dents, the scenes of savage life—on the curious frame of mind that could induce these uncultivated people to repair, perhaps at stated seasons of the year, to this lonely picture gallery, surrounded by the ocean wave, to admire and add to the productions of their forefathers. . . . . These savages of Australia, as we call them, who have adorned the rocks of Depuch Island with their drawings, have in one thing proved themselves superior to the Egyptian and the Etruscan, whose works have elicited so much admiration, and afforded food to so many speculations—namely, there is not in them to be observed any trace of indecency."[1]
Three of the figures from the plate in Capt. Stokes' work are here shown:—Fig. 44 represents "a native armed with spear and wommera or throwing-stick, probably relating his adventures;" Fig. 45, a kangaroo; and Fig. 46, a crab.
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| FIG. 44. | FIG. 45. | FIG. 46. |
Mr. Green informs me that amongst the natives of the Yarra, white, when used for decoration in the corrobboree, is called Trrin-in bigger-min-in; and when used in mourning, Trrin-in mir-rin mir-rin. The native name for red is Trre-barrien, and when used in the corrobboree Trre-barrien mirra-lin. Black is Woorr-karrim, and blue (which probably means dark or dusky) is also named Woor-karrim.
According to Mr. Bunce, red was named Bee-bee-thu-ung, and black Boorooee (meaning "darkness" or "night").
Mr. Bulmer, of Lake Tyers, says that white, red, and black are the only colors used by the natives of the districts he has visited. Blue is not known to them. Since the white man came they have used blue colors, but they obtained them from the whites. The native names of the colors, according to Mr. Bulmer, are as follow:—White, Tarpa-tarpal; red, Noorook or Krook; and black, Nirnba-nirnbal. The last name is applied to anything dark or dusky, so that a blue coat would be called Nirnba-nirnbal gree.[2]
Mr. Bulmer says he has seen both white and red used during periods of mourning, but in the corrobboree white only.
- ↑ Discoveries in Australia, 1837-43, vol. II., pp. 170-3.
- ↑ Mr. Bulmer informs me that the word gree does not mean a coat only, but is used to designate anything a native possesses. A man calls anything he owns gree. He adds that the natives express different shades of color by putting before the word for color the equivalent of our word very: thus very dark or nearly black is Mak-nirnba-nirnbal, Blackness itself, or more properly "the mother of darkness," is Yackan-nirnba-nirnbal. The work Yackan is used to express something extraordinary, as Yackanda-willang, a great rain. One of the towns in the Beechworth district is named Yackandandah.
