“Fireworks Display”
Warning the Women
Secret Corrobboree
“Look at this Wonder”
Destroying the “Kakka”
How Noses were Pierced
Site of Kippa-rings”
Raised Scars
Inter-tribal Exchange of Weapons, etc.
Removing Left Little Finger
Fishing or Coast Women
When the boys had been shown all there was to be seen in the smaller circle, they were taken again to the larger one, and there placed as before, with the men and women all round outside dancing and singing, some quite close, and others fifty yards or so away from the ring. Then down the roadway would come the warriors from the “kakka” and, going up to each boy, a man would whisper in his ear the name formerly agreed on; then out this name would be shouted, and the roaring and singing and dancing which followed continued for the space of half-an-hour, when it gradually ceased and died down. After that the gins and a few old men were left in charge, while the others went out hunting, to return with food, a supply of which they gave to the boys.
At night, the lads, still in twos round the ring, were treated to a “fireworks” display. “Kundri” men would come running down the roadway to the big ring, with small firesticks in either hand, and these they would shake and brandish in front of the boys as they ran round the ring, making a great noise all the time. The men and women on the outside added to the row by singing and dancing, and they also carried firesticks, twisting them into all shapes and forms with their movements.
It was a sight worth seeing. Let us in fancy look at it in the solitude of the bush. The dark forms ever on the move, the fire-sticks twisted into fantastic shapes and hoops of fire, lighting up the little sober faces of the boys as they sat round the ring watching the performance. And the white boy looking on at it all. What were his thoughts of it? To him it was a common occurrence; but to us, could we but see it now, it would, indeed, be a strange and memorable scene. And as we look the men in the ring, after running till they surely tire, stand and brandish their sticks for the last time, then cast them into the centre of the ring, where they blaze up, illuminating the night. This would end the performance, and the “kippas” were marched to the special camp prepared for them away from the others. The next morning, after the cry for the dead and the early meal, etc., the “kippas” were once more taken to the ring, and placed there in the old position with the men and women singing round them as usual. In the bush, fifty yards away, dark forms were hidden, two on either side of the ring. These were some of the great men, and presently one lot would start whistling as a sort of warning of what they meant to do, and, being answered by their companions of the opposite side, they would all then go forward with a dance and a song to where the gins were, and start chasing the latter, calling to them to be off and camp by themselves, taking also their belongings. These poor creatures were threatened with instant death if they disobeyed, or came near and dared to look at anything about the ring. If black women are as curious as we are supposed to be, this was hard lines! Let us hope they are not.
After the women had gone out of sight and hearing, the young men, or “kippas,” were taken to their quarters, and there fully dressed in the style described before. The men also dressed in their fighting dress, and when ready they marshalled the boys back to the ring. The youngsters then were shown the “bugaram ” and the “wobbalkan,” the men swinging the former and making it sound, also playing with the latter, and instructing the boys how to use it. In between, too, they would sing and dance the secret corrobboree that the women must never hear nor see.
Each boy would now be presented with his “dilly,” and the “wobbalkan” to put in it. Afterwards the men began to pick quarrels with each other, calling names, and wrestling, even throwing one another to the ground; and this was all for the boys’ benefit, that they might be tempted to speak. They were tempted in every way, spoken to, laughed at, jeered at-all as in the lesser ceremony.
The second night the boys were taken up the roadway, and shown the wonders there by firelight this time. Their guides would carry lighted torches, and all along on both sides bright fires burned, casting their radiance on the fan- tastic figures which lined the way, and thus stood out in strange relief. They went on thus to the smaller circle, and there the “kakka” came in for a share of attention.
This sort of thing went on day and night for two or three weeks, sometimes longer; then a time was fixed for the “great fight.” But before that event came off, the boys would be one day taken from the big ring along the roadway to the smaller one, where they were made to stand facing the “kakka” with the great men thereon. Hardly would they be so placed when half-a-dozen blacks would come with a roar and a rush, and, grabbing hold of the “kakka,” would shake it with a will, the warriors on top pulling the “kundri” from their mouths, and crying, “Look at this wonder.” Still the men went on shaking until the “kakka” became quite loose, when they would lift it out of the hole (the warriors still on top), and lay it down on the ground. The boys looking on would now have their heads covered with opossum rugs, so that they could not see what was done, and the “kakka” was chopped into little pieces and scattered here and there.
This over the boys were taken to their camp and allowed to speak. Perchance before the fight they had their noses pierced, or perhaps it was after. Placed again round the large ring, they sat while a “turrwan” went one behind and one in front of each boy. The man in front would have long sharp nails, and with these he pinched through the soft part of the boy’s nose; that done he thrust a small sharp spear through the opening, after which a piece of stick formed for the purpose three inches in length was put in, and this was kept there till the nose healed. Every day during the healing period water was poured on, and the stick was turned round. Then afterwards a round ball of bees’ wax was kept in the hole for about a month in order that it might be kept open.
All the time the boring of the nose was going forward, the “turrwan” at the back would keep beating with his open hands the boy’s ears, and making a roaring noise. This was supposed to prevent the youngster from feeling pain! The “kippas” would remain in full dress during all this time, and when the nose-piercing was over, all proceeded towards where the gins were camped, but the “kippas” still kept from their women friends, having their camp apart as usual.
Each night now the young fellows would play with the “wobbalkan,” making it hum and bark like a dog, and the men made the “bugaram” roar, so that the gins in their camps, hearing these noises, grew afraid, and kept well inside their huts, thinking no doubt that the poor boys were being swallowed.
For “kippa” making the aborigines did not each time make fresh rings, but there were certain ones that different blacks always used, and these they would fix up. For in- stance, the natives coming from the direction of Ipswich, Cressbrook, Mount Brisbane (inland blacks) would, with the Brisbane tribe, generally use the ring at Samford, while the Logan, Amity Point, North Pine, Moreton and Bribie Islands blacks (coast tribes) had their ring at North Pine. Others again from further north, such as the Maroochy, Noosa, Kilcoy, Durundur, and Barambah blacks would use the Humpybong ring. But it depended on which tribe had the most boys ready for the ceremony, and did the inviting. If a coast tribe invited, then all the others went to the ring that tribe would naturally use, and so on.
In the same way, there was generally a certain picked place for holding the fight after “kippa” making. The inland tribes went from the Samford ring to the site of the Roma Street Railway Station in Brisbane, and the coast tribes went either to Eagle Farm or to what used to be known as York’s Hollow, where the Exhibition now is.
The great fight I have already described, and when that was over the “kippas” had their various ornaments taken off and put in a dilly, and these were kept for another occasion for fresh boys. Boys who had gone through the “kippa” ceremony thought a great deal of themselves. Father was often amused at the way in which a small boy-a” kippa” though would lord it over a much bigger one who was not yet a “kippa.” He would tweak the other’s ear, pull his hair, and otherwise treat him disrespectfully, and the big chap would be bound to submit as quite an inferior. Or the little fellow would chase the other as hard as he could go, his string tail flying out behind, and it was all quite right! How would white boys like this?
It was the duty of the “kippas” to leave no trace behind of the “bugaram” or the “wobbalkan.” They were supposed to burn these instruments when finished with, so that the gins might not see them.
At the end the boys were marked with body scars, on the back, the breast, and on the shoulders and arms, in patterns according to the tribe to which they belonged. These marks were made with sharp flint stones or shells, and had fine charcoal powder rubbed into them. It was remarkable how the scars became raised after a short time; a white man’s skin is not the same. Father saw “Duramboi” (Davis, the convict) after he had lived seventeen years with the blacks, and his body was marked, but the scars were flat, not raised as those of the blacks.
When all the ceremonies were over the blacks would still linger, hunting by day and having their corrobborees by night, and then-as always after any gathering, even a fight they would in the end part well pleased with each other, and excellent friends. But before leaving any common meeting ground, the aborigines always exchanged possessions. For instance, the inland blacks would give weapons, opossum rugs, dogs, etc., to the coast blacks for dillies made of rushes that grew only on the coast, shells for ornaments, and reed necklaces. It was a great practice, this intertribal exchange of various articles, and accounts for the way in which some weapon for instance, or perhaps a dilly bag, might be found far from its original home, having gradually made its way after many years to scenes and pastures new. So when some instrument was found in the possession of a certain tribe it did not by any means follow that they had originally made that instrument.
I may mention here that the aborigines, men and women, all had the same body markings-that is, in the same tribe, for all different tribes had different patterns. Each individual received them as children; little boys or girls, when old enough, might be taken at any time and marked, without any ceremony, by old men (never women) of the tribe. However, boys could never receive their shoulder marks till they had come to the “kippa stage.”
Another practice was that of removing the left little finger of all young girls. This was to show that they were fishing or coast women. When nine or ten years of age a little girl would have her finger performed on by her mother, or some old woman. in this way. The gin would hunt round for some strong spider’s web, and get the string from this, or, failing that, she obtained some long hair from a man’s head (women’s hair was always short), and then with this she would bind round and round the little finger on the first joint as tightly as possible. In time the string would cut into the joint and the finger would swell up, the end mortifying. At this stage the child was taken to an ant-bed, and there the woman sat patiently holding the finger for some hours, allowing the ants to get at it (but preventing them from going up the arm), till such time as they had eaten into the joint, and so caused the end to come off easily. Afterwards the skin grew over the bone.
This was a regular practice with the blacks living on the coast; the inland people never did it. It was not done out of any hardness towards the children, but as a matter of course. Indeed, the aborigines were very fond of and kind to their children, and were continually “skylarking” with them. They would dress the little pickaninnies up, even painting them, and then get them to dance and go through with mimic corrobborees, etc., laughing and thinking it a great joke when the children responded. They also took a lot of trouble and interest in the way of teaching them to swim, climb, or use weapons of all sorts.