Description (Physical description)
Plano convex, wooden bullroarer or churinga.
Event Date
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
Churinga are inscribed with sacred designs, which represent a totemic ancestor. Aboriginal women and uninitiated boys are forbidden to see them. Their meaning is only fully divulged to men who are initiated into that totem and who are of elder status. Those with a hole bored in one end (stone ones excepted), for the attachment of a cord, are called bullroarers. When whirled round, they produce a characteristic sound believed to be "spirit talk". This one is probably from northwest central Australia
Event Date
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
Churinga are inscribed with sacred designs, which represent a totemic ancestor. Aboriginal women and uninitiated boys are forbidden to see them. Their meaning is only fully divulged to men who are initiated into that totem and who are of elder status. Those with a hole bored in one end (stone ones excepted), for the attachment of a cord, are called bullroarers. When whirled round, they produce a characteristic sound believed to be " spirit talk" . This one is probably from northwest central Australia
Event Date
Author: maa

Context (Display)
Exhbited: On display in the Australia case (Case 15-16). Maudslay Hall, CUMAA, from 1990-2005.
Event Date 1990
Author: Rachel Hand

Context (Display)
Presumed removed from display as part of the Australia case redisplay in mid-2005 by Sue Dalgleish and Anita Herle.

The churinga were displayed in a table-top case by the left of the Australia case (Cases 15-16 ). In the late 1990s the curator Anita Herle added a cloth cover to the case. The label description highlighted that these were ceremonial items which were usually only seen by initiated men. Visitors were given the option to choose to view them or not.

Event Date 21/3/2025
Author: maa