1. Framework of hut in course of construction, Cooper’s Creek, S.W. Queensland.
2. Hut decked with porcupine grass, Arltunga district.
The men spend hours at a time in camp making or sharpening spears. When, moreover, the weapons are not in use, the hunters are most punctilious in preserving them from harm. The rule of the camp is never to lay a spear upon the ground for any length of time for two reasons; firstly, to prevent it from warping, and secondly, to eliminate the risk of breakage by somebody carelessly walking on to it. For these reasons the men, when camped, always take the precaution to stand their spears in a more or less upright position against the entrance of their huts, or against any bush or tree which happens to be growing close at hand.
Whenever possible, the opportunity of a sojourn in camp is seized for conducting a festive dance and song. For this purpose head-gears and other decorations have to be manufactured, plumes and permanent ornaments renovated, and pigments prepared to adorn the persons taking part in the performance. Upon such occasions a native is never seen idle.
Quite apart from preparing himself in anticipation of an extraordinary event, however, a native might take advantage of a delay in camp to manufacture an article with which he can barter with an adjoining tribe. The most common article thus prepared is ochre. Many tribes do not possess a deposit of this natural pigment and they are most anxious to do business with their neighbours. In exchange for the ochre, they offer such things as weapons, pitjuri-leaf, fish, or yams. The ochre is carried to its destination either in lumps or prepared as a fine powder. In the former case it is packed in small fibre or fur-string bags; in the latter the powder is wrapped in thin sheets of bark and tied together with string into neat parcels. The preparation of the ochre-powder entails much grinding between the stone surfaces of a hand-mill. The ochre is used for decorating the body, as well as implements and weapons.
If now we enquire into the method of dress adopted by the aborigines of Australia, we find that most of the tribes originally walked about in the nude, and, apart from a few small personal decorations, possessed nothing in the shape of a covering which might be described as a dress. The advent of civilization has largely interfered with this ancient practice.
The now practically extinct south-eastern tribes, including those along the River Murray, used more of a body-covering than any others. Opossum, wallaby, and any suitable marsupial skins were collected and carefully sewn together, and with these rugs the natives could, if need be, cover the greater part of their bodies.
By far the most common mode is to tie a string around the waist, from which is suspended a tassel to cover the pubes. These tassels vary considerably in size according to the tribe which wears them. The smallest are found among the Wongapitcha in the Mann and Tomkinson Ranges; the appendage is there only worn by the men and is barely large enough to cover the part. It is made of human hair strands fastened at the knot of the tassel directly to the pubes; the covering is known as the “moiranje.” As a general rule, it might be said that the northern tribes have larger coverings than the central, although the Yantowannta and other Barcoo River tribes wear them as large as any. Even the Arunndta and Aluridja at special functions suspend large pubic tassels of fur-string from the waist-band.
The northern type of tassel consists of a great number of strings, usually of opossum fur, bound to a central piece, which is attached to the waist-band, either by two separate terminal strings, or by means of one single tie from the top of the tassel. The completed covering hangs from the waist like an apron. This type of pubic tassel is known to all north-central and northern tribes, and might be worn by either adult male or married female.
In place of the tassel a small sheet of the paper-bark is popular amongst the north coastal tribes. A narrow strip, from eight to twelve inches long, is folded transversely at its middle and hung over the waist-band, from which it pends like an apron as described of the tassel. Captain Matthew Flinders is perhaps the first European to have observed this custom, as far back as 1803, at Caledon Bay, where he observed a girl wearing “a small piece of bark, in guise of a fig leaf, which was the sole approximation to clothing seen.”