An aboriginal never exaggerates the dimensions of a track when drawing from Nature. Upon this point, indeed, he is most exacting, because upon an accurate knowledge of and familiarity with such things his very livelihood depends, and the acquisition of accuracy represents part of the recognized standard of his educational system. He would never, for instance, draw the track of a wallaby larger than it is in reality, because confusion would immediately arise as to whether it might not be that of a kangaroo or euro; and if he drew it smaller than it actually is, doubt would be raised as to whether it might not represent the track of a kangaroo-rat, or even of a marsupial mouse. So, too, when he wishes to draw a turkey track, he has to be careful, because if he makes it bigger than it should be, it might be mistaken for that of an emu; and if he makes it smaller, people who see the track might take it to be that of a curlew, or even of a plover.
For the above reason alone, a native would never draw the track of a wombat on the elaborate scale of the Yunta carving. Furthermore, there are some exceptionally large bird tracks carved into the rocks at Balparana, in the Flinders Ranges, which seem too big to be intended for those of an emu; the question might reasonably be asked whether they could not have been made by a primitive hunter at a time when the now extinct “moa” or Genyornis still lived in Australia.
A type of decorative art quite similar to the ancient rock carvings, though on a much smaller scale, is to be found on the stone-tjuringas of the Arunndta, Tjingali, and other central Australian tribes. The designs, like those on the wooden objects, consist largely of engraved circles, straight and sinuous lines, and tracks of totemic significance. The intaglios are usually tinted with red ochre.
Leaving the discussion of carved rocks and stones for the time being, and directing our attention to the subject of carved trees, we find that this interesting cult flourished principally in the tribal territories which are now included in the State of New South Wales and the extreme southern portion of Queensland, the haunts of tribes now practically extinct.
The design or decoration was either carved straight into the bark, or the latter was previously removed and the cutting done in the sapwood or heartwood. Great variety was displayed in the choice of designs. Some were crude and unshapely, others neatly and cleanly cut and of intricate pattern; among them were perfect geometrical designs, consisting of groups of circles and quadrilateral figures, usually concentric and often combined with parallel, wavy, zig-zag, or spiral lines; yet another class of design would consist of some animal or human form, more or less grotesquely modified.
The object of this elaborate tree-carving was of a twofold nature. Firstly a certain number of trees would be so treated, within the immediate surroundings of the grave of a notable tribesman, to permanently mark the place of sepulchre; and, secondly, the butt of a tree commanding the ground of an initiation ceremony might have been so distinguished, if the importance of the occasion warranted it.
Along the north-west coast of Australia, where the boabab tree flourishes, the tribes often carve animalistic and other designs into the bark, which, on account of its softness, lends itself admirably for the purpose. The carvings are usually to be found near a camp or at the site of an ordinary corroboree ground. The designs, once they have been cut into the bark, remain there during the life of the tree. The accompanying illustration ([Plate XLII], 2) depicts an emu, which stands three feet high, carved into a boabab off King Sound, Western Australia. The whole of the bark within the area occupied by the design has been removed. The feet, it will be observed, are portrayed in a perfectly free way in order to leave no doubt in the mind of an observer as to the track the bird actually makes. Two other figures stood beside the emu, cut in a similar way into the bark of the same tree; one was a snake, a shade over five feet in length, the other an emu track.
In place of the carved trees, the Melville and Bathurst Islanders erect carved and painted posts around the graves of their people—men, women, and children alike. These pillars, which are of hard and heavy wood, are from four to six feet high, circular in section, and have the top carved into a “head” of one or other of the patterns drawn in the accompanying figure. The top of the pillar is either flat, rounded, or pointed, the “head” being formed by cutting one or more circumferential grooves of chosen width, and at chosen distances, below the top. At times an oblong hole is cut transversely through the post five or six inches from the top, leaving only two narrow strips of timber, one on either side, to support the “head” thus formed. Vide [Fig. 14].
Fig. 14. Carved grave posts of Melville and Bathurst Islanders (× 1/40).