filled with rushes (Scirpus littoralis), the eorms of which are dug out by the women, sitting up to the chest in mud around the edges. The corms are earvied home and washed and roasted in the coals, the old ones being first beaten with a wooden hammer into a flat cake. Corms of the up-river swamp rush, called ‘*bush-nuts,’’ which are washed wp with the fioad rubbish in the wet season, are also cooked and eaten. The seeds of the inanyrove pod are cooked and eround into flour. Swamps and lagoons are eovered with white and blue water lilies of several! varieties, the flowers and stalks of which are eaten raw, the roots cooked in antbhed and the seed-pods roasted in the coals, The women wade in the lagoons and swamps for these, and dive for the roots in deep water. Yams of several varieties, arrowroot and many other roots are dug up by the women with their yamsticks, Sometimes the top of the yam is left adhering to the stem of the vine and replanted, only the lower part of the root being taken for food, whieh is interesting where agriculture is unknown, A similar practice is reported by Hale and Tindale (1938, p, 113) on the east coast. Edible fruits of many kinds are gathered in the summer months, As they travel through the bush, especially in spring and summer, the eves of all are on the look-out for the tell-tale bee, coming io and out of its hole in tree or log. The shading of the eyes with the hand, looking upwards this way and that as they travel, is so characteristic an attitude, that it is used im corroboree to signify a journey through the bush, When a bee is sighted, the tree is felled, or climbed, and a stick with a frayed end is inserted into the hole to test the supply of honey. When found to be 8 RECORDS OF THE S.A. Museum present, it is chopped out and eaten—bees, wax and all—till the spoilers are replete. The surplus is carried home tied wp in bark or in a tubular ‘‘ grass’? basket (woven closely for the purpose) and is usually mixed with water to make a swect drink, There are a variety of honeys, taken by bees from different, trees and shrubs, each with its peculiar flavour and its special name. As it is the worian's place to supply roots and small eame obtained hy digging, the yamstick is regarded as the symbol of womanhood; and since it is the man’s part to provide meat, the spear is the symbol of manhood. Tn eeremonies the part of a woman played by a man is always signified by the use of x yamstick. MATERIALS AND TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT. The equipment required for these economie pursuits is limited by the materials available. As previously stated, stone and flint are lacking in this area. Axes and knives are traded in and are a rare and valuable possession. Spear barbs are made from the bones of stingray, emu, kangaroo and Wallaby — the jawbone of the latter being used as a craper and, with the incisor attached, as an engraver. Wallaby bone is used also as a stiletto for piercing holes in bark, ete. Such material takes the place of flint in other places. Shells (par- ticularly the mussel-shell) are used as serapers and as spoons, Sharp fragments of shell-grit, hardened by the action of the sea, are used for grinding and shaping the edges of pearlshell, and the spiral shell (Z'urritella cerea) is used for boring holes in the sheli dises thus shaped. The bailer shell (Melo amphorus) is used to bail water out of canoes and wells, as a drinking vessel, and for heating gum, elc., on the fire. The plentiful supply of hardwood and softwood timbers (and bamboo), with their stems, bark, gums and fibres, supplies the greater part of the material used in the manufacture of artefacts. Yellow stains are obtainable from certain roots, and red and white clays and chareoal are used as colouring matter, Bees- wax is used in addition to 2ums for sealing purposes. Grass bugles, scarlet seeds and yellow orehid bark, feathers and cowrie shells (threaded on string) are used for decorative ptiposes. During the dry winter months people sleep by the open canmpfire, wherever food supplies take them, by lagoon or swamp, riverbed or seashore, and on reeog- nized camping grounds used from season to season. Break-winds of bark and branches are placed against stakes in the ground as open shelters, the branches also affording a shade during the heat of the day. Camps consist usually of small family groups, but where the food supply is temporarily abundant, as hy water lily lasoons or swamps (Plate ii, fig, d, and Plate iit, fie. a-b), at certain McCoNNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 9 times of the year, larger groups assemble and an opportunity ts afforded for holding initiation ceremonies and inter-tribal discussions, etc. During the wet vorth-west Inonsoon season in the summer months, however, when rain is imees- sant and flooding takes place, it is necessary to builcl more permanent shelters, A common shelter used is the sleeping platform, built mostly near inland water holes and water-courses, which attract. birds, and where wallaby may be speared aod fish trapped. The sleeping-plattorm is made by placing saplings on four forked sticks wid laying others aeross them, whieh may then be eovered with sheets of messmate bark, Under this platform fires may be lit for cooking, which also provide a smokesereen 10 ward off mosquitoes. Sometimes a second story is built to form a ceiling above the first. When the weather is squally, eapecially near the coast, a completely covered-in bark house is used. The round beehive-shaped bark house is made of branches placed cireularly in the ground and tied at the top, aver which strips of ti-tree bark (Melaleuca leucadendron) are laid so as to completely cover over the branches, one piece being removed when going in or out. Tuside these sealed bark houses, with a fire smouldering, a tamily with its dogs may live snug and dry and free from mosquitoes till the worst weather ig over. These houses and platforms, being used only during the wet season, usily tall to pieces from negleet during the winter months. In a hunting community, where there is no incentive to build pernianent houses as in the case of the village settlements of the Torres Straits Islands and Papua, there is no adequate storage for goods made trom perishable materials. Perhaps for this reason mainland artefacts are less elaborate and spectacular than those of Papna and the Islands, though the technical skill and artistic finish of the former are none the less excellent, and adequate for the requirements of their owners. The double out-rigger eanoe is fashioned from the trunk of a milkwood tree, The out-rigger booms pass over the gunwale and are fastened, inside and outside the lull, by strips of green bark (usually MWibisews) to a stick which passes through both sides of the gunwale. I the specimen T saw made on the Archer River, the two booms were not made in a single piece, but in two pieces, and were fastened to the floats on either side by lashing. The dug-out canoe ean dravel alone the coast and out to sea in calm weather and is used for fishing expeditions. The art of tiaking out-igger eanoes on the Archer River was possibly copied from the Batavia and Embley River Missions in the north and may have deteriorated, Certain it is, however, that the out-rigger canoe is not an indigenous product and must have been introduced at some time or another m (he past to the mainland. The mainland eanoe is made from bark of the mess- mate tree (vide Haddon and TMornell, 1937). After ringbarking a strip of bars 10 RECORDS OF THE S.A. MUSEUM of the required size, the bark is smoked dry over the fire. It is then folded in two (inside ont) and placed between two sticks to secure it (Plate i, fiz. b), whilst each end is shaped by cutting off a triangular piece downward to the fold. The ends of the canoe are secured by sowing-up these shaped ends with a piece of eane, the point of which has been sharpened and hardened in the fire and the cane soltened by biting. The cane is passed through holes pierced in the bark (Plate i, fig. b) by means of a bone stiletto (with or without a wax knob to protect the hand). When both ends are thus scevred, the canoe sides are drawn together to the required distanee by tying strips of green hibiscus bark across the canoe towards prow and stern, and the canoe is kept open by two forked sticks placed crosswise under each tie. The inside of the eanoe is sealed with heeswax to render it watertizht, A young mangrove stem splayed at the end is used as a paddle, To manipulate the canoe, the rower kneels, or sits on the floor with his legs out in front of him, and swings the paddle first to one side and then the other, which also serves to steer the canoe. The sides of the eanoe are some- tinies only a few inches above water level, The eanoe is so light that it responds to the slightest movement of the paddle (Plate i, fig. d), and the paddler must maintain a perfect balance if he is to eseape the erocodiles lurking below. When hunting, the fisherman stands in the prow of the canoe, spear poised on spear thrower, alert for action, When hunting the bony bream at night time he holds a bark toreh in the one hand, which attracts and bewilders (he fish. As the fish flashes past, the spear flies through the air, and the fish, plunging madly, earries the spear with it, till, the paddler deftly steering the canoe in chase, the fish is captured and the spear retrieved, Messmate bark is also used to make vessels for carrying and washing food and as a baby’s cradle (Plate iv, fig. d). The bark is treated as for canoes, but instead of cutting and sewing up the ends, the bark is thinned out al the ends und @athered together with pleats held by a wooden skewer, which is bound over and over with coarse bark strips to secure the pleats, Spears naturally vary in make and type according to the use for which they are required (Plate viii), Short spears are used for fighting (or hunting wallaby) at a distance. The heavy spears are used for large game sneh as kangaroo, wallaby and emu, ete., and the lighter spears for fish and birds. Heayy spear shafts are made from the straight young stems of ironwood or acacia, carefully scraped and shaped to the required balance, the light part being used near the throwing-end and the heavy part near the head and barbs to throw the weight forwards. Light spear handles are similarly made from lighter woods spel as rosella, hibiscus, cottonwood, grass-tree Hower spike, and baniboo, ete, McCONNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES ll A spear may be made all in oné piece, or with a separate butt or head, or with both. Sometimes an imitation butt or head is simulated by painting the part with clay, A spear thay have one, three or four points, which are usnally made of acacia wood, The barb is fastened to the point. with wallaby or kangaroo tail sinew and is covered over with grass-tree (or other) gum heated over the fire in a bailer shell and smoothed on a wooden palette, which is sometimes fitted with a wallaby ineisor for engraving (Plate ii, fig, b). Stingray-bone barbs are used for fighting and punitive spears, and are very poisonous. These barbs may be arranged serially along the head, pointing backwards or in a cluster of three, or in a flower-like cluster (painted red) on a stem-like head (painted white). Ceremonial spears are decorated with white and red clay in large or small ecireles. Sometimes blood is smeared along the shatt of a spear ina wavy pattern (made by turning the spear in a hlood-stained hand), used possibly as a charm to acquire power in hunting another vietim. The spearthrower of the Peninsula is distinctive with its shell ornament at. one end. The shaft, which varies in width, has a smooth, plain surface contract- ing towards the head-end, and is plastered at this end with gum, which serves to fasten to this end twits bailer shell dises, against whieli the spear is balaneed. Mn use, a wooden peg at the other end engages the end of the spear. The shaft is sometinies ornamented at the end with bands of yellow orchid bark and scarlet clbrus seeds are sometimes let into the gum of the shell ornament. Children tse toy spears 50’-53” long, with wooden points let into light eane shafts lashed with bark fibre (Plate ii, fio. ¢). On some of these a strip of bark is lett ina position similar to that used by poisonous etm on adult spears so as tO make believe it is a fighting spear, and sometimes string round the handle is used to simulate a join between head and shaft, also in imitation of an adult's spear (Plate ix, fig. ak). Shields are lacking, hut wooden elubs with painied knobs or plain fat stieks are used to deflect spears (Plate x, fig. b-e), Women use long hard- wood fiehting sticks usually made of acacia wood and painted red with white points, and are supported by “‘seconds’’ ina fight, who use short, sticks, similarly painted, to hit back the opponents’ spears (Plate ix, fig. c-f), Axes, which are traded in, and the beater, the yam-stiek and the fighting-stiek used by the women ave made or hafted in hardwood. Gull firesticks are made of matchbox-bean wood and are as long as spears. For earrying, the two sticks are fitted into a double-barrel sheath, made ot two hollow bamboo tubes tied round with strips of yellow orehid-bark and fastened into a knob of beeswax studded with searlet Abrus seeds. These 12 RECORDS OF THE S.A, MUSEUM sheaths with their colours ol fire add a gay note to the camp scene, "To kindle fire, one stick is laid on the ground and steadied with the foot, whilst the other is twisted between the hands with a swilt downward movement, and creates the required friction as it rubs aguinst the stielc on the ground, As suol) as 4 spark is kindled, it is deftly dropped into tinder, and is blown between cupped hands into a flame for starting the fire. When no firestiek is to hand, a smoulder- ing stick is carried and rekindled at intervals by stopping to make a small fire, a piece of bark is often carried for kindling purposes. The wings of such large birds as jabiru, ibis and native companion are fastened together (stretched out and stiffened) to form a feather fan which is used as a bellows and ts carried about on a string-loop passed over the wrist. The soft bark of the Melaleuca is used for innumerable purposes. Apart from its use for walls of houses, breakwinds and shelters, it is used to wrap up objects of all kinds and sizes, from corpses to spearbarbs and clays, and for covering food when cooking in antbed ovens, ete. Twisted into a flat pad, it is worn by women to distribute the weight of loads carried on the head, such as a bark vessel loaded with roots or a pile of firewood picked up on the homeward journey, As a small wedge it is used to break the strain of string handles on “prass'’ baskets. Women use a strip of ti-tree bark for utility purposes (Plate xi, fiz. q), which is passed between the legs and fastened baek and front to a waist-string by turning in the ends. Rolled into a long bundle, this paper bark serves aS a torch or flare at night-time (Plate xi, fig. 1), Strips of green bark (usually Hibiscus) are used in the rough for binding purposes, e.g., in making canoes, houses and bark vessels, ete. Mibres are used in making rope and twine for weaving fishing nets, dillybags, aprons and decorative strings, ete. The coarse red fibre of Acacia flavescens or A, latifolia makes a strone harsh string (fet po:la) for fishing nets, ete, whilst the yaffia-like strands of the mder epidermis of the Limslona australis palm-leaf makes a firm white string (koi testa) for more delicate use. The fibre most commonly used for making twine for dillybags, aprons, cte,, is Lieus cuwning- hama (kot yastan) (Plate xi, fig. b), The fibre is soltened by soaking it in water or chewing it in the mouth, When dry it is stripped into strands and tucked away in a bundle ready for use (Plate xi, fig. a). ‘Twine is made by twistme together strands (usually two) of the required size with a deft move- nent of the palin of the hand against the thigh, which is used as a kind of table, Le., with the lower leg and foot tucked under and the other lee crooked up out of the way. Roth (1901, Plate ii) illustrates this method of making twine, and in other plates in this same Bulletin fully illustrates the various types ol McCONNEL—-NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 13 Weaving and netting used also in this urea and shown in the accompanying drawings. “‘Crass*’ baskets (kampian) are made (Plate lil, fig. c-cd) from the blades of Verotes multiflora. They are nsually made wide at the mouth (Text fig. le), but also woven closely in tubular forin for holding honey (Text fle. 1h) and, in sinaller sizes, as tobueeo pouches for the men, Sometinies the basket is elose-woven at the base only, to hold food when washing it, allowing the water lo eseape through the more open weaving of the sides. These ‘‘grass’’ baskets are woven in an onti-cloekwise chain-twist pattern (vide Roth 1910, Plate xvi), and are woven over basal strands trom: the botton) upwards, the ends being turned in ut the lop and sometimes over-wound to make a neat edye (Text fia. 1e), Sgr / elles ab pape ] y UREN | , tl IU wv x | P The rc fel 4 9 Pi f p seems ie Faint ~ 4 Ae / SS eee t | : SS pea % 78 7 - ef ro ¢ oN & d b c Mig. 1, Bags and baskets. «a, Dilly-bag in the hour-glass pattern, b, Closely woven basket for holding honey, e. Wide-mouthed basket made with anti-clockwise chain twist, Dillybags (wa:nka) are sometimes made in this chain-twist or ‘‘grass’'- stitch pattern (Text fie. 2e-d) from the Livistona twine (wa:nk iyampan) and sometimes in the fishing-net pattern (wank omyana) (Text fig. 2a-b). Most dillybags, however, are made (Plate iv, fig. ¢) in the hourglass (usually double- loop) pattern, from brown fibres of the Ficus (wamka nastan), ved Moacia (wankea povla) and white Livistona Cwa:nka mesa), and often two or inore of these twines are combined to give a striped effect. The hourglass stiteh is worked with one continuous lony strand (joined al intervals) for the whole length of the dillybag, from a basal strand stretehed between two sticks (Plate iv, fie, ©), or from one bie toe to the other (Roth 1901, Plate vil-x). Fishing nets are usually made in the fish-net pattern (Roth 1901, Plate xi), but the specimen shown (Plate xii, fig, a) is made in the hour-glass pattern, the 14 RECORDS OF THE S.A. MUSEUM strands being looped arovnd 4 basal eane withy (bent to form ” hoop) and lashed over with strands of strong /Tibiscus bark (Roth 1901, Plate x, fig, 4-5), The technique then proceeds as with dillybag making, The looping eommences at the top (over the boop) and gradually narrows towards ihe bottom, which is abruptly finished off with a flat intermeshing (knotted at the final end), thus piving a wide, flat hase to the net, Sis) Pelt Dy 4 it —~ 7 es § SY zs SH Fig. 2, 4, Netted string bag. 6, Ditte detail, o, Coiled string bag. d. Ditto detail. ® Woman's apron, tf, Ditta retail, The type of handle used with ‘‘erass’’ baskets and dillybags varies. These may be of one or more strands used separately or overwound to give strength (Roth 1901, Plate vii, fig. 7), The method of fastening also varies; e.g., the basal strands may be eaught together with other weaving strands to make a central core which is overwound, or separate strands may he passed directly through the basal strings on either side, overwound, and fastened in the centre by knotting or intertwining, Sometimes the handles are fastened more to one side of the mouth, so that the mouth falls open when in use (Text fig. la), allowing the hand to pass in and out easily and the dillybagw to lie flat on the hack. The handle is sometimes interwoven with jabiru-down to make it soft against the forehead, Handles of ‘‘erass’’ baskets are usually fastened ta the sides with a proteetive wedge of hark to break the strain of the handle on the basket, or a small stick may be used, which is more easily removed and renders the handle detachable. Women’s aprons (wa:ta), may be made from Micus, Acacta or Livistona twine, but usually from Meus whieh is softer, and may be coloured with red clay or stained yellow with the root or leaves of Alphistuna crotenoides or McCoNNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES i5 Morinda, citrifolia, whieh is used also for cleaning aprons and dillyhbags, when the colour is usually rubbed off afterwards. Aprons are made on a basal waist- string (Text fig. 2e-f) fron whieh lone loops of equal length are suspended in front and fastened by a single loop tu (he waist-string (Roth, 1901, Plate vil, fig. 4), The basal waisi-string is looped at oue end and the ends lett [ree at the other end for tying into the loop. When not in use, this apron ts rolled round a stick and fastened round with the loose ends of the waist-string, leaving the loop at the top for earrying, RITUAL AND DECORATIVE ART. Clothes in the Huropean sense ave non-existent. Men and womeu go iaked. Aprons are worn by women only on certain oceasions with a special sivnificance, A young girl (koman manya) first wears an apron when she returns to camp after separation at the onset of puberty, and after each ensuing separation for a similar reason, either as a mature girl (koman) or as a married woman (wantya piz’an). When a mother returns to her husband's eamp at the end of hier isola- tion during childbirth, she wears a brand new apron, bringing with her an offering of! yalis and fish, one dillybagful each for hersel’ and her husband and one trom the child to its father. Aprons are also worn by women on cerchiomal occasions, as when they take part in dances, and especially for the iourning danee. As healing, power-giving and protective charms, plain stvines are tied round the affeeted part, for headaches, pains in leg and stomach and siekness. Men wear stvings round arm or lez when hunting, and pregnant women wear them around the abdomen when diving for water lilies. Decorative strings are wort on ceremonial occasions. Both men and women wear shell nosepess (made from Megalotractus aruana), pearlshell pendants suspended from a string round the neek. Sueh neeklets and headbands of threaded discs are made of pearl: shell and Nautilus pompilius. Men wear pandanus-palm armiets, plain and plaited (Roth 1901, Plate iv), a large hollow wooden ear-cylinder (painted red and white and worn in the lobe of one ear, whieh is stretehed to hold it), or, leas usual, a collar of hght wood covered with beeswax and studded with scarlet élbrus seeds. Women wear cowrie shell girdles and cross-overs, These ornaments are mostly borrowed from the north and are not, properly spealsing, indigenous. Indigenous art is seen in plain and over-wonund striigs, strings iiterwoven willl posstun-fur and jabiru-feather down, threaded golden grass-bugles (Text fle, 3e), plaited yellow orehid-bark, local pearlshell necklets and headbands, and nowadays (when needle and cotton are available) strings of scarlet Abrus seeds. 16 RECORDS OF THE S.A, MUSEUM Women’s strings may be made completely circular for passing oyer the head, either of the required size or long enough to be doubled and redoubled a number of times; or they may be made of one or more strings fastened together at the ends by various devices, e.2., loose string at one end and a loop at the other, or with basal strings left free to tie back into the main string (doubled), or with the basal strings at either end overwound partway but left loose at the ends for tying (Text fig. 8e). The workmanship of these decorative strings is skilled Fig, 8, Shell drill and orhaments. a, Turritelia cerea drill for piercing shells. b, Nautilus shell nacklace. c. Necklace of grass bugles. d. Flat band ornament of Dendrobium orchid epidermis and string. e. Oyerwound strings worn as ornament. f. Pinetada margaritifera, a fragile peatly shell used in ornamental necklace making. and artistic. A small, fragile pearlshell (Pinclada marguritifera, Text fig. 3f) found on the Gulf shore is used instead of the coarser Nautilus pompilius to make a fine pearl necklet or headband, worn by men and women. Toles are drilled in the pearlshell by means of a spiral shell (Turrtfella cerea) which is fastened to the end of a stick (fixed so that the point is in a central position) and twisted between the hands like a firestick (Text fiz. 4a). The small pieces of shell, each with its eentre-hole, ave ground and sharpened by means of solidified shell- grit and then strung on twine which is twisted so that the rectangular pieces lie Hat (Text fig. 3b). The epidermis of the Dendrabium johannis orehid (wilted to yellow in the fire) is plaited in and ont of a strine-base to form a flat band (Text fig. 8d), which may be worn round the head or arm or leg by McCONNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 17 men, and long and doubled as a girdle or crossover breastlol by women, Sone- times twine is interwoven with soft white jabiru-down and, folded and twisted into a number of strands, worn as a crossover breastlet or girdle by the women, showing dazzlingly white against their brown skins. Golden vrass-bueles, fine and coarse, are gathered together into a number of strands and tied round the neck, or, folded over a number of times, passed over the head as crossovers and girdles, or sometimes in single strand worn hanging from the head down the back for mourning. ee cal at irene om 7 r YOUTH Tee rarer Tm TN Fig. d. a. Betrothal ring of string, overwound. b. Loyer’s string, dyed red. ¢. Umbilical cord in wax pendant, decorated with yellow orchid bark stripes. d. Widow’s string nock ornament with wax balls decorated with red Abrus seeds fastened with beeswax. In addition to these decorative strings, worn for ceremonial purposes in general, strings are used also for specific purposes. The most common of these is the cireular overwound plain string worn as a crossover (single or doubled) for mourning; the crossover goes over neck and underarm, i.e., across the breast. It is worn by widows but is not compulsory. The compulsory widow’s string is made of overwound twine, with blobs of beeswax at the ends. It is worn round the neck, fastened in front, with the ends crossed again at the back and hanging down behind. Sometimes the beeswax blobs are studded with scarlet seeds and have the basal strands left loose for tying so as to make the necklet more secure (Text fig. 4d). The wearing of the widow's string is compulsory until mourning ends. If it should wear out, it must be replaced, but the old one must be kept also. If a widow should lose her mourning necklet and be seen walking about without it, she would be killed by her husband’s relatives. 18 RECORDS OF THE S.A. MUSEUM A small plain ring (Text fig. 4a), made in the same overwound technique, is used in the betrothal ceremony as a symbol of the promise made by a woman to give her daughter in marriage to a man. In this ceremony her head is covered with a sheet of bark (on account of the strict taboo existing between son-in-law and mother-in-law), as, accompanied by another woman (acting as proxy for the promised daughter) she encircles the man seated on the ground and places the ring over a tuft of his hair and hangs a dillybag over his head. The betrothal ring is kept by the man as a surety for his promised bride. When the marriage takes place the ring is placed under honey in a bark vessel, as the last payment due to future mother- and father-in-law. A lover’s string (manenka), made of several fine strands of twine, plain or knotted and coloured with red clay (Text fig. 4b), is sent by a woman to her lover by the hand of this man’s half-sister, in whom she can confide. On receipt of it, the lover sends her back a message arranging a rendezvous, saying: ‘* You ’? and they meet at the time and pretend to go for yams, and I will go hunting, place arranged. A baby’s umbilical cord (which it is considered essential to preserve), finished with a wax pendant striped with yellow orchid bark (Text fig. 4c) is hung around a baby’s neck when it is presented to its father, on the occasion of the mother’s return to her husband’s camp after childbirth. The father accepts the child as his own and as a member of his clan, anoints its face with his sweat so that the clan spirits will recognise it as ‘‘belonging.’’ Later the child is given a name identifying it with a clan totem through a ‘‘namesake,”’ who acts as its guardian should anything happen to its father. THE USE OF CLAYS IN RITUAL. In ritual and ceremonial art the use of coloured clays is unlimited. Painted on the body, clays are used with an endless variety of meanings according to the ritual and the ceremony concerned. In everyday life clays are used in sickness to cool the body. When a baby is presented to its father, a white streak is painted down its nose (the significance of which I am uneertain) and the child is also rubbed with charcoal to cover any remaining lightness of skin. At the betrothal ceremony, a white streak is placed on the abdomen of the girl’s mother’s brother, denoting his relationship to her through the mothei, and his responsibility for his sister’s promise; the girl’s father touches the man’s head with his spearthrower as a gesture of subjection and the girl’s brother rubs chests with him as a sign of his acceptance of the pledge. In initiation cere- monies, women paint their bodies (Plate vi, fig. d) in a manner signifying their McCONNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 19 relationship to the initiates, e.@., ‘‘mothers’’ paint their breasts with red and white clay and hold the breast as if to feed, symbolising a maternal relationship: a ‘father’s sister’? paints a circle on her shoulder and holds her hand there in the attitude of steadying a child by the knee when carrying it on her shoulder, whilst a ‘sister’? paints her lees with white stripes and holds her hand behind ler head in the manner of supporting a baby’s back, when carrying it on the shoulder. Sometimes two or all of these syvnbols and attiludes are combined to signify a variety of relationships on the part of one woman. bi moureing dances, women of the deceased's clan and moiety paint their faces and bodies with red and white clay, and wear the inournime strings, apron, and other ornaments alluded to above, Tn all saered ritnal and ceremonial, red and white clays are used by the men to denote the peculiar significance of (he ceremony. Totemic emblems are painted on the bodies of the men who take part in the ritual of their own totemic clans. For example, men of the bony-bream clan have a male and female fish paintd on their ehests, men of the euss-euss opossum elan are covered in white spots, and men of the tortoise elan have a tortoise painted in white elay on the baek, ete, A white mark down the abdoisen denotes the female of the species, In the bony-bream ceremory, the male and female bony-bream appear covered respectively in red or white clay, according as each “‘steps ont’’ of a hloodwood or a milkwood tree. In addition to clays, feathers are used, e.2., as headdresses, held together with gum or wax, Wax is used for modellinz—as in the ease of the figurine of a baby (Plate v, fie. f, and Plate xvii, fig. 1). Wood also is used, e.e., for making ceremonial objects such as the bull-roarer (Plate v, fig. a), wooden phallus (Plate v, fig. d), ete, Bark is used for representing various objects, such as a fish carried in the beak of a bird (Plate vy, fig, e, and Plate vi, fig. b), pulwatya, ete. There is no end to the uses made of such available materials, of which the examples quoted are but an inadequate indication. RELIGION AND DRAMA. The creative talent of these people is revealed not only in their (echnical skill and jyeenuity in the manufaeture and the artistic finish of objects of everydas use, and their decorative and ritualistie art, but is seen to perfection in the dramatic portrayal of religious beliefs associated with the eults of their elan totems or pulivaiya, Kor behind all these eeonomie activities, and the ritual attending the crises of life, behind the sanctions which govern mental attitudes and behaviour patterns, even behind all natural phenomena, beneficial or other- wise, lies the belief in a spirit world, conceived in terms of these pu/maiya, 20 RECORDS OF THE S.A, MUSEUM Whose abode is known, who permeate all reality and are the souree of all that exists, who control and maintain all forms of life and inherent capacities, and whose creative and inventive activities ‘'in the beginnine’' (ke:nka) established the world as it is today and who sanctioned the present social order, These traditional beliefs absorbed implicitly by one generation after another, are made exphieit in the social consciousness by means of ritual and the recital and dramatic portrayal of the prowess and creative powers of the pulwaiya. It is only in the light of sueh beliefs that present activities and skills ean be properly evaluated. Every eult, whether it be associated with food supplies, forees of nature or with human attributes, has its **story,’’ its drama and ritual and its auwa, Where natural and human factors are merged by the incarnation of the human pulwaiya in some material form, Bach auwa is marked by a tree, water-hole or antbed, in which the pulwarya resides aid Whence its ereative power emanates. On the upper Kendall River, where the fresh-water bream breed, is a small circle of antbeds with a line of them Jeading from these spirit-camps down to the water-hole. On the upper Areher River a small cirele of antbeds marks the auwwe of the euss-cuss opossuin, All such shrines are kept in order and swept with branches and revered as the abode of the pulwaiya is felt to he there, At the mouth of the Tokali River—at the auwa of viya nospan, the rock python, the trees on which the spirit-snakes sun themselves are sacred and must not be touched for fear of creating a bush-fire. Sweat must be smeared on strangers who approach so that they may be recognised by oiya no:pan as ‘‘frienda,"’ On the Great Dividing Range in which these rivers rise, where stones and rocks are plentiful, these auwa often are marked by stones, e.e., the rock-cod family marked by three stones (father, mother and child), and the kangaroo puliwaiya by a line of stones crossing a ridge with a larger ‘‘old man’’ in the lead (MeConnel 1931), Though separately conceived, all these cults are implicitly comprehensive and complementary and together cover the whole field of man’s orientation to reality in all its forms, Only those eults associated with ceremonial objects shown im this collection are deseribed here, for the better understanding of the nature and funetion of these objects. Incidentally, these erlts deal with two most important. aspects of social life: (i) the source of food supplies; (ii) the erises of life, associated with the sex relationships and childbirth. A. The cult of Wolkolan, the bony-bream pulwaiya, Members of the bony-bream clan are the custodians of this cult. lWvery year, when the bony-bream come up the river to breed, word is sent to neigh- bouring clans to come for the fishing season and share in the proeeeds of the McCoONNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND [NDUSTRIKS 21 hunt. Wolhkolan has his abode (auwa) in a small ereek off the lower Archer River, where a spring breaks through the bank into a waterhole, in which the bony-breain breed. Here a ritual for the inerease of the bony-bream periodieally takes place. With stamping of feet and hitting of the surrounding trees in whieh the spirits of the bomy-bream reside, men eall upon Wolkslan to send out a plentiful supply of bony-bream into the river for men to spear for food, 'The measure of the response of Wofkolan to this ‘‘awakening’’ ritual dramatic: ally was revealed to an imitiate of this ¢lan during the uutiation ceremony, a ritual which I was permitted to attend. Tn response to the rhythmie chanting and elapping of hands eame an answering call as the female spirit of the bony- bream emerged from a group of trees, She was covered from head to foot in white clay (having ‘‘stepped out"’ from a milkwood tree), She was crowned with a semi-circle of feathers of the peewit (an associated clan pulwatya), her body was riddled with the spears of her slayers. She staggered forward to the rhythmie chanting (legs and arms outstretched and head falling forward). She paused now and then, only to be called into action again by the chanters, Beside her stood Wolkalan, covered with red clay (having ‘‘stepped out’’ of a bloodwood tree), Kneeling at the feet of Wollolan, a suppliant, with a feather fan, raised (by sleight of hand) the wooden phallus into creative activity in response to his people's call for a plentifyl supply of bony-hream (Plate v, fiz. d). Innate in this dramatic portrayal of the pulwaiya answering the call of this people, staggering tinder Spear wounds inflicted through a willing inear- nation as bony-bream, slain that people may eat and live, lies the belief in a beneficent and creative deity and a spirit of voluntary self-sacrifice, For a full description of this cult see MeConnel (1935), B. The cult of the ''Bull-roarers.'' This eult. ig not confined to one clan or tribe but is a series of eults, asso- ciated hy their own inner logic with one another, each with its own auwa and pwhwaiya, and each concerned with one aspect of the phases through which a woman passes in her development from (a) a girl entering puberty (koman manye) to (b) amature girl (koman), (ec) a married woman (wantya piz’an), (4) aw married woman who has given birth to a child (kafa), The bull-roarers vary (in order of the above) from (a) a small, plain leaf-like piece of wood (moiya) to (b) one similar but larger (pakapaka), (c) a larger one coloured red with white splotehes (moipaka) which is one of a pair (husband and wife), the male being phallie-shaped and painted red with long white stripes and dots, and (d) a female motpaka similar m shape but painted red with white stripes 22 RECORDS OF THE S.A. MusEUM across, Which is used (Plate vy, fig. 4) in association with the ritual of 4 woman with a child (ka:tu) (Plate v, fiw. f), the latter being represented by a wax figurine of a newborn male baby, complete with eyes (searlet seeds), teeth, pubie hair, ete., lying on the abdomen of the “first woman’? (Plate v, fig, {). The ‘*bull-roarers’’ moiya aud pakapaka ave swung respectively by youny initiates at the end of the first part and at the close of the Ustyanam ceremony; the first motpuke is swung by men for married women, and the last motpahu in association with the ritual of childbirth. Hach has its own story of origin, its rittal and drama, and its place in relation to social life. The dramatic presentation of these symbolic ideas concerning the ‘* bull- roarers’’ and their auc was vivid and arresting, coming as it did without any expectation on my part. These dramatic seenes are deseribed here just as they were witnessed by me. (a) A koman manya vehemently swung the moiya whilst other /omean ‘manya lay stretched on the ground—they represented those who had gone down into their auwea; after hiding the motya in a erack in a bloodwood tree ‘‘for men to use,"’ she too went down into her auwa. (b) The pakapaka was swung by a oman (white elay on breasts to indicate her sex), whilst the wetyana (initiates) stood hand in hand apparently listening. The marks on the wstyane were those used for initiates in the U styanam ceremony (MeConnel 1935). It is from these ‘‘eirl’? awa (girls having first possessed the motya and the pakapaha) that the power of awakening adolescence and maturity are believed to come in response to the swinging of the ‘*bull- roarers’’ by the welyane, who now assert their claims over the swineine of (he ‘“bull-roarers’’ relinquished by the girls, (e) A line of fieures he prone on the ground with arms outstretched and hands interlocking, on the abdomen of one of which (wantya piz’an) lies the female moipaha. She represents a married woman, as yet without child. The motpake (man and wife), having found each other, have entered a state of married life. The female moipake is swune by a man for ‘‘married woman,” invoking the virility from this auwe. (d) A line of figures similarly lying, on the abdomen of one of which is ka:ta, the wax figurine of a new-born male baby. This represents the first birth. The figures on one side of the woman with a child are the first men who inhabited the earth and who were growing old with no one to replace them: those on the other side of ‘the woman with a child’ are those who, coming after this event, are born of woman in the ordinary way, A mau at the end of the line swings & motpaka, The idea symbolically presented here is ''the continuity of life McCONNEL—NATIVE ARTS AND INDUSTRIES 23 ”) through birth, and its first coming. The interlocking of hands denotes conti- nuity, and the swinging of the moipaka preservation of that continuity. (e) The female moipaka pulwaiya sits with her child on her knee (the first child ever created) with her husband beside her, the three together representing the institution of family life. Sitting thus in their camp, the moipaka pulwayu father, mother and child go down into their awwa, whence more babies now come. From these ‘‘bull-roarer’’ awwa are believed to emanate those mystie forces intimately concerned with the maintenance of sex relationships, which the “‘bull-roarers’’ symbolise, and the sanctions which govern their social strati- fication (MeConnel 1935). The primitive symbolism of these cults should not mislead us into under- estimating their psychological and sociological value. They are the means by which individual experience is socialised and made explicit in the social con- sciousness. They are a basic support of social structure and the conerete expression of abstract ideas such as we are accustomed to express in more sophisticated language, with the accumulated knowledge of thousands of years enabling us to do so. The ethnological specimens upon which the foregoing analysis is based are in the South Australian Museum under the registered numbers listed here. Duplicates of many of these specimens have been passed to the Australian Museum, the University of Sydney (Department of Anthropology), and the University of Queensland. SPECIMENS SHOWING OUTSIDE INFLUENCE. A.42055. Drum (Plate vii, fig, a). This is a hollow wooden cylinder, slightly tapered; over larger end-hole is stretched skin of a lizard; beaten by hand—palm of hand for deep notes and fingers for lighter sounds—used with one or both ends closed, as in Papua. It is used in ceremonial dance of totemic hero Sivrt, the seagull, among the T'yonandyi tribe (Batavia River), who is said to have introduced it trom the Torres Straits; not found south of Archer River. A.42066-67. Bows (Plate vii, fig. Im). Specimens used in dances asso- ciated with cults of totemic hero Sivri. (Tyonandyi tribe, Batavia River). Not found south of Archer River. : A.42068-69. Arrows (Plate vii, fig. n-o). The points of these arrows are missing. They are used with the above bows. A.42056-57, SueLtL Nose-Pec (Plate vii, fig. b-c). Wikmuykan name ha:wovyama. Nose ornament pierced through hole in nose; made from Megala- 24 RECORDS OF THE S.A. MuSEUM tractus aruanus or Turritella cocea? This specimen is from Kendall, Holroyd and Archer Rivers area. A.42058-59, SuEtt Penvants (Plate vii, fig. d-e), Semi-lunate or oblong pearlshell ornament, worn mostly by men suspended from neck; pearlshell usually traded in from east coast and the Torres Straits, These specimens are from Kendall, Holroyd and Archer Rivers area, A.42063. Dancing Sximr (Plate vii, fig. i). The skirt is made from strips of hibiseus bark and worn by men in dances. Found north of Archer River; associated with the Batavia River hero cults of Sturt the seagull and Nywngu the Torres Straits pigeon, said to have been introduced by them. A.42060. SuEut Neckuet (Plate vii, fig. f). Wikmunkan name wastakuspa, The necklet is made of rectangular pieces of nautilus shell strung together; the shell is traded from Hast Coast and Torres Straits. Specimen collected from Kendall, Holroyd and Archer Rivers area, A, No specimen, Ear Ornament. 20 mm., the smallest 21 13 mm.; all except one have some of the matrix attached. The outer surface is smooth and unpitted, and some mineralization has occurred, but there is no trace of weathering. Thickness 10mm. A27920 consists of 22 pieces, the largest 24 22 mm.; the other fragments are mostly smaller than those of A28103. The outer surface is smooth with some evidence of pitting. Some fragments have a dark stain, but all appear to be slightly less mineralized than A28103. Thickness 1°3mm. A28043 is a single fragment 22 % 23 mm, and about 1-5 mm, thick. Both surfaces are covered with a limey incrustation. To attempting to discover whether abrasion and weathering of a fresh egg of an Emu would result in a similar surface texture, an average-sized specimen, 188 > 91mm. and 1mm. in thickness, was rubbed with sandpaper until the coarse granulations were removed. It was found that the thickness of the shell was reduced to only 0:8-0-9 mm,, and that the general texture of the shell showed little resemblance to the fragments under notice, From comparisons made the fragments are shown to have no partieular resemblance to any egg of a modern species. Curvature and thickness suggest an egg larger than that of the Emu (Dromains novae-hollandiae) and it is possible that some species of fossil ratite (Genyornis, Dromornis, ete.) is involved. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EXTINCT FOSSIL MAMMALS AND ABORIGINES The sole extinct. mammal bone found im situ in Layer A which can be de- duced as affording positive evidence of large extinct animals contemporary with people of Pirrian times is a lower jaw of Procoptodon with the two rami still joined together, found in a fragile state, in situ during the 1939 study. It is of course possible, since some erosion of bed B evidently had oceurred before the deposition of bed A, that this was a disturbed fossil, brought up by accident on to Layer A, rather than an animal killed in Pirrian time. However, its presence appears significant. During the present author’s second brief visit to the area part of an articulated leg which probably was that of a large bird, of the style TINDALE — ARCHAEOLOGICAL Sirk IN New SourH WALES 289 of Genyornis, was noted in situ in A; owing to an oversight this example was not collected by Professor Stirton’s party. The vast majority of the larger mammal bones are ones found on the surface, a few on A, usually where eroded down towards its base, but the bulk were lying on Bed B. Hence they might appear to have been contemporary principally with the relics of the implement industry here tentatively identified as Tar- tungan. Burned bones were found in Bed B indicating man had snbjected animal bones to fire. Plate Ih shows an excellent example. The figure is of part of the right side of the rear part of a skull of the size of Pracoptodon in the region of the orbit, This bone, its species not yet identified, was found by KR. H. Tedford (his No. 62) as a loose specimen, or ‘‘float’’? on Layer B in Area IIT; it has matrix of Layer B still remaining attached, hence its horizon should not be in doubt, This matrix is posterior in time to the burning of the bone. The presence of the bones and stone implements in apparent association in the one area could be fortuitous, and there are undoubted difficulties in the inter- pretation of all sites which have been exposed by wind erosion with consequent slumping of remains from one horizon to another, for despite every care in gathering the material, errors of interpretation undoubtedly ean arise, Hence there is every reason to regard as tentative, the conclusion reached here, that the presence of so many animal bones together with native implements reqtires the particular explanation that at least some of the bones were brought together on surfaces of Layer B as food by early aboriginal hunters, The Layer B hunters secmingly left relatively few implements but many animal bones, The suc- ceeding Pirrian people left abundant traces of occupation in the form of imple- ments, but relatively fewer traces of the animals they hunted. COLLECTIONS FROM OTHER SITES IN THE DISTRICT During the 1939 visit, heavy rains interrupted the field work. During inter- ludes in the rain several sites nearer to Menindee township, on the Darling River, were examined. Beds which seemed to represent the three horizons, O; A and B were identified and further material collected. The results of these brief reconnaissanees were given separate field marks in which Bed W=0, X—A and Y —B, these identifications being based on lithological similarities, which should be confirmed by further study. The principal sites were; (a) 2m. W. of Menindee township, (b) 14m. S. of Menindee township, (¢) 14m. N--W, of the Lake Menindee railroad cutting, (d) 18m. N.-W. of the Lake Menindee railroad cutting, 290 Recorps or THE S.A. Museum The ‘‘eutting’’ referred to is one where the railroad from Broken Hill, after skirting the shore of Lake Menindee, turns slightly to the east and cuts obliquely across the lake dunes towards Menindee township. The new (1953) highway, which avoids the Lake, instead of traversing its floor, crosses the railroad to the south side, just beyond the eastern end of this cutting. The results of these reconnaissanees yielded no data inconsistent with that from the main site. A few examples of the material therefore have been drawn to attention in the body of this paper and one specimen has been figured. At the site 12 miles north-west of Lake Menindee Cutting on the windblown sand of the equivalent of the top surface of Layer O and extending slightly over on to a patch of umeroded A surface there is a Post-Huropean campsite, possibly associated with the time of construction of the railroad. Here also were a few aboriginal hearths with some long blades, fresh wombat and rodent bones, fresh-water shells, pieces of red ochre, erude flakes and some remains of clay pipes such as were traded to and much used by aborigines in the period 1840-1880, There were neither microliths nor pirrd implements on this site. GENERAL DISCUSSION The presence of several suites of implements on the Lake Menindee site which can be matched with ones from elsewhere encourages speculation as to their historical significance. In this the indications furnished by the excavations at Devon Downs and Tartanga some 300 miles downstream on the same river system are considered pertinent, The microliths derived from Layer O are the same as those found in the Mudukian levels of Devon Downs Cave. Present day wiod blown surface sands — ~~ . flexed bundle burial iv Oo & & microliths cooking*hearth of 200 stones | ( (h pie polots . 7 H mppermost Se Procoptodon se fossil mammals : i 7 Fig. 11, Diagrammatic summary of relationships of principal finds at Lake Menindee. TINDALE — ARCHAEOLOGICAL StTrE IN NEw SoutH WALES 291 The implements found in and on the eroded surfaces of A are comparable with the Pirrian Industry of Devon Downs, The suite of implements of Layer A dropped on to the uneroded surface of B may run as high as 25 per cent, in actual prrri implements, which would be reearded as a reasonable proportion ou quite typical Pirrian sites, The relatively lacee implements of Layer B whieh uppear where the bed is well exposed, seem to have aftinities with those called Tartangan on the Murray River, although there are a few examples of karta- like implements which might be equated with the limited suites of implements of the Kartan (and allied Fulham Industry). A generalized summary of the findings at Lake Menindee is given as Fig. 11. The time interval involved between Layer B times and the present cannot at the moment be assessed with any great exactitude. It is hoped that some Carbon 14 determinations may soon become available for the corresponding sequences at Devon Downs and Tartanga. These may throw some light on the age of the Lake Menindee finds. The orly real elue so far available for Tartanga itself is based on the fact that the remains in the Tartangan beds became mineralized by immersion in water after they were deposited. This could have taken place during the Post- Glacial high-sea-leyel period, since the Tartanga site would then have been ‘drowned’? and would have remained so through the period of high-sea levels, From this it has been deduced that Tartangan relics probably were deposited in the earlier half of the Recent Period with a terminal date indicated by Post- Glavial High Terrace time. On this basis the Pirrian eulture which appears to have succeeded the Tartangan might have followed immediately after this mid- Reeent episode. If this is substantiated by further work it may he possible to see the extinction of the older Australian mammal fauna as a gradual process brought about ulmost as inuch by the increasing toll of aboriginal hunters as by climatic vagaries in mid-Recent time. If the very tentative time interpretation worked out for Tartangan is applied to the Lake Menindee Site the eontinued presence of relics of aboriginal occupation in bed A certainly imphes that any climatic changes involved during the formation of the bed were sufficiently moderate to permit of periodic returns by man to Lake Menindee, each time the lake became refilled with water, and the continued presence of man in the vicin- ity implies water was never very far away. Looking further afield the evidence from Lake Menindee is in general harmony with data suggesting that the Mudukian and Pirrian Industries were widespread in parts of Australia, both along the coast and inland and that where both have occurred the Mudukian with its microliths was later in time than the Pirrian, 292 Records OF THE S.A. MusEUM The particular phase of the Mudukian Industry which oceurs in coastal New South Wales has been separated by McCarthy (1939, etc.) as a separate industry (the Bondaian) implying that it represented a separate coastal indus- try. However, typical Mudukian implements are ‘‘coastal’’ on the Coorong and at Penong in South Australia and the particular bondi points on which stress has been laid in distinguishing the coastal Bondaian Industry occur well into the interior of the continent, for examples at sites near Wiluna, at 62 miles north-west of Leonora, and at Smithsonia Waters, in Western Australia where they were found by Dr. J. B. Birdsell last year. These sites are unquestionably normal Mudukian ones. It is possible that the curious bondi points are really triangular needle points, used in piercing skins, when sewing them together for rugs and skin cloaks. It is likely that in parts of eastern New South Wales as also in parts of South Western Australia and limited areas of Queensland the Mudukian (or Bondaian) was still the implement culture of the living aborigines at the time of white settlement; although it was undervoing replacement. by the Murundian culture with axes, blades and erude adze flakes, it was still influenced by Mudu- Fig. 12. Hafted mierolithie discoidal adze, as used by the Maranganji natives of Peechall Creek, near Charleville, Queensland (example collected in 1886; A.31089 in 5, Aust. Museum). TINDALE — ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN NEw SourH WALES 298 kian survivals, Apropos of this it seems of some little interest to note that micro- lithic discoidal adzes or vhisels of the Mudukian culture phase survived, as functional implements, in the present-day ewitore of Western Queensland, There is an excellent example in our collection (Fig. 12) showing the mode of hafting einployed, This adze and another were collected by Miss Dryer in J886 from members of the Maranganji tribe at Beachall Creek (on the present Bierbank Station, 75 miles west south-west of Charleville), The second example, from the same place, lacks the stone but retains the impression of the butt of the microbth in the gum of the haft. Tests have shown that the long, slender handle (19+5 centimetres) provided exceptional control and balance for the adze, which seem- ingly could serve equally well as a chisel and graver in making the shallow grooves on implements, dishes and shields characteristic of the area. The Pirrian Industry has not yet been found to occur in the coastal areas of HKastern Australia. ‘he south-east-most localities as at present established are on the Coorong and near Mt, Gambier in South Anstralia and the most easterly in New South Wales is near Goondiwindi on the upper reaches of the Darlmg River. The westward and northern distribution of the Tndustry is now well established, since they have been turned up in Arnhem Land by Macintosh (1951) while Father Wurms recently has reported pirri-like implements from Dampier Peninsula, north of Broome. | have examined some of his specimens, True pirri have been found by J. B. Birdsell and myself in the past year as occurring archaeologically over large areas in North Western Australia and the implements survived as a functional type of spear point until modern times in the Pilbara area of Western Australia, particularly among some people in the vicinity of the Hamersley Ranges. There are several hafted examples in this and other Museums which will be more fully deseribed and diseussed in a separate paper. IJ, becomes possible to conceive that the surviving implement culture in some parts of Western Australia to-day is Pirrian and that further north the projectile point element of the industry evolved into the pressure- flaked spear point of the Worora, Ungarinjin, Djatu, Kitja and Wandjira, tribe- people of North Western Australia, We have an archaeological sequence at Moola Bulla, North Western Australia, which substantiates this, Notably missing from among the implements recovered at Lake Menindee are forms of edge-ground stone axe. This lack may have been fortuitous, but a relatively large area Was searehed and the absence is perhaps significant. It seems to be in line with indications at Tartanga and Devon Downs, admittedly on the very periphery of distribution of axes, that Mudukian mierolithie sites lack edge-ground axes, which appear only in the subsequent Murundian horizon, perhaps indieating a late arrival of the edge-ground axe in this part of Australia. 294 Recorps oF THE S.A. Museum The supposed ‘‘throwing stones’’ found at Lake Menindee are similar to ones found elsewhere in Southern Australia, both as to dimensions and weights. Jn the living culture their function is a known one as indicated by the general name, ‘‘throwing stone’’ applied to them. Their distribmtion, ete., is to be the subject of a separate paper, A Wailpi tribe term for them is [*mara] which elsewhere is a root-word for ‘‘hand’’. Fig. 6a shows a subspherical example of such a mara in milky quartz, which weighs 137 grams. This weight is slightly less than the mean of those in our collection. The filling of Lake Menindee oceurred in 1950 after phenomenal rains in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Mr. B. Mason, of the Common- wealth Meteorological Service has kindly supplied some notes on this unusual happening : “The year 1949 was wet in Queensland and New South Wales. Every river in both States was in flood, By the end of the year all the catchment areas of the Darling River showed rain records 20 to 30 per cent. above average. The year 1950 was even wetter, and by the end of the year all districts had had from two to two-and-one-half times their normal rainfall. “Tn 1950 Darling River floods reached Menindee in April and by the end of the month the mark was 9 inches above flood level. It continued so for 13 months. Peak of the flood level, at 9 feet 4 inches was at the end of October, 1950. The long continuous period of flooding was most unusual. ‘‘Records show that rainfall conditions similar to those which filled Lake Menindee in 1950, forcing the deviation of the old road across its bed, occurred in 1879 and 1890, There is evidently a lip over which the waters spill into the lake only at the highest flood level. There were lesser floods in the Darling in 1908 and 1921. The only other indications of unusual rainfall which might have a bearing, is the legendary account, from the coast of northern New South Wales, of very heavy rains at the end of the 18th century.’’ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The field work of the Harvard and Adelaide Universities Anthropological Expedition of 1938-389 was made possible by grants from the South Australian Government, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the University of Adelaide and the Board of the South Australian Museum. The field work described in this paper was done in company with Dr. J. B. Birdsell. Although his name does not appear as co-author much of the spade work was shared with him and full acknowledgment is made of his contribution to the work. The implications of the finds were discussed with him and the TINDALE — ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN NEw SouTtH WaALEs 295 appearance of this paper is in no small measure a tribute to his encouragement. Nevertheless, any errors in it are to be attributed to the present author, The second visit to Lake Menindee was made possible through Prof. R. A. Stirton, who devoted part of a grant-in-aid from the Associates in Tropical Bio- graphy, University of California, to the journey. He and Mr. R. H. Tedford obtained additional material as well as many mammal bones for study. Mr. R. TH. Tedford supplied identifications of mammals. Mr. B. Mason, of the Commonwealth Meteorological Service, provided data on the phenomenal rains which filled Lake Menindee in 1950. Mr. H. Condon kindly examined some remains of eggs, and the identification of the fresh water shells was made by Mr. B. C. Cotton. Miss M. Boyce and Mr. H. Burrows are responsible for some of the drawings illustrating this paper; warm appreciation is expressed for their contributions. REFERENCES CITED. Cooper, H. M. (1954) : Rec. 8. Aust. Mus., Adelaide, xi, pp. 91-97. Hale, H. M. and Tindale, N. B. (1930): Ree. 8S. Aust. Mus., Adelaide, iv, pp. 145— 218. MeCarthy, F. D. (1939) : Aust. Journ. Sct., Sydney, I, pp. 39-40. McCarthy, F. D. (1951) : Oceania, Sydney, xxi, pp. 205-213. McCarthy, F. D. (1951) : Journ. Polynesian Soc., Wellington, 63, pp. 243-261. Macintosh, N. W. G. (1951) : Oceania, Sydney, xxi, pp. 178-204. Movius, H. L. (1940): Britannica Book of the Year, 1940. Archaeology— Eastern Hemisphere, pp. 56-57. Stirton, R, A. (1954) : Pacifie Discovery, Berkeley, vii, (2), pp. 3-138. 296 RECORDS OF THE S.A. MusEUM DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXV. a. Possible bone compressor on eroded B in Area I; with adhering matrix of B. b. Bone point found in B on Area I with some matrix still retained on it. ¢e-d. Tips of pointed bones, found on B in Area II (R.A.S. No. 4589); show adhering par- ticles of Layer A. e. Tip of implement on B in Area IV. f. Two parts of bone implement, on B in Area II (R.A.S. No. 4592); shows matrix of Layer A. g. Complete bone implement on B in Area III. h. Burnt bone with incrustation of Layer B found on B in Area IV (R.H.T. No. 62). i. Typical jaw fragment showing probable traces of burning; on Layer B in Area III. Ree. S.AL Must Vou. XL Phare XXWV HONE RIADATNS PROM MIEN TN Tbe, TINDALE — ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE Is NEw Sourn WALES 297 SUPPLEMENT A. THE HUMAN REMAINS, The principal human remains found in 1939 are listed below. No attempt has been made to stndy them. A.27712 was a partly mineralized human skeleton found at Area I in a cir- cular pit dug through the lower part of A into Layer B, and situated immediately to the east of the measured section. The hole contained the soil of Layer A, indi- cating burial from a horizon in the upper part of A. The burial was in a flexed position, having been buried in the upright squatting position, pelvis to the north-east and knees to the south-west, Only the lower part of the trunk was im silw; the bones of the upper half of the body had partly disintegrated and were scattered over the adjacent eroded surface of B. A.27759 comprised parts of an incomplete skeleton lying at the junction of A and B beds in Area IT. A.27763 consisted of bones of at least two persons lying on the surfaee of searcely eroded B near to a hearth on the uneroded top surface of B. This hearth was tm situ and tashioned from many transported stones. (A photograph suggests over 200 stones were present. ) A.27770 was the burial of a child lying on an eroded surface of B at the western end of Area IIL (approximately at the position shown with a cross in the 1953 survey of Area IIT). The remains were spread over an area of a diameter of 3 metres. It is estimated that 0-5 m. of bed B had been eroded from the area. The child may have been buried from a horizon in A but there is no evidence to contradict an even later interment from Layer O. A.27725 consisted of fragmentary portions of the skeleton of a child found in Area I in an eroded area 1-3 metres below the level of the upper surface of B at a point 109 metres W. of the measured section. Some of the bones seem to have adhesions of the matrix of Layer B. A.27734 consisted of seattered human bone fragments found on the surface of B in Area I, 155 metres W. of the measured section. The bones were mixed with various mammal bones scattered over an area of 3 metres diameter. The mammal bones showed more concretionary adhesions and appeared older than the human remains. A.27752 was a burial the bones of which were scattered widely in Area IT on top surface of barely eroded bed B, being evidently derived from A or above, A.27752 was a burial near the eastern end of Area IJ, the bones of which had become scattered on the top surface of slightly eroded B. Seemingly it had been 298 Recorps or THE §,A, Museum derived from A or above. A hearth in the uppermost B horizon at this point suggested occupation at an earlier period when Layer B was being formed. A.27755 comprised parts of an adult cranial vault lying on bed B which had eroded to approximately 0:3 metres below the red A bed which was here 0-6 metre thick, Evidently the bones had weathered out from the level of top B, but must have been buried from a horizon either in A or above. A.27757 a ‘‘floating’’ fragment of a right parietal on B in the centre of the blown out Area II was lying among some mammal bones (A.27758). A.27774 was a burial in the central part of eastern end of Area IL. Remains of it were spread on wneroded B. Two burials still in situ. were obtained by Stirton, Tedford and the writer during the 1953 visit. They were both in Area IV, The first was the bundle burial of a flexed individual (field No. 41), which was buried from a high level in Layer O into its base; a cireular hole had been dug, a small amount of burned material or highly carbonized vegetable debris was in the bottom of the hole. The parcelled body had had an arm broken and passed through the pelvic girdle, before burial; there was the remains of a piece of wood over the region of the head. On the wind eroded surface of Layer O, beside this skeleton, was a white discoidal microlith. Others were found on the surface of Layer O in the vicinity ; all being exposed by the blowing away of portions of Layer O. Where this Layer had been much eroded, they increased in numbers. This burial is figured at the top of page 5 in the account by Stirton (1954). The second burial (field No, 42) was situated 8 metres S.W. of the first. The skeleton lay on its left side, knees folded at right angles to body with head pointing N.N.W. This burial was in a deposit of a coarser red sandy nature than the first and had been buried from a surface in a red earthy layer. It was demonstrated by Tedford, after the present writer bad returned to Adelaide, that this red earth was Layer A, hence the strong probability exists that this burial is to be assoviated with the period of an upper level of bed A, The grave earth was slightly indurated; the original burial pit was cireular, 1:0 & 1:1 metres in diameter. The bones were much decayed but portions including the calvarium and the right humerus were salvaged. This find is figured on the lower part of page 5 of the account by Stirton (1954). REPORT ON THE EXTINCT MAMMALIAN REMAINS AT LAKE MENINDEE, NEW SOUTH WALES BY RICHARD H. TEDFORD, MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, C'ALIFORNIA Summary In 1939, while engaged in the work of the Harvard-Adelaide Universities Anthropological Expedition, Dr. J. B. Birdsell, then of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, and Mr. N. B. Tindale, representing University of Adelaide, discovered human remains and associated extinct marsupials at Lake Menindee along the Darling River in Western New South Wales. The discovery as made in connection with other studies in the area and only a few days were available for an investigation of the site. At that time, however, these workers were able to map and make a small collection of fossil remains and a larger one of artifacts from two of the exposures as well as explore the extent of the fossiliferous deposits on the northern shore of the then dry Lake Menindee. A notice of this discovery was made by H. L. Movius in 1940. World War II interrupted further investigation planned at that time. REPORT on tHe EXTINCT MAMMALIAN REMAINS av LAKE MENINDEE, NEW SOUTH WALES By RICHARD H. TEDFORD (Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Kerkeley, California), Ly 1939, while engaged in the work of the Harvard-Adelaide Universities Anthro- pological Expedition, Dr. J. B, Birdsell, then of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, and Mr. N, B. Tindale, representing the University of Adelaide, dis- covered human remains and associated extinct marsupials at Lake Menindee along the Darling River in Western New South Wales. The discovery was made in connection with other studies in the area and only a few days were available for an investigation of the site. At that time, however, these workers were able to map and make a small collection of fossil remains and a larger one of artifacts from two of the exposures as well as explore the extent of the fossiliferons deposits on the northern shore of the then dry Lake Menindee.