Children are early accustomed to discipline and obedience. They are not required to obey any but their individual fathers, tribal fathers, and tribal uncles. They need not pay heed to the orders of their contemporaries, but only to the word of such as they consider “grew them,” that is, men of a previous generation to themselves. Women need not be obeyed by law, but, with the knowledge and sanction of a father, a mother can chastise and punish a child as much as she pleases. The father reserves the right to interfere at any moment.
The little girls accompany their mothers whenever collecting rambles are undertaken. They receive instructions in the methods of locating and gathering grubs, lizards, seeds, and roots; and during this time they are required to daily handle the yam-stick in the correct manner as shown them by their seniors. Subsequently they are taught how to clean, cook, and prepare the meals to be placed before the men.
The boys are early in life schooled in the practices of carpentry, so far as they are applied to the making and shaping of domestic utensils and weapons with the few crude implements at their disposal.
Further, they are instructed in the knacks and arts of handling and throwing weapons of chase, attack, and defence. The lads take to this instruction enthusiastically. For instance, whilst being taught the art of boomerang-throwing, one might daily see a youngster, even in the absence of his master, posing in the attitude demonstrated to him, without actually letting the piece of wood, which answers the purpose of a weapon, go out of his hand ([Plate XIV], 1).
Boys are not allowed to handle real boomerangs, spears, or shields before they have undergone the first initiation ceremony. If they did so, the offence would be looked upon as an insult to the dignity of the men who have qualified and are thus entitled to the privilege of carrying such weapons on parade. The offence is in fact, on a point of decorum, similar to the case of a fellow in the “rank and file” wearing the sword or insignia of his superior officer.
When, at a later stage, the elder boys of the Northern Kimberleys of Western Australia become well-skilled in throwing, sham-fights are arranged. Pieces of bark are broken from the mangroves, out of which the combatants make missiles resembling straight boomerangs. Sides are picked under the supervision of the men and the signal given to start. In a moment the air becomes alive with the whirr and buzz of the flying pieces of wood, which the youths throw straight at one another. Often severe gashes and wounds are inflicted upon the bodies of the “fighters,” but such are taken in good faith and looked upon as being part of the game.
As a means of self-defence and protection against such throwing-sticks and the small toy-spears previously mentioned, the Arunndta construct for their boys light bark shields. A piece of green bark is cut out of the butt of a eucalyptus, oblong-oval in shape and about two feet long and six inches wide. Two holes are cut in the central line of this piece, about six inches from either end, and through them two or three fairly stout, green twigs are stuck, from the under, concave surface, to form a handle. The points of these twigs stick out from the top surface, some two inches, but they are left to prevent the ends of the handle from slipping out. The bark is then bent in the required shield-shape and dried over a slow fire or in hot ashes ([Plate XIV], 1).
The girls, too, are encouraged to indulge in stick-practice to prepare them for the “kutturu” duels they will have to take part in, in later years. The principal mark is the foot, which each alternately tries to strike, while the other is “on guard” with her stick. At other times they stand face to face, with the palms of their hands pressed tightly together. Presently one voluntarily bows her head, when the other immediately gives her a severe crack over the scalp with the small finger side of her hands. Then the other has a turn; and the process may be repeated. The object of this strange procedure is to “harden” the head in anticipation of the real blows it will receive in time to come. To make the performance appear genuine, the girl, whose turn it is to strike, may be heard to feign a curse: “Atutnia, arrelinjerrai!”
The child’s mind is early imbued with the importance of hardening the body and nerve against pain, and thereby making the system less susceptible to the hardships of life, which they know to be inevitable.
The system of personal mutilation, described in a subsequent chapter, has to a certain extent been evolved for a similar reason.