THIS PAGE FIRST POSTED 1 FEBRUARY 2018
LAST MODIFIED Monday 29 January 2024 16:23
A checklist of colonial era documentation of Australian Indigenous song and dance from first contacts to end of 1860
Dr GRAEME SKINNER (University of Sydney)
THIS PAGE IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
To cite this:
Graeme Skinner (University of Sydney),
"A checklist of colonial era documentation of Australian Indigenous song and dance dance from first contacts to end of 1860",
Australharmony (an online resource toward the early history of music in colonial Australia):
https://sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-2.php; accessed 21 November 2024
See also these TROVE tags:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/search?l-publictag=Corroboree (TROVE tagged)
https://trove.nla.gov.au/search?l-publictag=Indigenous+music+in+colonial+Australia (TROVE tagged by Australharmony)
See also associated pages on this site:
A checklist of colonial era musical transcriptions of Australian Indigenous songs
https://sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-1.php
On this page, go to: 1770 1788 1789 1790
(1791-1800): 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
(1801-10): 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810
(1811-20): 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820
(1821-30): 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830
(1831-40): 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840
(1841-50): 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850
(1851-60): 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860
1642
2 December 1642
Blackman's Bay, VDL (TAS)
TASMAN, Abel (reporter)
Sounds at Blackman's Bay
REPORT ONLY
Go to Main entry in chronicle
1688
January 1688 and months following
King Sound or Collier Bay, North west coast of New Holland (WA)
DAMPIER, William (reporter)
The drum beaten . . . of a sudden with much vigour, purposely to scare the poor creatures
REPORT; WORDS
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1756
25-28 May 1756
Near Duyfken Point, Weipa, QLD
DE HAAN, Gerrit (reporter)
A kind of chant ... dancing and singing
REPORT ONLY
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1770
28 April 1770
Botany Bay, NSW
PARKINSON, Sydney (reporter)
Warra warra wai ... and ceremony
REPORT; TEXT; GLOSS
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? 20 May 1770
Fraser Island, QLD
1923 (reported and transcribed)
1944 (first published)
BADTJALA (unidentified informant)
ARMITAGE, Edward (reporter, transcriber)
Badtjala song 1
? After seeing the Endeavour pass Indian Head, Fraser Island, on 20 May 1770
TEXT; GLOSS
Go to Main entry in chronicle
June-July 1770
Endeavour River, NSW (QLD)
PARKINSON, Sydney (reporter)
Mingoore - To dance
REPORT; TEXT; GLOSS
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1772
7 March 1772
Marion Bay, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS (Marion Bay people)
LE DEZ, Lieutenant (reporter)
Singing and clapping
REPORT ONLY
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1778
21 January 1788
North side, Botany Bay, NSW
INDIGENOUS (? South Sydney/Botany Bay people)
BRADLEY, William (reporter)
... made himself a belt of grass & came dancing out with it ...
REPORT ONLY
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22 January 1788
Botany Bay, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Botany Bay people)
FOWELL, Newton (authority)
TENCH, Watkin (authority)
Worra worra, fife tunes, sailors dancing
REPORT; TEXT; GLOSS
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21-25 January 1788
Botany Bay, NSW
ANONYMOUS (Officer of the NSW Marine Corps) (whistler)
INDIGENOUS (Botany Bay people)
TENCH, Watkin (reporter)
Malbrooke at Botany Bay
REPORT; MELODY IDENTIFIED
Go to Main entry in chronicle
28 January - 1 February 1788
Sydney Harbour, NSW
BRADLEY, William (reporter)
HUNTER, John (reporter)
... danced 'till we were some distance ... they danced & sung with us ...
REPORTS ONLY
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2 and 4 March 1788 (date of events)
Broken Bay, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Broken Bay people)
Songs at Broken Bay
REPORT ONLY
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24 April 1788
Middle Harbour, Port Jackson, NSW
BRADLEY, William (reporter)
They entertained the old man with dancing
REPORT ONLY
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Before 12-18 June 1788
Sydney area, NSW
INDIGENOUS
DRUMS AND FIFE OF THE NSW MARINE CORPS
WORGAN, George Boucher (reporter)
Drum, fife, keeping time to the tune
REPORT ONLY
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July 1788
Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Sydney people) (performers)
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Dances and songs for convict visitors
REPORT ONLY
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29 July 1788
Sydney, NSW
WHITE, John (reporter)
An exchange of songs
REPORT ONLY
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c.1788 to 1790
Sydney, NSW
SOUTHWELL, Daniel (recorder, reporter)
Be-riă, Be-riă, Că-rāb-bă-ră
TEXT; GLOSS
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1789
1 January 1789 (event)
Government House, Sydney Cove, NSW
ARABANOO ("Manly") (participant)
ANONYMOUS (marine officer) (singer)
GOVERNOR'S BAND OF MUSIC (performers)
TENCH, Watkin (participant, reporter)
New Year's dinner music
REPORT ONLY
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1790
WOOLLARAWARRE BENNELONG (singer, performer)
HUNTER, John (reporter)
April 1790 (date of reported event)
Sydney, NSW
Bennelong's songs
TRANSCRIPTION OF SONG WORDS; TEXT; NO GLOSS; REPORT
Go to Main entry in chronicle
December 1790 (date of reported event)
Botany Bay, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Botany Bay [? south] people; Kamaygal or Gweagal man) (singer, performer)
WOOLLARAWARRE BENNELONG (reporter)
HUNTER, John (reporter)
Song at Botany Bay
REPORT; NO TEXT; GLOSS
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1791
1790 or 1791
Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Sydney people)
PATYEGARANG (informant, singer)
DAWES, William (reporter, transcriber)
A song of New South Wales
TRANSCRIPTION OF SONG WORDS; TEXT; NO GLOSS
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February 1791
Farm Cove, Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Sydney people)
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Ceremony at Farm Cove
VERBAL REPORT; VISUAL IMAGES
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March 1791
Bennelong Point, Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Sydney people) (performers, dancers, singers)
WOOLLARAWARRE BENNELONG (performer, dance leader)
BRADLEY, William (reporter)
HUNTER, John (reporter)
Night dance for the colonists at Bennalong's house ... boojery caribberie
REPORTS ONLY
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Before 18 December 1791 (when Tench sailed for England, on the Gorgon)
Sydney and environs, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Sydney people) (dancers, singers)
NANBAREE (NANBARRY; Cadigal man, nephew of Colebee)
ABAROO (BOORON; BOORONG, daughter of Maugoran)
TENCH, Watkin (reporter)
Songs and dances
REPORT ONLY
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1792
October-December 1792
Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS (? Sydney people) (singers, performers)
THOMPSON, George (reporter)
The French tune of Malbrook very perfect
REPORT; TUNE IDENTIFIED
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1793
January-February 1793
Recherche Bay, VDL (TAS)
LABILLARDIÈRE, Jacques Julien Houtou de (reporter)
LA MOTTE DU PORTAIL, Jacques-Malo (reporter)
VENTENANT, Louis (reporter)
Songs in thirds, forming a concord ... dance in a ring
REPORT ONLY
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March-April 1793
Sydney, NSW
MALASPINA, Alejando (reporter)
They have danced and sung almost the whole night around the campfire
REPORT ONLY
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By October 1793 (? late May to October)
Mayfair, London, England
BENNELONG (Woollarawarre Bennelong) (Wangal singer, performer)
YEMMERAWANNE (Wangal singer, performer)
JONES, Edward (transcriber, arranger, reporter)
A song of the natives of New South Wales
SONG TRANSCRIPTION, MUSIC AND TEXT; 3 TEXT CONCORDANCES; REPORT
See main entry in checklist:
https://sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-1.php#002
1794
13 December 1794
Sydney area, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Sydney people)
"A NATIVE OF DERBY" ("in the New South Wales Corps") (reporter)
Singing and dancing
REPORT ONLY
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1795
25 January 1795 (date of event)
Farm Cove, Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Ceremony with songs and singing
REPORT AND IMAGES
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February 1795
Port Stephens, NSW (Worimi land)
INDIGENOUS (Worimi people) (performers, dancers)
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Dance of welcome
REPORT ONLY
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1796
Before August 1796 (when Collins sailed for England in the Britannia)
Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS
WOOLLARAWARRE BENNELONG (singer, performer)
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Bennilong sings over Balooderry
REPORT ONLY
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Before August 1796
Sydney, NSW
DRUMMERS OF THE NSW CORPS
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Drums and marches for the burial of Ba-loo-der-ry
REPORT ONLY
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Before August 1796
Sydney area, NSW
INDIGENOUS
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Chant to dispel thunder and lightning
REPORT ONLY
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Before August 1796
Sydney area, NSW
INDIGENOUS
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Chaunting their little song . . .
REPORT ONLY
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Before August 1796
Sydney area, NSW
INDIGENOUS
COLLINS, David (reporter)
The principal tribes have their peculiar dances and songs
REPORT ONLY
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Before August 1796
Sydney area, NSW
INDIGENOUS
COLLINS, David (reporter, recorder)
Pelican and porpoise songs
SONG WORDS; TEXT; GLOSS; REPORT
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Before August 1796
Sydney area, NSW
INDIGENOUS
COLLINS, David (reporter, recorder)
Two songs
SONG WORDS; REPORT
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Shortly before August 1796
Sydney area, NSW
INDIGENOUS (dancers, singers)
COLLINS, David (reporter)
Dances and ceremonies
REPORT ONLY
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1797
16 December 1797
Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS
ANONYMOUS (reporter)
Song of lamentation over Cole-be's victim
REPORT ONLY
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December 1797
Middle Harbour, Sydney, NSW
Initiation ceremony
REPORT ONLY
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1798
1799
Before 3 May 1799
Sydney, NSW
COLLINS, David (in London, from report sent from NSW)
WATLING, Thomas (reporter, artist)
A night scene in the neighbourhood of Sydney ... singing and dancing
REPORT; IMAGE
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22-27 August 1799
Near Glass-House Mountain, Moreton Bay, NSW (QLD)
INDIGENOUS (singers, dancers)
BONG-REE = BUNGAREE (singer)
BASS, George (reporter)
Dancing and singing in concert
Miming a reel
The song of Bong-ree
General song and dance with three airs
REPORTS ONLY
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1800
By 1800
Sydney area, NSW
PRICE, John Washington (reporter)
Corrobborra
REPORT ONLY
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1801
30 December 1801 to 5 January 1802
South Coast and Two Peoples Bay, WA
INDIGENOUS
NEBINYAN (reporter)
FLINDERS, Matthew (reporter)
BATES, Daisy (reporter)
Koorannup ceremony ... a corroboree from the country of their dead ... songs in the same cadence as at Port Jackson
Also "Kurannup"
REPORT; GLOSS
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1802
31 January 1802 (event)
Bruny Island, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ARRA-MAÏDA (singer, dancer)
BELLEFIN, Jérôme (singer)
PÉRON, François (reporter)
An exchange of songs at Bruny Island
REPORT ONLY
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Late June to November 1802
Sydney and hinterland, NSW
INDIGENOUS (unidentified informants)
LESUEUR, Charles Alexandre (transcriber, reporter)
BERNIER, Pierre François (transcriber, reporter)
Musique des naturels
MUSICAL TRASCRIPTION; WORDS; TEXT; MELODY; RHYTHM
Go to main entry:
Checklist of colonial musical transcriptions of Indigenous songs 3
28 July 1802 (? date of event recorded)
Fraser Island, NSW (QLD)
INDIGENOUS
ARMITAGE, Edward Fitzgerald (transcriber, translator)
Badtjala song 2
WORDS; TEXT; GLOSS
Go to Main entry in chronicle
c.1802 to 1805 (? first published)
Sydney area, NSW, c.1800
INDIGENOUS
ANONYMOUS ("An Officer") (? transcriber)
Wahabindeh bang ha nel ha
A New-South-Wales Song
MUSICAL TRANSCRIPTION; MUSIC; TEXT; NO TRANSLATION/GLOSS
Go to main entry:
Chekclist of colonial musical transcriptions of Indigenous songs 4
1803
3 August 1803
Point Lookout, QLD
INDIGENOUS (dancers)
FLINDERS, Matthew (reporter)
Dances in imitation of the kangaroo
REPORT ONLY
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1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
18 November 1810
Cowpastures, NSW
Dance by the Cow-Pasture tribe
REPORT ONLY
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1811
23 and 27 November 1811
Hobart and New Norfolk, VDL (TAS)
MACQUARIE, Lachlan (reporter)
Singing and dancing around their bonfires
REPORT ONLY
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1811
London, England
MOOWATTIN, Daniel (singer)
Daniel Moowattin's song in London
REPORT; WORDS; GLOSS
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1812
1813
1813 (year of publication)
London, England
? BLIGH, William (? informant)
CLARK, John Heaviside (reporter; never visited NSW)
Dance
REPORT; IMAGE
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1814
28 December 1814
The Marketplace, Parramatta, NSW
Inaugural native conference ... corroborree?
REPORT ONLY
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1815
1816
From 1816
Parramatta, NSW
Hymn singing at the Native Institution
REPORT ONLY
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28 December 1816
The Marketplace, Parramatta, NSW
Annual native conference ... corroborree, hymn singing?
REPORT ONLY
Go to Main entry in chronicle
1817
1818
6 August 1818 (event)
c.1818 (image)
Newcastle, NSW
BURIGON (leader)
INDIGENOUS (performers)
MACQUARIE, Lachlan (reporter)
LYCETT, Joseph (? artist)
WALLIS, James (? artist)
Carauberie at Newcastle
REPORT; IMAGE
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15-16 September 1818
Shark Bay, WA
INDIGENOUS (Malgana people)
ARAGO, Jacques (reporter)
Castanets and dancing at Shark Bay
REPORT
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17 September 1818
Tia River (Crimp's Creek, Croker's River) Northern Tablelands, NSW
OXLEY, John (reporter)
A singular succession of sounds, resembling snatches of a song
REPORT ONLY
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Before January 1819 (c.1817-18)
9 January 1819 (publication advertised in Sydney)
"Taken from life", ? Newcastle area, NSW
INDIGENOUS (performers)
WALLIS, James (? artist)
PRESTON, Walter (engraver)
LYCETT, Joseph (? artist)
Corrobborree, or dance of the natives of New South Wales, New Holland
IMAGE
Go to Main entry in chronicle
1819
19 November to 25 December 1819
Sydney area, 19 November to 25 December 1819
INDIGENOUS (unidentified informants, singers)
FREYCINET, Louis de (reporter, ? transcriber)
3 songs
1. Kangaroo dance-song (Danse du Kanguroo)
MUSIC; NO WORDS; GLOSS
2. Fishing song (Air de péche)
MUSIC; WORDS; GLOSS
3. Korroberis
REPORT ONLY (?)
For full documentation and commentary, go to main entry:
https://sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-1.php#005
1819 (year of report)
Sydney region, NSW
INDIGENOUS
WENTWORTH, William Charles (reporter)
The small pox ... traditionary songs
REPORT ONLY
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1820
April-May, September-November 1820
Sydney and Parramatta areas, NSW
INDIGENOUS
Corroboree and hymn singing
REPORTS ONLY
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1820 (year of publication)
Preservation Island, Bass Strait, VDL
JEFFREYS, Charles (reporter)
EVANS, George William (reporter)
Hymn or song of the native women during the absence of the sealers
REPORT ONLY
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1821
1821
Newcastle, NSW
Newcastle . . . corroboree
Panorama of Newcastle (detail), with Aboriginal dancing; watercolour drawing attributed to Edward Charles Close, 1821; State Library of New South Wales
https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/92e7xXbY (DIGITISED)
ASSOCIATIONS: Edward Charles Close (artist)
7 October 1821
Aboriginal "Settlement", Blacktown, NSW
INDIGENOUS (singers)
WALKER, William (reporter)
The females sweetly sung, "And now another day is gone, &c." and, "My God who makes the sun to know, &c."
Go to Main entry in chronicle
20 and 21 December 1821
Bathurst, NSW
INDIGENOUS
MACQUARIE, Lachlan (reporter)
Two karauberies for the governor at Bathrust
REPORT ONLY
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25 December 1821 (date of event)
South West, Western Australia (WA)
INDIGENOUS (Noongar) (singers)
KING, Phillip Parker (reporter)
Jack's song
REPORT; WORDS
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1822
1823
By early 1823 (latest date transcribed)
Sydney region, NSW
HARRY (Indigenous singer)
FIELD, Barron (transcriber, reporter, 1823)
? INDIGENOUS (unidentified informant, singer)
Iah, iah, gumbery jah
Australian national melody (Harry's song)
MUSIC AND WORDS; NO GLOSS OR TRANSLATION
Go to main entry:
Checklist of colonial musical transcriptions of Indigenous songs 6
23 October 1823 (event)
Red Point, Port Kembla, NSW
INDIGENOUS
FIELD, Barron (reporter)
The natives obsecrate the porpoises by songs
REPORT ONLY
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15 November 1823
Grindstone Bay, VDL (TAS)
RADFORD, John (reporter)
MEREDITH, Charles (reporter)
MEREDITH, Louisa (reporter)
Corrobbory
REPORT ONLY
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1824
10 November 1824
Hobart Town, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
PARRAMORE, William Thomas (reporter)
Kangaroo song
REPORT ONLY
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1824 or 1825
Launceston, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
HULL, George (reporter)
They sang, all joining in concert, and with the sweetest harmony
REPORT; SONG; DANCE; DESCRPTION
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28 December 1824
Parramatta, NSW
Annual native feast
REPORT ONLY
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1825
5 January 1825
Murrumbidgee River, NSW
HUME, Hamilton (reporter)
BLAND, William (reporter)
Corrobera
REPORT ONLY
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13 March 1825 (date of journal entry)
Lake Macquarie, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Awabakal) (singers, dancers)
THRELKELD, Lancelot Edward (reporter)
Song and dance
REPORT ONLY
Nga ba ya!
SONG WORDS, TEXT; GLOSS
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20 March 1825
Sydney-Parramatta area, NSW
DUNLOP, James (reporter)
TYERMAN, Daniel (reporter)
BENNET, George (reporter)
Dreams . . . forms it into a song, which he chaunts forth . . . coroberies
REPORT ONLY
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October 1825
Sydney, and Hunter River region, NSW
CUNNINGHAM, Peter (reporter)
Song of the "waddie"
REPORT; WORDS AND MUSIC IDENTIFIED
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Mid November 1825
Port Stephens, NSW (event)
8 December 1825 (report first published)
. . . dissipation . . . a grand corrobora on the occasion
REPORT ONLY
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1826
5 January 1826 (first published)
Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS
THRELKELD, Lancelot Edward (transcriber, reporter)
Two Australian Aboriginal songs
WORDS ONLY
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17 January 1826
The Marketplace, Parramatta, NSW
The corrobory, or annual feast of the Aboriginal natives
REPORT ONLY
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January 1826 (date of event)
Near Port Stephens, NSW
INDIGENOUS (singers, dancers)
DAWSON, Robert (reporter)
Corrobery near Port Stephens
REPORT ONLY
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4 February 1826 (notice)
Parramatta, NSW
MACARTHUR, Elizabeth (reporter)
Corroboree for the Myall
REPORT ONLY
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8 June 1826 (date of event)
Hyde Park, Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS
A grand corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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25 August 1826 (date of letter)
Brucedale, near Bathurst, NSW
14 October 1826 (first published)
INDIGENOUS
"COLO" (pseud.) (reporter) = ? William Henry SUTTOR (1805-1877)
Short songs
Made by the Aborigines of New Holland, inhabiting the country round Bathurst, on many of the settlers here
REPORT ONLY
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8 and 11 October 1826 (event)
King George Sound, Swan River Colony (WA)
SAINSON, Louis de (reporter)
Songs with exchange of names
REPORT ONLY
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13 November 1826 (date of event)
Near Port Stephens, NSW
INDIGENOUS (singers, adapters)
DAWSON, Robert (composer, adapter, singer)
Song of the natives
We all sit down together
MUSIC; WORDS
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28 December 1826
The Market Place, Parramatta, NSW
The annual corrobary
REPORT ONLY
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1827
1828
2 January 1828
The Market-place, Parramatta, NSW
Corroborie at Parramatta
REPORT ONLY
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1 March 1828 (report)
Newcastle, NSW
Mimicry and songs at Newcastle
'AUSTRALIAN EXTRACTS . . . (From a Correspondent at Newcastle)", Colonial Advocate, and Tasmanian Monthly Review and Register (1 March 1828), 33
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232997865
In no part of the Colony where there is any thing like a social compact, is there so great a dearth of shopkeepers, or dealers, as there is at Newcastle. Every article is retailed at an extravagant price, and often absolute necessaries are not to be had. Will you credit my assertion, that there is not a tailor in Newcastle? - there are a couple of botches - mere sections of those semi-divisions of men; but who nine times out of ten, spoil your cloth. I never saw the aboriginal natives display the talent of mimicry so well as the Coal River blacks do; several of these sable sons of nature, presented themselves yesterday to receive whatever the Christmas-keeping folks chose to bestow on them; for the-holiday spirit has become infused into their natures too. At our request, one of them commenced a well-known comic song "Poor little Mo," part of which he sang pretty well in tune, and with some humour, embellishing it with the London cry of "Old clothes to sell" in the true Jewish accent. Another chaunted" There's na luck" while a third wound up the concert with a stanza of "Oh dear what can the matter be." But the most amusing of the whole was a black fellow named Tower, who yaking in his hand a piece of paper, commenced reading, as if from a Sydney Gazette, or Orderly Book. And with much volubility and ready wit, "gammoned" to repeat Government Orders, containing promises of good cheer, and other rewards to "black fellow," and heavy punishment to any "mial white fellow" that molested budjeree black fellow, &c. &c.
SONGS: Poor little mo ("My name is Mo. Samuel, a poor little zhew); There's nae luck about the house; Oh, dear, what can the matter be (Malbrook)
3 April 1828 (event)
Wallace ( ? ), VDL (TAS)
11 April 1828 (publication of report)
A phantom corrobory
REPORT ONLY
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31 May and 17 June 1828 (event)
Near Goulburn and Towrang, NSW
INDIGENOUS (young men in Moyengully's band)
MOYENGULLY (singer)
PRIMBRUBNA (singer)
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingston (recorder, reporter)
Bathurst song
Kangaroo song 1
REPORTS ONLY
Kangaroo song 2
Road song
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPTION OF WORDS, TRANSLATION
Go to Main entry in checklist
1829
1 January 1829
Sydney, NSW; London, England
EARLE, Augustus (reporter)
Kangaroo and dog dance at Farm Cove
REPORT AND IMAGE
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18 January 1829
Castlereagh River, NSW
STURT, Charles (reporter)
They marched to and fro, to a war song I suppose
REPORT ONLY
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29 January and 1, 11 and 14 August 1829
Cobourg Peninsula area, NT
INDIGENOUS
MIAGO (Iwaidja man)
BARKER, Collet (reporter)
WILSON, Thomas Braidwood (reporter)
Native dance to the ebero, waltz to a musical snuff box, dance to a deck tune
REPORT AND IMAGE
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14 February 1829
Launceston, VDL (TAS)
. . . to witness the manner in which an aboriginal youth would be affected by the organ
REPORT
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October 1829 (latest date of report)
King George's Sound, WA; London, England (place of publication)
NIND, Isaac Scott (reporter)
Their dances
REPORT; SONG WORDS
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December 1829
Murrumbidgee River, NSW
STURT, Charles (reporter)
Corrobories ...
REPORT ONLY
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December 1829
Near King George's Sound, Swan River Colony (WA)
INDIGENOUS
WILSON, Thomas Braidwood (reporter)
Native dance
REPORT ONLY
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1830
? By 1830
Arnhem Land, Northern Australia (NT)
INDIGENOUS (unidentified informant/s, singer/s)
DOMENY DE RIENZI, Grégoire Louis (transcriber, arranger)
Arnhem land song
Air australien des sauvages de la terre d'Arnheim
MUSIC ONLY; NO WORDS; NO REPORT
Go to main entry:
https://sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-1.php#007
6 January 1830
Parramatta, NSW
Annual conference . . . grand corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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c. February 1830
VDL (TAS)
BROWNE, Francis (reporter)
Shouting and dancing round . . . a general corroboree by moon light
REPORT ONLY
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24-25 March 1830
South West coast, North-west of Port Davey, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS (NINE-NE, Port Davey nation) (dancers, singers)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Song before diving ... night singing and dancing
REPORT; SOME WORDS/NAMES; CONTEXT; GLOSS;
Go to Main entry in checklist
3 June 1830
Sandy Cape, South West Coast, VDL, TAS
WOORRADY (singer)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Woorrady made a song of it, with intervals of chorus
REPORT
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21 June 1830
Mainland, opposite Robbins Island, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The sealer women danced and sung
REPORT; IMAGE
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26 September 1830
Mersey River, south of Port Sorrell
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Song while making spears
REPORT ONLY
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15 October 1830
Waterhouse Point, North East coast, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Song and devil's dance of the island women
REPORT; TITLE; GLOSS
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16 October 1830 (first notice)
? Hobart region, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ANONYMOUS (transcribers)
Peletega will sing and dance . . . progress in recording the native melodies of our Van Diemen's land Blacks
REPORT ONLY
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23 October 1830
? Hobart Town, VDL (TAS)
BREST, C. J. (author)
Music hath charms
REPORT ONLY
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1 and 3 November 1830
Ansons River, near Ansons Bay, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The fresh natives' song ... Tarnebunner's dance
REPORT; SOME WORDS; GLOSS
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14 to 24 November 1830
Furneaux Islands, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The horse dance
IMAGE; REPORT; SOME WORDS
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5-26 December 1830
Furneaux Islands, VDL (TAS)
PLEENPERRENNER (? composer of song words and dance)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The horse dance
Tyre.lore song, or the song of the women held in bondage by the sealers
REPORTS
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Before the end of 1830
VDL (TAS)
WEST, John (reporter)
Corrobories and dances
REPORT
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c.1830
Durhambak, upper Manning, New England, NSW
INDIGENOUS
ANONYMOUS (artist)
Corroboree or native dance at Durhambak
IMAGE
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c. 1830 (not firmly dated)
Lake Macquarie region, NSW
THRELKELD, Lancelot (collector, transcriber)
Songs of the natives of New South Wales to the north of Sydney
SONG TRANSCRIPTIONS; WORDS, TEXT
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1830 (year of publication)
London, England
ANONYMOUS = Thomas MASLEN (author)
On the utility of introducing simple musical instruments
REPORT ONLY
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1831
3 January 1831
North East Coast, VDL (TAS)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Tyree.lore song and another song
REPORT; SONG WORDS; TRANSLATION/GLOSS
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31 March 1831
North East Coast, VDL (TAS)
PLEENPERRENNER
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Obscene dance
REPORT
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21 April 1831
Encounter Bay, South Australia (SA)
STURT, Charles (reporter)
Chanting their melancholy dirge
REPORT
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16 June 1831
North East Coast, VDL (TAS)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Song - Lun-ner-ry
SONG WORDS; TEXT AND PARTIAL TRANSLATION
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15 July 1831
Little Forester River, North East Coast, VDL (TAS)
WOORRADY
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Story song
REPORT; GLOSS
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13 August 1831
Mount Cameron, North East Coast, VDL (TAS)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Pop.per.rane.ne.er song (Popela)
See main entry:
Checklist of musical transcriptions of Indigenous songs 9
19 September 1831
Voyage to Launceston, VDL (TAS)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Songs on the voyage
REPORT ONLY
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12 and 13 October 1831
Launceston and Campbell Town, VDL (TAS)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Sydney natives' dance
REPORT ONLY
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26, 29 October, and 3 November 1831
South of Campbell Town, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
UMMARRAH
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Songs and dancing
REPORT
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7 November 1831 (event)
Woolloomooloo, NSW
14 November 1832 (first notice)
INDIGENOUS
YOUNG BUNGAREE
Corrobbora at Wooloomoolloo
REPORT
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1832
7 January 1832
Hobart Town, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
War song ... band of music
REPORT ONLY
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9-10 February 1832 (events/performances)
Liverpool Plains, NSW
INDIGENOUS
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingston (reporter)
Corrobory . . . female singing . . . funeral dirge
REPORTS ONLY
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Mid February 1832
Reid's Mistake (Lake Macquarie), NSW
A corroborie
REPORT ONLY
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13 March 1832
Perth, WA
Swan River and the King George's men hold a corrobory
REPORT ONLY
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11 April 1832
Mersey River (near Davenport), VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS (NSW; "Sydney natives")
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The Sydney natives ... went through their native dances
REPORT ONLY
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26 and 28 May 1832
Highfield, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The natives danced and performed feats
REPORT ONLY
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24 June 1832
North West Coast, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The evening was spent in singing and dancing
REPORT ONLY
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5 July 1832
? Highfield, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The natives of West Point and Mount Cameron had learnt several of the Brune Island songs
REPORT ONLY
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3 September 1832
[? PLACE], VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The strange natives corroboreed ... that they would kill all of us and take away the women and dogs
REPORT ONLY
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5 September 1832
30 September 1832
1 October 1832
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
WATSON, William (reporter)
Preparing for a corrobbera . . . hymns
REPORT ONLY
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9-10 October 1832
Flinders Island, TAS
INDIGENOUS (mainland Tasmania)
WALKER, George Washington (recorder, reporter)
BACKHOUSE, James (reporter)
A corrobberry, or dance, for joy at the arrival of the cutter... emu dance ... horse dance ... thunder and lightning dance
REPORT ONLY
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10 October 1832
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
WATSON, William (reporter)
Corrobbera or Indian dance
REPORT ONLY
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15 October 1832 (performance)
Flinders Island, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS (head man, Port Dalrymple tribe
INDIGENOUS (women, mainland Tasmania)
INDIGENOUS (mainland Tasmania)
WALKER, George Washington (recorder)
Song sung by the chief of the Port Dalrymple tribe
REPORT ONLY: ?
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16 and 17 October 1832
[? PLACE], VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Their frantic revels or orgies
REPORT ONLY
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3 December 1832
? Hobart Town, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
ROSS, James (reporter)
They sung several of their national songs
REPORT; DESCRIPTION
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6 December 1832
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
WATSON, William (reporter)
Corrobborra ... corrobborra in house and hymns
REPORT ONLY
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1832 (first notice)
Mills Plains, VDL (TAS)
GLOVER, John (artist, reporter)
A corrobery of natives in Mills Plains
IMAGE
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1832
Lake George, Southern NSW
GOVETT, William (reporter, artist)
Corrobory - or a particular dance of the natives
REPORT; IMAGE
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1832 (year of publication)
Wellington Valley, NSW; Calcutta, India (place of publication)
HENDERSON, John (reporter)
Korobery
REPORT ONLY
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1832 (year of publication)
Van Diemens Land (TAS); London, England (place of publication)
ROBARTS, Mr. (reporter)
Taina - singing
LANGUAGE; VOCABULARY
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1833
10-12 February 1833
Guildford, Perth, Swan River Colony (WA)
INDIGENOUS
MOORE, George Fletcher (reporter)
LEAKE, Mary Ann (pianist)
Kangaroo dance to the music of Mrs. Leake's piano
REPORT; DESCRIPTION
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7 May 1833
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
WATSON, William (reporter)
Hymn singing
REPORT ONLY
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1 June 1833 (report first published)
Perth, WA
Yagan delivered a sort of recitation
REPORT ONLY
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13 July 1833
Macquarie Harbour, VDL (TAS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
They chanted their native songs which has a pleasing effect upon the water
REPORT ONLY
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August 1833
Perth, WA
. . . and will end with a song
REPORT ONLY
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21 August 1833
Perth, WA
Governor's corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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24 August 1833
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
Some pipe clay for a "corobera"
REPORT ONLY
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5 September 1833
Perth, WA
A corrobora at Perth
REPORT ONLY
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14 September 1833 (date of report)
Perth, NSW
. . . they assembled in the town in the course of the evening to join in a corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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October 1833
Sydney, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
WATSON, William (reporter)
Goongeen hears the organ at St. James's, Sydney
REPORT ONLY
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17 November 1833
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
WATSON, William (reporter)
That hymn of Dr. Watts respecting the prophet
REPORT ONLY
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4-5 December 1833
Flinders Island, VDL (TAS)
BACKHOUSE, James (reporter)
Corrobery . . . dances of the tiger and the musk drake
REPORT ONLY
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14 December 1833
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
WATSON, William (reporter)
Lessons, hymns, prayers
REPORT ONLY
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1833 (year of publication)
Wollombi, NSW; Moreton Bay district, NSW; Port Macquarie, NSW; London, England (place of publication)
BRETON, William Henry (author, reporter)
Native dances
REPORT ONLY
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1834
1834 (year of publication)
Sydney, NSW
THRELKELD, Lancelot Edward (reporter)
... poets among them who compose songs
REPORT ONLY
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12-13 February 1834
Perth, WA
A treaty of peace was ratified ... and the scene concluded with a corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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22 February 1834
West Point, VDL (TAS)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Horse song - Nic.er plo.kar.ner
REPORT; SONG WORDS; GLOSS
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26 March 1834
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
Pipe clay for dancing
REPORT ONLY
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26 April 1834
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
GOONGEEN
WATSON, William (reporter)
Great music too, boom! boom! baa! (organ)
REPORT ONLY
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26 April, 1 and 3 May 1834
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
The intended dance took place last night
REPORT ONLY
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29 May 1834 (first performance)
Theatre, Argyle Rooms, Hobart Town, VDL (TAS)
PENPHRASE, William (actor in role of Murrahwa)
ANONYMOUS (? DEANE, John Philip) (composer, arranger, manager)
MELVILLE, Henry (songwriter, playwright)
Native sings and dances the corroberee
Incidental song and dance in The bushrangers; or, Norwood Vale
STAGE DIRECTIONS ONLY; NO MUSIC OR WORDS; BLACK-FACE PARODY OF INDIGENOUS SONG
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Late May 1834
Williams River, NSW
A corrobora, of three days continuance ... at Williams' River
REPORT ONLY
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16 July 1834
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
WATSON, William (reporter)
He began to sing a hymn
REPORT ONLY
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7 September 1834
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
WATSON, William (reporter)
Rachal had not forgotten the morning hymn
REPORT ONLY
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8 September 1834
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
The young men sang . . . some of their heathenish songs
REPORT ONLY
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16 October 1834
Perth, WA
. . . on Thursday night held a corrobora in the barrack yard
REPORT ONLY
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5 November 1834
Brisbane Water, NSW
Corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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7 November 1834 (first advertised)
Monaro, NSW, 1834 (collected)
Sydney, NSW (published)
INDIGENOUS (unidenfied female informants, singers, 1834)
LHOTSKY, John (reporter, transcriber, words and music, 1834)
JOSEPHSON, Joshua Frey (arranger, 1834)
PEARSON, James (arranger, 1834)
SIPPE, George (arranger, 1834)
AUSTIN, John Gardner (printer, lithographer)
Kongi kawelgo
A song of the women of the Menero tribe
WORDS AND MUSIC; ? TRANSLATION)
Probably transcribed by John Lhotsky, from Ngarigu informants, Monaro area, south east NSW, 1834
For main entry, go to Checklist of Indigenous music 1:
https://sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-1.php#008
12 November 1834
Segenhoe, NSW
Bush pageantry at Segenhoe. . . and a grand corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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15 November 1834 (notice of publication)
Perth, Swan River Colony (WA)
ANONYMOUS (settler-colonist songwriter)
The jackets of green
A NEW SONG, GIVING a brief account of the late encounter with the Natives at Pinjärra ([Perth, ?, 1834])
NO COPY IDENTIFIED (words or music)
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22-24 November and 22-23 December 1834
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
WATSON, William (reporter)
Hymns . . . night dances
REPORT ONLY
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1 December 1834
King's Wharf, Sydney, NSW
A fight and corrobora between Five Islands and Sydney Blacks
REPORT ONLY
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? 1834
Hobart Town, VDL (TAS)
GLOVER, John (artist, reporter)
Dance at Kangaroo Point
IMAGE ONLY
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1834 (year of publication)
Sydney, NSW; London, England (place of publication)
LANG, John Dunmore (author)
Corrobory
REPORT ONLY
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1835
1835
Wollondilly, NSW
INDIGENOUS
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingston (recorder)
Song of Wollondilly natives
SONG WORDS; TRANSLATION
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25 March 1835
Perth, WA
Corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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March 1835
Nepean River, NSW
Grand corrobory on the Nepean
REPORT ONLY; ? PARTLY OR WHOLLY SATIRE ON A SETTLER-COLONIST EVENT
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March-April-May 1835
Wellington Valley, NSW
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
WATSON, William (reporter)
Waggana, or native dance, accompanied by singing to Baiama
REPORTS
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Mid April 1835
Lennard Brook, WA
MOORE, George Fletcher (reporter)
. . . they entertained us with a "corrobberry," which was got up on our account
REPORT ONLY
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27 June 1835 (date of event/performance)
NSW
INDIGENOUS
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone (reporter)
War songs ... dance at a pistol shot
REPORT ONLY
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28 June 1835 (date of event/performance)
NSW
INDIGENOUS
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone (reporter)
Professional chaunt
REPORT ONLY
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6 July 1835 (date of event/performance)
NSW
INDIGENOUS
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone (reporter)
Dance of the natives
REPORT ONLY
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After 7 July 1835
Near Brighton, VDL (TAS)
GLOVER, John (artist, reporter)
Natives at a corrobory
IMAGE
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22 July 1835 (date of event/performance)
NSW
INDIGENOUS
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone (reporter)
Chaunt and demonic dance ... cooey
REPORTS; SONG CALL
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5 November 1835 (date of publication)
Sydney, NSW
A proposal for itinerant missionaries . . . artless songs . . . merry corrobories
REPORT ONLY
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2 December 1835 (date of report)
Lake Macquarie, NSW
INDIGENOUS
THRELKELD, Lancelot Edward (authority)
A new song and dance
Which have lately been brought from the regions far beyond Liverpool Plains
REPORT ONLY
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5 December 1835
Wybalenna Island, VDL (TAS)
MANNALARGENNA (songmaker)
INDIGENOUS
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The song of lamentation, and Mannalargenna's song remembered
REPORT ONLY
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29 and 30 December 1835
Wellington Valley, NSW
INDIGENOUS
HANDT, Johann Christian Simon (reporter)
The women danced . . . ceremony
REPORT ONLY
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1835 (year of publication)
Swan River Colony, WA; London, England (place of publication)
IRWIN, Frederick Chidley (reporter)
Pantomimic dances
REPORT ONLY
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1836
25 February 1836
Sydney, NSW
ANONYMOUS (author)
"Old and young attended the corrobory"
REPORT ONLY
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6-8 March 1836 (date of event/performance)
Albany, King George's Sound, WA
INDIGENOUS
DARWIN, Charles (reporter)
Albany, St. George's Sound, Syms Covington, March 1836 [detail]; State Library of New South Wales, ML PXD 41
http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?itemID=839582
Corrobery . . . kangaroo dance . . . emu dance
REPORT ONLY
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17 March 1836 (date of event/performance)
NSW
INDIGENOUS
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone (reporter)
Corrobory
REPORT ONLY
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25 March 1836 (date of publication)
Flinders Island; Hobart Town, VDL (TAS) (place of publication)
INDIGENOUS (Flinders Island mission)
Several . . . join in the church music, in which they appear to take much delight . . . instead of the fatiguing and wearisome, savage like "corroborries"
REPORT ONLY
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May 1836
Sydney, NSW
ANONYMOUS (author) = ? John LANG
TEGG, James (publisher)
. . . the noise of their native war-songs
FICTIONAL TREATMENT; REPORT ONLY
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13 May 1836 (date of event/performance)
Murrumbidgee River, NSW
INDIGENOUS
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone (reporter)
Corrobory
REPORT ONLY
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1 June 1836
Perth, WA
Anniversary "corroborra"
REPORT ONLY
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3 September 1836
Perth, WA
Hoky, poky, wonky, fum . . . the ABC with their native chant
REPORT ONLY
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23 September 1836 (date of publication)
Flinders Island; Hobart Town, VDL (TAS) (place of publication)
INDIGENOUS (Flinders Island mission)
Corrobbries susperseded at Flinders Island
REPORT ONLY
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4 October 1836 (date of event/performance)
Bong Bong, NSW
INDIGENOUS (singers, songmen)
BACKHOUSE, James (reporter)
A new song
REPORT ONLY
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17 October 1836 (date of publication)
Fraser Island, Moreton Bay district, NSW (QLD)
Sydney, NSW (place of report)
. . . an immense number of blacks who were celebrating a grand "corrobora," or dance, round their prisoners
REPORT ONLY
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22 October 1836 (first report)
Residence of Charles and Maria Logan, Macquarie Street, Hobart Town, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS
LOGAN, Maria (transcriber, arranger)
Song of the Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land ( Popela / Popeller )
For main entry see:
Checklist of musical transcriptions of Indigenous songs 9
12 November 1836 (date of publication)
Perth, WA
INDIGENOUS (south-west WA)
ARMSTONG, Francis Fraser (reporter)
. . . well known dances and chants &c of the corrobaree
REPORT ONLY
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October 1836 (? date of event)
19 December 1836 (date of testimony)
Sydney, NSW (place of testimony)
MITCHELL, Thomas Livingstone (expedition leader)
. . . as if they were going to dance a corrobora, as I had seen them before
REPORT ONLY
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1836 (year of publication)
London, England
FOX, Mary (author)
Dances . . . performed with much solemnity at their "corrobories"
FICTIONALISED REPORT ONLY
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1837
3-14 March 1837
Port Phillip, NSW (VIC)
KING, Philip Parker (reporter)
Corroboree
REPORT ONLY
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August to December 1837
Wellington Valley, NSW
GUNTHER, James (reporter)
Hymns . . . singing lessons . . . native dances
REPORTS ONLY
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1838
4 January 1838 (date of Miago's departure)
Perth, Swan River, WA
INDIGENOUS
GREY, George (recorder, reporter)
Songs composed on Miago's departure and return
WORDS ONLY RECORDED
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12 January 1838 (date of letter)
King George's Sound, WA; Sydney, NSW (place of publication)
Their wild and joyous corrobory
REPORT ONLY
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17 January 1838
Sydney, NSW
Doing corrobory in George-street
REPORT ONLY
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25 January 1838
Flinders Island, VDL (TAS)
INDIGENOUS (Flinders Island) (performers; dancers, singers)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The natives dance for the Franklins
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25 February and 3 March 1838
Wellington Valley, NSW
GUNTHER, James (reporter)
Hymns . . . corrobory
REPORTS ONLY
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9-12 March 1838 (date of inquest)
Adelaide, SA
Died at a corroborrie
REPORT ONLY
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7 May and 6 June 1838
Wellington Valley, NSW
GUNTHER, James (reporter)
Hymns . . . native dance
REPORTS ONLY
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16 July to 16 September 1838
Wellington Valley, NSW
GUNTHER, James (reporter)
PORTER, William (reporter)
Hymns . . .
REPORTS ONLY
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12 October 1838, and c.1838
Moreton Bay, NSW (QLD), and Maitland, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Maitland area)
INDIGENOUS (Moreton Bay area)
MANN, William (reporter)
Corrobaree at the Hunter, war song and dance at Moreton Bay
REPORT ONLY; SOME SONG WORDS (CARICATURE?)
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29 November 1838
Sydney, NSW
MURPHY, Francis (reporter)
. . . some religious dance on the approach of a new moon
REPORT ONLY
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23 December 1838
Melbourne, Port Phillip, NSW (VIC)
STOKES, John Lort (reporter)
Corobbery with veiled women
REPORT ONLY
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1838 (date of publication)
Morteon Bay region, NSW (QLD)
Molrooben . . . commenced singing the war-song of his tribe
ASSOCIATIONS: Molrooben (warrior, singer)
Documentation:
"Moreton Bay (FROM A CORRESPONDENT)", The Australian [Sydney, NSW] (22 December 1838), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36859622
During my residence at Moreton Bay, I spent much my leisure time in the bush, kangarooing, shooting, &c., and very frequently passed the night in the camps of the Aborigines - some of whom were always anxious to accompany me in the morning to the hunting grounds . . . One evening, in my way to the Flats, between Cabbage Tree Creek and the Pine River, I observed two canoes crossing the river from the scrub on the south side, a little below Breakfast Creek, with two of the Kirkham tribe, as I supposed, in each condole (or bark canoe) and suspecting that something had occurred, as they had their war-spears with them, or that a corroboree was to take place somewhere near, I waited until they had crossed the river. On passing, I found it was Molrooben, the chief of the Kirkham tribe, and son of the celebrated Billy Billy . . . In the mean time, Molrooben's friends were dressing him for battle, and his appearance when dressed was truly terrific . . . After standing in a musing posture for some time, he walked into the opposite camp, with the air of a man confident of succeeding in the dangerous struggle he had courted, and as soon as he reached the huts of the warriors (passing those of the Kippers, or young men with contempt), he commenced singing the war-song of his tribe in a low plaintive and melancholy strain, which he increased gradually, till he became quite frantic, shrieking to the highest pitch of his voice, keeping time with his body, and occasionally shaking his war-club at the warriors, who were sitting motionless, looking on the ground, and appeared more like dead than living men. This occupied about half an hour, and he then returned to his own fire quite exhausted from the violence of his gesticulations. I spoke to him, but he would not deign to answer me . . .
See also, by the same author, "MORETON BAY (FROM A CORRESPONDENT)", The Australian (13 December 1838), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36861279
. . . the Duke of York's Tribe . . . are nearly all fishermen, and consequently are to be found only about the sea beach from the Pine River to Bribie's; and they are seldom stationary more than a day or two at any one place, excepting in the event of Pullen Pullen, or a Corrobbaree . . .
And, by the same author, "MORETON BAY (FROM A CORRESPONDENT)", The Australian (15 January 1839), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36860028
. . . From close observation, and after a residence of nine years in the Colony, during which period I have visited most of the located parts of it . . .
And, by the same author, "MORETON BAY (FROM A CORRESPONDENT)", The Australian (26 January 1839), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36859502
"ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE IN AUSTRALIA", Colonial Times [Hobart, TAS] (24 May 1850), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8767224
Shortly after my arrival in the colony of New South Wales, my professional pursuits led me to Brisbane Town,
which was at that time exclusively appropriated for the most reckless and desperate criminals of that colony and Van Diemen's Land . . .
I found Papooniya fighting with Molrooben, a celebrated chieftain, whose hunting grounds extended from the Dividing Range to the Logan River.
I drew a pistol from the holster, and said that I would shoot the first man that moved.
Molrooben then told me that my friend had "crammered" (stolen) his sister, and threatened to kill him if he did not give her up,
which Papoonya [sic] refused to do, and wished to resume the combat.
I was astonished at his presumption in thus defying Molrooben, and endeavoured to prevail upon him to return the dark Helen, but he persisted in his resolution . . .
J. W. Leicester-Buildings, May 18, 1850.
ASSOCIATIONS: John Watts (schoolmaster, author, poet, active Hobart, TAS, c. 1850), not to be confused with John Watts (1821-1902, early settler and QLD politician)
Bibliography and resources (on the sources)
Ray Kerkhove, "The accidental explorer: unknown and underrated exploration of the Sunshine Coast/Cooloola Region, 1827-1860", Queensland history journal 24/3 (November 2019), 299-313, especially 301-04
https://www.academia.edu/40908662
1838 (date of publication)
South Australia (Subject); London, England (place of publication)
The men are . . . extremely fond of dancing
REPORT ONLY
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1838 (likely latest year collected)
Monaro area, NSW
TINGCOMBE, Henry (collector, transcriber)
2 songs - Koorinda braia and Wargoonda minyarrah
Later arranged and published by Isaac NATHAN, 1842-48
MUSIC; WORDS; GLOSS
Go to main entry in checklist:
https://sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-1.php#010
1839
9 and 10 January 1839
George Town and Waterhouse Island, VDL (TAS)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Saw the Natives throw the spear and dance
REPORT ONLY
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10 January to 14 March 1839
Wellington Valley, NSW
GUNTHER, James (reporter)
Hymns . . .
REPORTS ONLY
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28 March 1839
Melbourne, Port Phillip District, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
A grand corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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4 April 1839
Port Phillip, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Arranmilly (corroboree) given for colonial dignitaries
REPORTS ONLY
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6, 16, and 18 April 1839
Between Hutt River and Water Peak, WA
INDIGENOUS (Swan River district)
KAIBIR (singer)
GREY, George (reporter)
Native songs sung by Kaiber
See also Songs on Miago's departure and return (1838)
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18 April 1839
Murray River, NSW
JEM (dancer)
FRANKLIN, Jane (reporter)
Jem invited to dance
REPORT ONLY
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30 April 1839
Port Phillip district, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Much pleased with the singing of the natives
REPORT ONLY
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12 June 1839 (date of letter)
Adelaide, SA
Urging them to get up a corroborie
REPORT ONLY
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15 June 1839 (date of publication)
Guildford, WA; Perth, WA (place of publication)
Corroborra of a peculiar character
REPORT ONLY
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15 June 1839 (date of performance)
Near Perth, WA
GREY, George (recorder, reporter)
Funeral songs for Mulligo
REPORT; SONG WORDS; TRANSLATION/GLOSS
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July 1839
Port Phillip District, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Ying.er.net - sing
REPORT ONLY
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6 October to 30 December 1839
Wellington Valley, NSW
GUNTHER, James (reporter)
Hymns . . . corroborey
REPORTS ONLY
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15 October 1839
Melbourne, Port Phillip district, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The Waverong natives corrobbereed
REPORT ONLY
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October-November 1839
Dundunemawl, on the Macquarie River, NSW
MEREDITH, Charles and Louisa (reporters)
Corrobbory
REPORT ONLY
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29 October 1839
Port Phillip district, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Scottish immigrants . . . see a grand corrborie of the blacks
REPORTS ONLY
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18 November 1839
Melbourne, Port Phillip District, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Corrobbery
REPORT ONLY
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24 December 1839 (date of report)
Wellington Valley, NSW
Some of them sung Church music uncommonly well
REPORT ONLY
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December 1839
Sydney and environs, NSW
INDIGENOUS (NSW)
DRAYTON, Joseph (transcriber)
Australian native chants
See main entry:
https://sydney.edu.au/paradisec/australharmony/checklist-indigenous-music-1.php#011
Before end of 1839 (1837, 1838, 1839)
South-west and North-west regions, WA
INDIGENOUS (WA)
GREY, George (transcriber, reporter)
12 songs
REPORTS; VARIOUS STATUS; SOME WORDS; SOME TRANSLATIONS
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1839
SA, Port Phillip District, NSW
RUSSELL, Andrew (reporter)
Corrobbories . . . emu dance . . . mimicking New Zealanders' singing
REPORT ONLY
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1839 (year of publication)
Western Australia; London, England (place of publication)
IRWIN, Frederick Chidley (reporter)
OGLE, Nathaniel (author, reporter)
They all evince an ear for music, and are fond of dancing
REPORT ONLY
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1839 - New Year 1840
Wollongong area, NSW
AGATE, Alfred Thomas (artist)
CLARKE, William Branwhite (reporter)
Wollongong corroborees
IMAGE; REPORT
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1840
10 January 1840
Woolloomooloo, NSW
INDIGENOUS (Sydney)
POLDING, John Bede (reporter)
Corroboree ground . . . Woolloomooloo
REPORT ONLY
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21 January 1840
Loddon area, Port Phillip District, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
The air of the highland laddie, Ben.ne.logan ben.ne.logan
REPORT ONLY
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18 February 1840
Adelaide, SA
. . . the monotonous howling of the corrobories
REPORT ONLY
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11 March 1840 (date of event)
Melbourne, Port Phillip district, NSW (VIC)
A corrobora took place
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25 and 26 April, 11 and 27 May 1840
Murray River region, Port Phillip District, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Said it was his song . . . a large corroberry . . . natives singing native songs
REPORT ONLY
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13 June 1840 (first notice of publication)
Adelaide, SA
INDIGENOUS (South-East region, SA)
MULLAWIRRABURKA ("King John") (leader, singer, songmaker)
KADLITPINNA ("Captain Jack") (leader, singer, songmaker)
TEICHELMANN, Christian Gottlieb (transcriber)
SCHÜRMANN, Clamor Wilhelm (transcriber)
Kadlitpiko palti (Captain Jack's song)
Mullawirraburkarna palti (King John's song)
Nguyapalti (small-pox song)
REPORT; WORDS, TRANSLATION; SONG WORD
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20 July 1840 (date of original letter)
Woolabula, NSW
A grand corrobora
REPORT ONLY
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24 July and 18 August 1840
Adelaide, SA
. . . white chalk and red ochre . . . for their filthy corrobories . . . beastly corrobories . . . discordant orgies
REPORT ONLY
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11 October 1840 (date of event)
Port Phillip, NSW (VIC)
WINBERRI, son of NINGULABUL
The military and police break up a corroborra and kill Winberry
REPORTS ONLY
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12 October 1840
Parramatta, NSW
. . . many a barbarian corrobery, and . . . the wild chant of the native tribes
REPORT ONLY
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15 October 1840
Melbourne area, Port Phillip District, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Dance last night was a religious ceremony
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15 November 1840
Liverpool, England (report of observation at King George Sound (WA)
LANG, John Dunmore (reporter)
GREY, George (recorder, reporter)
EYRE, Edward John (reporter)
NEIL, John (reporter, artist)
Kangaroo dance
REPORT; IMAGE
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22 November 1840
Melbourne area, Port Phillip District, NSW (VIC)
ROBINSON, George Augustus (reporter)
Native orphan can sing psalms
REPORT ONLY
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28 and 30 December 1840
Wellington Valley, NSW
GUNTHER, James (reporter)
Grand corroberry . . . new dance
REPORTS ONLY
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1840
Emerald Hill, Port Phillip, NSW (VIC)
LIARDET, Wilbraham Frederick Evelyn (reporter, artist)
Ngargee on Emerald Hill
IMAGE
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? c.1840
Southern NSW
INDIGENOUS
PHELPS, Phillip Henry F. (artist)
State ball in Australia - kangaroo dance
IMAGE
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c. 1840
? Adelaide region, SA
JAMESON, R. G. (reporter)
Corrobories
REPORTS ONLY
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c. 1840
? Southern and central western, WA
MOORE, George Fletcher (reporter)
Song and dance vocabulary
WORDS; MEANINGS
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1841
"THE BLACKS", The Sydney Herald (30 April 1841), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12868901
. . . The nights are for the greater part of the year, taken up with dancing and singing warlike and other songs, accompanied with peculiar movements and gestures of the body; one of the number beating time with two sticks, which lasts until eleven or twelve o'clock. . . . Report of the German Mission to the Aborigines.
1842
"AN INQUIRY . . .", Inquirer (2 March 1842), 5
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65582325
. . . The members of the various tribes appear to live in much amity with one another, but of course there are sometimes the usual quarrels incident to man. They are a merry race, and their low murmuring songs, heard in the stillness of the night, before they compose themselves to sleep, have a pleasing effect on the ear . . .
1843
1844
"THE NATIVE CORROBOREE", South Australian Register (16 March 1844), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27446737
Reprinted:
"THE NATIVE CORROBOREE", The Courier (31 May 1844), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2950987
"THE CORROBOREE", Geelong Advertiser (3 June 1844), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92673400
Notes and Sketches of New South Wales during a residence in that Colony from 1839 to 1844 by Mrs. Charles Meredith (London: John Murray, 1844)
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Iy9kAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA99
The aboriginal songs which I have heard are far from unpleasing in sound, and some have considerable melody, with much more tune and variety than those of the New Zealanders, which surprised me, as the latter people are so immeasurably superior to the natives of New South Wales in everything else. The words which the latter sing usually celebrate some great feast, nearly all being about eating. One (translated) runs nearly thus:- "Eat great deal; eat, eat, eat: eat again, plenty to eat! eat more yet; eat, eat, eat!" &c. &c.; and, this is sung to a rather plaintive, pretty air! Another song consists of a like repetition of "Wind blow, blow; wind blow," &c.; the air being really pretty. The events celebrated by these songs are seldom of a very dignified description. On one occasion a bullockdriver, known to some of a tribe, got drunk, fought his companions, and had a black eye, which occurrence was immediately immortalized by his black friends in a ditty, of which the burden, chiefly English, was "Black-eye, black-eye," with repetitions endless, the remainder being in their own language. I remember once hearing some one say of modern fashionable songs, "What is the use of saying the same thing so many times over?" but these native troubadours far exceed the most echo-weary of drawing-room ballads, for, as I conceive, the self-same reason, a lamentable paucity of ideas. Most of the natives are shrewd and clever mimics; one learned to waltz very correctly in a few minutes; and the slightest peculiarity of face or figure never escapes their observation, so that in speaking of any person you know, although his name be not mentioned, their accurate impersonation of his gait, expression of countenance, or any oddity of manner, is so complete as to leave no doubt of the identity.
1845
Voyages dans les deux océans, Atlantique et Pacifique, 1844 à 1847: Brésil, États Unis, Cap de .... Eugène Delessert (Paris 1848), 136, 143, 144
https://archive.org/stream/voyagesdanslesd01delegoog#page/n161/mode/2up
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6529053w/f160.image (Corroborry)
Colin Dyer, "The Aboriginal people in Sydney as seen by Eugène Delessert, December 1844 to August 1845", Aboriginal history 37 (2013)
http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p268021/html/dyer.xhtml?referer=1269&page=8
. . . As a consequence of this habit, contracted since their youth, to climb trees, their big toes – on which all the weight of their bodies is borne in this exercise – acquire over time an extraordinary strength. It is a frightening spectacle to see them, when they climb to the top of a tree, holding on with just one hand, cut with an axe with the other, and arrive at heights of more than a hundred feet on very large and straight trees with smooth bark. As their song says it so well:
'Morruda yerraba tundy kin arra
Morruda yerraba min yin guiny wite mala.’
Quoted from Mitchell 1839, 1, 306 (see 1835 above)
(On the tracks the white man walks with shoes which crunch, but he cannot climb trees, nor make use of his fingers.)
The dances in which they indulge have retained, for the most part, a quite savage energy and vivacity. They usually take place in the light of burning torches and to the sound of a sort of tambourine made with a possum skin or bladder, stretched over a wooden hoop. The chants which accompany this have a remarkable cadence, at times slow and soft, and at others strong and animated, having some resemblance to the humming of a bee and the howls of numerous animals.
The figures of their dances are very varied, but above all they have a very bizarre form of entertainment, of which I can give here only a very imperfect idea. Two of the most skilful participants (and recognised as such by the assembly) open the dance which, at first gentle and moderate, gradually takes on a more lively character, the other actors joining in successively to play their part. After a while, only one individual is left behind, and it is then that a general ballet begins in which everyone, following a certain rhythm, gives himself up to the most uncoordinated contortions and movements. Legs do the splits, heads quickly turn right and left, eyes burn bright, hands brandish all kinds of weapons, thus simulating the hunting and slaughter of certain animals. Then, at the moment when this exercise has arrived at its highest point of animation, everything becomes immobile and stops as if by enchantment.
The sight of all these naked men, with their bodies marked by a certain number of white and red stripes, produces in this light the strangest effect. The substance used to paint these ornaments, which the savages have the art of varying in such a way that not one looks like another, is fabricated by the natives themselves. It is a kind of earth they call 'ko-pur-ra’ which they soak with water and which they mix, after cooking it, with kangaroo grease.
The dance I have just described, called the 'corrobory’ [sic], seems to produce an extraordinary excitement on those who execute it. However indifferent or relaxed one of these savages may be, or even half asleep, should he decide to dance a 'corrobory’ [sic] he immediately experiences its influences and develops, as this goes on, a supernatural energy and vigour. His muscles swell and stiffen, his ardour knows no limits. However, once this is finished, he regains his usual bearing and falls again into that state of inertia and laziness from which the dance managed to drag him for but an instant. I have seen some of them devote themselves for several hours to these horribly tiring games, and I could not understand how they could tolerate the fatigue for so long.
"Varieties. Customs of the Natives", Port Phillip Gazette (4 June 1845), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224810352
FULL TEXT TO DO AND CHECK
. . . Each of them contains on an average from eighty to a hundred men and women, exclusive of children, but the whole body of a tribe is never united on the same spot, unless on some important occasion, such as to deliberate on making war with some adjacent tribe, to dance a Corrobaree, perform the Cawarra ceremonies, or join in a fight. They are more generally divided into small parlies of eight or ten men, with their women and children, for the greater convenience of hunting &c, end these detached companies roam over any part of the country within the prescribed limits of the main tribe to which they belong. - Hodgkinson's Australia.
1846
"REVIEW", Launceston Advertiser (5 October 1846), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84772328
Stephen Morey and Jason Gibson, "Recovered Aboriginal songs offer clues to 19th century mystery of the shipwrecked 'white woman'", The conversation (11 December 2018)
1847
1848
11 January 1848
Hobart Town, VDL (TAS)
Songs and dances by native children for governor Denison
Denison 1870, volume 1, 78-79: Extracts from Journal. Hobart Town, January 11, 1848.
We drove on Saturday afternoon to the Orphan School, to enquire after and see the native children, who ... were to be placed there soon after their Christmas visit to us at New Norfolk. I went first to the girls' side of the building; and the four black girls very soon came out to us, grinning, showing their white teeth, and looking very much pleased to see us again. After we had talked a little while, they, at the desire of the matron, began to show me one of their native dances, which I had not seen before, and which seemed to consist in very little more than stooping down, and striking with one hand on the ground, and then springing instantly up as high as they could leap, singing all the while, in a monotonous tone, words, of which, in answer to my enquiries, they told me that they themselves did not know the meaning; in fact, they really have very little approaching to a language of their own. These natives that are now living together, were all, to begin with, of different tribes; and it is a curious thing that each tribe had a language, which did not seem to have even a single root in common with that of the other tribes. The consequence was, that when these poor creatures were all brought together under the dominion of the English, they could not understand each other; so that they very soon adopted the English language to a great extent, as their medium of communication even amongst themselves; and the younger part of their community, I imagine, understand little or nothing but English. Thus these girls merely sang this song because they had heard and caught [79] it from the older natives, but they had not an idea what it meant. Two of them afterwards sang for me the English morning hymn, "Awake, my soul, &c." which they had learned during their residence on Flinders Island; and they sang it very well, with a promise, I thought, of having eventually rather good voices ...
"POETIC TALENT OF THE ABORIGINGS OF AUSTRALIA", Geelong Advertiser (3 March 1848), 1
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91458591
1849
"WELLINGTON", The Sydney Morning Herald (14 December 1849), 2M
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12913878
. . . About a quarter before eleven o'clock, the Bishop arrived at Montefiores, and at eleven proceeded to the Chapel of Holy Trinity. Prayers were read by the Rev. W. Watson, and the lOOth and 67th Psalms having been sung by the native children of the Mission, his Lordship delivered a very impressive discourse, which was listened to with the deepest attention by all present. The congregation was so numerous that many persons could not gain admittance . . . In the afternoon, Divine Service commenoed at three o'clock, when, after prayers, the Bishop administered the Apostolical rite of Confirmation to twelve persons, (of whom one was the aboriginal native woman before spoken of), and to whom his Lordship delivered a solemn and appropriate discourse. The Psalms sung by the native children on this occasion, were the first four verses of second part of 119th, and the first four verses of the 84th . . . The clean and healthy appearance of the natives, their becoming demeanour and their delightful singing, (in which his Lordship heartily united) all combined to render the scene at once affecting and informative . . .
INDIGENOUS
GLOVER, Henry Heath
Corrobaree South Australia, 1849
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135517182
1850
Geelong, VIC, Separation celebrations, Monday 18 November 1851
"GEELONG. FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT . . . MONDAY", The Argus [Melbourne, VIC] (22 November 1850), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4766490
. . . You can well imagine the scene, or if you cannot, I could never adequately describe it for you. However, one part of it was deserving of a special notice, and as such I will give it. I mean the attraction of the day - the aborigines. Poor creatures! they were not forgotten by us. From the commencement of the stir about rejoicings, Dr. Bailie insisted they should be looked after. And well he attended to them. In the morning all assembled to receive their new blankets, and, certain as fate, to the delight of thousands, down they marched to the market-place at the appointed time, as dignified and as important as if they de facto possessed that soil which they proudly walked over. On they move, unterrified by the thousands that surround them, and unheedful of the shouts that greet them. That native dignity of form, that springiness of step, which in their better days they possessed, seemed for the hour to be theirs once more. With spears, and boomerangs, and liangles they lead the march - the shadow of departed greatness - the remnant of a mighty clan. There stalked the grey headed monarch of his tribe - a hero, perhaps, of a hundred fights -he grasps that spear as if some deed of blood crossed his mind, and his eye brightens, and his limbs quiver. A moment, and he is calm. He thought of years ago, ere the white man's foot desecrated his native soil. He thought of meetings with his tribe in the everlasting forests of the kangaroo, and the emu. But the shouts and greetings of the white man arouse him, and the mood of the untutored savage gives way to the sense of the petty importance his present position gives him. And here too walks the young man, whose earliest moments recalled the faces of those around him. For him past greatness has no charm. He thought but for the present, and connected this with other joyous scenes he had witnessed, as an opportunity to indulge his lowest and last found propensities. As they walked along man and boy, woman and girl, poor miserable residue of past greatness, thoughts neither favorable to humanity nor to civilized man, must have crossed every reflecting mind. There, however, they walked, aye, and a gay flag flaunting over them, and they gaze upon it as if it contained the charter of their deliverance. Let us see the design and motto - a war spear, crossed by a boomerang, supporting a shield, with the following inscription: - DE INDEPENDANT ORDER OF BLACK FELLOWS. Could one forget the burlesque of the thing we could forgive the harmless innocence of the inscription. Kind-heartedness dictated the whole, and as such we received it, mounted upon a perfect model of a horse, the worthy mover of the affair, so far as the blacks were concerned, (Dr. Bailie) moved from place to place, now giving forth a word of envouragement to his sable friends - now scattering about his good humoured badinage, and now seeing that the bullock would be properly prepared for his proteges. Time would fail me and your patience weary, were I to recount each particular of the proceedings that followed - how the blackfellows eat their bullock - how the white fellows looked on as if the process of mastication were the oddest work they ever beheld - how the children consumed some thousands of buns - how the Aborigines corroborried - how the whites danced - what a grand display of fireworks was in the market square - how boys set off thousands of squibs, crackers and devils - how big boys in the form of men loaded guns and then discharge them right in the face of nervous old women, and looked as if they had done one of the cleverest things imaginable . . .
ASSOCIATIONS: Wathawurrung (people); William Hingston Baylie (local surgeon, d. 1867)
Maitland area, NSW, from c. late 1830s or 1840s, to November 1850
"Maitland Scientific Society", The Maitland Daily Mercury (20 August 1895), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article121321499
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2018/01/25/paddy-tighe
Before commencing my recollections, I may as well inform you that I am a native of the Hunter, and was born within two miles of this side of Singleton in November, 1831; so that I am close on 64 years of age. I make this preliminary statement because it was in my boyhood and youth I obtained what knowledge I have of the aborigines. What I write will be in a chronological and narrative form, without any pretensions to being scientific. I well remember them, as a boy, being very numerous about Singleton, then known as Patricks Plains. They often visited my father's place, Greenwood, now owned by John Moore. (2) Their principal place of encampment was on the property of the late John Howe, adjoining Greenwood on the one side, and Singleton on the other. It seemed to be a belief amongst the blacks of the Hunter that after death their future state would be that of white men; but I have since thought this may have been put into their beads by the whites who mixed with them, by way of a joke. I have a distinct remembrance of a large corroboree taking place on the bank of the Hunter, in one of Mr. Howe's paddocks, somewhere near where the bridge now stands on the Westbrook road. There must have been close upon 400, if not more, present. They were not all Hunter blacks: the Macleay and Manning tribe helped to make up the number. It was a common occurrence in those days for adjoining tribes to meet, and make these demonstrations, some or them having the appearance of warlike exercises, while others partook more of the character of a comedy. What was their object? I have never learnt; but they have always seemed to me more like social gatherings than anything else. However, as I go along, I have more corroborees to speak of; and as I was then older and better able to observe, I took more notice, and will give such their characteristics . . .
I must now give you some further accounts of corroborees. One that I saw on the Mehi was very remarkable from the way the blacks were rigged out. The blacks informed me it came from Queensland. They evidently used to transmit these ceremonies from one tribe to the other, thus resembling more civilized communities with their plays, each performer was got up in a curious way. Besides being painted white and red in a hideous way, each man had three lances attached to him, some eight feet in length, with tufts on the upper ends, one lance on each side, the other in the centre of the back secured at the loins and shoulders, their hair being spread as much as possible, having a singular effect in the light given by the moon and fires as they went through their evolutions in time to the chant of the gins, and when they lined up, as it were, in front of an enemy, made them look very imposing.
I will give one more account of a corroboree of a different character that I witnessed in New England in November, 1850, two miles this side of Armidale, some 600 in all including the Macleay and Clarence River blacks, as well as those of New England. The plot, for so I must call it, was a singular one, and very laughable in its denouement. Picture to yourself this number of blacks massed in a body, all elaborately painted white and red, before the large fires lighted for the occasion, forming a square, within which you could not see. All at once in time to their rude chant opening out to the right and left into line with as much precision as soldiers on parade, and an object coming into view which puzzled you to say what it was. At last you discover it to be a blackfellow, all smeared over with honey, to which adhered the white down of birds, giving him a most grotesque appearance. According to them he represents the Debil Debil by hopping before them while they execute a war dance, their spears pointed towards him as if for throwing and their feet com ing to the ground together in time to the beat of the gins. They are excellent time keepers; they never make a mistake when going through their performances, which they generally leave off about 12 o'clock.
The morning after this corroboree I was a spectator I can imagine to what few whites have witnessed, that is, the carrying out of a sentence passed upon an aborigine by his tribe for the stealing of a gin belonging to another tribe. The sentence was that he should have twelve spears thrown at him from a distance of twelve paces; the only protection allowed him to guard against the spears was a small shield, called by them a heeliman, (made of hard wood, about four inches wide where the hand hold was, about fifteen inches long, pointed at both ends, the face he would expose to the spears shaped like the bottom of a boat - a poor defence one would think, yet he found it ample; every spear was thrown by a different black, and with all the force of the thrower, and true to its mark. Every one he met with his heeliman, and they glanced off, leaving him unharmed. His position while receiving them was sitting on his hams. I was close to him, and he never shrank; his nerve must have been great. After the punishment was over there was a general scrimmage, from what cause I did not learn. The coast blacks, that is those of the Macleay and Clarence Rivers, separated from the New England blacks; then one from each body stepped out in front, armed only with a boomerang. Then they commenced running up and down, talking away, evidently abusing one another, and getting the steam up till it came to a bursting point, when they each let a boomerang go along the ground in a vicious manner. This was the signal of battle, and the fight became general. They used nothing but boomerangs and waddies. It was soon over, neither tide as far as I could see getting the better of it. There were none killed; a few cut about the legs from boomerangs and some with bruised hands from the waddies were all the casualties. After it was over they seemed as friendly as ever. This was the only blacks' fight I ever witnessed, and a very harmless one it was.
I have no knowledge of the native dialects. The Woragun was spoken upon the Macquarie and Castlereagh rivers, and the Camillaroy on the Namoi and Bundarra . . .
1851
John Macdonald Henderson, Excursions and adventures in New South Wales . . . vol. 2 (London: W. Shoberl 1851), 113
https://archive.org/stream/excursionsandad02hendgoog#page/n126/mode/2up
. . . They are certainly a cowardly, timid race.
Their fights often end without any deaths, a few boomerang or spear-wounds being the only result;
and this is scarcely to be wondered at, they are so expert in turning aside everything that is launched at them.
Frequently, two tribes will meet in hostile array, hold a palaver, dance and yell with rage, and threaten;
and after all, the affair will end in smoke, or in a corrobory, or ceremonial dance.
1852
"ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA", Dundalk Democrat, and People's Journal [Scotland] (18 December 1852), 6
The Adelaide tribe of the aborigines generally had one or more encampments on the park lands. They are poor and harmless, and very useful to the citizens as wood-chopers and light porters. Their noisy carrobbories by night, and occasional exhibition by day, are, however, somewhat annoying . . . - F. Lancett [? Lancelott]
ASSOCIATIONS: ? Francis Lancelott (reporter)
"PERSONAL", The Argus [Melbourne, VIC] (1 June 1915), 6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1521179
By the death of Mr. Thomas Judd, of Park Hill, Kew, last week, in his 94th year, the State has lost an old colonist who has had an interesting career. Born in England at Barkway, in Hertfordshire, on April 3, 1822, he reached Hobart with his father (who had letters of introduction to Lady Franklin) in 1842, and shortly afterwards was appointed to an official position at Port Arthur, where he remained for some years. In 1852 he came to Melbourne, and took a position in the Chief Secretary's office, under Governor La-Trobe . . . In the same year that he came to Melbourne he purchased land at Kew, a portion of what was then known as Fenton's cattle station, pitching his tent under a gum tree which is still standing, and afterwards building his late residence. The blacks had been accustomed to hold their corroborees upon this land, and they continued to do so for some time after. He was, with the exception of one (Mr. Morgan, who still survives him), the oldest resident of Kew . . .
1853
Albury, NSW, Friday, 25 March 1853
"NOTES OF AN OVERLAND JOURNEY TO THE OVENS AND MELBOURNE. NO. XIII", The Sydney Morning Herald (9 June 1854), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12960778
. . . Accustomed as we had been for many days past, to travel through a dreary and almost uninhabited wilderness, I felt some degree of gratification when I again beheld the signs of civilization which were presented in our approach to the town of Albury. We arrived at this place about six o'clock on good Friday evening [25 March 1853], and camped on the banks of the Murray close to the punt. Being good Friday, nearly all the stores and other places of business were closed, but there was no lack of evidence in the general appearances of the place to convince us that Albury is one of the most populous and flourishing of our inland towns. It is situated on one of the broad flats of the Murray River, and can boast of several well built and commodious brick hotels, besides a number of very respectable looking stores or shops. It has one draw-back, however, there is no church, so far as I could learn, although the population cannot be less than from 1500 to 2000. It is frequented by a great number of the Murray black fellows, and on the occasion alluded to, I saw about thirty or forty of them nearly all of whom were drunk, as were also I regret to say, not a few of the townspeople. After dark the camp fires of the blacks could be seen in all directions on both sides of the River. Many of them camped within a few yards of us, and kept up a corrobory all night, much to our annoyance and disgust . . .
"THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. - NO. 3", Empire (21 May 1853), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61324408
. . . Lhotsky, in his comprehensive though somewhat scanty work on Australia, refers to a particular native song in terms of the highest eulogy; and bears testimony to the general powers of the aborigines for poetical exertion. Instances are also known of the talents of individual natives to improvise on any subject; and one is mentioned as being so far gifted in this respect that he would undoubtedly surpass any of the Italian improvisatori in his peculiar sphere. Many well known traits of the aborigines likewise tend to the belief that metrical compositions are common amongst them, as in their first encounters with civilised men indulging, when terrified, in a low-toned mysterious chaunt, intended, as generally supposed, to counteract impending evil ...
"THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA - No. 5 - LANGUAGE - MUSIC - MORE OF WARFARE - HUNTING - HUNTING-GROUNDS - MODE OF PUNISHMENT", Empire (2 July 1853), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61325679
. . . The soothing powers of the musical art are not altogether unknown among the aborigines. In their corroborees they sing and beat time with sticks, and their dance is performed to a rude species of music, vocal and instrumental. Their musical instruments are few, two sorts being all that have been discovered. One of these is described as a species of kettle drum, formed of kangaroo skin and a piece of hollow timber, the former drawn tightly over the latter, and secured at the sides, something after the fashion of the instrument in use among Europeans. The other is described as a species of pipe, made of bamboo, about three feet in length. The manner of sounding this instrument is a novelty in the musical world, as it is the only instrument known which is operated on by the nasal organ. Such is the method of sounding it as practised by the sable musicians, who succeed in producing thereby a droning noise, not unlike the tones of the bagpipe.
The manner of conducting their warfare is like everything else connected with them, novel. The hostility of the tribes to each other seems to be almost unremitting, and their encounters in their primitive state frequent . . .
In general, the hostile tribes encamp opposite each other the night previous to an engagement, and it not infrequently happens that the women and children of a tribe set down within sight of the enemy long previous to the arrival of the warriors. The march of the latter on such occasions is sometimes conducted with great military regularity and with some strange motions, the object of which is no doubt to create a certain warlike ardour in the combatants. Their progress to the place of rendezvous is thus described: - After performing a dance and a song in a body, the smeared and armed heroes start off at a race in regular line, one after the other, for a distance of about one hundred and fifty yards, when they again draw up in a well-ordered and compact phalanx; and repeat, with increased fire and energy, the dance and song. These proceedings they continue to repeat till they arrive at the destined ground . . . [for the battle] . . .
"THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. - No. 6", Empire (23 July 1853), 6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61326379
. . . As the corroboree appears to be the great festival among the New Hollanders, an account of it may be deserving of particular attention. Under this term may be comprised all the festivity and form of which the aboriginal is cognizant, or in which he indulges. It is at once his Bacchanal, Cyprian, and Olympian Game. Here his songs and orations are recited, his musical performances accomplished, his dances performed, and his amours and courtships indulged. The corroboree usually takes place as the sequel to a battle, on the occasion of a friendly meeting or consultation between two or more tribes, at the initiation of a young man of more than ordinary note, or on any other occasion when the temper of the actors in such scenes induces them to give vent to their disposition to frolic and excitement in one of those games. Night is generally selected as the time for these performances; and the effect of such scenes by moonlight, or by the glare of bush fires, is said to be striking in the extreme. Eighty or a hundred men ranged in line, with or without clubs, performing a measured dance, in which the chief motion consists of contortions and movements of the legs, accompanied by a species of song, and the sound of the different rude instruments known to the aborigines, the women being on such occasions the instrumental performers, as well as sustaining the chief burden of the vocal music: such are the chief features of the scene. This, however, is not the whole of the corroboree, various minor acts succeed, in which both men and women take part, and the whole is continued till the performers become completely intoxicated with the excess of delight and excitement. At the present day, and within the precincts of the settled parts of the country, these fetes are much disused among the aborigines, or, at least, much perverted. Formerly they were resorted to by the blacks, in order to diversify the nature of their occupations of hunting and fishing, and no doubt added materials to their scanty stock of enjoyment. Now, they are in general the scenes of drunken and brutal broils, for the most part got up by the whites in the interior, for the purpose of gratifying a corrupt curiosity to witness the antics of the aborigines when intoxicated. In those scenes we see exemplified the degradation, to which humanity, even in its best form, may be reduced by the devices of men, when, from some cause, or other, the hellish tendencies of the human heart and head conspire for such a purpose. Thus, the brutalised shepherd or bullock-driver of the interior affords to the aboriginal a plentiful supply of rum for the purpose of amusing himself, and being gratified by the fact that some other being is more depraved and debased than himself; in which he only copies in a manner some of the civilised and polished governments of Europe in former and present times, who, for the purpose of degrading men and nations, shut up the roads of knowledge and civilization to large section of the human family, in order that they might thereby be rendered the helpless victims of tyranny and plunder . . .
"THE ABOBIGINES OF AUSTRALIA - No. XIII", Empire (13 March 1854), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60150112
[2 and 4 March 1788, near Sydney] . . . A week or two after, the same locality was visited by another party of excursionists, also under the command of the governor; this time also the old man made his appearance on the beach, accompanied by his son, whom he introduced to Governor Phillip, having previously welcomed the party by a dance and song, or, more properly, a "corrobboree" on a small scale. The Europeans remaining in Broken Bay all the day and night following their arrivals, they a second time received abundantly the good offices of their old friend . . .
For the original reports of this last event, see:
ASSOCIATIONS: Roderick J. Flanagan (author); reprinted as The Aborigines of Australia by Roderick J. Flanagan (Sydney: Edward F. Flanagan and George Robertson and Company, 1888)
https://archive.org/details/aboriginesaustr00flangoog/mode/2up (DIGITISED)
[Advertisement], The Argus (1 August 1853), 8
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4795193
JUST Published, Part I. of a series of Colonial Sketches, by S. T. G.
Part I. contains . . . Native Sneaking Emu, Native Corrobborree, Native Sepulchre.
Price, 10s. 6d. Lithographed and published by JAMES S. CAMPBELL and CO., 30, Collins-street, east.
ASSOCIATIONS: Samuel Thomas Gill (artist); James Stirling Campbell (lithographer, publisher)
1854
The Aborigines of Australia: a lecture, delivered in in the Mechanics' Hall, Melbourne, before the John Knox Young Men's Association, on Wednesday, May 10th, 1854 by Edward Stone Parker
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22021997 (DIGITISED)
Roger Therry, Reminiscences of thirty years' residence in New South Wales . . . (London: Sampson Low, Son, and Co., 1863), 296-97
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=RikXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA297 (DIGITISED)
. . . They have mystic ceremonies and incantations, the [297] meaning of which we cannot penetrate, in which fire is always used, and the native chant is invariably introduced. A remarkable instance of the partiality of the aborigines of New South Wales for the exhibition of incantation-scenes, and its influence over them, as well as their aptitude for imitation, was stated to me by a gentleman, himself a native of the colony, and well acquainted with their language and habits. About nine years ago, he took a party of Jervis Bay and Illawarra blacks to the Sydney theatre, to witness the opera of "Der Freischütz," chiefly with the view of observing what effect the incantation-scene would have upon them. The scene in the Wolf's Glen riveted their attention. They exhibited great excitement at the circle of skulls in the glen; the mystic casting of the seven bullets; Zamiel, the red man with long fingers; the toads, and frogs, and other reptiles on the ground; the firing of the gun, and fall of the bird, &c. Six or seven years afterwards this gentleman visited Jervis Bay, and was surprised to witness the remarkable accuracy with which these passages of the opera were imitated, at one of their moonlight entertainments. Though not understanding our language, they used, in their own vocabulary, terms to express the ideas impressed by the scene they had witnessed. They painted their bodies red and various other colours to represent the characters in the opera; with boughs of trees they constructed the glen; guanas, frogs, and other animals were supplied by their native forests. The firing of the gun and bringing down the bird, and, in short, all the principal scenic incidents of the opera, were imitated with amusing mimicry. That which was most missing was a few good singing-voices to relieve the monotonous cadence of the native chant . . .
ASSOCIATIONS: Roger Therry (lawyer); this extract has been placed here in "1854", according to Therry's "nine years" before the date of publication, but it is quite possibly somewhat earlier; there were performances of Der Freischutz, and also separately of the incantation scene, at the Royal Victoria Theatre in Sydney, every year from 1845 onward to February 1853; in 1854, however, there were none.
This anecdote also paraphrased by Octavius Barsanti, in his I selvaggi dell'Australia dinanzi alla scienza e al Protestantismo (Rome and Turin: Tip. e Lib. Poliglotta de Propaganda Fide, 1868), 177-78
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=gjhfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA177 (DIGITISED)
1855
Geelong, VIC, 1855-56, publication of a series of "translations" (paraphrases) of Aboriginal songs, by James Grassie
"ABORIGINAL POESY. COMMUNICATED", Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (9 July 1855), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91865300
"Many people who suppose that the music of the Corobra is appended to senseless rhapsodies will be startled to hear that many of the songs are satire,
full of pith, directed by the swarthy improvisatore at the passing events of the day;
and others are pure incantations, and war songs full of fearful meaning.
The well-known madrigal which begins with -
"Bondjerie jumbuck patta gra pat tor gra,"
May be literally translated -
"Pretty little lambkin nibble up the grass - nibble up the grass,
And unconscious remain of the fast approaching pain,
When to cruel butcher's knife thou deliver'st up thy life,
And leavest thy little playmates careering on plain."
Tho' thou hast done no ill,
The white man will thee kill
He has seized the Koorites' lands,
And thy blood will stain his hands,
And thy lubra young and coy !
He'll yard her and he'll guard her,
And from the wild doe ward her;
Yet he guards but to destroy."
One of their poetical shafts is directed at the Church, and is piquant and pointed.
"Big, big master's gunya + is gloomy and bare!
No damper, nor tea, nor mutton is there;
But old man book+, where yabberan # cry:
Big master send plenty of tea bye and bye,
For him we migsht fast till corobra * day,
As on earth 'tis his rule to give nothing away."
The following is somewhat Ossianic:
"The sun slept in his trees, pure as the waters of Murmbridgee;
but he is jump up on the morrow covered with blood.
It was the red blood of the Rorongs, and the Great Spirit grumbled wild because it was not avenged,
and sent storms and big rain to wash it away!"
The following, with which we conclude for the present, is sarcastic enough: -
The white man, like a bullock, toils for food,
(In chase the blackman finds food and sport together),
Takes rum that makes him mad "to do him good:"
(The stream supplies the black-he needs no other)
To crown his folly builds a dungeon cold,
And is himself the first its walls enfold;
For days, or weeks, or years he withers there,
While the poor black roams free as mountain air.
+ House. # An old book only. + Clergyman. * Last day.
"TRANSLATIONS OF ABORIGINAL POESY. No. 3", Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (8 September 1855), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91867783
From the songs of the Carobra, we glean the original idea of the superanuing principle or extinguishing agency which is now hurrying these tribes into utter extinction; and it is singular that that idea closely resembles the opinions of the Red Indians of America on the same subject.
The white man dropped from the sun bright sky,
For he envied the black-fellow's land,
With greed and revenge in his restless eye,
And disease and death in his hand.
And he grasped the forest, and seized the strand,
And claimed the blue mountains high;
And he scours the bush with a ruthless band,
'T'ill its denizens trembling fly -
And his pigs and his cattle pollute the land
'Till it stinks and the black-fellows die.
The idea of "jumping up white man," after death, which the aborigines entertain is by no means a new one, as many people suppose; it is merely the current of an earlier belief diverted into a new channel, for if they had had no prior supposition of a resurrection, that idea would not have presented itself so hurriedly. The fact is, they believed in some future state or transmigration of the soul; and when white men dropped down, as they supposed, from the sun, they merely saw their former belief verified. The Wannon blacks, however, have a carobra song which sets this matter at rest -
In darksome grave the black man sleeping lies
Until he hears anew the voice of spring,
Then from the stinking ground he upward hies
Like summer insect with its dewy wing -
Which quits its winter tomb to chirp and sing;
Or like the torpid bird or golden snake,
Which yearly lives and loves, and droops and dies
Or like the bud which blooms within the brake,
Or Buniyup which doth all death despise.
All these and many more avouch that he must rise.
"ABORIGINAL POESY. NO. IV", Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (19 September 1855), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91866193
When those who suppose that the passion of affection is deficient amongst our miserable aborigines can bring a parallel to the following one of many instances of devotedness, one will accord them a hearing. "Oona," Queen of Mount Koroit, one of the oldest living blacks, had a son called "Coop Carrip," whom she tenderly loved, and who was killed in an encounter with a hostile tribe, at the Grange. Twenty-five years ago she recoverved his bones, with great difficulty, and sewed them carefully into a wampa, or pillow slip, which during all that weary period, has not been one single moment out of her arms. However varied other lubras may sing at the corobra, she has but one song, her -
LAMENT FOR COOP CARRIP,
THE wyeroi tree adorned the banks of Wannon;
It was graceful and stately to behold!
Its leaf was like the light of the morning,
And its breath like the fragrance of spring.
But, cold storms prevailed -
The land wind shook it in front -
And the forked lightning battered in the rear.
It fell in the turbid stream,
And no more saw we our lovely tree.
Even so fell Coop Carrip,
The lubras and gins all loved him, and every warrior envied his fame.
(CHORUS of BLACKS,)
Lovely as brave was Coop Carrip;
Brave and young was he.
His bones move in the wampa
When his mother recites his fame.
(Here Oona shakes the wampa, and the dry bones are heard to rattle).
Hunting with Mando and Ua,
Companions in years and in fame,
Behold! he cried, pointing his hand.
See! see! the watchfires of our foes,
Come, comrades, escort me to fame !
Silent as the bark-colored snake
They approached the camp of their foes -
Even the tent of Waugh the tall king
"Take this," he said to the gin, handing flowers;
"And take this." said Corrip, "my son."
And the jagged spear quivered in her heart.
Under the waddie of Wando
Tumbled down Waugh the tall king.
And Ua's spear ennobled many deaths.
But doubt and danger were near;
The din of war aroused the sleeping foe -
They hurried to the fight like ants in the summer sun.
"Let us fly," said Ua to Coop Carrip;
"There is still time left to retreat!"
No Ua, Coop Carrip cannot fly
He smiles when death is very near.
Many foes shall fall by his arm,
And Oona will rejoice in her son.
Whizzed on hihh the fleet boomerang,
And Coop Carrip fell like the wyeroi tree.
Lonely as brave was Coop Carrip -
Brave and young was he.
His bones rejoice in the wampa
At sound of these deeds of fame.
- J. G.
"ABORIGINAL POESY", Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (31 October 1855), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91866378
The aboriginal Australians, like the ancient Greeks, believed in a plurality of demons amongst whom" Onterensude" was probably the fiercest. One of this worthy's haunts was the stringy bark ranges where now stands the sweet little station of Hilgay on the river Wannon, whose stringy bark has given way to rich grassy mounds. Here the demon, who had but one leg, hopped about in pursuit of "bandicoots, piganinie birds and black fellows" his legal prey. "Weering" is however the most classical looking devil "belonging to blackfellow," and his approximation to the more celebrated fiends of antiquity may be well gleaned from the following translations from the ANCIENT ARABIC AND ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN:
ANCIENT ARABIC.
Why do the distant mountains look
So gloomy and so grim?
Do tempests hover near them
Or rain clouds o'er them swim? . . .
- SIR W. JONES.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91866373
ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN.
When the sun is disappearing,
And the moon is on the wane,
From the Wannon up jumps Weering,
With his mournful train.
For he cannot brook the sight
Of the sun, and chooses night
To pursue his endless flight.
Still solitude would be his choice,
He fain would live alone;
And when he deigns to speak, his voice
Is like a dead man's moan
His heart is full of guile,
And like his withering smile
Is the death snake in its coil.
The lubras kneel before him
In sad and doleful plight,
And one and all implore him
To grant a brief respite,
Oh stony hearted Weering
Relax your cruel bearing,
And grant poor gins* a hearing.
Come let us kindle up our fire
And all corobra here !
The maids will skip to Bocboc's+ lyre
And claim a truce with fear;
While our young men are spearing
Little birds for Weering
In Bimbuck's# light so cheering.
You must not kindle up your fire,
Nor all corobra here,
The tribes would see the lurid pyre
And rescue you by spear:
There's no respite for Weering
And to his your doom adhering
Is hopeless and uncheering.
James Grassie.
* Females. + The Corobra minstrel. # The Moon.
"ABORIGINAL POESY", Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (1 April 1856), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91868894
We have not been able to detect any legendary lore in the songs of the Corrobra, although some people suppose that traditions of that species may exist. The advent of the whites amongst the aborigines occupies all their ideas, and inspires all their poetry. At -----, on the Wimmera, they were prohibited by written placard, from entering the huts, and on learning the nature of that "writing on the wall" they stole one by one from their camp to overhaul it, and examined it as carefully as if they could read. "No good that one" said a grim looking fellow as he grinned horrible a ghastly smile, and pointed to the paper - "No good that one! too much like it -------'s Cobra." That night they held a Corrobra over the affair, and here is the meaning of one of its rhymes.
The white man came with iron hand
And from the black one took his land ;
Sent bullocks In his woods to roam
And drove him from his father's home.
Eats his fish, his turkeys carves -
While their poor wandering owner starves;
Then claps a placard on his door
To warn away the homeless poor.
The time will come by fate decreed
When he himself shall want a feed
Without a friend, without a bier,
without a sigh, without a tear;
In the grave shall furnish then
To worms what he refused to men.
At Koroit a donkey y'c lept Charley, made its appearance, and this much abused animal was carefully examined by the blacks who at length agreed with the rest of mankind in heaping undeserved opprobrium on it. At the Corrobra, Charley was honored with the following apostrophe:
Name belonging to you?
Borak bullock, borak koo
Borak bunyip, borak merrjig
No like it yarraman--more like it pig.
It is supposed that some of their cabalistic incantations relate to a theology whose mysteries are kept a profound secret. Again however we must conclude with the following epitaph -
Wannon's king lies sleeping here
To rest a day, a month, and year;
Then from the stinking grave to spring
Like ant + with renovated wing;
No more black ; but young and gay
To carol through the white mans day,
Then to the dirty grave again
To jump up what we dare not name.
J. G.
+ The flying ant of Australia lies torpid for a considable period; and in a moment springs up with renovated strengh.
1856
1, 2, 3, and 4 January 1856, Queen's Theatre, Melbourne
Diary of John Buckley Castieau, Melbourne, VIC, 1 January 1856; from original MS, National Library of Australia; transcribed and edited by Mark Finnane, The Centre for 21st Century Humanities, University of Newcastle
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21875533
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/textmaptext/castieaudiaries/map.php?name=1855
[Tuesday 1 January 1856] . . . Henningham took tea with me & afterwards we went to the Queen's Theatre, nothing there remarkable excepting some grotesque antics made by some Natives who had been trained to represent in public something after the style of a Corrobirrie. Their so called singing & dancing was pitifully devoid of anything approaching to Music or graceful motion & most of the audience in consequence seemed little disposed to encourage Native Talent. Came home at about half past ten & went to bed rather tired as I had had a long day's work.
ASSOCIATIONS: Queen's Theatre (Melbourne venue)
"THE QUEEN'S THEATRE", The Age [Melbourne, VIC] (2 January 1856), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154866134
The performances at the Queen's continue to draw good houses, and the attractions have been considerably increased by the engagement of a party of aboriginal blacks from the Murrumbidgee. The party, six in number, made their first appearance last evening, and went through several of their native customs - the war-song and dance, hunting-song, &c. - much to the amusement of a crowded audience. Altog[et]her their performance was very successful, and the management deserve great credit for their originality in introducing such a novel spectacle. Now-a-days, when one may live for years in Melbourne without knowing more of the original inhabitants than if we were in an English town, we are sure all who desire to become acquainted with native manners and customs will pay a visit to the Queen's.
"THE QUEEN'S THEATRE", The Argus (3 January 1856), 5
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4827251
The main feature in the performances at this theatre for the last two nights has been the introduction of native dances or corrobborees, performed by aboriginal natives of this colony. The dances are characteristic, but are not of a kind to be described, consisting for the most part of violent muscular exertion. The "Old Man" corrobboree, the "Kangaroo" corroboree, and a third dance peculiar to the natives of this colony, are the dances selected. The house was well attended on both occasions, many new arrivals conceiving it to be a treat to witness the natural dances of the aborigines.
"MELBOURNE. From our own Correspondent. Wednesday, January 2", Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (3 January 1856), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91867949
. . . At the Theatres the pantomime was again dished up to crowded audiences. At the Queen's Theatre, the management produced a very extraordinary novelty, having concluded an engagement, to quote from the play bills, with King Billy and five brother aborigines from the Murrumbidgee, who would give a corroboree, and a war dance, with other novelties peculiar to the tribe. Such an announcement I need not say drew a bumper, and the corroboree, who can describe it, nearly brought down the house with applause. As for the dancing, for such it must I presume be termed, it consists of nothing more than a series of shouts, jumps, and horrible gesticulations, that if witnessed in the dead of night, and by the glare of the fires of the mia-mia, would rival in sepulchral horrors the most frightful incantation of Der Freischutz. If the management could only produce it on a more extensive scale, it would give us a livelier idea of some of the most peculiar customs of the aborigines; but there are great difficulties in the way, and the management no doubt, considers itself fortunate in having secured the present company.
[Advertisement], The Argus (3 January 1856), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4827306
QUEEN'S THEATRE. Mr. H. N. Warner, Lessee.
This Evening, JUVENILE NIGHT, the Pantomime entitled HARLEQUIN KING LEAR AND HIS THREE DAUGHTERS, or THE FAIRY OF THE ENCHANTED PALACE ON THE SILVER LAKE; and CHERRY CLACK.
Corrobborees. Native Blacks will give their War Dances, Hunting Songs, &c. Reserved Seats, 4s.; Boxes, 3s.; Pit, 2s.; Gallery, 1s.
ASSOCIATIONS: Henry Neil Warner (actor, manager)
[Advertisement], The Argus (4 January 1856), 8
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4827417
QUEEN'S THEATRE. This Evening. The Grand Comic Christmas Pantomime, HARLEQUIN KING BLEAR . . .
CORROBBOREE. Native Blacks will introduce their celebrated War Dance, Songs, &c. . . .
"PUNCH'S PROPHETIC ALMANAC FOR 1856", The Argus (5 January 1856), 7
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4827510
. . . Mar. 3 - Fancy ball at the Exhibition in aid of the fund for supplying the aborigines on the Murrumbidgee with warming-pans and coal scuttles . . .
"QUEEN'S THEATRE", The Argus (7 January 1856), 5
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4827651
The old "original" Queen's has been doing a very good business all the week - the Pantomime and Corrobboree having drawn well . . .
"BUDHISM IN VICTORIA", Mount Alexander Mail [Castlemaine, VIC] (3 October 1856), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202635156
Our readers may have learned that the Chinese, resident in Melbourne and its environs, have subscribed a thousand pounds for the erection of a place of worship upon Emerald Hill. The temple has been built, decorated, and ceremoniously consecrated, and this circumstance has given rise to a howl of horror, amazement, and reprobation from the "unco guid" of the metropolitan city and its suburbs. John Chinaman, listlessly chewing opium in Little Bourke-street, on a Sunday, is not an object of disgust or terror to his righteous neighbors; but John Chinaman, performing religious rites, in a Joss House on Emerald Hill, acccording to the custom of his countrymen, is a very alarming and reprehensible pagan, who must be converted to christianity by law, and compelled to abjure the faith of his fathers, by act of Parliament. Otherwise, say these clamorous zealots, Budhism and Confucianism will propagate themselves in Victoria, and the Cross will be supplanted by the Dragon; church bells, wherever they exist, will be melted down for the purpose of being converted into gongs . . . What next? We suppose we shall have some colonial Spooner moving, when the Assembly meets, for leave to introduce a bill to suppress corrobbories, as injurious to the christian faith, and calculated to proselytize the white population of Victoria. As if Christianity required to be buttressed round with any such prohibitory enactments in regard to other forms of worship, as the intolerant alarmists, who write such old-womanly letters to the Argus, would have us disgrace our statute book with . . .
"SUPERSTITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND BURIALS OF THE ABORIGINES", The Argus (25 October 1856), 4-5
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7138956
The first of the third course of lectures for the season 1856 was delivered yesterday evening at the Mechanics' Institution,
the lecturer being Mr. Blandowski, of the Museum of Natural History, and the subject the Superstitions, Customs, and Burials of the Aborigines, [5]
a topic which Mr. Blandowski has already treated with considerable ability . . . [text partly illegible] . . .
The ceremony of knocking out the front teeth of the youths was thus performed:- [ ] great many aborigines having assembled, []ned, passed a night in dancing and singing . . .
When a native died suddenly [ ] warriors assembled to decide who had caused his death, and fixed upon some person who might be either friend or enemy . . .
If a friend or member of the tribe were pitched [ ] a grand corrobboree was held, and the nearest female relative or lubra of the deceased,
armed with a waddy, belaboured the heads of those whom she suspected with [ ] so vigorous that to an European it was a matter of the greatest wonderment that the waddy was not shattered to pieces . . .
Near Ballarat, VIC, by 1857
Lettres d'un mineur en Australie par Antonie Fauchery (Paris: Poulet-Malassis et De Broise, 1857), 258-60
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Am9ZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA258 (DIGITISED)
. . . Le jour suivant je retrouvai toute la tribu entourant une bande de musiciens nomades; c'était, je crois, la premièegrave;re fois qu'on entendait de la musique sur les diggings. Sensation agréable pour tous, et surtout nouvelle pour les indigènes. Hommes, femmes et enfants de couleur riaient, écumaient, se tordaient dans une attaque d'épilepsie générale. Mon Bilboquet de la veille conservait seul sa gravité, et, négligeant l'ensemble varié de l'orchestre, son attention tout entière était acquise au trombone.
On connaît le mécanisme du trombone: quatre tubes intercalés les uns dans les autres, qui s'allongent et se rétrécissent à volonté selon l'exigence des tons. C'était ce mécanisme qui intriguait vivement l'observateur. Qu'est-ce que pouvait bien être cette bête jaune et luisante qui tantôt avait quatre pieds de long et tantôt n'en avait plus que deux? Qu'est-ce [259] que pouvaient bien devenir dans leur mouvement de va-et-vient ces tubes de matière dure et sans aucune solution de continuité, pas même avec l'Alsacien qui soufflait dedans à pleins poumons? Mystère! - Le plus grand développement de l'instrument n'étonnait pas encore trop l'homme noir; mais lorsque ramené par la main de l'instrumentiste il le voyait remonter, diminuer et se réduire à ses proportions les plus simples, il perdait complètement la tête; il touchait le cuivre de ses doigts noirs et frémissants; puis il revenait à l'Alsacien, sur la personne de qui il se livrait aux recherches les plus minutieuses: ouvrant l'habit, le gilet, fouillant dans les poches, écartant les plis de la chemise, passant ses mains partout, mais ne trouvant rien, toujours rien qui pût lui dire où s'allait loger la moitié de l'instrument. Tout à coup il s'arrête, enveloppe d'un regard de feu le musicien et le trombone qui en ce moment ne faisaient qu'une seule et même pièce, puis il se frappe le front et s'écrie: "Il l'avale!" et il se sauve en agitant les bras en l'ai r [sic], et en [260] donnant les marques du plus affreux désespoir . . .
See also "FRENCH WRITERS ON AUSTRALIA", Ovens and Murray Advertiser [Beechworth, VIC] (14 November 1857), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113235359
The Paris correspondent of the New York Tribune, noticing the new books of the season, makes mention of the following: - Les Voleurs d'Or . . . is the production of the Countess Celeste de Chabrillan, wife of the French Consul at Melbourne . . . More entertertaining is a thin volume of Lettres d'un Mineur en Australie: they are written by a Parisian Australian gold-digger, M. Fauchery . . .
1857
"THE OLD TREE. To the Editor of the . . . ", Williamstown Chronicle [VIC] (3 January 1857), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68568927
SIR, - I have been somewhat amused of late by the infatuated love which has been displayed by a few of my fellow-townsmen for the "old oak tree" at the foot of Thompson-street,
and the very energetic measures which have been made to secure its preservation and its quiet repose in the centre of our principal thoroughfare.
Like yourself, I was at a loss to discover the qualities which this tree possessed apart from other trees,
and it was not until after much research that I have discovered the secret.
It appears that many long years before the arrival of a white man upon these shores,
that this part of the colony which we now call Williamstown was selected by the aboriginies as their place of rendezvous every month;
and beneath the foliage of that old tree have sat the King of the Cannibals and all his wives and warriors.
Numerous, too, have been the corroborees which have taken place on the same spot; and, it is said, that that old tree, if it could speak, might make some "fearful disclosures,"
more terrible, indeed, than anything that has yet come out about John Price and the hulks.
By and by, came the white people, who, strange to say, also took a particular liking to that old tree.
Under its shade all the Christians in the colony once got furiously drunk, and then laid themselves down and slept beneath it until they again got sober.
This circumstance is given as an indisputable fact, which may account for the undying affection now displayed for this withered stump.
Such are the peculiar features which this old tree possesses apart from other trees.
Its claims to our protection are these: it is a relic of the dark ages; it is a monument of savage cruelties and Christian degradation;
and it is old, and rotten, and fit for nothing but the fire.
I should not have taken the trouble that I have about the matter were it not from the undignified notice which I perceive is now before our Council to stop the contractor's works in the vicinity of the old tree.
This motion, I presume, will fall to the ground for want of a seconder.
If, however, such should not be the case, I shall be very much mistaken in my estimate of the good sense of those gentlemen who constitute our local government.
Yours, &c. A RATEPAYER.
Lyceum Theatre, Sydney, NSW, 26-30 January 1857
[Advertisement], Empire (26 January 1857), 1
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60278110
OUR LYCEUM.- 69th ANNIVERSARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. -
First Night of the great Australian Drama, by Mons. Richard, of AUSTRALIAN BUNYIPS,
with new scenery, dresses, and appointments, and supported by the entire strength of the company,
also a company of Aboriginal Native Australians, whom the manager has secured in order to give due and full effect to the Corrobories, War Dances, &c., which occur in the bush scenes of this Powerful Drama.
ASSOCIATIONS: William Henry Stephens (actor, manager); Lyceum Theatre (Sydney)
"THE THEATRES", Empire (27 January 1857), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60272792
Both the theatres were well attended. The audience at Our Lyceum were attracted by a new drama called the Australian Bunyips, and by the presentation of a silver salver and silver watch to the two winners at the regatta. The drama is colonial, and some of the streets and localities of Sydney were depicted with great effect. Mr. Stephens has evidently spared no expense to "mount" the piece well, and has even gone so far as to have employed a number of aboriginals to dance the corrobberry, which is an incidental feature of the play. At the conclusion of the piece, there were loud plaudits from all parts of the house.
[Advertisement], Empire (28 January 1857), 1
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60277658
OUR LYCEUM THEATRE.- IMMENSE SUCCESS. Third Night of the great Australian Drama, by Mons. Richard, of AUSTRALIAN BUNYIPS . . .
"OUR LYCEUM THEATRE", The Sydney Morning Herald (29 January 1857), 8
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28636713
The production of an Australia drama is a matter of so rare occurrence that its novelty calls for special notice. For an author to find himself lucky enough to meet with a manager sufficiently spirited and industrious to accept and bring out a local play, may be recorded as a fact quite unique. Did the British drama depend for existence upon the novelties appertaining to our stage, it would soon be numbered among forgotten institutions. And when we consider that Sydney audiences are satisfied with pieces whose interest belongs to England or France, it is quite refreshing to find in our dramatic partere one specimen of native growth amid the multitude of European exotics. The play is from the pen of Mons. Richard, and entitled "The Australian Bunyips" . . . To give extra effect to the "Australian Bunyips," a camp of aboriginal Australians are engaged, and we have war dances, corroberies, and other peculiarities. For a novice, the author has shown much knowledge of stage effect . . .
[Advertisement], Empire (29 January 1857), 1
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60274911
OUR LYCEUM. - Last Night but One of that most successful Drama, The AUSTRALIAN BUNYIPS . . .
"THE DRAMA . . . OUR LYCEUM", Bell's Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer (31 January 1857), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59865868
A local drama, entitled "Australian Bunyips", from the pen of Mons. Ricard, was presented, for the first time, on Monday night, and has been nightly repeated with very equivocal success, the management, with a liberality and enterprise worthy of the halcyon days of yore, overcame a barricade of obstacles which only a Beaver could surmount, in securing the services of the King of the Newcastle tribe of Aborigines, and certain of his sable subjects, who made their debut upon the boards, and performed the native dance, or "corroboree", with striking effect. This engagement, "for a few nights only", of REAL NATIVE STARS, following so closely upon that of Gustavus the Great, the Dramatic Orion of this hemisphere, we were curious enough to pry into the secrets of the counting-house to ascertain the difference (if any) in their emoluments. That of the Gustavus we were unable to ascertain; but the King of the Cannibals informed us that he and his suite received the munificent sum of one shilling per head nightly, the accumulated amount of which they were expected to expend in Torning's O.P. Jamaica . . . After recommending his Majesty to lose no time in opening an account with the Savings' Bank, we re-entered the theatre to witness the presentation, by Mr. Stephens, of two prizes to the winners of the first and second prizes at the Regatta, as advertised . . . Badinage apart, the performances of the week have passed off but indifferently, Mons. Ricardo's production being a real Bunyip - "something that nobody can make out." We regret to odd that in consequence of the serious losses incurred by the management from recent engagements, this Theatre was closed last evening pro. tem.
ASSOCIATIONS: Gustavus Vaughan Brooke (actor)
Tumut, NSW, early February 1857
"TUMUT (From our own Correspondent)", The Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser [NSW] (14 February 1857), 4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118309464
We have had an immense congregation of blacks lately, from many districts. About a week ago they held a corroboree, which was well attended by the white population; in fact, as our theatrical managers would say "it was an immense hit." "The gentlemen in black" being shrewd enough to perceive this, have repeated the piece nightly, to the infinite amusement of their white brethren, and I have no doubt to their own profit, and I have little question but that the sable performers will not withdraw this truly picturesque and natural drama, so long as it continues "to draw." Mr. Stephens of Our Lyceum, Sydney, might do well to come up and take a lesson out of their book and perhaps keep up the interest of his "Australian Bunyip drama," as I understand from report it rather flags . . . 9th February 1857
Near Ballarat, VIC, early 1857
"A CORROBOREE", The Argus [Melbourne, VIC] (13 March 1857), 5
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7146104
On Monday night, in company with a friend, we agreed to walk out as far as the camping grounds at the ever famous Swamp to see the black fellows' corroboree. The moon was high in the heavens and the brilliancy of her light shed that fleecy covering over the earth which makes the Australian landscape so different from the colder countries of North Europe. Though the distance between Ballaarat and the Swamp is so trifling, the contrast is more remarkable. In the city the noise of the hotels, casinos, music, theatres, the rattling of carriage wheels, and the crowded thoroughfares, at the distance of half-a mile absolute stillness, uninterrupted, save by the croak of the bull-frog, the bark of the watch-dog, or the scream of the wild fowl: but here again the stillness was soon broken by wild and unearthly sounds, the uncouth screams and rude merriment of the black fellows, on a rising ground, and aided by the sounds, we soon came upon the scene of the orgies. Here was a picture of Pandemonium on a small scale, fire lighted up every here and there, and the blacks, almost in a state of nudity, dancing in the glare of the red flickering light, in a style that would have done credit to Cutty Sark, in "Tam o' Shanter." On approaching the principal group it was evident that the prevailing excitement was as much the result of rum as the nature of the amusement. Each of the dancers was dressed, or rather undressed, for the occasion, and for the nonce, the toggery of the white man was cast aside, all, save a sort of garment tied around the middle, resembling the philabeg of a Scotch Highlander. As a substitute for trousers, a broad white chalk line was marked up the shin-bone and thighs, and the face and head were ornamented with similar lines of chalk, which give the savage a most grotesque and unearthly appearance. Groups of well-dressed Europeans, both males and females, were gathered round, to witness the strange forms and stranger evolutions of this singular race. The leader of the orchestra was an old black, who, by, the aid of two sticks, made a drumming noise on a piece of dried hide, and each of the performers in the dance either carried two sticks, or a stick in one hand and a tomahawk in the other, which he clashed together, making a sound in cadence with the music. To describe the dance itself would puzzle a professor. One fellow would lead off, stretching his legs as wide as possible, and jerking about heal and toe, and vice versa, the Whole frame quivering - the arms alternately stretched and contracted, and bringing the weapons which he held in either hand in contact, the head rolling about all the time, and the eyes kept in such a way as to express then various passions, but fierceness in the ascendancy. The lead of this gentleman would be followed by a second, and a third, and a fourth, and so on till a dozen naked-savages would be moving before the blazing fire, like so many evil spirits, the rattling of the sticks and the noise of the voices forming a medley more picturesque than charming. The sable ladies, or lubras, standing or squatting around with a pickaninny or two slung at their back looking on with the most intense sense of enjoyment. The exercise is so fatiguing that but few of the blacks can hold out for more than five minutes at a stretch, and the dancer invariably concludes with a whoop, and others jump up to supply the vacated places. On this particular instance the performer, once he had changed his dress, would go round to the visitors and make a strong appeal to each and sundry to give "black fellow a shilling," Some people were silly enough to comply with this demand, and the result was seen in the numbers lying about, males and females, in every direction, drunk as Bacchus; while others in the native patois were wrangling and scolding in a style that rivalled, if it did not exceed, their more civilized neighbours under the excitement of similar stimulants. The Whole scene was one which, once witnessed, is not easily to be forgotten; but whether it is part their religious ceremomonies or simple a full moon holiday must be left to those better versed in aboriginal customs. In leaving the place we stumbled on the mia-mia of King Billy. He was sitting in state at one side of a small fire, and in company with the princess his daughter, and his son-in-law. The old man seemed grieved at the revelry and debauch which on all hands surrounded him, and was evidently taking no part in the noisy performance. The princess did not imitate her father's taciturnity, but, at once with all the volubility of a female tongue, proclaimed that the whole district of Ballaarat was at one period the patrimony of her sire. The dogs barked, the savages yelled, and the corroboree was pronounced at an end - all hurried towards their homes - while the blackfellows crowded to the nearest hotels, to spend in rum the, proceeds of the night's pantomime. With the leave of the reader, we shall also withdraw. - Ballaarat Times.
Sydney, NSW, 1857, lecture by James Hugh Palmer
[Advertisement], Empire [Sydney, NSW] (10 August 1857), 1
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64983885
SCHOOL OF ARTS LECTURES.- On TUESDAY EVENING next, August llth,
a LECTURE will be delivered in the Hall of the Institution, by Mr. JAMES H. PALMER, on "The Aborigines of Australia."
"THE ABORIGINES", Empire (14 August 1857), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64986068
On Tuesday evening Mr. J. H. Palmer, the short-hand writer to both Houses of the Legislature, delivered a lecture at the School of Arts, on the Aborigines of Australia. The subject appears to be one in which Mr. Palmer has for many years taken a deep interest, and concerning which he has collected a great mass of information . . .
"THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. LECTURE MR. J. H. PALMER (Concluded from our last)", North Devon Journal [England] (7 January 1858)
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000328/18580107/005/0003 (PAYWALL)
THE FIVE STAGES OF ABORIGINAL LIFE.
In Adelaide district, according to Mr. Moorhouse, there are five stages to be passed through before the ntive attains the rank of a bomba or full-grown man.
The first is from birth to the tenth year, when he is initiated into the second or Wilya kundasti, by being covered with blood, drawn from the arm of an adult;
he is then allowed to carry a whiri for killing birds and a small wooden spade for digging grubs out of the ground.
At from twelve fourteen the third, the performance of a ceremony which has been supposed by some to be of Jewish origin,
but which is also observed by the Americar Indians, and many other uncivilized people.
The fourth stage (Wilyaru) is entered about the age of twenty, when the back, shoulders, arms, and chest are tattooed.
Each tribe has a distinctive mode of making their incisions.
Some have scars running completely across the chest from one axillar to the other, whilst others have merely dotted lines;
some have circles and semi-circles formed on the apex of the shoulders, others small dots only.
The fifth stage is bourka, or full man, and is only attained when the individual is getting grey headed.
The ceremonies vary in different parts of the colony; but in all, the circumstance of a young man attaining his majority is regarded as a matter of great importance,
and his admission to the rights and privileges of manhood is attended with due solemnity.
This grand ceremony of "boombit," as it is called by the blacks on Hunter and Port Stephens, the part of the colony with which I am most familiar,
is performed at a certain period each year, when there are boys in a tribe of sufficient age to be initiated.
Previous to the event coming off, messengers or ambassadors are sent to the neighbouring tribes.
I was present one of these occasions.
A number of the Port Stephens' blacks had assembled at Carrington in expectation of the coming ceremony.
I was standing in front of one of the gunyahs in conversation with Gullabra, Fryingpan Mutton, Billy Tomborgin, Jupiter,
and several other members of the aristocacy who were picking the bones of a paddemalla and an opossum or two, when I observed a strange black coming towards the camp.
I enquired of my friends who he was, when they informed me that the illustrious stranger was no less a personage than an ambassador from the Myall River tribe;
or, as they expressed it, "Myall River black fellow come to bring the news."
When about two hundred yards from the gunyah, he seated himself on the ground and remained for a nearly quarter of an hour making no sign, and saying nothing.
My friends all this time continued in the gunyah, and took no apparent notice of their visitor.
At length he rose, walked up to the gunyah and seated himself behind the party, who still remained silent.
The ambassador was noble fellow, about five feet ten inches high, well proportioned, excepting about the legs, which were rather too wiry for one's ideas of manly beauty;
he had a fine intelligent face, and a sharp piercing eye.
To heighten the effect of his beauty, he had laid on a good coating of red ochre and fat upon his face and body, and round his eves were rings of pipeclay.
His head bandeau, or girdle of opossum fur, was coloured with yellow ochre, and from it were suspended three or four bell flowers of a very rich orange and scarlet.
His hair was drawn up over a roll of grass, and stood out from the back his head for a foot or eighteen inches.
Through the cartilage of his nose a hole hole been bored, and in this he had inserted a bundle of straws,
which extended two or three inches each side of his face like the spritsail-yard on the bows a ship.
His clothes were nature's own, with the exception of the girdle.
After a short time, one of the Carrington blacks threw over his left shoulder to their visitor a portion of a half-roasted opossum,
which he having disposed of, at once proceeded to state the reason of his visit.
This was to tell them that the members of his lodge were about make a new mason, or, to use his own style of speaking, when he interpreted to me,
"that going make him boonibit, and that got him plenty boogory, new fellow song," and to invite them to be present on the occasion.
For the cobawn camp, as it is called, the place of their solemn meetings, a very secluded and unfrequented place is selected generally on the summit of some round topped hill.
Here a space of about thirty feet in diameter is cleared, a circular trench is made, and the circle within weeded, levelled, and smoothed down.
All the neighbouring trees are then carved or tattooed from the root to the topmost branches, each having a different pattern.
At the cobawn camp which I visited, some of the trees were carved with rude representations of men, snakes, lizards, kangaroos, opossums, &c.;
others were marked with zigzag lines, others with lozenge-shaped figures, and one was entirely covered with small round blotches or dots.
To each of these some meaning was attached by those who superintended the work.
Although my guide was unable to give the signification of the greater portion, he said, in reply to my inquiry, "What does that spotted tree mean?"
"You see that all got him small-pox." He cautioned me not to say a word of what I had seen to the black gins, saying,
"Supposing black gin see that place that black fellow always pi (kill) him."
After this place is prepared the women are sent away some distance, and if any one them should happen to witness or hear any portion of the ceremony, she would immediately be put to death.
The boys to be admitted are brought up to the hill, having previously taken leave of their mothers,
a fire is lighted in the centre of the circle, and the solemnities commence.
For several days the boys are kept in a sitting posture, their arms resting on their knees, and their eyes cast on the ground.
A guard is placed over them, whose duty it is to prevent them obtaining any food,
and to administer a gentle tap upon the head of any who venture to raise their eyes and look around them.
It is pretended that the boys neither eat nor drink during the whole period the ceremony, which sometimes lasts a fortnight,
but I have been informed that there is generally an understanding between the mothers and the boys,
and that the former secrete food in some place previously determined upon, and the boys creep away during the night and obtain it.
The first evening is passed in the ordinary corroberee dance, the men who take part in the ceremony are painted, and the boys who are initiated keep time to the music.
On these occasions new songs are frequently introduced.
After a variety of grotesque and ridiculous mummeries and attempts to frighten the boys,
the corajis or doctors take each boy and hold him for some time over the fire,
afterwards with great solemnity he is invested with the opossum belt, and has presented to him the waddy, boomerang, spear, &c.
During this time the men of the tribe are dancing, imitating the actions of the emu, kangaroo, and other animals,
and pretend to hunt them, or engage in a sham fight.
The close of the ceremony is celebrated at mid-day, when the hair of the boys is closely cropped and thrown into the fire;
the men then dance around the fire fast and furious, the boys joining with them, and at length maddened by the excitement of their songs they rush through the flames,
trample upon the burning embers, and entirely extinguish the fire. This closes the boombit . . .
DISPARITY THE SEXES - MARRIAGE.
Being now initiated, the young man has all the rights and privileges of manhood;
among others he has the liberty, by no means the least important, of taking to himself a wife . . .
Thenceforth, the aborigine . . . has his life varied by fights with neighbouring tribes,
quarrels with the men of his own tribe, with the corroboiee dance, occasional feastings, and not unfrequent fastings.
WILD DANCES.
"The dances," says Mr. Eyre, "vary a great deal among the different tribes both as to figures and music.
The painting or decoration of their persons, their use of weapons, and the participation of the females in them.
Throughout the entire continent, as far as it is known, there are many points of resemblance in the dances all the aborigines -
such as the practice of painting the body with white and red ochre, carrying boughs in their hand, or tying them around their limbs,
adorning the head with feathers or down, being bunches of feathers tied in tufts in their hands,
the women singing and beating time upon folded skins, the men beating time upon sticks or some of their smaller weapons,
an old man acting as leader the band, and giving the time and tune to the others.
Their dances representing the actions of animals, the circumstances of the chase, of war, or of love,
and the singular and extraordinary quivering motion of the thighs when the legs are distended -
a peculiarity probably confined to the continent of Australia."
In their corroboree dance the men frequently introduce a sort of dramatic representation,
in some of which the peculiarities of white neighbours are humourously hit off.
I was present some years since at a grand corroboree at Port Stephens.
A short time previously a black had been shot by a party soldiers, and the stage manager had got up a pretty little ballet founded upon the event.
The foot-lamps having been turned on, a party of men neatly attired in pipeclay, and armed with long stakes,
marched across the stage, and hid themselves behind a clump of bushes;
presently two three aborigines, differently painted, entered, looked cautiously around, examined the ground,
and were about to retreat when the first named party rushed from their ambush, presented their sticks, imitated the child [sic] and report of guns;
one of the blacks fell down, rolled over and over in the agonies of death, reminding me very strongly of Keeley, as Flute the Bellows mender,
in "the most lameatable comedy and death of Pyramus and Thisbie;" while the soldiers, as they were supposed to be,
from time to time gave him a by no means gentle "prod" with the end of their sticks.
Presently the dead black jumped up, joined the others and commenced with them their dance,
which was of a most violent kind, consisting of simultanrous leapings into the air,
stretching out of the arms, clapping and quivering of the thighs, the eyes rolling all the while most frightfully.
The women, seated on the ground around the fires, which by the [???] light of their flickering,
added to the demonical character of the scene, beat time to the song by striking together two stones.
SONGS OF THE ABORIGINES.
These songs are composed of some half-dozen or more words the meaning of which is often unknown to the people who sing them.
The words are repeated over and over again, varied only by the modulation of the voice,
and at the close of each sentence the men give a simultaneous grunt (huh), and stamp on the ground with a force almost incredible.
The following is a specimen of South Australian song, a great favourite.
It is called Kalitkiko palti, or Captain Jack's song.
"Pindi' mai birki, birka, parrato parrato " -
the European food, the peas, I wished to eat, I wished to eat.
At Port Stephens, during my residence there, the following was in great vogue: -
Moocha marra mea marra mukka ngarra tea a ring race.
Of this song I could obtain no translation. The only reply I could get to my question, "What does it mean?" was,
"Baal I know; that boogery fellow song belonging to blackfellow more finder Myall River" . . .
"ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA", Empire (23 August 1861), 5
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60483421
1858
"Aborigines of Australia. THE MUSES - POETRY", The Band of Hope Journal and Australian Home Companion (5 June 1858), 179
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72485306
"GORDON QUARTZ MINES (From our own Correspondent) 22nd July, 1858", The Star [Ballarat, VIC] (26 July 1858), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66049371
The Mount Emu tribe of aborigines has visited us this week in considerable numbers; they have promised us a grand corrobaree, but as yet sundry nobblers have interposed in the way of this amusement.
Aboriginal man with flute, Poonindie, SA. c. 1858; photograph; Papers of Mathew Blagden Hale, Library, University of Bristol, DM130/241 (reproduced in Lydon and Braithwaite 2013)
https://archives.bristol.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DM130%2f231-244
See also "Portrait of Samuel Kandwillan, a pupil of the natives' training institution, Poonindie, South Australia" (by J. M. Crossland)
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134102700 (DIGITISED)
ASSOCIATIONS: John Michael Crossland (painter); Mathew Blagden Hale (Anglican cleric)
"POONINDIE MISSION", South Australian Register [Adelaide, SA] (28 September 1858), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49782139
September 18, 1858.
Having just returned from Port Lincoln and the Mission Station at Poonindie, where I have been spending a week,
I thought you might like to hear what impression has been made on my mind, arising out of personal observation of the natives at the station.
Mr. Hammond having met Mrs. H. and myself at Port Lincoln, escorted us to Poonindie . . .
I was particularly struck with the earnest, simple, and reverent manner of the natives during worship.
My old friends Konwillan and Tolbonco (of St. John's Sunday-school) knew me at once, and appeared glad to see me.
They always lead the hymns with their flutes; both of these young men read and conduct the services of our church by turns on Sunday morning,
when Mr. Hammond is absent celebrating divine service at St. Thomas's, Port Lincoln.
Most of the natives have a good ear for music, their time is correct, and they join most heartily in the responses as well as in the singing.
It is most edifying to join in worship of the Almighty with these dark children of the soil . . .
I remain, with respect, My dear Lord Bishop,
Your faithful servant, G. W. HAWKES.
ASSOCIATIONS: Augustus Short (Anglican bishop of Adelaide); George Wright Hawkes (correspondent); Octavius Hammond (cleric); Samuel Conwillan (also Konwillan); David Tolbonco (Tolbonko); see also "THE NATIVE MISSION AT PORT LINCOLN", Adelaide Observer (19 March 1853), 3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158093212
Port Lincoln, February 14, 1853.
My dear Hawkins - Having long been desirous of visiting the Native Mission at Poonendie, under Archdeacon Hale,
to ascertain its progress, and report to the Society upon the degree of success with which his disinterested efforts have been blessed,
I gladly availed myself of a favourable opportunity, and . . . reached the settlement on Thursday, February 3rd . . .
We held regular evening service at sundown; and after the second lesson I baptized Thomas Nytchie, James Naroring,
Samuel Conwillan, Joseph Mudloug, David Tolbonko, John Wangaru, Daniel Toodko, Matthew Kowrie, Timothy Tartan, Isaac Petpowie, and Martha Tanda, wife of Conwillan . . .
I remain, yours truly, AUGUSTUS ADELAIDE.
"PARLIAMENTARY PAPER. PORT LINCOLN MISSION", The South Australian Advertiser (20 December 1858), 2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article786758
Extracts from letters by Rev. E. K. Miller, and G. W. Hawkes, Esq., in reference to the Native Training Institution at Port Lincoln . . .
Mr. Miller then relates the system adopted for the religions culture of the natives. Prayers are read every morning at 7 o'clock;
there is no compulsion to attend, although from 20 to 25 persons voluntarily attend on an average . . .
The young acquire the knowledge of reading and writing more readily than their seniors, but the latter excel in music.
Morning and evening prayers are generally opened with a hymn, the blacks leading the singing by two or the flutes.
They can play accurately, and read music at sight . . . [also extracts from Hawkes's letter as above]
Bibliography and resources:
Mathew Blagden Hale papers; at Australian Joint Copying Project
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1126156312 (DIGITISED)
Mathew Blagden Hale, The Aborigines of Australia, being an account of the institution for their education at Poonindie, in South Australia, founded in 1850 by the ven. Archdeacon Hale, a missionary of the S.P.G. (London: S.P.C.K., 1889), 85-87, 91 (see also 92 on later music)
https://archive.org/details/aboriginesofaust00hale/page/86/mode/2up (DIGITISED)
[85] Appendix A. A VISIT TO POONINDIE.
The following is an extract from a letter written to Archdeacon Hale by a gentleman, long resident in the Colony of New South Wales,
who, early in the year 1856, visited the Natives' Training Institution at Poonindie, Port Lincoln:
". . . I think you had sixty inmates when I visited your institution . . . [86]
My feelings are not readily to be described when, as your guest, I heard the matins bell summoning the village to early worship;
and, obeying its call, I found your chapel benches filled by civilized and baptized natives, who were repeating in my own tongue the responses of my own Church,
and listening reverentially to the portion of the Scripture she dispenses to them daily,
and observing a demeanour which would put many of those white men to shame, who, when they enter a church, are there ashamed to kneel.
Not only by outward posture, but with heartfelt earnestness, did these men reverence the sanctuary.
I heard the tone of their repetition, of the Confession.
I heard the voice of their psalmody and thanksgivings in the accents of our own Church music, accompanied by their flutes, and I acknowledged that they were there my teachers.
Here, then, was the further proof that these difficult and blind tribes can be brought to the light of faith, and can evidence it by their lives . . .
Appendix B. CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSION TO THE ABORIGINES.
The following narrative of Mr. Goodwin's was read at the annual meeting of the members and friends of this Mission on the 19th Jan., 1860:
"I arrived at Port Lincoln (by the steamer Marion) on Sunday afternoon, November 27 [1859] . . . [87] . . .
We arrived at Poonindie at 6 o'oclock p.m. ; at 7 the bell was rung for evening service, when all the adult native population and other residents assembled in the schoolroom,
forming a congregation of about 35 to 40 persons.
The Rev. O. Hammond read service, the whole congregation joining in the responses, in a devout and intelligent manner, confessing that they had ' done
those things which they ought not to have done, and left undone those things which they ought to have done :
reading in an audible yet subdued voice the alternate verses of the Psalms, the "Magnificat" and "Deus Misereatur;"
professing their belief in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
and uniting in singing the praises of our Lord and Saviour - the singing being led by two men (aborigines) playing on flutes from written music before them,
in a manner highly creditable to themselves, and most pleasing to hear.
The hymn sung was "Lo! He comes in clouds descending."
Mr. Hammond, in a simple and impressive manner, addressed them on the subject of Our Lord's second coming,
and the service concluded by singing the hymn, "Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing."
I never saw a more quiet, orderly and attentive congregation . . .
https://archive.org/details/aboriginesofaust00hale/page/91/mode/2up (DIGITISED)
[91] Appendix C.
The following account of the Poonindie Native Settlement, South Australia, is from The Melbourne Missionary:
". . . There is an educational establishment, where some of the pupils can show creditable specimens of penmanship, &c.
Singing classes for practising sacred music are held in the church. Everybody looked fat, happy and clean . . .
ASSOCIATIONS: Mathew Blagden Hale (Anglican cleric)
Jane Lyndon and Sari Braithwaite, "'Cheque shirts and plaid trowsers': photographing Poonindie Mission, South Australia", Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia (special edition Aboriginal missions) 37 (December 2013), 1-30
Melbourne, VIC, Legislative Council, November 1859
Report of the select committee of the Legislative Counti on the Aborigines (Melbourne: John Ferres, 1859)
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19455067
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936 (DIGITISED)
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55277160#page/n11/mode/1up/search/Corroboree (DIGITISED)
MONDAY, 1ST NOVEMBER, 1858 . . . William Thomas, Esq., examined . . .
[4] . . .63. Did you not know of a murder in Melbourne, about 1840, when several tribes were congregated here? -
Yes; one man speared another in a corroboree. In that case that young man's father had killed the other man's father . . .
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55277742#page/n16/mode/1up/search/Corroboree (DIGITISED)
TUESDAY, 9TH NOVEMBER, 1858 . . . William Hull, Esq., J. P., examined . . .
[9] . . . 184. By Mr. Urquhart. - Do you think that the blacks do not believe in dying from natural causes? -
I am confident they do not, so far as the authorities I can quote, Billy Hamilton, Billy Lonsdale, and a man Robert Yang Yang Cunningham,
who was a very superior man indeed and a highly intellectual man, and spoke English fluently.
In consequence of my not bringing Derimot to justice for spearing at me they had great confidence in me.
That was at a corroboree somewhere near where the new military barracks are now building, and his people flew upon him and threw him down upon the earth, and I walked off and escaped with my life.
They knew that I was a magistrate and expected that I should bring him up, but I did not do so, because it was my own fault;
I did not know that he was the chief of the tribe and the head of the corroboree that was going on, and he was drunk,
and I called him a drunken fellow, and he immediately took up a bundle of spears, one of which he threw at me, and it went into a tree close to me.
My not taking any steps against him caused them to have great confidence in me, and they used to come to my store at the corner of Little Flinders-street by the Queen’s Head public house,
and look at me and say, "Good fellow you," and I found that I had their confidence.
Yang Yang became very confident and I could get almost anything out of him, but always with a strict injunction to secrecy;
in particular, I was not to let his uncle, Mr. Murray, know anything he told me.
By that means I attained a knowledge of their superstitions, and their traditions, and their astronomical notions.
My idea, in the book which [? never] I had time unfortunately to publish on the subject, goes to attempt to trace these people up to the ancient heathen nations of the highest antiquity,
and in that I am borne out by Mr. Miles, the late police magistrate of Sydney, a very clever, though eccentric man, who has devoted great attention to this subject, and by Dr. Leichardt, with whom I corresponded:
for instance, the worship of the pleiades. Their great corroborees are only held in the spring, when the pleiades are generally most distinct,
and their corroboree is a worship of the pleiades, as a constellation which announces spring.
Their monthly corroboree is of the moon. The whole of the ceremonies and the custom of the lubras doing up of the opossum rug and beating -
it, is precisely that of the Greeks and of the ancient nations, which observances the Israelites were warned to avoid.
You may notice the frantic gestures of the men. I have observed them, not as many do just to look at the dance,
but I have observed them with somewhat of a philosophic mind.
The last corroboree I ever saw was on the old punt bridge, which was one I got up myself for a friend from London.
I got fifteen or twenty men there and then particularly noticed that, after so many genuflexions, they looked at the moon and bowed, clasping their hands . . .
[10] . . . 191. By Mr. Patterson . . . I saw, in the year 1842, a procession of twenty or thirty blacks walking the boundaries of this town,
and I walked with them up Bourke-street from about the junction of what is now Swanston-street, to where the Government offices now are, until I got tired of walking with them.
They were evidently bewailing the occupation of this place by the white man. They were singing low and plaintive songs.
Referring again to the subject of their corroberees, and their worship of the stars, I may mention that one night I showed Robert Cunningham the pleiades,
and he said they were the children of the moon moon-moondick, and very good to black fellows.
The name of the moon with our tribe here is Meniyan; and it is a very remarkable thing,
that in the early periods of the world the earliest children of Noah were called the children of the moon, and called Minoei or Minye . . .
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55282135#page/n50/mode/1up (DIGITISED)
[44] . . . Sergeant Archibald. -I think they would not be induced to settle upon land under any circumstances, and that they would not be likely to be reclaimed to fixed habits.
Mr. Strutt. - No, but they might be compelled; the younger aborigines would thus acquire more civilized and fixed habits.
Under the firm rule of a kindly disposed family, they might gradually be taught every ordinary description of labor.
The hours of work should, however, be short; and due regard should be paid to their fondness for amusement, by permitting music, dancing, and corroberees in the evenings.
But I believe that no system will answer, without a certain amount of compulsion at first.
The aborigines would freely remain a long time in any place where they had nothing to do, were well fed, and supplied with tobacco and drink; but such treatment could not be deemed conducive to their improvement . . .
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55282135#page/n55/mode/1up (DIGITISED)
[49] LANGUAGE. 13. . . .
Mr. Rusden . . . The use of the dual number is well known to be an attribute of the Australian languages.
The songs in use amongst the natives are usually composed of two or three short sentences, repeated over and over with the necessary cadences and elevation of the voice so as to conform to the air.
Much difficulty is felt by persons who question the blacks about their songs, and the blacks are set down as extremely stupid sometimes, because they cannot explain the meaning of the words of songs.
The fact is, that a popular song is carried from tribe to tribe, until it is soon transported far beyond the range of the dialect in which it was composed.
It is then sung merely by rote, and not a word of it is understood by the singer.
I once traced a song which X knew to have been composed at a particular time near Port Stephens,
and found that in the course of about three years it had been brought down through Bathurst, Vass, the Murrumbidgee, and the Murray, to Melbourne.
At Bathurst hardly a word would convey any meaning to the tribe residing there (and that meaning only, because probably a Bathurst black may have mixed with members of the tribes frequenting the Hunter);
at the Murrumbidgee not one word could possibly be intelligible to the singer;
but no sooner did the song reach the confines of each tribe (by means of corrobberees, &c.) than each man, woman, and child committed it to memory and hummed the air on all occasions . . .
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55283015#page/n56/mode/1up (DIGITISED)
[50] . . . 15. Endeavor to take down some piece of native composition, such as the ordinary phrases employed in conversation,
and any other piece of prose which may he attainable; and specimens of metrical composition, if such exist.
Though these would be of comparatively little use without translation, yet independently of this, some importance is to he attached to the metrical compositions if they have a national character and are widely diffused;
and in this case, it might he possible to express some of their airs in musical characters? . . .
Mr. Strutt. - No piece of native composition can at present be procured.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55283015#page/n58/mode/1up (DIGITISED)
[52] . . . 23. Is there anything remarkable amongst the sports and amusements of children, or in their infantile songs or tales?
Mr. Shuter, - Not to my knowledge.
Mr. Wilson. - Throwing the spear and boomerang, and practising sham fights, singing, and the corrobery.
Mr, Skene, - No.
Mr. Beveridge. - The sports of the children are just the every day occupations of their parents in miniature.
Mr. J. M. Allan. - Nothing remarkable.
Mr. Lewis. - The children amuse themselves by throwing small spears, by throwing bomarangs, playing with hand balls and skipping-ropes. They are expert swimmers; and, in hot weather, are frequently in the water.
Mr. Thomas. - Their sports and amusements all tend to prepare them for the bush and chase.
They are very quick at sound and motion, and will go accurately through a new dance or song seen but once or twice.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55283015#page/n63/mode/1up (DIGITISED)
[56] . . . 39. Describe the kinds of dress . . .
[56] . . . Mr. Hull. - The adoption of European clothes is a sign of degradation. There are special dresses and modes of ornament for great occasions, such as corroborees, &c.
They daub clay on their foreheads . . .
Mr. Wilson. . . . The males wore a necklace formed of small pieces of reed strung like beads, and a girdle round the loins, having a tassel in front, of strips of skins.
This was always worn at the corroberry; and on these occasions they were fancifully painted with white chalk or clay . . .
Mr. Thomas . . . When females dance in a corroberree, (which is rare and only to please a chief or some great one of another tribe),
they wear (after being rubbed over with emu oil and red ochre), a fine apron made of emu feathers.
They dance perfectly naked, save the apron, which goes all round the waist. The motion and sound of the leader is maintained in a wonderful manner by the flapping of the female breasts,
which are much larger and more flabby than white females . . .
40. Have the people any prevailing characteristic or remarkable modes of amusement, such as dances and games exhibiting agility, strength, or skill?
[57] Mr. Shuter. - At a corroboree they paint their faces and bodies, and dance. They are also very skilful at throwing the boomerang and the spear.
Mr. Murray. - Their only amusement or game is the corroberee, or war-dance.
Mr. Wilson. - The corroberry, throwing the spear and the boomerang, and feasting with the Nulla Nulla.
Mr. Fisken. - They dance a corroberee religiously, martially, and for amusement.
Mr. Aitken. - Their principal amusements are dancing a corroberee and singing.
Mr. Skene. - A dance they call "corrobra."
Mr. Beveridge. - They excel in wrestling. Oftentimes 150 or 200 will come together for that purpose. Their dances are just so many grotesque jumps, and not worthy the name dances.
Mr. Strutt. - The corroboree, a kind of native dance, of various feats of agility. There are several varieties of the corroboree, but they are all performed at evening, by their camp fires.
The men are the active performers, painted and decorated with white, or white and red.
The women beat time with sticks, or on their opossum rugs tightly folded, and accompany the time with a song in chorus.
Mr. J. M. Allan. - Yes.
Mr. Godfrey. - Their corroboree, which is a war or love dance, as the case may be; throwing the boomerang, whit-whit, &c., are practised by them.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55283015#page/n75/mode/1up (DIGITISED)
[69] . . . Mr. Thomas . . . They have particular songs for sacred and traditional dances; have traditions of the creation, cause of wind, and other things . . .
. . . Mr. Rusden . . . I may mention that, in the ceremonial by which youths are inducted into manhood - in the respect for the secrecy attached to that ceremonial, - in the songs sung and the implements used thereat, I have found a remarkable similarity pervading the customs of all the blacks with whom I have conversed on the Australian continent, at Moreton Bay in the north, and at the Goulburn River in Victoria, no less than at the Murrumhidgee. Without doubt these customs are remnants of religious observances, and they are rigidly adhered to . . .
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55283015#page/n80/mode/1up (DIGITISED)
[Communication received from] Marcus Sievewright, Esq., Melbourne . . . from recollections made in accompanying the late Captain C. W. Sievwright,
who received an appointment as Assistant Protector of Aborigines during the years commencing January, 1839, to March, 1843.
- MARCUS SIEVWRIGHT, 89, Swanston-street, 10th January, 1859 . . .
[74] . . . 40. The writer was a spectator about eighteen or nineteen years ago of a variety of athletic sports, games, and dances among the Melbourne, Geelong, Colac, Lakes Kilambeet and Tarang tribes,
in the Portland districts, as well as at Mount Kolor, near the Grampians.
At Kilambeet the younger men would engage in the morning in wrestling matches, and at night on the occasion of tribes meeting, would have a dance called a corrobboree,
in which men (and some boys) would dance to a song sung by a leader near a large blazing fire, with about six to twelve women beating time on their rugs rolled or wrapt up very tight.
The women also have a dance among themselves, exhibiting themselves quite naked, with the exception of their fringe all round the loins made of grass or threads taken out of European rugs,
and descending about half way to the knees; but the female dances were seldom indulged in . . .
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-55275936/view?partId=nla.obj-55288381#page/n111/mode/1up/search/Corroborree (DIGITISED)
APPENDIX F: EXTRACTS OF AN EXCURSION TO WESTERN PORT. (FROM "BUNCE'S WANDERINGS IN THE AUSTRALIAS.") . . .
[104] . . . On evening we took three wombats, and next day the natives held a banquet, preceded as a matter of course, by a grand corroborree . . .
When the natives hold a corroborree, a festival in which dancing forms the chief element,
those who do not join in the dance beat time with the sounding-stick, while they sing continually, "Yah-yabba, yah-yabba, yah" . . .
See also H. Ling Roth, Aborigines of Tasmania (Halifax: F. King & Sons, 1899) , 54
https://archive.org/details/aboriginestasma00tylogoog/page/n96/mode/2up (DIGITISED)
Bonwick in referring to the moon is thinking of Hull's statement on the Victorian aborigines who appear to have had a monthly corroboree in honour of the moon (Rep. Aborigines Committee, Legislative Council, Melbourne, 1858-9, p. 9). Lyne informed J. B. Walker that he once saw (at a considerable distance) a corroboree of blacks at full moon; he thought that it was a sort of superstitious worship of the moon. He gave no reason for his so thinking. The natives were greatly afraid of the dark, and would naturally choose bright moonlight for a dance. (See Dances.)
1859
1860
By end of 1860 (observations)
Lower Murray region, VIC
Peter Beveridge, "A few notes on the dialects, habits, customs, and mythology of the Lower Murray Aborigines [Read 9th September, 1861]", Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 6 (1861-64, published 1865), (14-24), 18
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/105621#page/125/mode/1up
They have great gatherings during the summer for wrestling (in which exercise they excel), and corroberee dances, to both of which they are very partial. The dances and songs are generally of a lewd nature, the latter consisting of two or three lines continuously repeated to a tune, the time of which they keep admirably; the former is only a series of grotesque hops and lewd postures, all however in excellent time.
Context:
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/105621#page/122/mode/1up
[14] The Aborigines herein described inhabit the valley of the Murray Eiver from Lake Boga to the Moornpal Lakes inclusive. They are divided into seven tribes, each tribe having a distinct name, and very nearly a distinct dialect. They are named as follows: - Boora Boora, Watty Watty, Waiky Waiky, Litchy Litchy, Yairy Yairy, and Darty Darty. Each name is the negative of the dialect spoken by the respective tribes.
These tribes average about fifty-five in number, old and young; the males preponderate very considerably. The only apparent reason for this excess is because of the great numbers of women who die from their husband's ill-usage, and from diseases, the consequence of their own profligacy. There are very few of either sex under the age of fifteen, and the preponderance of those under that age are by European fathers.
The mortality amongst them during the last fifteen years has been very great indeed. The diseases to which they have chiefly fallen victims, have been of a pulmonary or venereal nature, or a combination of both. They also suffer very much from scurvy during the winter months, when food is scarce, and the blood becomes impoverished by poor diet . . .
Peter Beveridge, "Of the Aborigines inhabiting the Great Lacustrine and Riverine Depression of the Lower Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee, Lower Lachlan, and Lower Darling [Read before the Royal Society of N.S.W., 6 June, 1883]", Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 17 (1883), (19-74)
https://archive.org/stream/jourprocroysocsw27walerich#page/n71/mode/2up
The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina, as seen by Peter Beveridge (Melbourne: M. L. Hutchinson, 1889), 3
. . . Here, however, everything has been learned at first-hand, and is the result of the Author's personal observation. For a period of twenty-three years - from 1845 to 1868 - he enjoyed the very best opportunities of making himself acquainted with the manners and the customs of those numerous tribes that then occupied the Lower Murray and Riverina Districts - and that too at a time when the Natives had been but little influenced by contact with European Settlers . . .
[On their songs - tchowies - and corrobories], 129 ff.
John Graham, Lawrence Struilby: or, Observations and experiences during twenty-five years of bush-life in Australia (London: The Book Society, [1863]), 125-26
https://archive.org/details/lawrencestruilby00grahiala/page/125
Further sources
James Tobias Ryan, Reminiscences of Australia (Sydney: George Robertson, 1895), 106-07
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hnlbfu&view=1up&seq=120 (DIGITISED)
[106] THE ABORIGINALS - 1825-1835. The aboriginals, in the County of Cumberland, were composed of many tribes, who frequently met in warfare, when they would leave the old men, women and children in the camp and only the able-bodied men would proceed to war . . . [107] . . . Some of them when young were active and able men, and wonderfully agile in hunting their game, the kangaroo or emu . . . Their corroborees were very interesting, especially the war dance . . .
Thomas Francis Bride (ed.), Letters from Victorian pioneers, being a series of papers on the early occupation of the colony, the aborigines, etc. . . . (Melbourne: For the trustees of the Public Library, 1898 [97])
https://archive.org/stream/lettersfromvicto00publiala
Letters mostly dated from 1853 or earlier:
William Thomas, Brief account of the Aborigines of Australia Felix; MS;
Eyre 1845, volume 2, 241-42
https://archive.org/stream/journalsofexpedi02eyre#page/241/mode/2up
Already have the Teichelmann songs filed above at 13 June 1840, and Meyer songs, above
Thomas Francis Bride (ed.), Letters from Victorian pioneers, being a series of papers on the early occupation of the colony, the aborigines, etc. . . . (Melbourne: For the trustees of the Public Library, 1898 [97])
https://archive.org/stream/lettersfromvicto00publiala
Peeps into the past: reminiscences of the blacks; pioneering days on the Manning; men and women who "blazed the track" and prepared the way for present day prosperity, from information collected from various people by F. A. Fitzpatrick (Parramatta: Cumberland Argus Ltd., 1914)
https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/252522963 (DIGITISED)
Aldo Massola, "Bibliography of printed literature upon Victoria Aborigines", Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria (18 December 1959), 103 ff.
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/media/5609/jmmv19592410.pdf
Journal, 1832-1839, and Journal, 1840-1841 [microform] / Joseph Orton.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/251722785
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/235988367
Extracts from Kulin and Kurnai
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=FB9iCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA33
Robinson, Victorian diaries, ed. Clark
Meyer, Vocabulary, 1843
https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/26862965
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=30TXRfk_K08C
1 song also in Eyre 1845 below
James Erskine Calder - Aborigines of Tasmania, 1821-1877; State Library of New South Wales, A 597
https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/209662565
http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110321098 (DIGITISED)
Published version:
Some account of the wars, extirpation, habits, &c., of the native tribes of Tasmania by J. E. Calder (Hobart Town: Henn and Co., printers, 1875)
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18375740
https://archive.org/details/someaccountofwar00caldrich
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006103855
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=BbwLAQAAIAAJ
Also:
James Erskine Calder
Language and dialects spoken by the Aborigines of Tasmania: compiled from official and other vocabularies and arranged for comparison by J. E. Calder ([Hobart]:Government Printer, 1901)
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19393417
Calder papers; copy of a letter by James Erskine Calder '\"upon the existence of natives in unexplored parts of Tasmania in 1847"; University of Tasmania
https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/200500864
(DIGITISED) (UNI-TAS)
Henry James Emmett, Reminiscences of the black war in Tasmania (MS, c. 1870); National Library of Australia, MS 3311
https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/11523159
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-548304735
[1831 - When the Big River and Oyster Bay tribes came in] "the band of the 63 reg regaled the tribes on the lawns of Government House"
Journal including; Extracts from despatches respecting Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land, notes on the language of the Aborigines, Notes on the history of Australian and Van Diemen's Land, Sermons and an oration by Reverend T. Sanders; State Library of New South Wales, MLMSS 214/Box 01/Item 3
http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110461066
[T. H. Braim/Jorgen Jorgenson] Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land, 1830-1840; State Library of New South Wales, A 614
https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/209662654
http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110363193 (DIGITISED & TRANSCRIPT)
William Sykes - letter sent to the Mitchell Library, 16 Nov. 1983, concerning a manuscript attributed to Archdeacon T. H. Braim, probably written by Jorgen Jorgenson; State Library of New South Wales, MLMSS 6841
http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110313049
N. J. B. Plomley, Jorgen Jorgenson and the Aborigines of Van Diemens Land : being a reconstruction of his lost book on their customs and habits, and on his role in the Roving Parties and the Black Line (Hobart : Blubber Head Press, 1991)
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7307842
Lecture on the Aborigines of Tasmania by Hugh M. Hull (Hobart Town: Mercury Steam Press Office, 1870)
https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/42482148
Suttor 1887, Australian stories retold and sketches of country life
https://archive.org/details/australianstorie00suttiala
. . . hunting-song . . .
Roth 1890, The Aborigines of Tasmania, "MUSIC", 147-50
https://archive.org/stream/aboriginestasma00garsgoog#page/n200/mode/2up
Roth 1899, The Aborigines of Tasmania (2nd edition), "MUSIC", 134-37
https://archive.org/stream/b24885642#page/134/mode/2up
https://archive.org/stream/aboriginestasma00tylogoog#page/n182/mode/2up
© Graeme Skinner 2014 - 2024