How Names were given
“Kippa”-making
Two Ceremonies
Charcoal and Grease Rubbed on Body
Feathers and Paint
Exchanging News
Huts for the Boys
Instructions given them
“Bugaram”
“Wobbalkan”
Trial of the Boys
Red Noses
“Kippa’s Dress”
Aborigines seldom had names alike, indeed they never had in the same camp. In that respect they surely were more original than we are with our “Tom, Dick, and Harry,” handed down from father to son. When an aboriginal child was about a week old, the mother would, after consulting with her friends, give it some pet name. The child would be called by the name of some animal, fish, or bird, or perhaps by that of a hollow log, or Daylight, Sundown, Wind, Flood, Come-quick, Fetch-it, Go-away, Left-it, and so on. The name, if the child was a girl, would remain with her her life through, but a boy’s name was afterwards changed.
During a man’s life he would possess three different names -the first as a child, the second when he was transformed into a “kippa” (young man), and again the final when he became a grown man (“mallara”) with a beard. This latter name was decided by men of his own tribe, and no special ceremony was held, but friends would consult about it during some corrobboree. No man was allowed to marry until he had come to possess his last name.
Aboriginal boys were transformed into “kippas” in this wise: -When they were a certain age, say from twelve to fifteen years, they went through a long ceremony, at the end of which they were looked on as young men. There were two different ways in which this ceremony might be carried out; the simple or “Kúrbíngai” was resorted to when there were not so many boys to be put through, and these “kippas” did not take as high a rank as those who had gone through the greater ceremony, in the same way as a boy nowadays, who has been to an inferior school cannot be expected to be as capable as another who has gone to a superior one. And often a boy would go through the greater ceremony when he had already been initiated at the “Kúrbíngai.”
The simpler ceremony was carried out as follows:–When a certain tribe wished to convert their boys into kippas, they first picked two men and sent them as messengers to a neighbouring tribe to see how many boys there were in that tribe ready to be initiated. Arriving in the near neighbourhood of the camp, these men paused and decorated themselves. First a mixture of charcoal and grease was rubbed all over the body from head to foot, and this produced an extra glossy blackness. The aboriginals obtained plenty of grease from iguanas, snakes, fish, dugong, etc., and it was carried about with them in their “dillies” always, rolled up in nice soft pieces of grass. They ate this grease at times, but apart from that must have used a great deal of it, for, whenever they wanted to “spruce up,” they always rubbed themselves with grease and charcoal. It was evidently to them what our bath is to us-they felt nice and fresh, and dressed, as it were. The charcoal was the same as that used dry to rub on wounds, and will be referred to again. It was a very fine and soft powder, and mixed up well with the grease. When children were born, they were rubbed almost immediately with this mixture-it made them blacker than they would otherwise have been.
To return to the two messengers. After anointing themselves in this fashion they would stick either feathers or swan’s down in their hair with more grease, and then, according to the tribe to which they belonged, they decorated their bodies either in red, yellow, or white designs or patterns. After that, loitering till the sun went down, and darkness was upon them, they made towards the camp, each beating two boomerangs together, and singing as they went the recognised” kippa” song; till from the camp came an answering cry, the blacks there taking up the song and beating their boomerangs, giving thus an invitation to enter. The messengers would do so, and the song was continued, and sung to a finish by the whole of the blacks assembled.
One can imagine how, after this, all would cluster round the visitors, hearing and telling the news, talking over affairs, and making arrangements for the journey to the scene of action, where the first tribe were camped. The journey was probably undertaken next day, and the messengers were accompanied by the whole tribe, with the exception of two men, who in turn went to their next neighbours; and so in the same way the news was carried from tribe to tribe, till all the people round about-men, women, and children- were finally gathered together for the ceremony.
In the meantime the blacks at the appointed place were not idle; they would build a large bush fence or shade (some distance away from the main camp), formed in a half-circle, to be used in the daytime as a protection from the sun for the boys, and also partly to hide them. Two or three huts nicely fashioned from tea-tree bark were also put up about one hundred yards from the bush shade, and these last were the sleeping abodes for the youngsters. Though each fresh tribe as it arrived would camp just as it was for the first night-men, women, and children together-the women had afterwards to build their own huts some good distance from the boys’ quarters.
The morning after the arrival of each tribe, the youngsters who were to go through the ceremony would all be taken away from the camp, so that they could not hear what their parents and others were talking about there, and when they were out of sight the fathers, mothers, and the rest would get together and suggest names for the boys. When agreed as to each name, the men would proceed to where the boys were, leaving the gins behind, and when there a “turrwan,” going up to a boy, would whisper in his ear a name, then turning round, would call it out in a loud voice, the result being a regular roar and howl as the others present took up the name. After each boy had had his turn, the men would start singing the “kippa” song, then all proceeded back to camp, the boys returning to their parents.
This little preliminary over, the men of one tribe would go to another tribe and demand the lads from their mothers, who, of course, had to submit. These men must be of no relation to the boys. They would take them again into the bush, far enough away so that the gins could not see nor hear them, and there they gave the boys their instructions. The youngsters were told that they must not, on pain of death, ask for anything, in fact speak at all; neither must they eat eggs, roes of fish, nor any female animal, and they must not look up to the sky. If they desired even to scratch themselves, they must do it, not with their hands, but with a stick. The men maintained that if the boys looked up the sky would fall and smother them, and the youngsters were made to believe this. Some, I suppose, were more credulous than others. As for the non-eating of eggs, roes, etc., that was kept up after the ceremony-in fact, the boys were not allowed to eat these things till they had become grown or full-bearded men. My father used to think the idea a good excuse for the old people to claim the best and daintiest food.
An instrument called the “bugaram” was now brought into use; it was a thin piece of wood a quarter of an inch thick, cut in the shape of a paper knife, and was about seven inches long and two inches wide; it was attached by means of a hole at the end, to a string eight or nine feet long, and when swung round the head would make a roaring noise like a bull. The gins, who were never allowed to see a “bugaram,” and to whom the actual ceremony of kippa-making was never revealed for if they were discovered seeking out the secrets of the mystery they would certainly be killed-were persuaded that the “great men” actually swallowed the boys, after- wards vomiting them up again on the day of the “great fight,” which ended the ceremonies. The unearthly roaring sounds made with the “bugaram” were supposed by the gins to be the noise the “great men ” made in swallowing.
After sounding these instruments and displaying them for some time before the boys (of whom there might be some fifteen or twenty), the men took their charges to the bush shade prepared for their use, and here they were placed lying down on the ground in the half-circle, each boy’s head on another’s hip. In this position they stayed till they tired, when they might sit up with their legs crossed tailor fashion, but only provided their heads were covered with an opossum rug. For sitting up, they were out a little from the shelter of the bushes, and could otherwise see the sky. Sentries (old men) armed, of course, were posted over the boys, pre- pared to spear any youngster who might be tempted to look up or laugh, or otherwise break through the rules, and the rest of the men went out hunting, generally returning before sunset, when they gave the boys something to eat and drink. Father, who saw all these ceremonies when a boy, would sometimes plague the lads when the old warriors had their backs turned, tempting them to look up, etc.; the bays would grin and perhaps do so, though they dare not before the men. Children, black and white, are much the same the world over, I suppose, and of course these boys would speak if they got the chance.
When dusk came on the men would assemble in a crowd before the boys, and go through all sorts of antics-jumping, and dancing, and laughing, and mimicking everything they could think of. With their fun they tried to tempt the boys to laugh and speak or look up; and they chaffed the lads considerably, shouting that their mothers were calling and appealing to their superstitious notions. The capers some of these men would cut, and the way they walked and talked and strutted about, must indeed have been laughable. They would get hold of firesticks, and two or three would perhaps hold a poor, unfortunate companion by the shoulders and legs in mid-air, while yet another would poke a firestick at him from below, making him squirm and jump. Even that would not bring a laugh from the boys, who knew better, having been warned beforehand.
In addition to all this, the men went through with a half song, half dance, which was kept sacred for these occasions, and was a secret from all the womenfolk. They also played with the “wobbalkan,” an instrument like a “bugaram,” only smaller, being a flat piece of wood one inch wide, and four inches long, which was tied fast to three feet of string, ending, unlike the “bugaram,” in a handle similar to that of a stockwhip; and like a whip it was used, making a humming noise when whirled round; then, as it was cracked, the noise resembled the bark of a dog. The boys beheld these for the first time; they were too precious for everyday use; women never saw them.
With regard to the “bugaram” and “wobbalkan,” the writer can say from experience that there is no exaggeration in the description of the noises made, the bark, for instance, being remarkably like that of a dog. No wonder the gins were afraid and crouched back into their huts, not knowing what the sound came from. Thirty or so of these going all at once would make a frightful row, and in the dark it would be most uncanny. The peculiar sound struck a chord of doubtful sympathy in our dog’s nature one day evidently, when Father twirled and cracked a “wobbalkan” to show us its nature, for the animal ran as though he never meant to come back again.
To return to the kippa-making. This trial of the boys, as it were, was kept up for a couple of hours or so; then in pairs the lads were marched off with their heads covered, two men leading the way with spears and waddies, the rest walking on either side, until they arrived at their sleeping camp, where they were put into the huts for the night, men camping all round them. Much the same sort of programme was carried out day and night for three or four weeks, at the end of which time (according to this lesser ceremony) the boys had become “kippas.”
Always after “kippa-making,” the blacks had a great fight. To prepare for this event, each boy was now taken in hand by a blackfellow belonging to a tribe other than his own, who would dress him up. First, it goes almost without saying, that the lads were rubbed over with charcoal and grease from head to foot; they would not be dressed other- wise. Then their noses were painted red with a fine red powder procured by rubbing two stones (” Cinnabar ” sulphide of mercury) together (these stones could only be got in certain places), and when rubbed into the skin this powder produced a beautifully glossy colour. On any important occasion, the black men always had their noses red; bodies were painted in different styles, but noses were all the same. So it was with the boys.
I have described how a man in full dress would perhaps be all white down one side, and black the other, and so on, according to his tribe, and these boys were now painted in the same way. Also, like the men, they would have the various bands and belts mentioned. In addition, however, a “kippa” would wear a snake-throttle tied round his fore- head, which had previously been cut out, slit open, and wound round a stick to keep it flat. This belonged especially to a “kippa’s “dress, as did also a sort of tail which hung from the back of one of the forehead, bands almost to the ground. This tail (“wonggin “) was made from opossum hair, twisted up on the thigh into strings. Similar strings were worn crosswise over the chest and back, forming what was called a barbun.” The rest of the dress was similar to a man’s-the parrot feathers, or the swan’s down, the necklace, etc.
When a boy was ready dressed, he would have a small “dilly” presented to him, which had been made especially by his mother or sister. He never owned such a thing before, though he might often play with one. The string handle would be put over his head, and the bag itself under his arm. He would carry red powder for his nose in this, also a “wobbal- kan,” which latter was given him that he might play with it when alone in camp. Being now “full dressed,” he was allowed to speak.