IDNO

LS.109209.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: "Australia.
Arunta.
Welcoming Dance."

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.373.ACH1: "Welcoming dance Alice Springs, Arunta. North T.C.A. fig.164."

Group of Aranda men belonging to the southern part of the Aranda (Arunta) visiting Aranda (Arunta) people, living in the neighbourhood of Alice Springs. The men wear two flaked sticks on the head, and a tuft of eagle-hawk feathers fixed into their waist-girdle in the small of their backs. Each man is armed with boomerang and spears. The visitors are led by their chief.
They are walking on the grassy flats. In the background there are rocks. [WV 5/2/2009, from record P.373.ACH1, JD 24/8/2012]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Northern Territory; Alice Springs

Cultural Affliation

Arunta

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. 572, fig. 164 with the following caption:
"Welcoming dance. Arunta tribe."

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: a welcoming ceremony held in May 1901 is described by Baldwin Spencer and Gillen as follows:
"The party consisted of some thirty natives, all of them men. On reaching a spot about half a mile away from the main camp at Alice Springs the strangers sat down in the usual way, waiting until such time as they should be invited to approach the camp. Every man wore two curious flaked sticks on his head, and had a tuft of eagle-hawk feathers fixed into his waist-girdle in the small of his back. Each man was also armed with boomerang and spears. After a time they were invited to come up, and did so in the form of a solid square. They approached at a run, holding their spears aloft, and adopting the curious high-knee action which is very characteristic of the native on ceremonial occasions. Some of the older women of the local group came out to meet them, gesticulating and yelling and dancing wildly in front of them. As they advanced towards a small flat amongst the hills, where they were to be formally received, a few of the local men stood upon the top of the hills waving their spears and shields, their bodies sharply outlined against the sky-line. As soon as they had passed through a small gap on the open flat, they were joined by a number of the local men, and then, forming into a series of lines, four deep, they marched round and round, led on by the chief man amongst the visitors (Fig. 164). There was a considerable amount of excitement and in a very short time every one in camp - men, women, and children - were gathered together on the flat. As soon as the preliminary dance was over the visiting and local people separated, the former sitting down on lever ground, the latter grouped on the rocks to one side" (Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1904. The northern tribes of central Australia. (London), p. 570-571). [WV 5/2/2009]

Cultural Group: The group photographed have been identified as belonging to the Warlpiri language group by Joe Neparrnga Gumbula, Arnhem Land. [JD 10/7/2012]