The Australian aboriginal

by Herbert Basedow

PREFACE

For some years past it had been my intention to write a progressive series of treatises on the Australian aboriginal, embodying observations as they were being made. As time wore on, however, my procrastination amassed so great a fund and so great a variety of notes that my original plan became impossible. The delay was not altogether through any fault of mine, but through a run of fortunate happenings which allowed me to spend the better part of every year in the great unbounded spaces of central and northern Australia, to live among the uncontaminated tribes, and to study Australian anthropology at the fountain head. It was through my repeated and prolonged absences from the city (and civilization in general) that I could not attend to the publication of any lengthy scientific papers.

Apart from my private and professional journeys, the following are some of the better known expeditions I have accompanied or led:

The Government North-West Expedition,

Government Expedition of Geological Exploration in the Northern Territory,

Cruise of the s.s. “White Star” under His Excellency Sir George Le Hunte, Governor of South Australia,

Mineralogical Survey of the Flinders Ranges,

Sir Joseph Verco’s Deep Sea Dredging Expeditions,

Exploration of Melville and Bathurst Islands,

Expedition in Search of Munition Minerals in the Northern Kimberleys of Western Australia, officially subsidized by the Premier (Hon. John Scaddan, M.P.),

Expedition in Search of Munition Minerals in Central Australia,

Three South Australian Medical Relief Expeditions among the Aborigines,

Expedition in Search of Reported Remains of Leichhardt, under auspices of S.A. Geographical Society,

Commonwealth Medical Survey of Aborigines in the Northern Territory,

Mararoa Geological Expedition from Darwin to Northern Kimberleys,

Viceregal Expedition to Central Australia, under His Excellency, Sir Tom Bridges, Governor of South Australia,

Commonwealth Railways Commissioner’s Journey from Mildura to Port Augusta, under Hon. P. G. Stewart and N. G. Bell, Esq.,

Expedition through the Interior of Australia, under His Excellency, the Earl of Stradbroke, Governor of Victoria.

During the terms that I held official positions, firstly as a State Geologist, and secondly as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Protector of Aborigines for the Commonwealth Government in the Northern Territory, opportunities were afforded me of continuing my investigations among the indigenous population of Australia; especially fruitful were my researches when, as a Special Aborigines’ Commissioner, I medically overhauled the tribes of South Australia and of the southern region of the Northern Territory.

In a more private capacity the southern districts and goldfields of Western Australia, the coastal and south-western districts of Queensland, and the north-western areas of New South Wales were traversed. Quite recently, too, a professional excursion to Java considerably enriched my knowledge of Melanesian ethnography and helped to explain the existence of several cults in the northern districts of Australia which border on the Indian Ocean.

On the other hand, not long before the war I continued study abroad and was privileged to be associated with the late Professor Hermann Klaatsch, under whose admirable guidance my researches were conducted in the Anatomical School of the University of Breslau. It will be apparent, therefore, why many of the results enumerated in the chapters dealing with the racial characteristics of the Australian aboriginal are based upon the doctrines of this eminent authority. In London Sir Arthur Keith courteously placed the whole of the valuable collections of Australian skulls and skeletons in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons at my disposal; while Captain T. A. Joyce, in an equally generous way, facilitated my investigations in the anthropological galleries of the British Museum; I am taking advantage of this opportunity of expressing my sincere gratitude to these two gentlemen. I also desire to thank the Directors of the National and University Museums which I visited in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland, who so willingly responded to my enquiries and brought me into personal contact with any matters I was especially interested in.

While engaged upon one of my later commissions in central Australia, my duties took me to the Hermannsburg Mission Station on the Finke River, where for a fortnight I enjoyed the companionship of the Rev. Carl Strehlow and received every assistance in my researches among the western groups of the Arunndta tribe. Through the recent pathetic and heroic death of Strehlow, Science has lost an indefatigable and conscientious worker, and the aborigines a staunch and faithful friend.

In the present volume I have endeavoured to sift my subject matter in such a way as to keep the text in a suitable sequence and to make it of general interest. The principal difficulty has been to delete matter in order to keep down the bulk of the book. The latter remark applies equally well to the selection of illustrations; it was with a heavy heart that I found myself obliged to reduce the number of plates, all of which illustrated interesting points referred to in the text. Nevertheless, I feel that I am greatly indebted to the publisher, Mr. F. W. Preece, for allowing me to include so many more illustrations than he had originally counted upon.

Now that the manuscript is in the hands of the printer, I feel that there are several chapters I should like to have done more justice to; those, for instance, dealing with tribal organizations, initiation ceremonies, religious ideas, and art might have been considerably expanded if it had not been for the want of space. In those on religious ideas and art, I realize that I am launching in new directions so far as Australian anthropology is concerned, but I trust that the evidence which I have produced will be sufficient to prove that I did not arrive at the results too hastily, or, indeed, without deliberation and substantiation. Phallic worship had long been suspected in Australia, and some of our foremost authorities, such as the late R. Etheridge, Jun., were inclined to explain the occurrence of certain stones and other objects in the tribal areas of Australia (present or past) on that hypothesis. I came upon the evidence accidentally in 1916 in the form of a stone phallus erected in the ground at Success Strait in the far north-western corner of Australia. The stone was surrounded by a cleared cirque where much blood had been spilt at a recent ceremony. A few weeks later I for the first time witnessed an actual performance on the shores of Cambridge Gulf at which wooden phallus were produced. Since then I have been able to trace the existence of phallic worship of some form or other in several districts of central and northern Australia, an outline of which appears in a subsequent chapter. I trust that the facts I have been able to collect may help to illumine the somewhat doubtful question of how an aboriginal looks upon the process of procreation. Phallicism is closely related to such forms of Nature worship as are practised in order to make any species of animal or plant proliferate, or, for that matter, to bring down a shower of rain in times of drought. The phallus might gradually merge into a tjuringa. The painted “Ngadanji” and “Ilbarinam” tjuringas of the Arunndta tribe are regarded as images of the reproductive organ of a spirit which can generate life; in that sense they might be classed as phallus. I find that ancestor worship is generally indulged in; it is difficult at times to distinguish between an original spirit ancestor and a deity, but a Supreme Spirit or Deity is believed to exist and to rule over all creation.

With regard to totemism, I have shown the beliefs in a manner slightly different from those hitherto recorded. The mystical relationship between individual and object is traced to a mythical semi-human forerunner which was common to both and is now a spirit. The Arunndta call the spirit “Knaninja.” The animal or plant relative of an individual is what has been commonly called the “totem” in Australian ethnology, while the symbolic representation of this object, which becomes the crest of the individual, corresponds to the “kobong” first described by Sir George Grey. Emblematic representations of both the “totemic” object and of the Knaninja are embodied in the tjuringa of the individual.

The essay on art, it will be observed, has been written on evolutional lines with respect to both technique and design. It will be understood that the material upon which the conclusions are based was collected in many parts of Australia and during many years of travel. The cults in question are in many cases distributed all over the continent, but occasionally are quite local. As an instance of the latter kind, I mention the famous drawings recorded by Sir George Grey, some of which I was fortunate in being able to locate and study on the Glenelg River in the far north-west. I might mention that, with very few exceptions, the designs appearing in the book as text figures are actual tracings reduced by photography to a size in keeping with the dimensions of the page. There is no doubt that primitive art in Australia is a fascinating study which has not received the attention it merits; and unfortunately it is rather late in the day to think of making a start. The system of conventionalism derived from the numerous pictographs and carvings is the basis of all characters and messages one finds on sticks, stones, and persons; it is the only key to an understanding of sacred tjuringa symbols. We have for too long looked upon aboriginal designs as meaningless, and upon aboriginal art production as being idle concoctions out of nothing which were invented just to make a thing “look pretty.” This is anything but the true position. An aboriginal artist knows no such thing as a design without motive or origin; to him the shortest line or the smallest circle conveys a thought. In the chapter dealing with stone implements, I have, among other things, described a new type of scraper which was used by the now extinct Adelaide tribe for trimming skins of animals.

The article on language is not intended to be at all comprehensive; my main object was to give a general idea of the construction, together with a few examples of the idiomatic uses, of the aboriginal tongue. I hope at a later date to be able to present a complete account of the Arunndta and Aluridja dialects, including the syntactical rules and grammatical forms.

I have to offer an apology to any authors who may claim priority to some of the facts which I mention in this book. I have written this account of the Australian aboriginal without attempting to consult previous literature, for the simple reason that, had I started looking up all necessary references, the volume might never have been completed. My time at headquarters has been so limited during the last fifteen years that, in the absence of a library near at hand, it was impossible for me to adopt any other method than to write up my observations at first-hand and run the risk of a certain amount of trespass. Nevertheless, I trust that the authors so affected will realize that there was no slight intended and will treat my transgression in the spirit of independent corroboration.

Our knowledge of Australian ethnology is so meagre that every man who has had first-hand experience among the tribes should consider it his bounden duty to place on record any facts he possesses, however trivial they may be. Every year the number of people who have seen the unsophisticated savage is dwindling. When I look back to the time of my first meeting with the tribes of central Australia, just twenty years ago, and compare the conditions of then and now, I shudder to think how quickly the romance of aboriginal affairs, together with all the scientific treasures it encompassed, has vanished, and is now irretrievably lost to the world. The rising generation will not have the advantage of men of even our time. Bones, stone artefacts, and wooden implements will remain in our museums for ever, but the habits, laws, beliefs, and legends are doomed to rapid extinction.

I do not claim to be an initiated member of any tribe. To be candid, I several times tried to qualify by impressive exhibitions of surgical skill and exaggerated munificence, but, although I gained the confidence and goodwill of the old men, I was informed that I could only be accepted provided I passed through the different grades of initiation and submitted to the attendant mutilations in the orthodox way. The medicine men, however, usually claimed me as a “Kata” or colleague, and allowed me to witness most of their rituals and sacred ceremonies, which they carefully explained to me. In this way I was able, also, to secure a very great series of photographs depicting intimate scenes from aboriginal life, many of which are unique. The only photographs illustrating this book which were not taken by me are those reproduced in Plates [XLVIII] and [XLIX]; for these I am indebted to the late Mr. Nicholas Holtze.

I could not allow this opportunity to pass without making brief reference to the causes of the early extinction which is threatening these inoffensive, useful, and scientifically important people. We have only to cast our eyes in the direction of any wave of settlement to behold the disastrous effects our occupation of the land has had on the natives. Take, for instance, the Lake Eyre region, which embraces the Dieri, Yantowannta, Ngameni, and Yauroworka tribes. Official reports show that only forty years ago the population was so dense that the white settlers asked for greater police protection; the four tribes mentioned numbered many thousands. During a recent survey on behalf of the Government, I could barely muster three hundred wretched and decrepit souls in this region, who, literally speaking, were waiting for a lingering death to relieve them of their misery. We content ourselves by saying that civilization is the cause of the increased mortality, no doubt a plausible but very vague explanation. As a result of my investigations, I venture the opinion that the factor which has wrought the greatest havoc among the tribes is disease. The principal scourges are syphilis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and trachoma. Unless we realize the obligations which rest on our shoulders and give our natives a medical protection similar to the successful measures adopted by the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, they will continue to vanish and soon be classed as an extinct race.

H. BASEDOW.

Kent Town, South Australia, 2nd November, 1924.