Yirawala, Artist and ManIntroduction by Phillip Roberts; brief outline of Aboriginal life, antiquity of human occupation of Australia, origins, religious background to art, adaptation to environment, effects of European contact, social organization; (Arnhem Land) moieties, sections, marriage, breaches of marriage law, division of Labour, spirit beliefs; recounts authors first contacts with Yirawala, gives version of Maung myth, notes on cooking geese, reproduces biographical information on Lazarus Lami-Lamitaken from taped letter, Maung myths; Goulburn Is. mortuary ceremony, spirit beliefs; attitude of Yirawala to mining, prospectors and land; Gunwinggu myth on origin of didgeridoo; account of filming expedition to take Yirawala to home territory; versions of 5 myths - Lumah-lumah, the big Maraian man; Namarrgine, the birdman; Gurgurr, the moon man; Booma-booma, the big man; Namorren, the lightning man, each with reproductions of series of bark paintings with relevant notes in margin; profusely illustrated with examples of Yirawalas paintings. |
Common terms and phrases
Arnhem Land artist Australian Aborigines Australoid baby bark Beet-baich-boh-booch began Bew-bew body bones Booma-booma bush called camp canoe crocodile Croker Island Daadbi Darwin death designs didgeridoo dillybag Dreaming Dua moiety father fight film fish dance ghost giant girls goanna Goireeba Goulburn Island Gunwinggu Gurgurr Jiritja moiety Jun-bar-bar kangaroo kill kinship laws Kunapipi Kundaagi Lazarus learned little boy lived Liverpool River look Lorrgon Lumah-lumah magic mainland Maningrida Maraian ceremony Maralaitj Maung Mimi Mission mother Mowani Mulutji Myganaich mythology Namarrgine Namorul night noise North Goulburn Northern Territory Nutmungi Oenpelli painting pandanus pandanus palm paperbark rarrk red-tailed black cockatoo rock sang singing skin snake songs spear spirit stone story Sydney things told trees tribal Aborigines tribal boundaries tribal lands tribe Ubar Ubar ceremony Wadakak walked waterhole white man's wife wives Wullur Wurrugag yams Yirawala young Yubidawara