B 505: Lecture on the Aborigines of Australia and papers on Wirradhurrei dialect, 1837-1840

The Aboriginal dances or corrobories are perhaps too well known as that I need enlarge upon the same, but I will briefly describe them. According to our ideas of dancing the amusement can hardly be called a dance, but would probably, by those conversant with theatrical performance, be [crossed out: called] compared to some tragical dramatic performance or some farcical representation. The movement has certainly nothing graceful or gentle in it, but consists more of muscular action & contortions & jumping arms & legs being most fantastically flung about. Add to this the appearance of the young men - no female ever joins in the dance, - painted with white lines of pipe-clay on their arms, legs faces & across the ribs, looking like [indecipherable] exhibiting before a huge fire & now & then disappearing in the shade of the trees or suddenly turning their backs without the white paint and the effect produced is very strange. To gentle minds & delicate frames rather disagreeable sensation. But all is done with some regularity & according to time beaten by the middleaged & elderly men who stand in front with their bomerangs. To this they sing a hollow kind of bass whilst the women sit behind & join with a screeching sort of sound & beat the time with their hands on the inside of an oppossum cloak. Sometimes a mimicking performance is added to the scene & at other times there are some grave & more solemn movements whilst certain pieces of bark, stuck up have curious marks cut on them

which has led me to think as if some of these corrobories must have originated in a religious ceremony & superstitious practices. Their songs are [in margin: most monotonous and a few words or two & then I confess again & again repeated willy nilly make up their compositions. Yet there are occasional exceptions,] Let me now describe to you a [crossed out: scene of death and] funeral scene. And first I would mention that [original text was crossed out] the Aborigines are so troubled with the fear of death that they can hardly bear to hear of it though they may in a corrobarie war rush [crossed out: in to] most heedlessly into it. That careless & all thoughtlessness & merry laughter [crossed out: with some Europeans have] witnessed at times among the Aborigines [crossed out: and] which has been admired by some Europeans and pointed out as a proof of their happiness, all lies only on the surface, is often interrupted by many apprehensions even when there is nothing to fear; but when serious illness [crossed out: attacks them] befalls them & they are apprehensive of death they yield themselves up to a despairing kind of stupor & listlessness. Even when the chances of recovery are in their favour, you can hardly persaude them to take medicine.

If any one dies they try to remove the subject of death out of sight & out of mind as quickly as possible. Scarcely is a man's breath departed than they wrap up the body in an oppossum cloak or similar coverings. On one occasion I prevented a young man being buried alive. He had apparently expired when the women commenced wrapping the oppossum cloak around him, and I had to speak

very emphatically before they desisted. Why poor fellow he is quite dead they exclaimed. I said I am not sure, I must look on him once more. He recovered & lived above 24 hours] longer. [In margin: When they wrap up the corpse they draw up the knees so as to lay [indecipherable] on the body, thus the corpse looks much shorter.] They usually bury the body the same day, if possible or if a person dies at night he's sure to be buried without delay next morning. When once in the grave, they dislike having his name mentioned again [crossed out: If a man dies leaving a widow the] At the death of a person the women usually commence a sad melancholy wailing lamentation besmear their faces with pipe-clay cover the head with mud & somethimes cut their heads with pointed sticks till the blood gushes out, & smoke [indecipherable] with fire sticks & boughs is generally [indecipherable] from the moment of death even till the day after the funeral.[In margin: The smoke is intended to keep the evil spirits away who they believe are sorcery to hurt the dead body & above all to steal the heart out of it.] And here permit me to read an extract of a description of a burial I wrote about 20 years ago & which was published in one of the missionary periodicals at the time. The subject of the funeral was a leading man who had almost the influence of a chief & was much respected. He died late in the evening & was buried next morning being carried about 2 miles by some of the men & followed by groups of men women & children. The narrative is as follows: Here read the Extract of the C.ch Record x - There is less ceremony in burying a woman than a man. The Woman cannot marry again before at least one year is expired after the death of her

husband. As to the longevity of the Aborigines we have no certain data to go upon, as they never know their age; but there is sufficient proof that some of them reach at least three score & ten.

If I have not wearied out your patience I shall now [crossed out: say] in conclusion say a few words as to the language of the Aborigines & give you a few specimens of [crossed out: words & there] its grammatical peculiarities. And first I would oberseve that almost every district throughout the length & breadth of these colonies has its own dialect,[Inserted in margin: probably there are more than 100 from Moreton Bay to S. Australia.] This need not surprise us when we realise that even in Europe where there is a written language, every country has its various provinces, keeps up its peculiar dialects. Thus it is in England, France & Germany. Hence we must expect among untutored savages where there is no trace of litterature to bring its inhabitants to one standard a very great variety of idioms & dialects [crossed out: must exist.] I have had specimens from Moreton Bay, from South Australia, and from the Reverend Threlkeld's Grammar of the Abor: language as spoken about the Newcastle & Maitland district & [crossed out: various others, they all vary more or less]also of the [indecipherable] spoken about

Tongay, Cassilis & as far as the Namoi The Wellington dialect [original text crossed out: is spoken] called Wirradurri is spoken as far as about 60 miles below Wellington on the McQuarie and on the upper Castlereigh, Jarrajarra which varies but slightly is spoken from here to Dabu & Capertee. The Bathurst district again had a different dialect. Certain natural boundaries or barriers such as ranges of mountains & rivers must have caused this variation. Still however different some of these dialects are, as for certain the Wirradurri & Gammiloroi they share a resemblance in words & grammatical construction & point to a common origin, although some may differ as widely as for instance the English & German or the German & Dutch & Danish & Swedish languages. That the Aboriginal language is soft [original text crossed out] and agreeably sonorous is shown by the various names of places especially when correctly pronounced. The vowels a or ā & i or ī predominate & some dipthongs such as ai & oi are often heard. The harsh liquid r is often when preceding another consonant changed into l, to give softness & emphasis to the pronounciation - jarra - jalmambolei. Let me here give you a few