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THE PORT STEPHENS

BLACKS

:: Recollections of WiIliam Scott ::

. . . Prepared by ...GORDON BENNETT

rricc· •• Z/6

LiD"" DDd Pub....'" •• tb. Chronic•• Off"" D~.D" N.S.W.

FOREWORD

pI~

WHEN Mr. WiHiam Scott consented to permit meto prepare his reminiscences of the Port

Stephens Aborigines for publication, I felt that I had

been afforded the opportunity of contributing some­

thing of especial value to the scant store of

literature extant that deals with the lives and

customs of the earliest inhabitants of a little

Imown, but historic, part of New South Wales. It

is with the hope that the public will appreciate the

recording of facts that might otherwise have gone

unnoted that I present this boohlet to the world.

GORDON BENNETT.

Cremorne, J929

"The Port Stephen's BlaCRS"Because so few of the wboriginal

inhabitants of coastal New SouthWales remain, and because So littlehas been rocorded of their habits andcustoms, I have felt that, for the en­lightenment Of future generations,it is a duty devolving on me to com­mit to paper some of my early re­collections of the Port Stephenstribe, which when I knew it, had notbeen greatly subjected to what un­fortunately has proved to be thedogene'rating influence of the whitelace.

This was the Gringai tribe, a sub­branch of numeTOUS native peoplethat once inha'bited the lower por­tions of the Hunter and Karuah'RiYer valleys.

So far as I am aware there is noone extant to-day in a position todescribe the ha'bits and customs ofthe ruborigines who lived their simplelives on the shores' of that mag­nificent harbor and my regret isthat, when I w~s among them, I didnot carefully record every sInglething connected with their manners,however small and seemingly insig­nificant it may have appeared at thetime. For even now, scientists andhumanita'rians are awakening to thevalUe of llreciBe descriptions of arace that has become well-nigh .oxtinct. Historians many years agorealised the tragedy of permittingfacts concerning the blacks to be­come lost and Iburie'd with thepassing pioneers, and are now com­bining in a praiseworthy effort topr"'-serve whatever is posstble fromtlie memories of the older generationstill alive.

I Was born at Carrington, PortStephens, on September 19 1844,my father, J'Ohn Sentt, being ~mploy­od in a secretarial ClLpacity at Car-

rington by the Australian Agricul­tural Company, a wealthy Englishcorporation, which had secured amillion acres Of land in that part ofthe country. Of matters relating tothe district and the activities carriedon thereabout I will have somewhatto say at a later stage, but my pre­liminary dissertations will deal al­mostexclusively with the ,blacks whowere there in large numbers in myboyhood days.

It will be as weH for me to stateat the outset that I am not depend­ing entirely on memory for the factsI intend to present. Before I leftPort Stephens fOr Queensland, :in1878 I went to a good deal oftrOUble to make a written record ofmany incidents and descriptions ofcustoms and ceremonies,besides pre­paring a considerable vocabulary ofwords and phrases common in thetribe. These, I fortunately kept byme through the years, and withtheir aid I have been able to refreshmy recollection on some points. Thelist Of aboriginal words lliled by thetribe is probably the only one in thoworld, for none other, to myknowledge, ever troubled to commita glossary to pa,per.

At the da.te of my birth earring­ton was a aonsideraMe esta'blishment,although declining in importance, asthe Company by that time was trans­ferring the main centre of its activ­ities elsewhere. But the blacks re­mained, and many of my earliestrecollections are of them. The ladsof the tribe were my playfellows. Ilearned to speak their language witha certain degree 'Of fluency as did mysister to a groater extent-and wemastered thOSe difficult labials andgutturals that few white men havebeen able to catch correctly as isevidenced bY the discordallt ~O'rrup.

6 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 7

tion of many beautifully euphoniousnative names.

From my sable playfellows I learn­ed to appreciate the innate characterof the black, his simplicity, hishonesty his hardihood, his resource­fulness: his courage. And I wastaught much of his skill in bushoraft.

They were primitive people indeed,those earliest inhabitants of the dis­trict. Religion they had none, butwithal, there were certain rigid codesof honesty and morals that wereseldom violated. It could hardly l,esaid that they had any conception ofa God, Yet they feared and fearedprofoundly, some terrible invisiblebeing they named Cooen ~upposedlYcv.pable of exercising a male.ficent in_fiuence 'over their lives.

This mighty unknown was not inany way associated with ;;uch natur:tlphenomena as thunder Or lightnin;:;,nor did he seem to have any particCitar dwelling place. But he was aboutsomewhOO"e---intangible and dread ~

oonyeying. The blacks would not, orcould not say anything definite ofhim that one could advance as an ex­planation of ·his Whereabouts or hisp.otency, but clearly he had some in­fiuence On or associated with thespIrits of the departed.

I remembe'1', on one ·occasion, avoung black-boy, Who used to beabout our place a good deal, 'beingde€ply grieved over the death of acomrade to whom he had been great­ly attached. After the burial cere­mony, Billy, as the lad was named,made it a practice to visit his~iend's grave on frequent occasionsand deposit thereon small offeringsof fOOd and tobacco, plainly as apropitiary offering to the spirit of thedeceased. As time went on andBilly's !grief abated, the time betweenthe visits lengthened, until eventual­ly they ceased altogether. One nighthowever, B'illy when passing the

grave of his forgotten friend, felt asudden pang of terrifying remorse.What caUlsed it cannot be explained,pCJI'haps save to suggest that somesUb-con~cious cell in his brain be­came SUddenly active. But Billy,with the speed of an arrow, madefor our house. Into the kitchen hehurled himself quaking with themost apparent 'terror. We asked himWhat was wrong. "That feller binrun-im me," he answered.

We knew he 'referred to the spiritOf his departed friend, whose namehe would not mention fOI the nameof a dead person was' never spokellafter he has passed to tlIe Great Un­known. Billy did not recover fron:!his fright for many a day.

The belief in a spirit existence isagain exemplified in connection withtLe burial customs of the Po,rtStephens tribe, One of a small campat ulacks about a qnarter of a milefrom oUr house died of some sick­pess, To dig his grave a spade wasborrowed from us, and the excava.,tion wa·s made on the foreshores, afew yards above high-water mark.The time of burial was fixed forHeod-tide Ikilloongmundl) for theybdieved that if the interment tookrlace at ebb-tide (wittung), thespkit of the departed would be car­ripd ont to sea (wombal) and lost inthe great waters.

The corpse was neatly encased ina sheet of bark (paper-bark) strip­ped from the giaM ti-tree (Meleluca)and bound with vines from the SNub.About this again was an outer casingof a freshly stripIXl-cl sheet ofstringy-bark, also bouue:t with vines.When these preparntiOJ1S had beenmade, the next thing :was to find outwho was resrponsible fot the man'sdeath, it being believed that allsickness was brought about by themachinations of an enemy. "Thatfeller been puttem stone," Or else

"that feller been puttem 'bone," theywould say

The plan adopted to discover thedeath dealer was as follows:--Thecoffin was lifted upon the shouldersof two men. A third, holding a greenbranch, stood at the side calling outthe names o,f everyone of whom hecould a'pparently think at the sametime lightly striking tile coffin withthe wand. It was the belief thatwhen the name of the guilty p8'l'sonwas called the corpse would start.

My father's name was calledfirst, followed by quite a number ofothers, when suddenly, en a certainname being mentioned, the bearersof the body lurched forward aBthough the corpse had moved. Thuswas the culprit found. How he, orshe, was dealt with I was neverable to discover.

Without more ado the corpse waslowered into the grave whiCh wasfilled and carefully le;"elled. Theman's widow then made her camp fireby the gnwe-side, and every eveningas the sun was sinking, she beganher loud mo'urnful wailing for thedead. This continued until the grassbegan to shoot on the grave, andthen one night the bribe s'uddenlydisappeared and we saw nothing ofthem 'for several months. Never atany time could We get them to men­tion the name of anyone Who haddied.

The mourning for the dead some­times was extended to favoriteanimals. We had a little black andtan terrier a splendid snake killer,that like ~OSt dOgls that pit theircunIiing and skill a.gainst serpents,was at last bitten beyond hOPe l)freoovery. One of the gins "OldMammy," discovering the 'body ofthe faithful little animal in the yard,sat down beside it and began amourning howL that she mainainedfor an interminable time. At last, toOur relief, she desisted. Coming upto the house she demanded payment.

We naturally demanded to knowwhat ,the payment was for. "Oh," sheexclaimed "For crying for yourdog." We explained that she hadnot been asked to perform this sadrite for the dead. "That doesn'tmatter," s'he said. "I did it." To getrid of her we complied with her de­mand for some ",plour,chugar andtea,"

If religion played no part in theirdaily life, and if in some things onlythey were oppressed by a dread ofthe unknOWn spirit, it may 'be saidthat many of their actions were re·.gulated very definitely by super­stition. This, no doubt, in commonwith all primitive peoples, is an in­hE'rltance from primordial man, sothat it is not surprising to discover itsinfluence among the Australian abor·igines.

Some of these superstitions wereextraordinary. FOr instance, a partyof us were prer>uring to go fishing inFame Cove under the guidance ofBilly Steward, a man who had once'b£en steward on a boat. I happenedto have a few emu feathers stuck inthe band Of my hat as an ornament.On perceiving these Billy flatly re­fused to accompany us. "Bail catchfish," he said. "Take 'em feathereout,', When the offending plume wasremo.ved IBli1ly was immediat..lyplacated and was ready to start.Another fishing superstition was inconnection with eating fruit. Noblack would dream of going fishingafter having partaken of a feed offruit nor would he accompany any-'one ~ho had been similarly guilty.

One of the most rem'lrkable be­liefs I remember, also concerns tuesame piscatorial BlPort and it in­volved a peculiar rite worthy of de­soription.

An lllboriginal woman,Fanny, whowas a servant of our family for manyyears, was in her girlhood days dedi­cated to the art of fishing. When

8 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 9

quite young, a ligature was tiedabout the first joint of her littlefinger very tightly, and being leftthere for a considerable time theto·1) portion mortified and, in 'time,fell off, This was carefully secured,taken OUt into the bay, and, wIthgreat solemnity, committed to thedeep. The 'belief was that the fishwould eat this part of the girl'stinge," and would ever, thereafter,be attracted to the rest of the handfrom which it had come. Thus F'annywould always have success at fish­ing because of the peculiar lure inher fingers. She was indeed a ",-on·d8rfully lucky fisher,

One woman of each small tribewas usually dedicated th;s way, andto her was entrusted the task effashioning the fishing lines, the vir·tues accruing from her innatepowers over fish being of coursecommunicated to the lines she made

I am afraid that I cannot give anyvery lengthy description of theclothes that adorned the robustframes of my early friends for thevery sufficient reason that they sel­dom wore any. For the most part fulldress consisted of a possum-fur belt,with narrow strips of skin pendanttherefrom both in front and at t.hICback. This was all their bodtJy pro_tection against the element" andtheir fullest concession to the con­ventions imposed by the white peopleabout. A complete outfit could al­mOSt be held in the hollow of thehand, but we saw nothing unmualin it.

Some of the women were moreadequately clad in any cast-off clothesthey could secure, or enfolded in anold rug or blanket. Strangely enougllneither men nor women adornedthemselves with ornaments of anydescriptiOn being content to presentthemselves' to the wa.rld as NatureSo fashioned them,

The rugs they used were made ofanimals' skins, principally thOSe ofopossums. They were very neatlymade and provided both warmth andprote~tion from rain when occasionarose. Blankets they obtained frOll!the Government from time to tilaebut they preferred their own homd­made coverlets usually.

The men invariably carried theirtomahawks in their belts, and a piec~

of grass-tree gum, which latter seem­ed to be an indispensibJe part eflheir equipment. This exuJation olthe pummirri had so many uses thatno blackfellow could be without h!i:lsupply ready at hand.

The tribe had no special leader 01'

chief during my memory uf them,the older men acting as generaladvisers, but by wlHlt authority tnevCr knew. It may have had some­thing to do with the "mystery bags"that formed part of the equipmentof the adults.

My father had been admitted asan honorary blood-brother of thetribe and was reganletl by them witha sort of veneration. It was theircustom to seek his advice andassistance in almost every emergencythat arose.

The my"tery bags carried by thE'men evidently held some significantsuperstitious mpalling, the pro­foundity of which I was never ableto fathom, despite careful inquiryon the subject. Always my requestHto be informed what tJ'ey containedor what they meant were met withblank refusals. Indeed the menwould never discuss them at all.These bags were attached to th~

waist-belt when the men were inceremonial undress~ some of thembeing attractively made. My curiosityas to their contents was gratified onone occasion in an unexpected man­ner, while I was still quite young."Te children were OUt fOr a walkwith our faithful servant Fanny.

when I, notIcing a big mangroye treeon the edge of the bay clim'bed toits top-most !branches, 'In a hollowfork I discovered one of thesemystery bags and displayed my prizeexcitedly to the group On the ground.Fanny, on seeing it, became greatlyagitated and ordered me to restoreit to its hiding place at once, Befor,)doing so, however, I peered into itand saw only a piece of lock crystal.Fanny implored us la maintain!oilence about the find, her perturb­ktion 'being sO intense and impressiug11s So strongly, that we neYGr mell­tioned the matter afterwards.

Another superstition was in re..gard to the treatment of a suffererfrom internal pains. Sometimes,when a man was wrack~tl with aninternal spasm, he would have IlisWife "pere-ally" for him, an opera­tion carried out in the followingmanner. The patient was seated orplaced in a reclining position on theground. A canoe-shaped. vessel .ofbark a couple of feet long, was halffilled with water and placed nearhim. A cord, made of 'possum hairwas passed around his body a coupleof times, the ends being held by thE'woman Who knelt on the ground,leaning over the little canoe ofwater. She then passed the crossAue.nds of the cords rapidly to and frobetween her closed lips until theblood, draWn ibY the frietion droppedfreely into the water discoloring itb a crimson fluid. It ~as confidentlybelieved that the pain would leavethe man's body by way of the corda.nd passing down with the bloodfrom the woman's mouth, dissipateitself in the water.

I was too young when observingthese practices to inquire deeplyinto their full signLflcancie, lbut Ipresume that suggestion played agreat part in the cn.r'l, even lIS itdoes with the most ap1)l'oyed medical

treatment in these modern daYc.What subsequently became of theLlood-tinted water I never learned.

Although I could neVer ascertaindefinitely that a system of totemism,on the complicated and intricatebasis common with some of the in­land and Northern Territory tribes,existed among our blacks at PortStcphens nevertheless, I am con­vinced that something of the kindobtained. In some other tribesthere are series of :su1J..branchesidentified distinctively with theiranimal Or bird totem, these groupsbein~ su'bject to rigid rulee as re­gards inter-marriage, food taboo:'!,and other things. The animal orbird representing the respectivetotem is Of course sacred to the pal".ticular person to whom it belongs,and though he may not kill Or eat it,thOSe in other groups are free 00 Ill)so.

At Port Stephens, whero the tribenumbered in the vicinity of a hun­dred pe.rsons men, women and chll­Gren, two totems did duty for thecommunity, The men had aa theirsthe tiny bat that flies about at dusk,r.,nd this little winged sprite was re-

I garded with deep veneration. Hewas "gimbi," the friend of th{lmales. With equal reverence tbegins looked u.pon the small wood­pecker hailing his appearance withdelight as presaging good fortunewhile he lingered in the vicinity.busy with his sharp strong bill seek­ing gru.bs under the bark of thetreol'!.

The men took a mischievOUSpleasure in killing the wood-peckerwhich represented the totem of theW(lme.n. They wou1d often knockthe feathered forager from a treetrunk with a. "~urrahmirre" (thethrowing-'stick) or a stone, laughinguproariously at the feat, But theyseldom did this in the presence ofthe women. If a wanton slaYer of

10 THE PORT. STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 11

the gins' sacred bird were detectedin his crime, the women would giveway to outbursts of furious passionand direct savage attacks at theoffender, beating him with theirsticks until he was glad to fiy III

precipitate confusion, offering noretaliation or resistance.

I am inclined to believe that thesesacred totems had, in earlier times,some bearing on intricate tribalrites unknown to us and which pa'o­baJbly had fallen into disuetudeOWing to the influenCe of the whitepeople. Whether such was the casewill never now be known.

No definite conception of anexistence after death appeared tGexist among the members of thetribe. In some vague fashion theysensed a spirit existence, but in the'fifties and 'sixties it Was generallyaccepted that a dead native would"go down blackfellow, jump upwhite-fellow." This, obViously couldhave been no part Of the c;eed ofthe forefathers of the tribe whomust have had very fixed notions oftheir own on this subject, as I havebeen able to eonclude from many i'J..cidents that were seemingly unim­portant. I haVe mentioned Billy'sterror when he fancied he had beenfursued by the spirit of his deceas·ed friend, which in itself predIcatedan instinctive belief in a supe!"­natural existence. Then there wasthe fear Or darkness, general amongall memlbers Of the tribe. There wasalso a fear of certain localities fo'!no given reaSlon; there was the'dls­inclination to do certain things atcertain times; there was the strangerefusal to speak of or mention thename of one that had passed away.

Probably the tribe when I knew itwas in the transitionary stage be­tween outright savagery and semi­civilisation, 'for it must be remem­bered that Carrington became a set_

tlement in 1824, and from tha.t timeDIlward the natives had been in CUIl­

stant contact with white people andtheir ways. Three decades is a longperiod: in the life of a black, and theracial and conventionul dominatiQnof the whites havc been most mark­ed at all times in their influence onuncivilised tribes.

The fear Of darkness is not com­mon to savage peoples by an}means but at Port Stephens nobla,ck 'would move from the campafter dark. even on the shortestjeurney, without providing himselfwith a very large fire-stick that h;}would whirl assiduously and keepblazing all the time to ward off thedemons of the night.

Fame COYe was taboo after thesun had fallen, and no native woul"linger in that Vicinity when t11f'shadows ibegan to lengthen. I onceinquired the reason Of this fear Ofthe place and was quaintly informedthat "too many shark" were there'fhere was, I knew, another andmore pregnant reason that no on·)would disclose.

I recall on one occasion the resultof a practical joke played by myfather on the tribe at their campAlways .ready for fun and know­ing the timidity of th~ natives, Mhollowed out a large pumpkin on€'night, making holes in it to repre·sent eyes, nose and mouth. Takingtfi.is down to the Vicinity ;of th.~

camp, he lit a candle and put it in·side the huge vegetalble. Th<3n strol­ling to the camp-fires, he began toconverse with the men. Suddenlystopping in the middle of a sen­tence he stared fixedly at the sPOtwher~ the pumpkin glowed in thedarkness. The blacks turned t03,and beheld what was certainly aneerie spectacle, and something which.to them represented a' very terrify­ing object. In an ins'tant there wa!!

pandemonium. Men howled, womenshrieked children screamed in tllegreatest' excesses of fright. Hitherand thither the blacks rushed,btumbling and scrambli:lg about thefires, all in a terrible turmoil. Peat:ewas not restored until my f[ttlIer re­moved the illuminated pumpkin.

Another fear was always par.amount in their minds,--{)ne that<;ould be readily traced back to it,genesis,-and that was dread of at­tack by other tribes. The blacksW<3re always fearful of a raid by tll,)Myall River natives, who were reput­ed to be very warlike and aggressiveThey also feared other blacks whocame from farther north, and of'whom theY spoke in a vague way.This fear was undoubtedly bred intheir bones, and was proba.bly therefor very good reasons, as In theearlier periods of history raids bybloodthirsty maraudem from oth3rdistricts may not have been uncom·mono It is likely that in some past~eneratlon the Port Stephens tribehad suffered bitterly by the spearsand waddies of other sable enemic9.

In the matter of sickness and theendurance of pain the ·blacks weref:ingularly fatalistic as are m\;~t

savage tribes. Civilis~tion has sharp­ened the sensibilities of whIte peo­11]e in the realisation of suffering.but the aboriginal remained much ashis pristine relatives had been,wholly resigned to Whatever ills Ibef"1him in the nature of accident ormalady.

I recollect a very terrible time Inmy youth, when an outbreak ofmeasles decimated the tribe in 11

most tragic manner. The conges­tion, the insanitary conditions thatobtained, and an entire lack of ap­preciation of the necessity for isola­

tion caused the disease to spreadwith disturbing rapidity. It wrought

great havoc, the mortality being ex­ooedingly heavy.

The stricken sufferers would makeno attempt to heIp themselves, ex·hibiting a pitifull~" complete resigna­tion as soon as the firs.t symptomsbecame ma.nifest, 'being seeminglycontent to sit and await the comingOf death. My mother proved anangel of mercy to the unfortu­nate people. Day after day shewould visit the camp, with a maidbearing a bucket of gruel, and shewO'uld feed the sustaining compoundto the listless patients. I verily be­lieve that but for her daily visita tions, th~ trilbe would have beenpractically wiped OUt. The blacks,not und,erstanding anything of thetreatment required, would at thefirSt signs 'Of fever, rush to the waterand plunge into the bay. These sud­den immersions were no doubt re­sponsible for the majority of thedeaths.

Fortunately sickness troubled thembut little. Nature appeared to havesafeguarded them in her own in­scrutable fashion against mDst ofthe ailments that afflict civilisedman but she had nOt p,repared themagainst the diseases that the whiteman brought in his train.

In the endurance of pain theblackfellow invarialbly exMblted themost sm'prlsing fortitude. Knocksand bumps, cuts and scratches, sus­tained in the ordinary course efdaily life, troubled them not "newhit. Even in moments of mast poig_nant agony they would evince astoicism that was heroic. I can fur­rish one instance that will iUus:­trate this trait in the aboriginalcharacter in striking fashion. Anelderly native named "Fisherman,"feU from a tree On the southern sideof the harbor, sustaining a com­pound comminuted. fracture Of theshin bone. Hds companions !>Taughthim across the bay in a bark canae,

12 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 13

carrying him to our house, as wastheir cUBitom when any troUlble as­sailedt,hem.

My father, perceiving that thefracture was a bad one dispatched am€Ssenger to Stroud,' twenty-fourmiles distant, to summon Dr. Harrisa. capable medico who practiC6d inthe diatrict at that time. In duecourse the doctor arrived at Car­rington, and, after examining theinjury laid out "Fisherman" on atable 'in the garden. My youthfulcuriosity properly aroused, I loiteredin the vicinity to watch every detailof what folIo'wed, and what I sawshook my nerves considerably,young though I was.

The bone was protrUding throughthe fiesJ1, and the dead portion ofwhich the doctor began to remc-vewith a saw. Such things as anaesthE'­tics were unknown nor was any­thing used to deaden the pain. Al­though "Fisherman" must have suf­fered excruciating agony, not a moanor whimper escaped his tight shutlips.

After the leg had been placed insplints, my father Who was a clevera,illateur caI'lpenter, fashioned avmoden frame, open at one side inwhiCh the shattered limb was fixedto. keep everything in position. Priorto taking his departure, Dr. Harrjsstrictly enjoined "Fishe!'1Ilan" torest the leg in the frame until hepaid him another visit later.

The very next morning, on myfather's going to the caml> to inquIreafter the patient, he was astonishedto see "Fisherman" calmly squattedbefore a fire with the frame off ,hisleg and actually leaning across thf}point of the fracture. On being upbraided fOr his disolhedience to medLcal orders, the old black grinned."Baal coolah, mar<OOT," (don't beangry) ,he said. "!l\fary look out, an''SPDse see it docklter come, me put­tern 'bookis long em leg d'recly."

Marvellous to relate within a fewweeks the old chap ~as quite ableto go OUt fishing again. But the legwas .bent, as was to be expected acircumstance that, however, g~vehim little concern. Afterwards weu&€d to tease him by telling himthat he had a leg like a "burracaa"(boomerang) .

CIU.RACTER OF THE BLACIiS.

As to the behaviour and character OfOUr dusky friends at POI'lt Stephensr can only spook in the most ,glOWingterms. From eariJiest childhOOd Iwas closely associated with themunder all mannel!' of conditions andin all sorts o'f circumstances. Ifound them to be wonderfully cour­teoll:s, with a code of etiquette thatmany white people, supposedly moreenlightened, might well copy to ad­vantage. They had a fine sense ofdelicacy in the matter of behaviourto Whites and stmfigers Of theirOWn color, and their tact and for­bearance on oCClasions were truly re­marka'ble. They weT'€> honest in so fR['as the greater thinp of life wereconcerned, With a naivetie Of theuntutored savage who, While hemay envy most Of your ,possessioIllS,

will seldom 'PUJrloin anything morethan food. TheY were kind to oneanother, and to those with whom theycame in contact, their generosity be­ing proverbial. They were happy,simple in their ways of living andmore prone to laughter than to tears.

During my long experience withthem I alWlayS found that they treat­ed those with whom they associatedwith the greatest dete,rence and con­sideration. The members I():f oUr fam_ily could command any service fromanyone of the tribe and it wouldbe cheerfully rendered, even at thecoot of g~at personal inconvenience

Their attitude towards visitingblaClks was also worthy Of note. Iremember on one <lccasion conVera-

ing with a groU>p O,f natives at theircamp When there was a sudd.en hiss­ing whisper: "Cooree Cooree!"(Blackfellow! blackfellow!) Glanc­ing about 1 saw a strange aboriginalwalking across a cleared spaCe andapproaching the camp. He camestraight up to the group, and withina dozen or so paces of us, threw onthe ground his spears and boome,r­angs. Then he came fo,rward to thefire no one speaking to him, norapp~rently looking at him. Thestranger prOduced a small p,ipe fromhis belt, slooped down to the fire,lit the tobacco with a co.al, and tooka few puffs. As the smoke swirledand eddied about his curly head, thesilence was broken as though thishad been the signal fOr sp'each. Thenew-comer announced his name andbusiness, and within a few secondsthe whole crowd were jabbering ex­citedly and happily. Thus theirvisitOr was put at his ease, and in amost tactful manner.

Among themselves there weresoldom any disputes or quarrels.They seemed alway,s to regard lifeas a huge joke to be enjoyed to theutmost. With thetr children theywere patient, affectionate and mar­vellously forbearing. Never once inall my life at Carrington did I eversee a picaninny slapped Or chastised,and' the younger fry could be mis­chievous and very trying on occas­ions.

Children were not weaned untilsix 0[' s'even years of age, and it wasquite a common thing to see a boyOr girl Of that age suddenly leaVe offplaying about the camp to obtaina little refreshment from Nature'sfount, the mother's breast.

They were fond, too, of pets, forthe plaCe was always alive with par_rots, bears, opossums, squirrels,kangaroo rats and bandicoots thathad been caught in the bush andtamed to the domesticity of camp

life. With these birds and animals,usually well trained, they wouldamuse themselves fOr hours, indulg­ing in fits of mirth at the antics andfeats of their pets.

A people that could treat theirchildren and their pets in this fash­ion could have little guile Or evil intheir hearts. And so I always foundit.

But as is so often the case with thehuman race all the world over,jealousy sometimes caused seriousdisputes in the camp, the inevitrable woman being at the root of thetroufble. On one occasion the fiirt­atious inclinations of a dusky belleand an ardent swain were re­sponlsible for a duel, conducted ac­cording to the strict code o.j! aborig­inal chivaLry.

The two men in the case were BigJimmie and Little Jimmie. The first­named possessed a wife who wa.'lcoveted by his diminutiVe namesake,and the ensuing complications pro­voked a chalh,mge from the incensedhusband Little Jimmie had to ac­cept or be brandJed foreV&r as acowwrd, and so' arrangements weremade fOr tJhe affair of honor to bedecided.

The two principals took theirstand at PQlsitions some twentyyards apart Big Jimmie being equip­ped with ~nly a short stick, someeighteen inches long and Of thethickness of a broom-handle. Hisotpponent, at the other end of thelists, was armed with a boomerangand a fighting spear, and the usualwomerah to throw it

Hostilities were op.ned by LittleJimmie delivering a vellement haran­gue about the wlhole business, inter­rupting himself at a q'uite unexpectedmoment to throw the boomerang athis enemy's throat. 'Dhe curved mis­sile fiew w'Lth terrific speed straightat the mwrk, but Blig Jimmie duckinghis head in time, it pu,ssed harmless

14 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS PCYR'T STEPHENS BLACKS 15ly by.

The CO'VetoUB lover then commenc_ed another loud and violent disserta­tion on his wrongs, co'nc1uding by fit­ting the spear in t1he womerah andhurling it at his antagonist's breast.Swift as a flash flew the deadlylance, bUt Big Jimmie, never shift­ing from his 'place, deftly turned itaside with >the short stick he held.

That was the end of the duel, forhonor aJPparenUy being satis'fied, themen went off to the camp on thefriendliest terms.

AlthougJh there was some kind o'fcommunal ownership Of everythinga.bout the camp, there was a distinctproprietary interest by individualsin certain things, 'particularlyweapons. Each owned his favoritespears; clubs, (cooterah); shield,(cooreel); throwing-stick, (purrah­mirre); and bl>omerangs. These weresacred to the owner. nften, someblack would feel the urge to makesomething, 'becoming SUddenly in­dUBtrious in the manufacture of alarge number O<f weapons intended tobe exchanged for other articles withmember!:' of one Of the neighbour­~ng tribes. FOT weeks and weeks hewould labor, fashioning with thecrude tools at his command, suchthings as he believep. w'Ould bringhim the best return in his bartering.'When he had finished the requirednumber, he would cache them in thebush either in a hollow log Or cave,until'such time as opportunity arriv­~d for their disposal. And, no matterwhere he deposited his store, norhow many knew of its existence, thewea>pons were never touched againuntil the owner removed them.

I never' knew the 'blacks to stealanything from our premises exceptwate,r-melons. of which they wereextremely fond. On one occasiOn myfather, ha,ving caught several or theyouths in the aCt of purloining someof these delectables, remonstrated

Ivith them, and upbraided themsternly for stealing. They were as­tonished and indignant. "Bail" steal'em, master" they protested vigor­ously, "We only take it." This naiveexplanation was their manner of dis­criminating between something takenwithmalicioUB intent, and somethingtaken merely Dl> gratify a fancy.

T,here never was anything Of per­manency about a blackfellow's -home.He did not ,plant his roots deep inthe soil as does a white man and hishOUBe was not constructed to with­stand the ravaging hand o'f time nOrLO defy the fUry Of the elements. Afew sheets of bark, leaning on a poleagainst a tree, served him as shelterthrough days Of sunshine or nightsOf storm and rain. There was nopretence at architecture Or even or­derly erection of the crude :breal!:­wind. But the SiUmmers (kurrawarn)were temperate and the winters(tuokerah) :genial for the most part,So that constitutions inured throughcenturies of experienCe to vagariesof the seasons took no hurt fromthe changes O'f temperature whenthey did come.

Sanitatlon was unknown to thetribe, with most unpleasant conse­quences when a caIDip hald been es­tablished at one spot for somelength Of time. Any danger thatmight have arisen through residenCein maJodorous and unhygenic .en­vironment was avoided in a verysimple and practical fashion. 'Vhenthe camp became so noisome thateven the accustomed noses of theinhabitants reVOlted, the tribe wouldgather up its lares and penates andmove in a hody to another site, dis­tant beyond smell Of ,the old homes.Nor would they return to the originalspot fOr months.

Fires were always kept burningabOUt the cam'}}. In most seasons th8blacks slept between tWO small fires,getting the warmth on both sides of

their )):;1i85 sa that they couldslumber in a reasonable degree ofcomfort. To maintain ths blaZe the"imple expedient was adopted ofpushing a long pole into the flames,and shoving it forward from time totime as the top was consumed.

It u28ded but EWe to divert thesimple minds of the natives. As Ihave said before, life was a joke,and the more laughter they couldcrowd into it the merder 'passed thedays. GOOd temper ]1'3fvaded theirWhole conduct, und 1t was hard toPUt any of them out Of countenance.Naturally thue was someone orother among them who had a strik­ing physical peculiaTity, either anover-emphasised feature, a deform­ity, a trick of gait or S'Peech com­plon to himself. With their inimit­able mimicry the deficiencies andidiosyncracies Of the others wouldbe copied and mocked by struttingyouths and old ;men, and even some­times the women, their antics pro­voking the immoderate mirth Of thewhole tribe, including the very objectOf their hUIUor. He more than any­one, seemed to enjoy the joke best.• It has ofte'l been said that theblac'ks had neither music nor melodyin the corr,o,horee songs they sooften sang. Such is far from 'beingthe case, fOr they had as keen 'an earfor melody as many of thOSe thatto-day profess to be far advancedin the beaux arts. That they under­stood harmonisation I am able tovouch for, and there were popularmelodies, some quite catchy, in theirrepertoire.

It is true that they had no musicalinstruments nor did they make use(if any pipe or reed from whichmelody could be extra'cted. This,nevertheless, does not indicate thatthey were devoid of a musical senseor that they lacked an appreciationof melody. What accompaniment wasplayed to their songs was contribut-

ed by means o,f the genUe clashingtogether Of boomerangs or spears,the rhythmic beating making a notunpleasant obligato to the lustychoruses they sang Certainly theyliked noise, but then many of ourmodern singers are as noisy asmusical.

IDven at this far distant date Ican recall with vivid pleasure thecamp fire concerts of my earlyfriends. And they did roar OUt theirlusty cho'ruses until the very echoestrembled on !far-away Yacaaba Head.If there was really more enthusiasmthan melody in all thek perform­ances it was due to exeitability oftem.perament, as oheir songS con­s!sted mostly of 9. few lines, repeat­ed oVer and over again" with aloudly shouted "wy-yahng" as a re­frain. Eiach singer seemed to betrying to outdo his neighbo r in voci­feration and the ,only cessatiOn waswhen ail burst into screams oflaughtetr.

There is one chorus that I wellremember, for it was sung nightly,over and over again, by the wholetribe. T'he words were:-

Pindipindeingy pindreingi cou_a-yana poon-maree wy!­gnealm

Yangaronga gllaralonga cou-a-yan,,_ poon-maree wy-gneahn.

What it meant I could never dis­cover; perhaps the singers did notknow themselves. But in It theremust have been some rare morsel ofhumor that they relished immensely,for at the end of the song they wouldburst into shrieks of raucous merri­ment.

It was no uncommon thing forBome wandering visitor from an­other tTibe to come along at certainintervals to teach our 'blacks an­other song, probably one of his owncomposition. This nomadic minstrelwas a most important individual, re-

16 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 17

ga-rded as being specially gifted bywhat stood for the aboriginal MusesPootuTing gesticulatin,g and leap~ing about the fitful flames of thecamp flre he would sing, over andover again, his latest melody, whichusually had·to do with some well]l:nown incident. His audience wouldlisten intentlY' until they had master­ed the worrds, the tune an:d all thebusiness that went with it. Then theywould begin on their own account.And for many moons after the musi­cal bard had departed to his ownc'amping ground his sonO' would berGllJred and sho~ted with delightalong the picturesque shores of ourbeautiful harbor, disturbing thepeace of nature. but bringing greatjoy t<\ the happy singers.

The .' Port S'tephens tribe had itsown bard, a maker of many songsthat proba.bly did the rounds Of manya camp ove!!' the wide range of theGringai country. I remember particu.larly one Of his masterpieces, Which,in its way was an achievement notII.t all lacking in true artistic meritThe chant was a musical descriptionof all the animals and birds that hadbeen imported to the district and amimicry of their nois,es and move'"ments. It pourtrrayed the horse, cow,cat, dog, sheep and even the fowlsof the 'barn-yard were brought into it.As a piece of mimicry it was singu­larly clever, and excited the great­est mirth. Its popularity did notwane for many years and p'rovidedthe tribe with more' pleasure thanthe modern world gets nowadaysfrrom the beSt of the music hall hits.

And the bard was nOt a'bove in­corporating in his choruses some slyreferences to the ch;Jracteristics ,)f

some of the white folk of the dis­trict, thOse of us that lmew thelanguage being easily able to identifythe object of his gentle ridicule.

I must give the singers the creditfo'!" nOt having ever imp'orted maliceor bttterness into their songs,

whether they related to white orblack people. Their minstrrelsy wasto amuse, and they extracted from itthe maximum Of pleasure.

The spo-rts of the children werethe daily labo'l's of their parents inminiature. They played at warlikegames with spear and boomerang,fashioned for their own youthfUland harmless purpose acquiring intheir irresponsible spo'rtiveness thatproficiency that was so needful tothem when ,the realities of life hadto be faced. They could swim al­most as soon as they could walk.They could throw their little spearswith deadly accuracy; they coulduse a shield with the skill of theirfathers'. They learned to trac.k thenative animals, became wise in theways of fiSh and bird, and made agame of Ufe gene-rally. They were ahappy lot, the children, tumblingabout with little regard to cleanli­ness as we knew it and as healthvas could be.' .

They liked noise. One toy withwhich 'they delighted to play was acontrivance that gave out a deepbooming din like the "bull-roarers'the elders used in the initiatioil'ceremonies. It was made of a flatpiece of wood, a few inches inlength, in Which two holes werebored. Through these holes two cornswere threaded. By working the cordsthe wood was made to revolve rapid­ly, giving out the noise that gladden­ed their young hea'rts.

Nevertheless they had strap~e

manners and ways, incomprehensibleto the ordinary Tun Of white folk.There was old Mammy, for instance,and her son Joey, of whom she waspassionately fond. This lad, a lively,spirited boy was my particula'r play­mate and trusty henchman. He likedhors'es better perhaps than anythingelse, and nothing delighted him mol'.than t.o accompany me on my riding

excursions perched behind my saddle.Mammy was terrified of horses, andWhenever Joey was about to set outon a riding trip would cI1eate la

great fuss and endeaVOUr to preventhis departure, wailing loudly thatsome day a horSe would kill him.

On one occasion as we weremounted about to ride forth to thl,hills, M~mmy began her usual out­cries, ,but more lamenta'ble than ever.Joey was terribly incensed. "Waita bit, Marser \Villie," he said. "I'soon stop that feller." And slippinghorn the saddle he began to rainkicks and blows on the body of hisfond paTent soon bringing her to areasonable frame of mind. The oldwoman did not flinCh under the at­tack, nor did she resent it Or appearto see anything untoward in such ahappening.

. I may mention that in the courseOf a few years J,oey grew to be a biglad and a first-class horseman. HefOUJidemployment at Mr. Russell'sstation, on the Upper Myall, andone day, when driving a cranky oldborse before him the animal lashe1out and kicked' him On the shin.Lockjaw supervened, and Joey, ashis mother had predicted, diedthr-ough the instrumentality of aJ'torse.

FAl\fiLY LIFE.

There did not appear to be anyparticular set of tribal laws regard­mg marriage during my years ofassociatiOn with the Port Stephensblacks. Probably marriages were ar­ranged 'by the old men of the tribe,as was the caSe in earlier times andas was general among the Gringats, toWhich general tribe our branch be­longed. When the youthfUl swaindecided to take unto himself a wife,he Uisually laid strong hands on theobject Of his choice and dragged herto his camp. If she showed any dis-

inclination to accompany him, as wassometimes the case, his effective per­suasion took the form of some heavyblows over the head with his coo­teerah (club). This always decidedthe maiden.

Men sometimes took wives frompther tribes, usually going in peaceabout their matTimonial mission, andmeeting neither repulse nOr inter­ferenCe from the Telatives of the)Voman. No dOUbt if she proved coy,she was clubbed into submission inthe time-honoured fashion.

Gnce a couple became man andwife they were singularly faithful tueaCh other, and appeared to have nOcares nOr troubles in the world.The man would hunt fOr meat andhoney, the woman gather yams anddo what fell to her share Of main­taining life in the camp. Disputesnever ar'OSe about food and all hadfull and plenty. '

An old woman of the camp, Mam­my, was credited with being themedium bY w,hich unwanted babieswere removed. Whether there wasany truth in rumOr over this matterwe never had any proQf. My father,ilowever, told me Of one singular in­stance of infanticide that came undE\rhis notice in earlier years. Twin girlSwere born t,o a gin, and as tho taskOf rearing two babies was ap·parent~

ly too great fOr the mother, it wasdecided that one shQuld die. Somedifficulty arose about deciding whic'ltof the unfortunate babies was to 'bethe sacrifice, but this was surmount.ed in a novel fashion. Their brother..a lad Of seven or eight years of agewas summoned from his play to de~cide. He lo,oked at the two 'blackmorsels Of humanity as they lay onthe grass. One gave a querulousWhine as he gazed. That settled thematter. He pointed to the disturber.and toddled back 10 his game. .Andthe baby disappeared.

At POrt Stephens the tribe was

18 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 19

happily situated in the matter ofprovender. The waters of the bayteemed with fish Of every descrip­tion, oosilyta,ken at all times. Theforeshores were covered with oysters,which formed a staple part of thediet The 'bUsh a.bounded with gameIn the rorm of kangaroos, wallabies,'possums, emus, flying-foxes, wildduck, swans, parrots, pigeons. TheTe~ere edible roots in the gullies, wild­fruits in the brushes. It required but1ittle effort to keep the communallarder filled to repletion.

The business of fishing was per­haJps the most important of all tothe natives. In the piscatorial artthey were highly proficient, usingboth lines and spears. Fishing lineswere cleverly made from the innerbark of young kurrajong trees, thefinished article being of extraordin­ary strength and capable of landingthe heaviest of edible fish. I verilybelieve that they would have helda shark.

As previously stated, it was thefunction Of selected women special­ly dedicated to the fishing, to pre_pare the lines. The bark would bestrivped carefully from the tree andsoaked in water until the outer por­tions could be readily scraped offwith a shell. This left a white, flax­like fibre, very tough and strong.The women twisted this fi!bre to therequired thiokness and length byroIling it on the front part Of thethigh with the hands. Where theline. was rolled the skin of the op­erative was hardened by the appli­cation of hot ashes, and in time be­('ame calloused, smooth, and as hardas dried leather. These fi'bre stringswere also used to make dilly-bagsin which piccaninies were carried aswell as artIcles Of food, and puPvies.

The fishing line, was called "yirra­warn," 'and the hook "pirrewuy."Some of the hooks were fashioned

of bone after the primitive style, butthey usually preferred the hooksthat my father was able to supply.

The other method of securing fishwas by spearing them. While thewomen used the lines, the menmostly fished with the spear, andthey were extraordinarily skilful.The fish spear (tutti) was made inthree distinct parts. The main shaftwas the dried stem of the giganticlily (pooloongearn), and into thiswas fitted a secondary portion, apart of the dried flower stem of thegrass tree (pummirri) . The 'headwas of four prongs made of iron-barkand hardened by fire. The weightand strength of the whole s'pear wasregulated according to the purposefor which it was specifically intend­ed, thus the heaviest of them wereutilised only for spearing the bigsea /Ill,ullet which swarm into theharbor in countless millions at cer­tain seasons of the year.

The fashioning of these prongswas an important piece of work.The section of the tree intended tobe used for the purpose was .firstshaped in the rough and then putin the sea wate,r for a lengthy per­iOd until the sap had gone and thetissue toughened. This also m:ldeit easier for the maker to scrape thebillet down to the required thick­ness with the crude tools at hiscommand. A pie.ce Of glass boHlewas greatly prized for this work, itssuperiority over a broken shellhaVing soon been appreciated by theblacks.

When the prongs were properlyfashioned and barbed, the headwould be fitted to the shaft withfibre cord and gum from the grasstree. The fitting was done socleverly that the whole would be assolid as though in one piece. Othersp'ears, of smaller si,ze, wc're madCJfOr other fish and called "mootin?:."

It was Interesting to watch the

onslaught on the sea mullet whenthey came into the harbor. By someuneering instinct the blacks knew towithin a day when the first of thegreat shoals would appear throughthe heads. The women would be, onthe look OUt for the shining, shim­mering mass Of fish to come roundsome wooded headland, and whentheir shrill outcries told of the ap­proach of the finny prey the menwould rush to the shore.'

The fish always travelled fromwest to east, and close inshore, onthe, northern side of the harbor,usually making their appearance ofi'Carrington about the time of "wo­kercoopa," or high-water. At thegiven signal the men would dashinto the water until up to their mid_dles and stand motionless, spearpoised on woomerah, ready ·to launchthe fatal dart. The leader, scan­ning the water with eage~ eyes,would watch until the shoal camewithin striking dis·tance. "Muh!"(Now!) he would cry. Hissing intothe water would hurtle the heavyspears and next instant excitednative~ would be tossing great,gleruming fish to the beach.

What huge quantities of fish the'3ebiacks could eat! They ne.ver seemedto tire of the diet, and the schoolsof mullet yielded them more thanenough for their wants during theperiod they would be in the harbor.They were not over-particular aboutthe, thoroughness with which thedelicacy was cooked. So long as itwas well warmed in the fire theywould eat it with avidity.

They had a clever and simplemethod of cleaning any flsh theycaught, and one tha~ I have not seenpracticed elsewhere. They wouldtake a fish, thrust a finger throughthe SOft flesh JUSt beneath a sidefin, and through that SIIll!all orificewithdraw all the entrails. The fish

after being cleaned appeared asthough it had just come out of thewater. That this method was a goodone I can bear strong testimony, forthe natural juices were preservedwithin the fish, and the flesh tastedbetter than when treated any otherway. Removing the scales was, ofcourse, never thought of. The firegOt rid Of those.

Oysters were to be had fOr thegathering, and the blacks appreci!J.t­ed the succulent shell~fish mightily.But very seldom did th03Y eat themraw. They would knock them. offthe rocks or carry the rocks away,~nd roaSt the oysters over a fire.Very often as a lad I would sit on theforeshore O'pening the bivalves formy own refreshment, to be warnedon every occasion by some sablefriend that "bad eat too many raw.You cook 'em." I have often wonder_ed since then just why they foundthe oysters better roasted than aunaturel.

The tribe did not by any meansconfine their fishing to the vicinityof Carrington, the whole waters ofthe harbor being their grounds. Atfixed seasons they would set off tot~e heads to catCh lobsters, and thisindeed was a mighty task, when itis cCllsidered that they had no equip­mens for the sport. The lobsters werecaught by the gins Who, on the seafront, dived down among the rocksfOr them. Their men folk played asomewhat important, if commendablycautious, part in the business bythrowing stones into the wate~ as thegins dived, t·he purpose being toscare away the sharks. It was a riskygame for the women but I neverheard of one being t~ckled by theravenous monsters which were cer­tainly plentiful on that part Of. thecoast.

The canoe was an essential partOf the fishing operations, and theseci'ude but effective craft were great-

20 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 21

ly in evidence. I will later describethe method Of their manufa{)ture, butat this juncture I would mentionthat the Crazy vessels enabled manya meal to be obtained by the fisher­women when the great sohools Of fishwere not in evidence.

It was no uncommon sight to seea dozen or So OUt on the waters ofthe bay, a little fire, built on a heapOf clay in. the centre, glowing andsmoking, and sable fishers plyingtheir calling for sheer ne{)essity'ssa'ke.

There was a marvellous varietyof fish in the harbor in those days,and it might be interesting to recordthe native names of the different&pecies. Fish, as a general term,was "muckeroo." Then came theindividual sorts as follows: Porpoise.cooprar; shark, toorarcle; turtle.coorahcumarn; snapper, kurrang­cum; jew-fish, turrahwurrah; mullet,peewah; bream, coopere; stingray,billorn; torpedo-fish, kirrepoon too;eel, toonang; flathead, tarrahwarng;oysters, nonnung; cray-nsh, wirrah;crab, beerah; shrimp, punnoong.

FLE.'m! FOODS.

When it became necessary toohange the fish diet, the blacks hada wide expanse Of bush whereover toforage, a territory at that timeteeming with game of all descrip­tions. Marsupials were in abund­anCe among the ridges and on theflat lands; there were birds in thetrees and on the swamps. It was real­ly a land of plenty. Eeven the casualw·hiteman, uninitiated into the waysOf the chase, could have gleaned aliving with little difficulty in thatland Of milk and honey.

The kangaroo, practically extinctabout Port .stephens now was in themiddle decade Of last ~entury, thefavorite food Of the blacks. T'hemarsupials ran in large mobs, easily

driven by the nimble natives to apoint where waiting groups couldspear them with ease. It was a verysimple process for the tribe to killall they needed. The men of thetribe, armed with spears, boomerangsand thrOWing-sticks, would seek outa certain spot w!b.ere it was knownthe kangaroos could be found at aparticular period. A few would be de­tailed as beaters, driving the mobtowards the armed hunters hiddenin the bushes. When the kangarooscame hopping along, a cloud ofspears and purrahmirre would belaunohed, wreaking deadly destruc­tion in the ranks of the unsuspectingprey.

It was no pleasant s'ight to witnessthe banquet that invariably followeda kangaroo hunt.. The men, exultantover the result of their prowess andurged bY that extraordinary instinctthat Se,ems to impel an aboriginal tofeed when and where he can wouldImmediately proceed to mak~ a fire.Whatever number of animals wererequired fOr the feast would beselected and opened. Before tastingthe flesh there, were other parts thatfurnis,hed rare delicades to theprimitive huntsmen. The paunchwould be ripped open and its con­tents of undigested grass devouredwith the greatest relish. If it chancedthe long w,hite worms commonly(ound in bush animals, these repul­Hive parasites would be swallowedthat the marsupial was infested withwith rare gusto as the greatest deli­cacy Of all.

After these singular appetisers,the chie:f would throw the carcase onthe fire and leave the game to cook.Th.. appetising odors of the roastingflesh would be too much for thepatience Of the bright-eyed band

. about the fire, and it was seldom theywaited until the viand was properlydone. Half raw, or burnt up to cind-

ers they gobbled the dish down with~~greatest delight, and it was re­marikable how much each man couldstowaway.

The kangaroos that were to betaken back to the camp were usuallythrust into the fire and half roasted.This stiffened the carcase fairly ef­fectively, thus making it more con­venient to carry over the shoulders,a factor appreciated ·bY the manthat had to bear the burden for per­haps many a weary mile. They al­wayS declared that it Wa.$ far easierto carry the rigid body than one thatwas limp and flopping.

The oposs1lJIIlJ, with his pronouncedeucalyptus fiavor, was also esteemeda great delicacy, and these daintylittle· arboreal citizens received scantconsideration when the tribe was ona foraging expedition. The blackshad an uneering instinct for "spot­ting" a tree that harbored a'possum. By scratches on the barkand other signs not comprehensibleto a white person, they would selectthe fo,rest giant in which the littleanimal had made his home. Onewould be deputed to climb for thequarry, and with his tomahawkwould set aoout making toe-holds inthe barlri: up the straight bole. Itwas. marVellous how swiftly theblacks could climb by means of thesetiny notChes, literally swarming upthe mnooth tall trunk. The 'possumwas hauled from his hole in a rottedlimb or spout and tossed to theground. SometImes a blow on thehead ere he fell would km him, Or ifhe were thrown down alive, thosebeneath would perform the finalceremony of dispatch. I have beeninformed that in some tribes theblacksu&8 a vine to aid in climbing,putting it round the tree andworkiI1lg it upwards to form a con­tinual support. The men at Port

Stephens did not employ this methodthe toe-hold ~trording them all theusista:nce necessary.

Snakes were greatly esteemedby our epicurean friends, their 11esh,when roasted, being 'beautifullywhite and apparently very tast7. Asthey were fairly plentiful in the bushthey were often on the menu.

m the matter Of tree climbing, 1once saw a 'black name,i Charlie Daemount a huge turpentine tree, morethan lOO-feet to the 11rat limb, bysimPly using toe holds cut with hisready tomahawk. As a feat of agilityit was more than ordinarily remark­able.

Another favodte food was thecobra found in decaying logs on thebanks of the tidal watercourses.These were particular favorites, andit was no uncommon sight to see agroup of excited blacks hacking ata log and dragging out the long,squirming worms which they wouldswallow raw and wriggling. Theywould eat them in the manner Of aMediterranean peasant with hisspaghetti; the head would be thrownback, the mouth opened to receivethe end of the dainty, and then therewould be sucking sounds denoting afine gusto.

Birds were easily secured andwere an abundant part Of the dailymeal. Little trouble was taken overtheir preparation, it seeming to bea point of practice to scorch feathersand 11esh into a delectable· outercovering, and no matter how re­pugnant it may ha.e appeared towhite folk, the blacks relished theirfood when it had a sharp and acridflavor of burnt ashes.

One of the most fancied foods wasthe flying-fox (kundewung), andgreat was the excitement that pre­vailed when these evil-smelling, re­pulsive creatures were about. Inthose days thefiying-foxes were

22 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACK.S THE PORT STEPHENS BLACK.S 23

plentiful around Port Stephens, therebeing a densely populated harborageonC'8.bbage Tree Island, an.d on LowIsland, near the head of navigationof the Karuah River. Thebfackswould capture their prey by tuggingdown vines and limbs to which thehuge bats clung, knooking them onthe head when they tumlbled to theground.

The flying-'foxes would be thrownon a fire to cook, and strangelyenough when roasted properly inaboriginal fashion, proved quitetasty. The flesh was a delicate whitecolor, and I confess that I tasted iton one occasion only and found itg(lod.

Since those times the flying-foxhas changed his habits considerablymuch to the loss of orchardists andthose that cultivate fruit. In thedays 0f which I speak the great batssubsisted entirely (In gum blossomsand what native fruits were avail­able in the brushes. Cabbage TreeIsland wal;l literally ,covered withthem then, and I recall droppingfourteen in one discharge of my lit­tle double-barrelled gun. The foxessoon learned to raid fruit trees ingardens and seemed to abandontheir o;iginal diet of gum-blossom"when cultivated fruits became avail­able.

The only occasion when I ever sawfood cooked in what might be des­cribed as a blackfellow's oven wason the O'C;l,casion of a whaling vessel tothe port. Capt. Rogers was skipperof the ship and his crew composedlargely of Kanakas, recruited fromsome island in the South Pacificseas These mien were not Australianblacks and theyu.sed heated stonesfor their cooking. I remember themstelllming a lot of cabbages my fatherhad given them from the garden.They excavated a hole in which afire was lighted. Stones were heated,

and when everything was in readi­ness the cabbages were placed in thecavity and covered with the hotstones. When they were done theyhad a beautiful appearance, and Ireoollect my father remarking thathe had never before tasted cabbageso well cooiked.

While the men procured meatfrom the chase, it was the particularfunction of the gins to provide whatrep'resented the vegetables of thedaily dietetic regimen. Principal ofthese was wQmbie, a species of yam,the root Of a slender vine that flour­ished in the scrubby gullies, whichthe gins dug up with their wombiesticks pieces of round hardwood,three '!eet lQng, pointed and toughen­ed by fire. The tubers varied inthickness from an inch to an inch­and-a-half, '8.nd were a few inchesin length. When baked in the ashesthese yams were very palatable;and we, as 'children partook of themon every occasion that offered.

The young, tender stalks of thegigantic lily (,pQoloongearn), wasanother form of vegetable delicacy,only procurable, however, at certainseasons Of the year. T'hese stalkswere soaked in water for some time,probably to remoVe' any toxic pro­perties that ,might be present andthen roasted in the coals '

Another bush dainty, easily pro­curable in the right season, was thecurramali, a fruit that grew on alittle vine in the bush. These tastyIllorsels were shaped like tiny pud­dings, and when ripe' WQuld be eatenraw. When green, if the camp need­ed vegetables for the menu, theywere roasted and eaten in thatfashion.

The children, even from the ten­derest years, appeared to have appe­tites as voracious as their elders. Itwas amazing the' quantity of food

the toddlers CQuld consume, and itwas astonishing that It did them noharm. The manner in which theyate fish was always a marvel to me.Whereas my parents were alwayscareful to remove bones from anyfish served to us at our table, theaboriginal mothers tossed their imp,sgreat slices of fish and let themmanage as best they COUld. The lit­tle ones would cram into their cap­acious mouths as ,much as could bemanaged, bones and all, and I neverknew Of one of them suffering in­convenience or trouble. Probablythey had better digestion than uswhite children, or perchance NatureI>rotected them otherwise in herown inscrutable fashion.

The introduction of the Englishhoney bee proved an inestimable~oon

to the blacks. Swal'ms escaping fromimported hives multiplied in the bushwith amazing rapidity until in allthe forest about Port Stephens therewere bees' nests in abundance. PriOrto the advent Of the whites thenatives took the honey of the nativebees, which, however, were not veryplentiful.

So numerous were the bees' nestsabout our harbor that when I leftPort :Stephelis fOr Queensland in1873 that, I, myself, knew of overa hundred locations some of thetrees having two ~warms In theirshelter.

The blacks seldom troubled tocut down a tree for the honey it con­tained,-the usual prodigal methodOf the white man. Plying a toma­hawk the seeker would chop his toe­holds and climb straight up thetrunk Of the tree in which the nestwas situated. Finding the site of thebusy colony, he would cut open ahole large enough to enable him toreach the comb. Then haullng out~reat handfulls, he would drop It,the women waiting expectantly un-

derneath catching it deftly in theirbark, canoe-shaped bowls.

The honey seekers never appear­ed to trouble about the number ofthe stings inflicted by th.e angryswal1m, and that they were stungoften and severely was a common­place Of the task. Probably theirepidermis was less susceptible to thepoison of the stings than ours, forthe tiny barbs caused them no illconcern.

Strangely enough for a peoplewhose daily diet 110 lacked the sweetthings that white pe<>ple seem to de­mand, the aboriginals ate verysparingly of the honey they robbedfrom the nests. The young broodcombs were regarded as a great deli·cacy, and these were eaten withavidity. BlIt the honey itself did notgreatly appeal to their taste.

Despite the fact that they did noteat any great deal of the tasty com­estible, they gathered huge quantitiesin the season to trade with the Whitefamilies Of the district Who were al­ways eager to purchase it. Thepaternal Government had given thema stout 'boat in the early sixties, andthis they utilised to travel all overthe harbor to reaCh spots where beedwere plentiful. They would supply aquarter cask of strained honey, withthe clarified wax from which it hadbeen extracted. for the small sumOf £1.

In those early days the blacksknew little of matches, and certainlynever used them for the vurpose oflighting their fires. They had asimple and quick method Of theirown, that u,sed by their forefathersthrough centuries of time, one in­deed common to savage peoples allover the world,-the creating" of aspark by the friction of two piecesof wood rubbed together.

The fire-ma'king sticks they usedwere usually parts of the dried stem

24 THE PORT STEPHENS BLAClt! THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 25

of the grass-tree (pummirri). Theprincllpal piece would be about twofeet in length aqd about h!\1f~n-inch

in diameter, fro,m the front of whichwould be removed a narrow strip ofthe Quter shell exposing the hard·ened pith. The other piece would bethinner, and rounded in a bluntpoint.

The fire-maker would squat him­self on the ground, the soles of hisfeet on the larger length of wood tohold it firm ,the thinner section be­tween the palms Of his hands, itstapered !point on the exposed pith ofthe under piece. Rubbing the palmstogether he would cause the uprightstick he held to revolve rapidly, thepoint gradually bOring its waythrough the pith beneath. Whennearly through, smoke would beginto rise, whereupon the efforts of theoperator would be re-doubled. Whirl­inK the stick with amazing SP86d itshardened point would enoorge fromthe pith, spilling a fiery dust thatdropped o.n a little heap of soft, finebark placed to catch it. The sparkswould be gently 'blown upon untila :llame appeared, when thereafterit was no trouble to build up a roar­ing fire.

The operation took 'but very fewmlnutes when carried out by expertnatiV'eB, but although I tried onmany o<:casions to light a fire, bythis methOd I never quite succeed'ed,much to the; amusement of myaboriginal companions. When wehad to use the old fiint 'and steel athome, with indifferent success, Ioften en-vied the blacks their facilityin making a 'fire with such crude andapparently ineffective means as theyhad at command.

Naturally they avoided as much aspossible the necessity of goingthrough this process. Once a fire wasmiade it was kept burning as longas could be contrived, and even in

their bark canoes they maintained asmall 'blaze on a mound of clay sothat cooking operations could be be­gun ashore whenever necessary. Intravelling fraIIII place to place a fire­stick was always carried, the brandbeing whirled and twisted so thatit would not go out.

As I haVe mentioned before thenatives neverlIllOved off camp atnight without carrying a fire-stic·kto ward off attacks of evil spirits,Ooo-in the ubiquitous "debbil-deb·bil" whom they seemed to imaginewas alway~ on the alert to seizethem.

Fire-sticks had another virtue,Which, after all, was in the natureOf 'a ffilperstition. In times of we.tweather when long continued rain(Kueywon) made everyone andeverything maserable and gloomy.the old men of the tribe would per­form a remarkable ce.remony to en­sure a recurrence of fine weather.Snatching fire-sticks from the camPfire, they would hurl the blaZingbrands in the air, presumably atthe clouds (yarreel) at the sametIme puffing loudly ~ith the mouth(k,urracar). No doubt the idea wasthat the fire would dry up the teem­ing heavens, and the artificial gustsfrom their mouths blow the stormsaway. I cannot say that their ef­forts we-re always attended withsuccess.

Fire they called "wuttar"; thefiame of the fire was "kiUe"; smoke,".poot-too"; heat "wirrin-wirrin";cold, "kur-kur."

Intoxicating drinks such as whitefolk so often indulge in were un­known to the blacks in their earlierdays. Contact with the white racehowever, created in many a taste forardent waters, although at PortBtephens they were seldom able too'btain anything sufficiently potent toprovoke any evil alcoholic manifest-

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aUon But they managed to achievea co~diUon of exaltation in l.v.othermanner.

Obtaining a freshly emptied sugar.bag from my father, they would soakit in water to make what they called"bull" Which, after all, was merelysweetened water. A vessel would befilled with the concoction and aboutthis the men of the tribe would squat.A sponge made Of the pounded innerbark of' a stringy-bark ('punnah)tree would be utilised to dip outeach man's share Of the mixture.The sponge would be soaked; thenthe reveller would tilt back hishead, open wide his mouth, andsqueeze hard until a stream ofJiquid gushed down his throat. Thenthe next man in the circle would re­peat the performance. After a f6'wrounds of the sponge the men wouldreach a condition Of extrema hilarity,very closely resembling the cheerfulstages ot liquor intoxication.

OERJWONI.ES.Throughout the entire length and

breadtb. ot Australia aborgina,ltribes have held mysterious ceremon­ies in connection with the initiationof youth into the state or conditionOf manhood. Speaking generally thesame fundaIIlJental principles are ob­served in the performance of theseJltrange rites, the significance andinner meaning Of which even the par­ticipants have long ago forgotten.How and when the ceremonies orig­inated have not yet been discoveredby scientists, nor is it safe for theordinary observer to hazard a guessas to when these things begun.

That they were founded on astrong basis of superstition is evi­dent. The symlbolic dances and ritesundOUbtedly were designed to con­vey some hidden truth and teachsome vital lesson to the initiate. Thatthey were designed to preserVe disci-

pline health and tribal integrity can­not be disputed But to proffer de­finite reasons ior each and everything done at the bora ceremonies Ispeyond~ ability. For in those days,with the carelessness of youth, I didnot trouble to make any eftort toprobe beneath the surface of things.

I am tlonvinced that few white menhave eVeT seen the whole of the boraceremonies of any tribe of ·blacks.desp,ite frequent assertions by travel­lers to the contrary. Many of thecorroborees were performed in thepresence of white spectators, butthe more secret and intimate riteswere celebrated far beyond the gazeof the idly curious or the inquisitive­ly prying.

At Port Stephens it was thecustom, when some of the boys hadreached that stage of adolescencethat their admission to the full pri­vileges and prerogatives Of the adultmen Of the tribe was deemed advis­able by the older wiseacres, to segre_gate them for preparation for thdceremonies.

What this initiatory preiparationwas I never learned, fOr the boysmaintained a strict silence on theIlubject. But there were ceremoniesin the bush, wherefrom the womenwere rigidly excluded. The menwould decorate themselves with pipe­('lay and ochre, painting fantasticpatterns about their faces and bodies,and they would wear head-dresses ofweird and wonderful designs. Whilethe ceremonies were in progress,there would !be an incessant noise ofthe bull-roarers fiat notched stickswhirled at the eitd of a. cord to driveoff "debbll-deb'bils," keep the womenat a distance, and impart the correctamount of terror to the tremblinglads who were soon to ,become men.

Of the eeremonies that they didpermit white people to see, I wasthe fortunate s·pectator on one oc­casion, when I was about eleven

26 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 27

lect, concluded that particular cere- I they resembled we,ird and wonderfulmony. skeletons.

years Of age. At Port Stephens theycalled it the "poombit" though gen­erally it is s'poken of as the "bora."

Walking with my father and sisterto a scrubby fiat, about two mile!?distant from our home at Carring­ton, we re'ached the poom.bit ground.~though the men made it a hardand fast rule to exclude the femalesfroJlli most of their ceremonies onthis o,ccasion an exception was ~adeIn favor of my sister, as a very spec­Ial favor. She was about seventeenyears of age at the time, and beingable to speak their language with~reat fiuency was a particular favor_ite with one and all of the tribe.J3lUt they laid down one condition, aconcession to their own conventions,.md that was that she should weara thick black veil. This was swathedabout her face, ,but it had a con­ven1ent peep-hole through whichshe was able to view the proceed­ings. Whether the blacks were,aWll.re Of this I cannot say, but ifthey were they purposely overlookedthe infraction of their rules.

Probably no other white womanhas ever seen what mlY sister beheldon that occasion. On the fiat therewas an oval cleared space with abanked-up margin, and in the centreOf it a hea,ped-up conical shaped fire.The gins, who 'played a part in thisceremony were made to lie downaround the edge of the oval al­though whether within or outside~he defined ring I am not able toslLy with certainty. As soon as theyhad prostrated themselves they wereooV'e«'ed up with blankets and 'pos­Bum skin rugs by an old black whokept guard over tham\ wfith a heavywaddy, In his' hand, ready to knockany of the women on the head Ifthey evinced signs of restlessness orundue cuI'iosity in the proceedings.

There was a gOOd deal of make-

believe in the business that follow­ed, probably carried on for the bene­fit of the women. A troop of paintedsavages would bound into the magiccircle, and prancing about and clash.ing thelir spears, would announce inhoarse tones that they could no,tfind thepoombits, (the 'boys whowere being initiated). This ap­peared to cause great confusionamlO'llg the women, who probably 'be­lieved that their off-sprling had beencaptured by the evil spirit.

After a great deal Of fuss the menannounced that they would make an­othen- attempt to find the, poombits,and to the accompanim.ent of clash­ing spears and hoarse shoutings,dashed out into the screen of bushesagaJin. There followed a quiet spacefor a little time when suddenly themen returned with loud triuIIllPhalcries, having in their midst the boysthey had supposedly sought. Holdingthe lads firmly, the men then begana mad, wdld danCe about the fire,Vlorking themselves up to a pitch oftern1.fic excitement until theysud·denly sprang on the 'blaZing coals andbegan to stamp them out. A.mid dust,s,parks and smoke this wild revelwent on until the fire was iCom­pletely oblliterated. At this stage thecoverings were removed from, thewomen, all of whom were coveredin perspiration, as much the sweatOf fear probably as of the heat ofthe day. Hut one and all appearedgreatly relieved ,t'O see the 'boys safeand iSOund In the ,mddst of the men.

The boys then went through astrange and most symbolic ceremony.Each lad approached his mother, orin default, his nearest female rela­tive, anti kneeling before heor simu­lated the act Of suckting nourIshmentfrom her breasts; this it 'being ex­plained to Us later, signifying theputting aside fOr ever Of all childishtMngs . That, so far as I can reeol-

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On another occasion, at a muchlate,r date, I came across another in­itiation cerem.ony when proceedingthrough the bush. I had been ridingover the hills after kangaroos, andat a spot about a mlile from wherethe ceremony preViously de'scribedtook place I saw that a num.ber ofblacks wer'e camped at the foot ,of ahill, the camp being in the fo,rm ofa half circle, round an oval clearedspace some 30 or 40 square feet inarea. The edges of the space wereraised a:bout nine inches. This clear­ed space ,was connected with the topof a hill and another cleared spaceby a narrow path. 'The women werenot allowed to go up this path norapproach the top of the. hill at all.\Vhen going to the creek for waterthey were careful to look in someother direction. \Vhen riding past thecamp I heard the most extraordinarynoises proceeding fro.m. the top ofthe hill,-a bellowling, or boomingsound, continuing for a long ,time,then diminishing in volume to al'ow humming monotone, from whichit would gradually swell again intoPo terrifying crescendo of dissonance.

As some of the 'blacks to whom Iaddressed questions as to the causeOf the noise refused to furnish mewith any satisfactory explanation, Imade up my mind to !investigate formyself. Turning my horse I rodequietly around the, hill and up it3side opposite from the camp. Frommy point of observatiiln I beheld aconical fire burning in the midst ofa cleared space, very s,imilar to theone I have described as 'being at thefoot Of the hill. Ab'out this fire, andin lines radiating from the centrelike spokes of a wheel, were a num­ber of naked blacks, their headshowed to the earth. Their bodies werepainted in grotesque patterns so that

Within the cleared spaee, and onone side of it was a crude woodeneffigy, colored vividly with some redpig;ment, having a cross-piece forarms, and a striking head-dress ofgrass and bark similar to the, patternused by the hlacks when stalkingkangaroos. So a'bsorbed were theIDen in the ceremonies 'in which theywere participating ,that my presencepassed unnoticed for some consider­able time, a circumstance that afford­ed me a splendid opportunity ofobserVing all that went on.

I was discovered at last. When thesharp eyes or a devotee espied methere was a sudden hush. The menremained as though they had sud­denly been turned into stone. Butpresently there were angry ,m,urmursand I realised that my 'intrusion wasdeeply resented.

One of our own blacks came overto me and explained that he did notmind my presence, because I was his"gimbi" (friend), but that the visit­ing blacks, who were, strangers tome, refused to proceed with theceremony So long as I remained inthe neighbourhood. In deference tothe very evident wiSh of my friendthat I should depart, I rode away.A few days later, this same blackapproached me and apparently assome re,ward fO~ my acquiescence tohis wishes on the former occasion,extended an invitation to me to wit­ness the great finishing ceremony.

Naturally I was eager to see thisinteresting spectacle, and rode oncemore to the camp at the foot of thehill some days later. There I saw alarge fire burning In the centre ofa cleared oval space. The boomingnoise from the top of the hill waaagain to be heard, and it seemed tobecomle londer and louder. As itreached a terrl:llc climax it ceased

28 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACK! THE PORT STEPHENS BLACX.S 29

suddenly, to be succeeded by greatshouting and yelling from the men.

This appeared to be a signal forthe next :part of the proceedings, forsoon after some tw() hundred leapingblackfeIlows appeared over the browof the hill. They were paintedgrotesquely, and armed with boomer­angs, shields and spears which theyclashed together in 'a barbaricrhythm as they ran. They were form­ed in two divisions, and kept cress­tng and re-crossing the path, inter­lacing as they met at the run, anddescending the hill rallidly, all thetime yelling at the top of their voices.The effect was both singular andstartling, so much so in fact thatmy horse took fright and could onlybe controlled with difficulty.

Arriving at the foot of the hill themen threw down their weapons onthe ground, and springing on to thecleared space, danced on the fire withtheir bare feet until it was exting­uished. In their midst, throughoutthe duration of this fantastic dance,remained the youths who were beingmade "poombit." The women werecovered as tn. the other ceremony be­fore mentioned. They wera always socovered while the fire dancing: wason.

When the last spark of the firehad been ex~lnguished and the lastwreath of smoke had eddied intonotllingness, the women were un­covered and the Port S,tephensblacks, accom'panied 'by the "PQom­b,its," ran up the near-'by trees likefilO many monkeys and began break­iag small branches ott the limbs.These they '.hrew down to the groundRmClng the women who scrambledand struggled for theml with a greateagerness, 1ach gin on securing apiece placing it in her woven dilly­bag. The up~country blacks took nopart in this· part of the ceremony, oneof them informing IDle that thebranCh breaking was never done in

his part Of the district at the"'poom,bit" making.

This seemed to con·clude one de­finite part of the ceremonies, for thewomen were not pe<rm.itted to wit­ness what followed. They were madeto lie prostrate on the ground, andwere covered with rugs and blankets,an old mall guarding them, waddyin hand, as I had seen many yearsbefore. Just as preparations werebeing made fOr a continuation of therites, some cf· the strange blacksraised an objection to my beingpre­sent with a gun, for I had with mea small sixteen-bore fowling piece Iinvariably carried on my eiXcursionsin the bush. OnE! of our blacks askedme to give it up, but rather thanrart with it I decided to let themfinish their celebrations in peace andso took my departure~ I have sinceotten regretted that I did not waitto see the conclusion of what wouldno doubt haVe been a most inter­esting event, for it was probably thelast Of the great "poomJbits" everheld at Port Stephens. When I passedthe place an hour or so later thecamp was quite deserted.

When I was about to leave PortStephens in the early seventies thebora ceremonies had practically diedout. The tribe did not multiply (>,8

1t must have done in earlier times.There were few young boys growing­into adolescence, and the attenuated"poom'bits" attempted on a few oc­casions were poor affairs. The boysinitiated were very young; the pompand ceremony of former occasionshad disappeared. Such was the in­fluence Of civilisation.

But when I was a lad such wasnot the case, and the initiation ofthe novices was a mlemorable antiImportant event. The young boys onwhom the mantle of manhOOd wasto be bestowed were carefully in­structed by the elders of the tribefor long periods before the actual

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ceremonies began. What was thenature of this prelimllnary inductionI was never able to learn, as I havebefore mentioned for the lads, close­ly attached to me though they were,would laP8e into stolid silence when­ever I tried to probe their myster­ies. But their period of probationmlUst have 'been a trying one indeed.When they would emerge from theordeal eventually, they would behaggard thin and worn. Their hairwould be closely croppied; theywould be covered with grease andcharcoal, and their whole aPllCarancewould be as though they had indeedundergone some tremendous mentaland physical strain. Perchance theyhad in all truth.

I have been told that circumcisionwas practiced among the coastalblacks in the early days, but duringmiY time at Port Stephens this wasnever part Of the ceremonies, nor wasit ever the custom to knock outone Of the front teeth of the initlates,although this was done in the earlytwenties when the A. A. Companyfirst established itself on the shoresOf the harbor. Mut1lation of thearms and chest was not practised atthe "pooanbit" ceremonies, althoughmen and women usually had repel­lant cicatrices on arms and torso.caused by gallhing with shells orknives. These disflgurments wereregarded as personal adornmentmore than anything else and seemedto have no particular sign1dlcance inany other respect.

WEAPONS AND EQUIPM.ENT.Considering the crude tools they

had at their disposal to performwork requiring any degree Of. skillwhatever, it is marvellous what theblacks were able to fashion in th.,way Of weapons and equipment ofv·arious kinds. With no knowledge ofsdence to aid them, with only the

most prianjtive ideas of handicraftas white men comprehend it, theycould do a_vast quantity of very ex­cellent work in a very brier spaceof time. Instinct and' necessity nodoubt guided their deft hands, forthe art of faF.hion!J;lg their weaponswas inherited from countless gen­erations who had to pit their witsagainst Na.ture in the bRttle forsurvival.

Like the aboriginals all over Aus­tralia they ulled what tools theyfound ready at hand, Or which wereadaptable from the material Naturehad strewn so liberally about. Andbecause on the reliability of theirweapons they had to depend for theirvery livelihood, necessity compelledthem to achieve a sort Of crude per­fection that even to-day is the ad­miration and envy ot our anore en­lightened people.

The spears were really wonder­ful weapons; long, slender and grace.ful and fashioned with a balanctStha:t was amazillgly perfect. I havealready described how the fishingspears were made, and have toldsomethIng of the skill with whichthey were used. There were othertypes of spears, of course, for hunt­ing purposes, and perhaps war.These were called "cuDlllIli:' andvaried considerably in size and con­struction according to the 'purposefor which they were designed. Somehad straight, long shafts tipped withpointed bone, either, of fish oranimal; others were pointed andbarbed. 'I have seen small nans usedfor tipping Epears, lances made inthil't fashion being llarticularly dead­ly.

The shaft", of the spears weremade Of various hardwood, scrapedcarefully to the required thicknesswith shells or pieces of broken bot­tles. The ironbark (teekurah), wasmiostly favoTed for making them. A

THR PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 31

straight )'oung sapling would bechosen, cut to the required length,and set to soak In water tor somethree or tour weeks. This would takeout the sap and render the woodreasonably soft tor ap,plicatlon ot thetools useli as scrapers. The harden­In,g was, of course, done by fire lateron.

The end piece, comprising theba~b, or pointed tip, was affixed tothe main shaft very skilfully, con­sidering that the hole for its rf£ep­tlon had to be bored with a piece othard-wood, twirled between thehands, the best substitute for anauger procurable. The top, fitted intothis slot, would be made firm andlolid with cords of animal sinews orfibre, and coated over with gum fromthe grass-tree.

t have mentioned that the blackswere very accurate in the use of thellIPear, .being able to hurl this weaponfor remarkably long distances. Itwould be no exaggeration to saythat their aim was very accurate up toa hundred yards, and in was possibletor them to throw the lance fartherthan this. With a wOOimle,rah to aidthe cast, they could hit a mark atalmost every throw up to a dis­tance of 50 to 715 yards.

The boomerang, a weapon univer­sal throughout Australia amongaboriginal tribes, naturally held aprominent place in the cOllilmunalarsenal. At Port Stephens there weretwo varieties in general use theslightly curved weapon, utilised forstriking down game Of all descrip­tions, and the sharply curved var­iety which would return to thethrower. These weapons were usuallymade of wood from the wild myrtle,hardened, like all their other woodenImlplements, by fire. The throwershad marvelluus command over them,and could actually direct and con­trol their fiight in any direction.

It was no light task to make aboomerang. for a good deal of skiUand more thad hn ordinary amountOf patience was necessary. A pieceof suitable wood invariably myrtlehad to be found, curved asmuch as possl!ble in the roughshape to be assumed by thefinished article. This would be chip­ped and shav.:ld with extreme careuntil the desired curve had been ob­tained, when the finishing toucheswould be put on it with scraperBmade Of shells or glass. How theyworked out the mathematics of thecurve and balance was ever ,a puzzleto me, as it has been to anthropol­ogists all over the world, butthough they always seem,ed to bemaking boomerangs, one never heardof any being spoiled or made insuch fashion as to prove useleslSwhen put to the crucial test.

The womerah, also (lommon t·)mJOst aborigin&1 tribes, was used togive further impetus to the flight ofa spear. It was a well-balanced flator round piece of hardwood, 24-in.to 30-in. long, having at the narrowend another piece of hardwood,about three inches in length affiXedat a slight angle to receive theslightly hollowed end of the spearshaft. This smaller section was heldin place .by a binding of fi1bre andgrass-tree gum. The ends ot thespear shafts were also bound withsimilar materials to form a smallnotch. The added leverage launch­ed the lance with incredible swift­ness. Most of these womerahs werehighly polished by fat and ashesrubbed into them.

The waddies. Or "wattles" as theblacks at Port Stephens called them,were very neatly fashioned and per­fectly balanced. They ranged Inlength from thrce-feet to three-teatsix-inches, being shaped like a cluband having a lill~htly tapering end.

Some of them were notched at inter­vals along their whole length, orelse carved in fantastic patterns.These weapons were said to be veryeffective in a fight. Their appearancecertainly gave every indicationOf the justice Of this claim fOr them.

The nullah nullah was anotherweapon in the same category as the"wattie," but of different shape. Itusually had a head Of some descrip­tion at one end, shaped either likea hammer or a ball. lronbark wasused in their manufacture, and th'Jbulging knob was capable of puttingan enemy out Of action with litth,trouble. I remember one old blapkdiscoursing on the merits of thenullah as against the "wattle' in afight. He explained· that he never f(·Ita hit from a nullah, and only realis­ed he had been struck whe:'l h9noticed the blood streaming downhis count.enanee. The "wattie," how­ever, was deadly in its execution,and there was never any doubt aboutit when it fell.

Clubs (cootarah) were also used.roughly fashioned from any suitablepiec!:) of timb·~r.

The shield (cooreel), was an im­portant article of warlike equi~Hnent

to the warriors. It was an oval­shaped piece of hardwood some twofeet wide having a hand-grip on theback made of a length of vineaffixed in holes made for thepurpose. With this seemingly in­effective guard, they could ward ofwith extraordinary dexterity spear3and stones hUlled at them from anyangle. Indeed it seemed almost hr.­possible to hit a black with lance ormissile If he had his cooreel III hishand. Of cou·rse they were endowedby Nature with eyesight far keanm'than white men can boast. Th"ycould discern ohjects at a distancethat I could never detect, and oftenwould roar with laughter when Iwas unable to see some animal or

bird to whicn they would point.Even the children were adapts with~he shield, one of their favorlt.esports being to pelt each other withstones and ward off the flying mis­siles with a tiny pieCe of board orbark. I often tried to hit one otmy young black playmates when atthis game, and swift and accuratethough I was, I never rememberl'aving suc{;,·eded.

In fashioning their canoes thebll'ocks showed a skill and craftsman­ship that was surprising, consider­ing that any ferm of building wasto them practically an unknown 9.rt.Living as they did on the shores efa spacious harbor from the watersof which they gleaned so much oftheir daily diet, it was imperative,for necessity's sake, that theyshould haVe seme means of convey­ing themselves from bay to bay, orfrom one side of the port to theother. Thus, Nature, in some far offcentury, taught their ancestors howto construct a craft that would bearthem upon the face of the waters.

The method adopted to make acanOe was crude but very clever Inits way, The hull of the little vesselwas made Of a single sheet of barkof the stringy-bark (punnah) tree.obtained from a tall, straight cleanbole. Grcat care was exercised inselecting the right tree for the pur­pose as any fault, caused by a knotor protuberance, would spoil thevalue Of the sheet when stripped.The stripping operation was carriedout with an exact judgment, linesbeing cut cross-wise with a toma­hawk around and across the tree sothat the section removed would beof the required size and shape. Verycarefully was the length of barkseparated from its hold so that nota crack appeared In its tough sur­face.

As soon as It was taken off, the

THE PORT STBPHENS BLACKS THtt PORT STBPHENS BLACKS 33blacks would pass it back and forthacross the llames of a fire to turn upthe ends, which would ,be tied intoposition with sections Of vine andfibre. The rough, outside bark, theexterior of the canoe would be care­fully trimmed away' with the bladeot a tomahawk until the surface wasBmooth and clean. The inner part,the inside ot the craft, would ofcourse 'be the naturally smooth sappyportion.

The gaps between the ties ot thevines at stem and stern would beplugged with clay, so skilfully in­troduced that the whole craft wouldbe absolutely watertight. To give thecanoe rigidity so that it could ·bearIts passengers safely, stretcherswere ingeniously fitted at intervalsalong its length somewhat after themanner one sees in an ordinaryclinker-built boat. Nothing in thenature ot an outrigger was ever usedor I believe ever heard of ·by ourblacks.

On the floor of the canoe, usuallyat the stern, > there would be the in­evitable mound Of clay, the 1I0atingllreplace on which a few emberswere al~ays burning. I never re­member any black starting out on avoyage, however short, without thisfire burning.

It was amazing the speed at whichthese seemingly cumbersome craftcould be driven through the water bytheir owners, their lightness andshallow draught having a good dealto do with this. They were propelledby paddles made from seasonedhardwood, and shaped after the man.ner Of a large spoon or butter bat.Kneeling In the middle of his canoe,t.he sable mariner would dip deeplyon one side and then, swinging withrhythmic grace and perfect poise,half turn and dip on the other· side.

I do not recall ever having seen adouble-ended paddle used at anytime.

There were a large numbea- ofcanoes in use about Carrington inmy youthfUl days. They were notover comfortable to be sure, andalthough generally 16 feet long, andwith a fafr 'beam, required somehandling by an amateur. The blacksavoided rough water and alwayschose a calm day for crossing theharbour. They objected to anyoneother than their own people enter­ing their canoes at all, nor can Irecall them allowing me to do so.The canoes were greatly p,rized bythem and were so fragile that theywould not stand rough usage.

There were, of course, capsizes,and sometimes a fatality, but theseoccurrences were rare. I recollect onan occasion that fate overtook onedaring fisherman who had venturedout in bad weather. I cannot recallthe man's name but he was singularin that he had 'one eye and was al­ways followed by a one-eyed dog.The pair were inseparable, and onthis tragic day were together in acanoe on the south side of the har­bor.

Setting out for Carrington, in theteeth Of a hOWling nor'-easter, theblack attempted to make a pasaageacross the narrowest part, just be­low Middle Island. A particularlyheavy sea swamped the craft, tossingits two passrJngers into the water.Man and dog set out to swim for theshore,-not a very difficult task foreither,-but fate interposed in theshape Of a ravenous shark.

The darting scavenger of the seasdashed at he unfortunate blackfel­low and toro! one of his legs cleanoff. What followed thereafter wasnever known. but presumably he wa3aided by his canine friend in his

struggle for safety, as he was foundlater on a sandbank,-the stump ofhis leg buried In the sand. What ter­rible agonies he endured in that fightagainst the waters and the snappingdemon Of the deep can be conjectur­ed, but he did reach the sands, drag­ged himself s.shore, only to die fromloss of blood. And when his body wasdiscovered t.he faithful hound stoodguarding it.

Sharks were about the only thingthe blacks fbared in the water. Thefury of the elements seldom di'S­turbed them As an instance of theirattitude to the weather, I might men­tion a voyai~e I took with a numberof sable companions from Carring­ton to Cabbage Tree Island on oneoccasion for the purpose of gather­ing a few baskets-full of wild CapeGooseberries which grew thereabundantly in those days and whichwere useful for jam making. We werein our own boat on this occasion andnot in a canoe.

As we were returning, a fiercesoutherly struck up, the wind howl­ing as it whipped the tops off tharising waves, and bringing with itheavy scuds of rain and flashes oflightning. Although I did not likethe look Of the weather by anymeans, the blacks were quite uncon­cerned, and only exhibited signs ofperturbation when there appearedsome danger of the fruit we hadgathered at so much pains becomingsodden and ruined.

THE TOMAHAWK.An impl'9ment greatly in use

among all the members of the tribe,or at least m03t Of the men folk, wasthe tomahawk. In my days they hadp.rogressed beyond the stage whenthey used the old stone tool, the mostprimitive form of this implementthe world knows. The advent of the

white man, with his ready made ironaxes, reJdeved them Of dependence ontheir cruder article.

The tomahawk Of the early dayswas El gOod deal different from theone in common use now. It waslonger and narrower, shaped morelike a wedge than the aXe of to­day. As soon as a black got hold ofa white man's tomahawk, he wouldremove tha handle to substitute itwith one of his own fashioning.

It would be made of a long, flatpiece of hardWood, pointed at oneend fitted loosely into the eYe andmade firm with a wooden wedgedriven along the side. There was agOod reason far this, as the longerhandle gave more weight to the headwhen it was wielded, and its flatform enabled it to be thrust easilyand firmly under the owner's possumfur belt, thus leaVling his handsfree when climbing a tree or carry­ing a bu.rden.

They would never accept thebroadbladed implement when theybecame common, as those with thenarrow blades enabled them to cutout a possum, bandicoot or kangaroorat from a tree or log with fargreater facility than the other sort.

MESSAGES AND SIGNAI.B.

I have mentioned that our tribewas frequently visited by strangersfrom other districts, some Of themwandering minstrels, and others whocame eithecr- tn connection with the"poomblt" ceremonies or for thepurpose Of hearing and telling news.I believe that in earlier times strangeblacks coming to Port Stephens car­ried message sticks that guaranteedthem immunity from attack duringtheir travels. These passpOrts hadgone out Of use by the time I wasable to note their customs, for thepresence Of so many white people Inthe district had undoubtedly remov-

THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 35

ed all cause Of fear from the abor­iginal mind in this regard. They hada wholesome respect for the laws ofthe superior race.

But if they carried no messagesticks, they could certainly com­municate with each other at long dIs­tanee.s, and impart tidings, by meansof smoke signals, the inner meaningof which I wall never able to dis­cover. They evidently had a code ofsome sort, intelligible to their ownrace, fOr by this form of telegraphythey could summon each other allover the harbor.

The signals were made in simplefashion. A fire was lighted at aprominent coign of vantage. probab­ly a recognised spot for the purposeand one looked to regularly by mem­bers Of the tribe far afield. When theblaa:e was glowing merrily greenbranches would be piled on theflames which would soon d!isappear ina cloud of ;;moke Across the billow­ing cloud of bl~ckish-grey smokeanother heavy leafy branch wouldbe interposed at definite intervals,so tha.t there ascended a series ofeddying puffs, visible at great dds­tances. That a regular dot-dash sys­tem was used was clear, but I wasnever told the secret of the code.

If:ISCELLANE()US REMlNISCENCliE

I have mentioned that the aborig­inals \possessed a keen senSe ofhumor and were marvellously clevermimics. Their good temper andchildish relish of fun was never moreexemplified than when someonemade a present to a stalwart blackOf an old hat. coat. or other discard­ed garment. The recipient woulddon the gift, usually after a fashionnever originally intended, and wouldstrut prOUdly about the camp dis­lllaying himself and his adornment.

After the owner had gp.ent sometIme in exhibiting his prize, a com-

rade would calmly approach himand secure possession of it to gothrough the same performance.Then quickly it would pass fromone to another, and each man inturn would extract a maximum ofmerriment from its 1P0ssession. After­wards the gift, whatever it was,Qever seemed to have any particularowner, for it would 'be free for allthe tribe. The first recipient nevertroubled about being deprived of pos­session, and enjoyed more the usesto whiCh it was put 'by his friends.

Tobacco was greatly IPrized bythe men and wom.en Of the tribewhen I knew it. They smoked thefragrant weed whenever they couldget it generally in pipes they madetbems~lves. They were great mendi­cants where tobacco was concernedand would make veritable nuisancesOf themselves at times to obtain asmall supply. The gins were verypersistent. With wheedling tonesthey would approach my father. andwaving a cold and empty pipe, wouldexclaim in tragic tones: ":Pipe veryhungry, marsa."

Very rarely did an aboriginalstoo/p down to pick up any articlefrom the ground. Having long, pre­hensile toes they would use them asa white man does his fingers tograsp the object needed and thuswould ris.e it to within reach Of thehands. When riding the men neverput their feet right through thestirrups, as we did but would graspthe outer side bet~een the great andsecond toes. This gave them all thosupport needed, and many of themwere first-rate horsemen.

There was one old aboriginal ofthe tribe. whose name I cannot nowrecall. who apparently resented theIntrusion of white people and theadoption Of their customs by histribe. Religiously he followed the oldorder Of thinits that had obtained

on the peaceful shores of the harborbefore the advent of the invaders,refusing steadfastly to participate inanything that savored of an in­fringement of the old tribal lawsand observances.

He was a tragic and at the sametime a pitiable figure, the relic of adecaying race making a lone-handedfight against the catastrophe hisignorant mind but dimly sensed andwhich he vaguely knew would ulti­mately cause the extinction of allhis people. His singular attitude wasnot understood by the rest of theaboriginals and consequently hellved a solitary life. but seldommixing with the others.

When I departed from Port Steph.ens in 1873 to go to Queensland thetribe had dwindled to about fiftymellllbers. Perhaps there were fewerthan that. I often wonder nowadaysWhether there are any surviVing ofthat once happy, care-free compan­ionship of the woods.

During the year 1922 I paid a visitto Forster and there found a full­working at the hotel. He belonged tothe Myall Lakes tribe and knew theaboriginal names of most of thefishes and birds and seemed delight­ed that I was able to pronounce themin his half-forgotten language.

At the same time I was taken tovisit an old gin named Old Mary.who was nearly ninety years of age.She had :Maori blOOd in het veinsand had lived at Port Stephenswhen I was a lad. She rememberedme perfectly and was delighted totalk over old times.

I often wonder if any Of the carvedtrees still remain that were aJboutthe old "bora" rings near (BulgaCreek on the crown of the ridgeBome halt a mile from Bundabahstation. I can recall many such treesIn my time. their huge boles scoredwith crude representations of snakes

and mystic curves that evidently hada particular significance in connec­tion with the man-making cere­monies Of the older times. Perhapsa search bY some interested hiator­lan would locate these trees it theaXe ot the timber cutter has not beenbusy or bush fires haTe destroyedthese mute evidences Of a race thathas passed away.

My father was m'llde a member ofthe Port Stephens tribe /before I wasborn, probably somewhere about thebeginning of the '40·s. !His tri!balname was ",Mur.ritan," but I neverheard the meaning of It.

Before leaving Port Stephens Itoccurred to me that it would be wellto compile a li9<t of native words andordinary phrases. To make it as re­liable as possible I wrote it as I gotthe words from the Ups ot the twomost intelligent aboriginals I knew.Fanny and Billy Steward. The first­named was laundress at our hometor over fifteen yean.

It is very dimcult to convey thecorrect pronunciation Of many at thewOO'ds 'by means of our alphabet. butmy acquaintance with the languagewas of ~reat assistance in enabUngme to get as near as possible to tileexact sound. Following is the vocabu­lary I compiled in 1873:-

Enitlish. Aboriginal.E'arth PurrlShip MoorookooThunder 'MullooLightning Tinum. &: WeenumMountain Pulcra &: YoongocPlains GhurrawunRocks Willah8tonell WillahTrees WattyLeaves YilleIronbar1l:: TeekurahOak KooraruStringybar1l:: PunnahOrasstree PummlrrlGrass TooroongFlowers MoorapunGi~ant1c Lily Pooloon¥earn

36 THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS 37

Birds Kooyeeng & Eyes MecarckRipping Nose Gharng Widow Nil. Many Munti

Emu Wittarkee Mouth Kurracar Orphan Nil. Few Warrin

Swan Koolwunnung .rs Ghuooreark Summer Kurrawarn Full Willimboo

Duck Pyrrahmah Ohm Tarpee Winter Tuckerah Empty Ghurruk

Laughing Jackass KookandY Lips Willick Rain Kueywon Hollow WOOl'roon

Eggs Ghiyoong & Teeth Tirrah Wind Ca,rreark Solid KooroongKuppin Tongue Miyarl Rainbow Too-roo-mee-ry Deaf Wombal

Kangaroo Wombourne Armlt Curran GOOd Murroong Dumb Ghookoong'Possum Wottoo /Hands Mutterah Bad Yirrekey Blind ToomongFlying FOJ: Kundewung Fingers lMutterah Small Mitte Lame Booting-Booting

Nails Cooreeng Big Tookal, Platypus Yappee Legs Olq Coonnoon Naked Poondi (poondi)

lNative Dog Tuppin Kuttra Young Cooroomool Mad Wombun-Feet Tinnah

Native (}at Kindeeng Toes Tinnah Tall Poorah Wombun

Porcupine Mlccarree Eyebrows Yinderee Short Ghoodool To Come Korkol

Bandicoot Boocan Eyelashes Wooepeen Long Poorah To Go Kutti

Squirrel Pilloo Day Ghurracum BToad Pirriu To Stop Kuppoo

Fish Muckeroo Night Koorah Thick Muttoo To Turn TooyoukThin KuppirreePorpoise Cooprar To-day lBunghi White Poorah To Sit YallerwahShark Toorar<:le Yesterday CoombahTurtle Coorahcumarn To-morrow Coom;bah Black Pootoong Or To Kneel Pucker-bln-bulleer

Schnapper Kurrangcun Light or Dark (no word for)Pootook To Run (make

Blue Nil.J'eWlftsh Turrahwurrah Sun' Wingin & Toocan Red Kunggerah

haste) Kooperleer

Mullet Peewah Moon Keewuk Green Nil To Jump Kurroongee

Bream Coopere Stars Munni & M6Ireen Yellow Nil To Fall Pumba-poondeela

Stingray Billoru Comet (nil.) Brown Nil. To Stand Wurrawah

To~pedofish Kirrepoontoo Heat Wirrinwirrin Hot WinnalIin To Laugh KlnderkeeEel Toonang Cold Kurkur Cold KurkurFlathead T9.rrahwarng Thief Minmingmoon Grey-headed Tinkerbark

To Cry ToonggllUn

Oysters Ninnung Murderer Poong-gie-coorn Bald Wallung- To Strike Poongah

Crayfish Wirrah Poison Tuottarkarl peereekin To LIrt Wockerboomergea

Crabs Teerah Devil Cooin Hard Kooroong To Throw Carpee(also means teeth) S'pir1t Murrie Clouda Y:ureel To Klll Toorah

Shirlmps Punnoong Flesh Yooun Water Ghuttook To Catch Yarroo

High water K1ll0ongmundi Blood Coorah & Air Woopee

(mundi means Kungera Fire Wuttar To Play Neeghallee

great or many) Bones Ghimbick Flame Kllle To Fight Tooralli

Lowwater Wittung White man Kirrimbullah Smoke Poottoo To Bury Puppallkee

Flood.t1de Wockercoopa Woman Kin Sea Wombal & To Burn Kimmahkee

Ebbtlde Barracoopa Boy Poon Kroowar To Spear TOQralli

Sea-beach Poonah Girl MurrakeanRiver PummieSoft Millwoo or To D;ink Pittahmar

Waves Ghullui Baby Wunni Pootoong To Eat TuckahBoat Murrowey Male KuwLrree Rough Nurriwirri To Sweat CaroolCanOe Cooeyung Female KinPaddle Wolloong

Smooth Toorool toorool To Hunt KittymulletahFather Peeyah Heavy Poorol To Fish Marner-muckeroo

,Fish spear Tutti Mother Ghiyah Light Wirrin orFishing line Yirrawarn Brother lBIinghi and Whlrwhin To Dance Wongergee

Fish hook Pirrewuy Whoombarrah Angry Buccar To Race Wunnumah

Common spear Cummi Sister Ghurreen Plea~ed Kinnarng To Talk MikeenrI'hrow!ng stick Purrahmirre Uncle Gowan Dead Tuttee To Sing Wittee & Coottee

ClUb Cooteerah Aunt Barn Living Kirrumboo To Halloa (shout

Shield Cooreel Grandfather PUPPOo Sic'k Yirrekee out) Coolpee

NatiVe Bear Ooolah Grandmother Gimppee Well Purkurbl8Jr To Work Wahpungah

Head Wolluck Blackfellow Cooree Drowned KurreelahSavage [&uccar To Rest Yallarwah

Hair Kittuck Black gin Kin (see also angry) To Wait Kuppoo

38 THE PORT STEPHENS BLAClt~ THE PORT STEPHENS BLACKS

NarkerYuckhi NarkerYooyookWunnahYoolllnbullearNappoo Bai

To Lie downTo Rise up

To ListenTo Look'fo Steal

Here

ThereYesNo

PoopahkeeWockerleen

GhurrungkeeNarkerMinneelmoonApoo

YeeGhickeeGhowy

Look hereLet me seeFurther onWhereCome backTo sleepI was

dreaming Poorun GhuttbOt'I don't know GhutteeWho Gharner

eonld recollect clearly. I have no..over-tltated anything, nor have I4rawn on my imagination to supplyany links that might have been miss­Ing. I trust that this brief history ofa forgotten people wlll have proved

of interest to many. and that it willhave ita uses at some future date

when a complete history of theaboriginals of Australia oom8lil to be

written.

Sentences in Aboriginal Dialect of Port Stephens Tribe:-

English.Who are you (?)Where are you going (!)

What is your name (?)Where do you come from?Will you come with me

(or let us go together)LAt us go fishin~

What did you say (?)

Let us go kangarooingWait a bitGo further onHide yourselfI am tiredLook at the snake

Kill him with a stickHe has eseapedI was frightenedIt Is thundering

I hear 1tLet Us make hasteThe lightning has struck a trellThere will be a flood

I see the camp fireThe dogs are barkingThe children are crying

I feel very hungryGive me something to eat

I want some water

The blacks could not count be­yond five. Their numerals were usfollows:-

One-Wakool.

Two-Bullora.Three-BulIora Kooti.Four-Bullora bullora.

Aboriginal.Gharner bai (or heay)'Yonder B<eay

Gharner BeayWonder tin Beay

Kntt! BarleyMuckeroo Barley marugeyJ\Iinarmbeay weeahIin

Kutt! barley buckoorahKuppooYouyoongYompulleerGhuttoo mooroo-mooroolBiteer narker

Poongah wattykeeKuttarahKinder GhuttoorMulloo

GhurrahtinKurry-KurryWeemuntoo poonggillin wattyPulleemah tookal

Wuttah Ghuttoor narkUlinMirreekoo yirrumbullingPoorl Toong-kilUng

Mullah Ghuttoor*WeelGhooker purreer

(·1.e. I say)Ghuttoong purreer

Five--1Biullora bulIora Kooti.More than five: Mund1.In concluding these reminiscence.,

I wish to say that I have been par­ticularly careful to give a faithfuland accurate account Of things thatI saw and thQ details of which I