SOME NATIVE WEAPONS AND CEREMONIAL IMPLEMENTS
[Refer to list of illustrations at the beginning of the text,
(illustrations not included in text). Letters (A to O) refer to the
illustrations]
1. SPEARS. - A. Of Desert native; B. Of Kimberley native; C. Method of
throwing.
A. The spear of the desert man is either sharp pointed, spatulate
pointed, or barbed. They vary in length from 8 feet to 10 feet, and in
diameter, at the head (the thickest portion), from 1/2 inch to 1 inch. As
a rule, a man carries a sheaf of half a dozen or more.
B. In the Kimberley District the spears are of superior manufacture and
much more deadly. The heads are made of quartz, or glass, or insulators
from the telegraph line. Before the advent of the white man quartz only
was used, and from it most delicately shaped spear-heads were made, the
stone being either chipped or pressed. I fancy the former method is the
one employed - so I have been told, though I never saw any spear-heads in
process of manufacture.
Since the white man has settled a portion of Kimberley, glass bottles
have come into great request amongst the natives, and most deadly weapons
are made - spears that, I am told, will penetrate right through a
cattle-beast, and which are themselves unimpaired unless they strike on a
bone. When first the telegraph line from Derby to Hall's Creek and thence
to Wyndham was constructed, constant damage used to be done to it by the
natives who climbed the poles and smashed the insulators for spear-head
making. So great a nuisance did this become that the Warden actually
recommended the Government to place heaps of broken bottles at the foot
of each pole, hoping by this means to save the insulators by supplying
the natives with glass!
The stone or glass heads are firmly fixed in a lump of spinifex gum, and
this is held firm on the shaft by kangaroo tail sinews. The shaft is of
cane for half its length, the upper part being of bamboo, which is found
on the banks of the northern rivers.
Up to a distance of eighty to one hundred yards the spears can be thrown
with fair accuracy and great velocity.
The length of these spears varies from 10 feet to 15 feet. The one shown
in sketch is of glass, and is one-half actual size.
In the Nor'-West (that is, the country lying between the Gascoyne and
Oakover rivers), wooden spear-heads with enormous barbs are used.
Sometimes the barbs are placed back to back, so that on entering a body
they can be pulled neither forward nor back.
C. THE WOOMERA (or Wommera) - the throwing-board - held in the hand as in
sketch. The spears rest on the board, and are kept in place by the first
finger and thumb and by the bone point A, which fits into a little hollow
on the end of the shaft. The action of throwing resembles that of
slinging a stone from a handkerchief. As the hand moves forward the spear
is released by uplifting the forefinger, and the woomera remains in the
hand. These boards vary in size and shape considerably; that shown in the
sketch is from the northern portion of the desert. In the central
portion the weapons are more crude and unfinished. In the handle end of
the woomera a sharp flint is often set, forming a sort of chisel.
In Kimberley the long spears are thrown with narrow and light boards
varying from 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 6 inches in length.
I believe that the method of holding the spear varies somewhat, some
natives placing the handle of the woomera between the first and remaining
fingers.
2. TOMAHAWKS. - D. Iron-headed; E. Stone-headed.
D. Pieces of iron, such as horseshoes, fragments of the tyres of wheels,
and so forth, are traded from tribe to tribe for many hundreds of miles.
Those shown in sketch were found about lat. 21 degrees 50 minutes, long.
126 degrees 30 minutes.
E. STONE TOMAHAWK - from Sturt Creek - given to me by Mr. Stretch.
The head is of a very dark and hard green stone, ground to a fine edge,
and is set between the two arms of the handle and held in place with
spinifex gum.
The handle is formed by bending round (probably by means of fire) a
single strip of wood.
The two arms of the handle are sometimes held together by a band of
hair-string.
The iron tomahawks are similarly made.
3. BOOMERANGS. - These weapons are now so well known that a description of
the ordinary pattern would be superfluous. However, near Dwarf Well we
found one of uncommon shape; and until reading a book on a Queensland
tribe I was unaware of its use, nor could I find any one who had seen one
of like shape. The weapon in question is the BEAKED or HOOKED boomerang
(F).
Mr. W. Roth, in his "Ethnological Studies Among the North-West Central
Queensland Aborigines," says: -
"It appears that when warding off a blow from a boomerang of any
description the defence consists in holding forwards and vertically any
stick or shield that comes to hand, and moving it more or less outwards,
right or left as the case may be, thus causing the missile on contact to
glance to one or the other side. The hook is intended to counteract the
movement of defence by catching on the defending stick around which it
swings and, with the increased impetus so produced, making sure of
striking the one attacked."
4. CLUBS AND THROWING-STICKS (G).
1. The uses of these are sufficiently obvious to make a description
unnecessary.
2. The throwing-sticks are used chiefly in hunting, and for guarding a
blow from a boomerang.
