IDNO

LS.109199.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Australia.
Warramunga.
Burial Customs. Raking out bones from a tree-grave by means of a stick.”

On catalogue card for P.411.ACH1: “Raking out bones from tree grave. Warramunga. North T.C.A. fig. 531.”

A Waramanga (Warramunga) man climbing up to a tree grave in order to rake the bones out on the ground. The man possibly wears a waist belt?. The tree grave is composed of pieces of wood resting on the tree branches, just below the foliage. [WV 20/2/2009, from record P.411.ACH1, JD 24/8/2012]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Central Australia

Cultural Affliation

Warramunga

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: Image published in Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 531, fig. 141 with the following caption:
“Climbing up to the tree grave in order to rake the bones out on the ground. Warramunga tribe.” [WV 19/2/2009]

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]

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]

Context: The raking out of bone of grave is described as follows:
“Early one morning, before sunrise, we started off to visit the grave of a Tjunguri woman who had been placed on the tree platform a year before. The party consisted of only three natives, two Thapungarti men who were brothers of the mother of the dead woman’s husband, and one Tjambin man who was her tribal son. Just as we left the camp, where all was perfectly quiet, an old Tjapeltjeri man, the father of the dead woman, came up and gave a ball of fur-string to the elder of the two Thapungarti men. The tree was about a mile and a half away from the camp, and on reachign the spot the Tjambin cut a bark dish from a gum-tree close by and then climbed up on to the platform (Fig. 141). With the aid of a stick, so as to avoid actually touching the bones, he raked them all out on to the ground underneath and then clambered down. First of all one of the arm-bones (radius) was placed by itself on some paper bark and put on one side. The rest of the bones were raked into the bark dish by means again of sticks, as they must not be handled (Fig. 142).” (Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 530-531). [WV 19/2/2009]