Great Fight
Camping-ground
Yam-sticks
Boys’ Weapons
Single-handed Fight Great Gashes
Charcoal Powder for Healing
Same Treatment Kill a White man
Nose Pierced
Body Marked
“Kippa-ring”
“Kakka”
Notched Stick-Images Along the Road-way
After this dressing up of the boys a time was arranged for the “great fight.” Two men were sent to the gins to order them. with a few old men to move the whole camp to a ridge bordering an open piece of country suitable for a fight. The gins, who would start off first, had sometimes to go perhaps miles, though it was generally to a stated place, where fights were often held. There the camps were arranged about one hundred yards from each other, the different tribes having theirs faced north, south, east, or west, according to that part of the country they had come from. On entering a camp, Father could tell at a glance to where any of the tribes belonged, by noticing the huts. For the doorways pointed to whence they had come, even in spite of the wind, which could be guarded against by breakwinds of bushes. However, if wet weather set in, and things could be improved by the turning round of a hut, it was done. The boys or “kippas ” had their camps made some six hundred yards from the others, and when these were occupied, several old men were left in charge.
The day of the fight would come round, and the women then repaired to the open piece of ground selected, having with them each a yam-stick with a small bunch of bushes tied to the end. A yam-stick (“kalgur”) is like a spear, but thicker; it is about six feet long, and tapers to a point; men never used it, but women did as a weapon, and also for digging for wild yams-the roots of a vine, something similar to sweet potatoes, which the natives were fond of. Sticking these yam sticks in the ground on front of them, the gins would stand awaiting the arrival of the newly-made “kippas,” and the men, seeing they were ready, would start off with their charges down towards the fighting-ground.
Before starting the youngsters would be formed in a line of two deep, with two great men, each a “turrwan,” taking the lead, and these men were armed with spears, waddies, and boomerangs, and were dressed as for a fight, with paint and feathers or down on their bodies, like the boys according to their tribe. Like the boys, also, each man’s nose was a glossy red, but through it he wore his bone. Then he had the human hair belt-as they were great men. Each boy would be armed with two little spears, a boomerang stuck in his belt, and a small shield, also a waddy. In addition, he now wore a fringe of green bushes stuck in the belt round his waist.
When the youngsters were ready to start with the two men in the lead, the others, also dressed up, would range themselves behind, and on either side of the boys, then before moving they all gave an unearthly yell to let the gins know they were starting. Off they would then go in a half trot, half walk, singing a war song as they proceeded, and beating time with their waddies and boomerangs, keeping good time too, though they made a frightful row. When the gins saw them approaching, they also would start dancing about and singing, apparently rejoiced at the reappearance of the “kippas,” who with the men would, when they came up, career gaily round the group of women three times, dancing and yelling their hardest. Then the women would snatch up their yam-sticks and point with the bushy end at whichever boy was their son or relation, and the boys would grasp the bushes, pulling them off and putting them under their arms, and all danced round again thrice as before.
The “kippas” divided into companies then, each to his own tribe, standing in line about thirty yards apart. The old warriors of the tribe stood behind them, and the women in a third rank behind again. The newly-made “kippas” would then fall upon each other, fighting with their little spears and waddies, the rest looking on no doubt enjoying the fun, which would last some twenty minutes or so.
After that the serious business of the day began, the “kippas” drawing back, and the seasoned warriors taking their place in the play. The young fellows would generally fight in solemn earnest, burning to earn distinction; but the elders had many an ancient feud to satisfy, many a story of murder and abduction they remembered when they saw the grim line of painted warriors before them, and the fight was sure to be a fierce one, the excitement growing as the blows increased. What a gruesome sight it must have been! Spears would fly fast, waddies sound with a crash against thick skulls, and blood would flow freely. Also the women from outside, and the men who were too old to join in, would hurl sticks, stones, and curses in amongst the fighters, who chased and fought each other, keeping on the go for about an hour. All the time the young fellows looked on and learnt, probably thinking of the time when they would be able to do as well or better, as is the way with young people. Becoming exhausted at the end of a certain time, the warriors would take a well-earned rest, each side squatting down on the ground some two hundred yards apart.
It was remarkable to notice what little real harm was done after all this fierce excitement, though the wounds in some cases seemed ghastly enough. Should any one be killed, that ended hostilities for the time. Otherwise, it would not be long before two men of one side would jump up, and frantically running half-way across to the others, they would brandish and wave their spears in a most threatening manner, as though to say, “Come along, you black-hearted villains, and just see what you will get!” The “black-hearted villains” weren’t to be frightened, however, and to show their contempt for any such threat, and that they would not be behind-hand in any fight, they were soon on their feet going through exactly the same sort of antics themselves, as the others retreated. Back would come the other two to threaten again, and so on turn about, till at last all these threats ended in a challenge from four or five a side to the same number on the other for a single-handed fight, man to man. The challenge was, of course, accepted, and the men then got into position twenty or thirty yards apart, and began to throw spears and waddies at each other. Father says it was just wonderful to see how the weapons were dodged; there perhaps would scarcely be a wound inflicted, even though things would be kept going for half-an-hour or so. When this handful of blacks had played out their little part of the play, a “turrwan” of one tribe would rise up majestically and challenge a man of another tribe at whose door he laid the blame of the death of a relative. These two would then go at it, swearing at one another, fighting, too, at close quarters, which the others had not done. They would both hold a stone knife in their teeth, not using it at first, but doing their best to strike each other with waddies, protecting themselves with shields. The shields used when waddies were the weapons in use were stouter and thicker than those used as a protection from spears.
Sometimes one man would receive a blow on the head, sometimes on the leg, and the moment a blow found its way home thus shields and waddies were dropped at once, and the two men would close in, using the left arm and hand to clutch the enemy, while with the stone knife, now in the right hand, they would stab and hack at each other, cutting great gashes in the shoulders and back or thighs of the oppon- ent. They dared not cut the breast, nor indeed any front part of the body; if those looking on saw this done they would interfere immediately and kill the offender. The onlookers also took upon themselves to separate the two if they thought one was receiving more than his due share, and the friends of the most severely wounded promptly gave the other a few more gashes to make things equal !-the victor being bound to stand quietly and submit to this being done. They fought very fiercely, these men; some of the gashes were terrible. Father has seen dozens on their backs, and sometimes extra deep ones on their thighs. To heal the wounds, they used charcoal powder, and sometimes just wood ashes pounded down.
The aborigines never laid up with their wounds, though one wonders at it. Father has seen in a fight the skin of the head cut right through to the skull with a waddy. These deep cuts on the head were treated in the same way as those on the body-just charcoal put in them, and the wounds seemed to recover in a few weeks’ time. It would without doubt kill a white man to be treated in the same way.
This fighting was kept up on the whole for about five hours in the fore part of the day. After these champions had had their “go,” other fighting men would follow, and so on. When all was ended, everybody would retire to camp, the “kippas” who were thus being initiated into the art of warfare, being escorted to their quarters by a dozen men. The rest of the day was employed in hunting for food, and at night the boys would play with the “wobbalkan” and watch the men dance, etc. This was not for one day only, but for about a week the fight went on, at the end of which time the “kippas” were supposed to be fighting men, able to fight their own battles. All through, though, they were kept away from their mothers, and for three months or so after this they did not return to the women’s camp, but would hunt and camp with the elder men, keeping more or less to their dress meanwhile.
After the great fight was over the “kippas” would have their noses pierced, and their bodies ornamented with scars, the latter being done in different ways, according to the tribe to which they belonged. The natives here did not tattoo, but marked their bodies. The nose-piercing and body-marking was generally done in dull, damp weather, if possible, the idea being that it would not hurt so much then. And when all was over, the visiting tribes would depart to journey homewards, taking each with them their own “kippas,” or young men, the latter travelling apart from the others.
The greater ceremony of kippa-making was carried out in the following fashion, and what is known as the “bora” ceremony of other tribes is not unlike it. First a circle- called “bul” by the Brisbane blacks, and “tur” by the Bribie Island tribe-was formed in the ground, very like a circus ring, the earth being dug from the centre with sharp sticks and stone tomahawks, and carried to the outside on small sheets of bark to form a mound or edging round the ring about two feet high. The circle itself was about forty or fifty feet across, and was quite round. Then a road five feet wide was made from the circle, running about six hundred yards to another smaller circle, just the same, but half the size. All along both sides of the roadway were placed peculiar images in clay or grass, two or three feet high, of kangaroos, opossums, native bears, emus, turtles, snakes, fish, and nearly all sorts of animals, as well as of men. Images were also cut in the bark of trees which grew along the roadway.
Now a straight wattle tree was sought for, measuring from eight to nine inches through the trunk, and the blacks would grub all round this tree three feet or so away from the stem, cutting the roots through, and so falling it. This was easily done, as the wattle has no tap-root, and the other roots are all spread out near the surface. They were nice and flat these roots, and the blacks would trim them up a little, and also top the tree, leaving the barrel about eleven feet in length. Then the whole thing would be lifted and carried to the smaller circle, where in the centre a hole three feet deep had been dug ready to receive it. The stem would be well rammed into this hole, and the roots being uppermost, they would be laced with wattle bark, so making a sort of network, beautifully done, resembling somewhat the bottom of a large cane chair; and this formed a platform six feet across. This stump or platform the natives called “kakka,” meaning “something wonderful.”
The remains of a “kippa-ring,” as we call it, may still be seen near Humpybong. There used to be one at North Pine, opposite to where the blacksmith’s shop now stands, and another at Samford.
As in the lesser ceremony, messengers were sent to a neigh- bouring tribe, and they would act in just the same way as then, but this time, they carried a notched stick as a sign of what was to take place, and which pointed out, as it were, that a number of boys were ready to be transformed into “kippas.” The stick on being presented to a ” turrwan,” meant an invitation for the tribe to come and bring along their boys.
While this was going on the blacks at the ring were busy fixing it up for the ceremony, and making their camps two hundred yards away. Sometimes two or three weeks would pass before all the different tribes rolled up, and every batch of fresh arrivals fell to like a lot of busy ants or bees, and made their own huts. The time, too, was employed in hunting for food, and so it passed till the tribes had all assembled. Then the boys would be taken away, and in their absence names were suggested for them, also they had to listen to the instructions about speaking and eating, etc.
This finished, the youngsters were packed off to the large ring, and there they were placed inside, lying down all round the ring, each boy’s head on another’s hip-there would be probably forty or fifty of them. The gins would go into the circle, and dance and sing the “kippa” song for about half-an-hour, the men doing the same on the outside. Then the boys were made to sit up in twos all round on the mound, a space between each pair, their legs inside the ring, and a gin standing outside behind each boy-a mother, sister, or some other relation. The singing would go on all the time, and the boys must never look up at the sky, but simply straight ahead.
Several men carrying boomerangs would now enter the ring, and a man going up to each boy would point at him with the boomerang. The boy was supposed to catch hold of the end, and at the moment that he did so a gin behind clutched him by the hair of the head, and lifted him up,
Then still holding on, the lads would follow the men across the ring, the gins behind, till they came to where the roadway started out to the smaller circle. Here the women were ordered back by the old warriors, and they remained in the larger ring dancing and singing till the boys returned. They were never allowed to go up this roadway, nor might they see the “kakka” on pain of death.
The boys were shown the images lining both sides of the way, the men drawing their attention to them with the continual cry” Kor-é, kor-é, kor-é” (“Kor-é,” with the e accented and sounded as an a, means “wonder “). Thus they would reach the smaller circle, where in the centre the “kakka” stood supreme, and on this platform five or six blacks would be found standing, freshly blackened and all dressed up. These gentlemen were the great men of the day-they were all “turrwans,” and when the boys appeared before them each man would pull a “kundri ” stone from his mouth, showing it to the boys as much as to say, “Look at this wonder.” They would also point out the “kakka” as something marvellous. The boys from their babyhood had been taught to look on the “kundri” and its possessor with awe, and though they had never seen a “kakka” before, they had heard mysteriously of its wonders.