IDNO

LS.109123.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: "Australia. Warramunga.
Ceremonies of the Wollunqua Totem.
Two younger men being rubbed by an older one with stones which are supposed to represent pars of the body of a Euro (Kangaroo). The rubbing is supposed to enable them to catch euros easily." [first manuscript in ink]
"North. T.C.A. fig. 84." [second manuscript in ink]

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.384.ACH1: "Rubbing with Euro (Kangaroo) stones (p.255) at Thapanerla [sic Thapauerlu]. Warramunga, North T.C.A. p.255 rubbing with large and small stones."

Group of four Waramanga (Warramunga) men rubbing each other’s back with the euro (kangaroo) stones. This ceremony is called ini-ini. Three of the men are wearing chilara (head bands). They have full beards and moustaches and are wearing waist belts.
The landscape consists of shrubbery and one tree. [WV 9/2/2009]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Central Australia

Cultural Affliation

Warramuga [also known as Warumungu]

Named Person

Photographer

Baldwin Spencer, Walter; or Gillen, Francis James

Collector / Expedition

Northern Tribes of Central Australia fieldwork by Baldwin Spencer, Walter and Gillen, Francis James [March 1901 - March 1902]

Date

March 1901 - March 1902

Collection Name

Teaching Slide CollectionHaddon Unmounted Collection

Source

?Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Publication: Similar image published in Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 254, fig. 84 with the following caption:
"Two younger men being rubbed by an older one with stones which are supposed to represent parts of the body of a euro (kangaroo). Warramunga tribe."

Expedition: Baldwin Spencer and Gillen spent one year from March 1901 to March 1902 in a traverse from Oodnadatta to Powell Creek and then across, eastwards to Borraloola at the mouth of the Macarthur River, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. (Baldwin Spencer, W., 1928. Wanderings in Wild Australia (Macmillan, London), Vol. 1, p. xvi). [WV 10/2/2009]

Cultural Group: Baldwin Spencer and Gillen describe the Waramanga [Warramunga] nation as including the Warramunga, Worgaia, Tjingilli, Umbaia, Bingongina, Walpari, Wulmala, and Gnanji tribes. (Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 75). [WV 10/2/2009]

Photographer: Note in Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1927, p. xiii states all photos were taken by the authors. [WV 23/1/2009]

Context: The ceremony called ini-ini is described in Baldwin Spencer and Gillen as follows:
"This upper basin was formed in the Alcheringa during a fight between a wild dog and a euro. As they fought the euro lashed its tail round and round, thus hollowing out the rock and making the present basin, but in the end the wild dog came off victorious, and killed the euro and eat its intestines. Attached, as it were, to the one side of Miradji is a kind of very large pot-hole about five feet in diameter and six in depth, which is especially associated with the euro. This contains a large number of rounded boulders, varying in size from an inch to nearly a foot in diameter, which are supposed to represent various parts of the organs of the old euro. This contains a large number of boulders, varying in size from an inch to nearly a foot in diameter, which are supposed to represent various parts of the organs of the old euro - kidneys, hearts, tail, intestines, etc. The two younger men who came with us to the spot immediately went into the rock-hole, which contained about three feet of water, and after splashing this all over their bodies and rubbing each other with a few of the stones lying at the bottom, they were rubbed again by the elder Tjapeltjeri (Fig. 84). This ceremony, which is called ini-ini, is performed with the object of enabling the men who are thus rubbed with the stones representing parts of the euro to go out into the bush and catch euros more easily than otherwise they would be able to do. (Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 253-254). [WV 9/2/2009]