IDNO

P.85673.ACH2

Description

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.258.ACH1: “Public ceremony. The boys brave men.”

A public ceremony with four Aboriginal boys lying face down on the ground while four men, one being carried on the shoulders of another, as they walk over the boys. Two men, one on the shoulders of the other, appear to be narrating the ceremony in the foreground. They are whispering the name of the bad spirit ''Uri Uriak" and the name of the dreaded fish ''Utarang" and walk over the lying bodies. A group of spectators are to the right and in the background. [JD 23/8/2007, updated WV 6/4/2009]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Victoria; Darling River; Murray River

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Muetzel, Gustav [Artist]

Collector / Expedition

von Blandowski, William [Blandowski Expedition to the Lower Murray River, 1857]

Date

1860; 1862

Collection Name

Haddon Collection

Source

?Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.85635. to P.85723. were tied together in a bundle.

Bibliographical Reference: Blandowski, William von, 1862. Australien in 142 Photographischen (Unpublished), with the caption “Aborigines of Australia, Plate 160. William v. Blandowski, Australia. Public ceremony. The boys brave men”. The image is signed “G.M.60”. [JD 23/8/2007]

Bibliographical Reference: For discussion of authorship see: Allen, H. 2006. Authorship and ownership in Blandowski's Australien in 142 Photographischen Abbildungen. Australasian Historical Archaeology 24:31-37. [Jane Lydon, Monash University, 8/7/2009]

CUMAA Exhibition: P.84112.ACH2 to P.85713.ACH2 were on display in the SSL as part of the Brook Andrew ‘The Island’ Exhibition, 24th June - 27th September 2008. [JD 25/6/2008]

Publication: Blandowski, W. 1862. Australien in 142 Photographischen Ahbildungen. Gustav Neumann, Gleiwicz. Edited by Harry Alien. Translated from the German by Lillian Barton. Translation Copyright: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2007. with the caption:
“90. On the one side of the area a few men lie on the ground stretched out with their faces to the ground and their hands folded in the front. A man sits upon another's shoulders and both stretch their arms out and point at the lying men at the same time as others whisper the name of the bad spirit ''Uri Uriak" and the name of the dreaded fish ''Utarang" and walk over the lying bodies. At the end the boys walk over them. The whole not entirely understandable, ceremony is supposed to keep away the water spirit that is feared by the Aborigines.” [WV 6/4/2009]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Jocelyne Dudding 23/8/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Aboriginal Visual Histories Project, Monash University. [Wonu Veys 6/4/2009]