Page:Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales.djvu/9

Rh I cannot do better than describe a Bora camp, with its circles and other ajduncts [sic], at which I was present in 1895, of which I have prepared an accurate plan from a survey made by me at the time. This camp was situated on the left bank of Redband Creek, a small tributary of the Weir River, in the parish of Tallwood, county of Carnarvon, Queensland. The local Tallwood tribe, being the persons who had sent out the "invitations" by the messengers, were the first to occupy the ground, and pitched their camp at the point marked No. 1 on the plan; the Goondiwindi and Welltown people camped to the eastward, at No. 2; those from Kunopia and Meroe took up their quarters southward of the Tallwood tribe, at No. 3; the St. George contingent camped to the north-west, at No. 4; whilst the Moogan, Mungindi, and Gundabloui mob were located on the south-west, at No. 5 on the plan.

During every fine night there were special corroborees held at the spot marked No. 6 on the plan, each tribe taking its turn to provide the performers. Every evening at dusk and every morning at daybreak a bull-roarer was sounded by an old man in the adjacent scrub, but out of sight, and the women in the camp responded by singing bobbarūbwar chants.

An unusual event happened at this camp which adds to its interest. The local Tallwood tribe at first selected the site of the camp on the southern or right bank of Redband Creek, at No. 17, and the Kunopia contingent soon afterwards came and pitched to the southward of them, at No. 16 on the plan. Before any of the other tribes arrived, one of the young men of the local mob died from some pulmonary complaint, and, according to native custom, this necessitated a removal of the camp. As the Bora circles had then been formed and many of the trees marked, the choice of a new site for the camp was restricted to the opposite side of Redband Creek, in order to be near the waterhole, the only water available. The point marked No. 7 on the plan was ngooloobul, or private meeting-place of the initiated men; and at No. 18 was a similar spot set apart for the women, where they met during the day to work at making head-bands, net-bags, and other occupations.

About 15 chains in a south-westerly direction from the general camp, a small open space on the edge of a scrub was chosen as the site for the performance of the ancestral rites. A large ring, No. 8 on plan, called boora, 77 ft. 6 in. across one diameter and 72 feet across another at right angles to it, giving an average diameter of nearly 75 feet, was formed by scraping away the surface soil, which was utilised to make an embankment about 9 inches high around the circular space thus cleared. An opening about 2 feet wide was left in the north-east side of this bank, from which ran a narrow track, called thoonburnga, formed by scraping the surface of the ground smooth and piling the loose earth on either side. The bearing of this track was N. 62 deg. W., and in following it in that direction for 270 yards it was found to terminate at another and smaller circle, No. 15 on plan, called goonaba, 17 feet in diameter, which was bounded by a bank composed of loose earth, about 6 inches in height. The track, thoonburnga, entered this enclosure through an opening in its wall similar to that in the boora circle.

Within the goonaba ring, and near the farther side of it, were two tall, inverted stumps, which had been prepared in the following manner:—Two small trees had been dug out of the ground, by removing the earth from the roots for some distance around the base; their stems were then