Australian Aboriginal Artifacts

[Mike17]

Here are some pics of most of my collection of Aboriginal artifacts. If anyone's interested I can give some history on most of the items, some came from the Warrakurna lands near Giles weather staion, most of the rest from northern South Australia around Oodnadatta.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Ooh, yes please! Do share some info on them!

 

[Mike17]

From left to right, a lizard (goanna), a wombat, small lizard bird and small snake, a long snake, two throwing spears (the bindings are kangaroo sinew) and then a stabbing spear.

 

[JerseyWendy]

That is SO awesome and interesting!!!!

Thank you SO much for sharing those!!!

 

[Mike17]

A bowl (itself made from spinifex leaves and plastic packing twine) containing "music sticks" and carved bowls, which were used for collecting seeds for "bush tucker". The music sticks are banged together, the different sticks make varying tones.

 

[Mike17]

A bark painting, which came from the mid-north NSW coast near Taree. I'm told it's a bird

 

[Mike17]

Last pic. From bottom to top, a woomera (spear-thrower). The knob is made from spinifex resin, the binding for the fitting to go into the end of the spear is kangaroo sinew. Next is a didgeridoo, from Katherine in the Northern Territory. Then there's a nulla-nulla (club) which is quite heavy. It and the two boomerangs are made from mulga wood, as is the shield in between the two boomerangs. The boomerangs aren't the "coming back" variety as they're for hunting, although I believe Aboriginal people used returning boomerangs for hunting birds. I've flown them but they go a long way and I was worried about damaging them. The bases are hollowed a bit to provide aerodynamic lift, the edges are quite prone to splintering though, plus the big one is hard to hold, it's so huge. I'd hate to be hit by one!

 

[Mike17]

Oops, this is the pic for previous post.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Did you find all of these, Mike????

 

[Betrisher]

I'm guessing they're not all from the same tribal area, Mike? Can you say which tribe each item came from? I saw a doco about aboriginal culture a while back and it happened to show the hunters using woomeras. It's amazing how they improve the thrust of the spear! I love seeing the ways in which primitive peoples found answers to their problems and new ways of doing things. Thanks for sharing the pics - you've got some great artefacts there!

 

[Mike17]

The weapons all come from Warrakurna, which is Ngaanyatjarra people. So do many of the other bits n bobs, apart from I think the goanna which came from around Oodnadatta which is in Pitjantjatjara lands. Many of the music sticks are from Pitjantjatjara lands apart from a few from Ngaanyatjarra land. The painting would be Biripi, the didgeridoo Jawoyn.

I've moved around so much that the collection's gotten mixed up and my memory's not what it used to be

I used to speak a bit of Pitjantjatjara. Malu (maloo) is kangaroo, now famous as a variety of ute (pickup) by Holden (GM). Poojiekarta was an animal--- sound it out and think what it might be

 

[Mike17]

Did you find all of these, Mike????

Actually, Wendy, they were all purchased, apart from the bark painting which was a gift from a friend who worked in Aboriginal Affairs (as the dept was called, way back when).

Generally, smaller artifacts were available in local store, or the Aboriginals' own co-operative shop. Sometimes they'd visit the station I was working at and offer them for sale. They were MUCH cheaper that way than buying them from specialist stores in the larger towns. As mentioned earlier, the weapons are especially hard to get (at least, for a reasonable price) as the men are often "too busy" with other activities to sit down and make stuff, and women are forbidden to make weapons. The boomerangs pictured would have been around $200 in the "artifact & painting" stores in Alice Springs, for instance- and this is over a decade ago. Closer to two, in fact. I do regret not buying "dot paintings" as they were quite cheap locally (about $100 each) closer to $1000 each in shops. Now they'd be worth thousands, depending on artist (they're usually signed, as with Western art). The whole reason I was in the middle of nowhere working was divorce/financial issues so didn't have spare $100 for paintings, to my eternal chagrin.

 

[Betrisher]

Yes! When you think what poor old Albert Namatjira got for his work, it's pretty inflated isn't it? Aboriginal art goes for squillions these days. Still, your collection is a good one and not the usual run-of-the-mill stuff from Yuendumu and Yirrkala and surrounds. One of my teeny claims to fame is that my great aunty Margaret met and stayed with Mrs Aeneas Gunn while she was still writing 'Children of the Dark People'. I have a signed copy! If you subtract all the PC nonsense, aboriginal culture is really fascinating, isn't it?

 

[Mike17]

Yes! When you think what poor old Albert Namatjira got for his work, it's pretty inflated isn't it? Aboriginal art goes for squillions these days. Still, your collection is a good one and not the usual run-of-the-mill stuff from Yuendumu and Yirrkala and surrounds. One of my teeny claims to fame is that my great aunty Margaret met and stayed with Mrs Aeneas Gunn while she was still writing 'Children of the Dark People'. I have a signed copy! If you subtract all the PC nonsense, aboriginal culture is really fascinating, isn't it?

Unfortunately, it's "former culture" these days. In my current town, it's all night parties where the music travels about a kilometre, and kids wandering around after midnight on school days. The burglary rate in this town is astounding given its size. I have to pick up empty grog containers from my nature strip on a regular basis (and there are heavy fines for having opened grog on street or footpath in WA). Depressing really. I haven't visited the local cultural centre yet, I hear it's very good. Mind you, it was semi-finished for years due to inter-clan arguments.

 

[Wings]

Thanks for sharing those for us!

 

[MomtoPercy]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing

 

[Mike17]

Anyone figured out what animal a "putjikata" is yet? I got the spelling wrong earlier