IDNO

LS.109221.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: "Australia.
Kurdaitcha (avenger) creeping towards the enemy.
(v.s. & g. N.T. 476).
Between his teeth he holds a small stone churinga; the shoes are seen on his feet, and in his left hand he holds a shield and two or three wooden churinga." [manuscript in ink]

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.334.ACH1: "Kurdaitcha man escaping towards enemy. Arunta."

An Aranda (Arunta) man posing, acting as the Kurdaitcha (man selected to avenge a death) creeping up to his enemy. He is holding a small magical stone churinga between his teeth. The Kurdaitcha shoes on his feet made form a thick pad of emu feathers matted together with human blood. The upper surface of the shoes is made of human hair. The man’s face and the front of his thighs are decorated with white down lain out in a linear pattern and his body is rubbed with charcoal. He is holding a spear in his right hand and a shield in his left hand, with two? or three? wooden churinga.
The landscape in the background consists of grasses and small stones. [WV 27/1/2009, from record P.334.ACH1, JD 24/8/2012]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Central Australia

Cultural Affliation

Aranda [also known as Arunta; Arrarnta; Arrarnte; Arunda]

Named Person

Photographer

Baldwin Spencer, Walter; or Gillen, Francis James

Collector / Expedition

Baldwin Spencer, Walter [Spencer and Gillen 'Arunta' Fieldwork, Summer 1896 - 1897]

Date

?November 1896 - ?February 1897

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, 1899. The Native Tribes of Central Australia, (MacMillan and Co. Ltd., London), p. 482, fig. 97 with the following caption:
"Kurdaitcha creeping up to his enemy. Between his teeth he holds a small stone Churinga; the shoes are seen on his feet, and his left hand he holds a shield and two or three wooden Churinga." [WV 17/2/2009]

Expedition: Note in Baldwin Spencer, W. and F. J. Gillen, 1927. The Arunta. A Study of a Stone Age People (Macmillan, London), Vol. I , on p. vii states that Baldwin Spencer and Gillen spent four consecutive months with the Aranda (Arunta) people in 1896. The results of this stay were first published in 1899, in the "Native Tribes of Central Australia." [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: "Kurdaitcha: Name applied to a man who has been either formally selected or goes out on his own initiative, wearing emu-feather shoes, to kill some individual accused of having injured some one by magic." (Baldwin Spencer, W., and F.J. Gillen, 1899. The Native Tribes of Central Australia, (MacMillan and Co. Ltd., London), p. 651) [WV 29/1/2009]

Context: When someone dies, his/her death needs to be avenged by killing another clan member. Baldwin Spencer and Gillen describe this as follows:
"Followed by the medicine man the Kurdaitcha takes the lead until the enemy is sighted. Then the medicine man falls into the rear while the Kurdaitcha stealthily creeps forward towards his quarry and suddenly rising up, spears him before he is aware of the presence of an enemy. Both medicine man and Kurdaitcha have meanwhile put the sacred Churinga between their teeth and when they are thus armed the spear cannot fail to strike the victim. As soon as this is done the Kurdaitcha man goes away to some little distance from the fallen man and from which he cannot see the operations of the medicine man who now approaches and performs his share in the work. By aid of his magic powers and by
means of the Atnongara stones lie heals the victim. These Atnongara stones are small crystalline structures which every medicine man is supposed to be able to produce at will from
his own body throughout which it is believed that they are distributed — in fact it is the possession of these stones which gives to the medicine man his virtue. Into the spear wound
he rubs a white greasy substance called Ernia which he obtains by pressure of the skin glands on the outside of the nostril. After all external traces of the wound have disappeared he goes quietly away and, together with the Kurdaitcha man returns to his own country. Having been touched by the Atnongara stones, the victim returns to life, but is completely ignorant of all that has taken place. He returns to camp and in a short time sickens and dies. His death is attributed to Kurdaitcha or to some other form of magic influence, but no one will be able to trace the tracks of the Kurdaitchia."
(Baldwin Spencer, W., and F.J. Gillen, 1899. The Native Tribes of Central Australia, (MacMillan and Co. Ltd., London), p. 480-481)