The Bunan Ceremony of New South Wales

R.H. Mathews.

Contents

Introduction
Article
Location
Words
Discussion
References

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1. Introduction

The month of February 1896 saw Australian anthropologist Robert Hamilton "R.H." Mathews (1841-1918) meeting with local elder George Nipple Bandicoot (born 1823) and other Shoalhaven Aboriginal natives to obtain information about the local bunan ground which he had visited the previous year (1895) and went on to describe in the following academic paper published in The American Anthropologist during October 1896 (Mathews 1896). This landmark article describes an initiation ceremony which perhaps for thousands of years each and every Aboriginal male was subject to as they approached manhood. As such, it is core to an understanding of everyday experience in Australian Aboriginal society prior to the European invasion of January 1788. The precise nature of the description provided by Mathews, both in regards to the geographical layout of the ceremony and description of the individual processes involved, is therefore of extreme importance. R.H. Mathews was a prolific author, and a number of items in the Reference section below outlines his activities and reference specific publications relevant to the present article (Eklin 1975, Mathews 1895 & 1907, Smith 2003, Thomas 2004, 2007 & 2011).

The full paper is reproduced below with some minor additions, such as the placement of reproductions of Mathews' drawings next to their first mention. A map indicating the approximate location of the site is also included, along with a glossary of primarily local Aboriginal words mentioned in the article. Finally, it should be noted that throughout the paper the Dharawal and Wiradthuri words for the young male initiation ceremony - respectively bunan and burbung - are presented phonetically as such:

These phonetic elements, which are indicative of specific sounds, have not been replicated in the following reproduction of the text due to technical constraints. They are therefore presented without the cryillic additions.

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2. The Bunan ceremony paper

The American Anthropologist

Vol. IX Washington, D. C., October, 1896, No.10, 327 - 344.

The Bunan Ceremony of New South Wales

R. H. Mathews

Among all the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, when the boys approach the age of puberty, a ceremony to initiate them into the privileges and responsibilities of manhood takes place. In this paper I propose to describe the initiation ceremonies of the native tribes occupying the southeast coast of New South Wales from about the Victorian boundary northerly to Bulli, a distance of about 300 miles, and extending inland from 80 to 100 miles. Among the tribes inhabiting this district and parts of the counties of Wallace, Cowley, and Murray the ceremony is called the bunan.

The tribes occupying the territory to the westward gradually merge into the Wiradthuri community, and the latter extends westerly down Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers to somewhere near their junction. The initiation ceremonies of the Wiradthuri tribes referred to are known as the burbung.

The Wiradthuri and coast tribes attended one another's meetings for the initiation ceremonies, as old men of Shoalhaven river have told me that they attended the burbung on Tumut river, and some of the Wiradthuri people about Yass have stated that they were present at the bunan at Queanbeyan or Braidwood. Along the zone or tract of country where the Wiradthuri and coast tribes join each other the ceremonial of the burbung and bunan respectively would probably be found to have some modifications of detail to meet the views of both communities.

As a type of the initiation ceremonies throughout the coast district comprised within the limits previously laid down, I shall select the tribes who occupy Shoalhaven river and adjacent districts, and will endeavor to give a detailed description of the bunan as carried out among them.

The main camp and Bunan ground. - The tribe in whose country the bunan is to take place finds a suitable locality within its own territory and selects a ground which has previously been used. The women know nothing of these arrangements, but the camp is shifted to some place not far from the selected spot, and the men commence renovating or making the ring. In the evening they assemble at the wurra wurrudthang, and the headman, followed by the others, all with a bough in each hand, runs through the camp, taking a serpentine course. They make frequent pauses, first swaying their boughs downward and then raising them over their heads, uttering guttural noises the while. They then form into a group in a clear space, shout out the names of the principal camping places, water holes. etc, in their country, and disperse.

When the women who have been to a bunan before see this procession and hear the noise they know there is to be a general gathering of the tribes for the purpose of initiating the boys. The whole tribe - men, women, and children-next day remove to the place selected for the general encampment, generally on a moderately level piece of ground, not far from water, and where plenty of wood for fuel is obtainable. The local tribe is the first to pitch its camp, and the other tribes encamp around this. On a cleared space in the central part of the camp corroborees are held almost every night. (Plate vi, figure 1, a, b, c.)

Vol. IX, PL. VI.

At a retired spot in the bush, a short distance from the general camp, the headmen have a private meeting place called wurra wurrudthang, where they congregate to consult on such tribal concerns as may be brought before them by the leading men of the several contingents present, and also to arrange the various details of the ceremonies. Here they have a fire around which they sit, and none but the initiated men are allowed near it. (Figure 1, d.)

As soon as the local tribe have erected their camp the initiated men proceed with the preparation of the bunan ground work, generally carried on while the messengers are away gathering the tribes.

The last bunan which was held by the Shoalhaven river tribes took place about eight or ten years ago [circa 1888], at a place two miles and a half N. 130 W. from Cooloomgatta trigonometrical station, in the parish of Cooloomgatta, county of Camden, New South Wales. Last year I visited the bunan ground with some Aboriginal natives and found it in a tolerably good state of preservation. I took careful and complete sketches and measurements of all its surroundings, from which I have prepared accurate drawings, which will now be described.

The general camp (figure 1) was pitched on level land in a forest, near a small watercourse rising in the western side of the Moean range and flowing southwesterly into Broughton Creek, a tributary of Shoalhaven river.

About six chains from the center of the camp was cleared a circular space, called the bunan, measuring 34 feet 9 inches in one diameter and 32 feet 6 inches in another. The loose soil scraped off in making it smooth was used to form the boundary and was about a foot or more in height. A narrow pathway led from this circle to a smaller cleared space, whose diameters were 18 feet 6 inches and 16 feet 6 inches (figure 4).

This circular space, like the larger one, is bounded by a raised earth wall. In each of these circles there is an opening left as an entrance for the pathway, and the embankment is continued outward about 8 feet along each side of the pathway in both instances (figures 3 and 4). Standing at the larger circle the magnetic bearing there from to the smaller one is N. 50 E. and the distance from one to the other is 265 paces.

Starting from the larger ring and proceeding along the track, at the distance of 158 yards, on the left side, is a raised earthen figure of a human being 7 feet long and surrounded by an embankment similar to those used in defining the boundaries of the rings, but not so high (figure 5, g).

At the distance of 236 yards from the starting point, or 29 yards from the smaller ring, on the same side of the track as the figure last described, was a heap of earth a foot high, having a basal diameter of about two feet. It was surrounded by a raised earthen wall, like the preceding figure, a space about a foot wide being left between the heap and the circular embankment, along which some of the old men danced, waving their arms to and fro (figures 1 and 6, h).

Inside the smaller ring (figure 4) was a horizontal representation of Dharamoolun, about 8 feet long, formed by heaping up the loose earth, the height of the earth at the man's breast being about a foot. During the ceremonies a quartz crystal is laid on the head of this figure.

At the time of my visit the foregoing were the only figures distinguishable on the turf, but my native guides stated that when the bunan ground was freshly formed a number of nondescript patterns and devices were cut in the soil similar to those shown in the plates illustrating my papers describing the initiation ceremonies of the Kamilaroi and Wiradthuri tribes. [Journal of the Anthropological Institute, London, XXIV, May 1895, pp.411-427.] My guides also pointed out some faint, indistinct forms of animals, also made by means of raised earth or by cutting a nick or groove into the surface of the soil along their outline. There were thus represented the porcupine, the kangaroo, fish, snakes, and others. In the raised figure of the porcupine the quills were represented by inserting numerous small sticks.

Around the small ring and for a distance of 130 yards near each side of the track toward the larger circle a number of trees were marked with the tomahawk, some of them close to the track and others at various distances. I counted 29 marked trees and copied the devices on nine of the most representative of them, which are shown in figure 8, a to i.

All the figures and devices, whether raised or graven upon the ground or cut upon trees, are known by the native name of muttima.

Around each important figure on the ground, a space was cleared on which the men could walk, and a similar space around each of the marked trees, the loose soil being scraped into heaps encircling the butts of the trees.

Gathering the tribes. - The headman of the tribe whose turn it is to call the community together sends messengers to the various tribes whom he wishes to be present at the ceremonies, and in this matter the totems are regarded - that is, the messengers are generally of the same totem as the sender of the message, though they may be chosen on account of their fitness for the duty, irrespective of totemic distinctions. It not unfrequently happens that a messenger is sent on his mission alone, but men are generally sent together, one of whom belongs to a different tribe to the headman who issues the message. The tribe to whom the two messengers are sent pay more attention to them if one is from a remote part of the territory. The strange man merely accompanies the messenger, who is provided with a bullroarer (mooroonga or mudthi), a quartz crystal, and all the articles worn by a man when fully dressed. In some tribes a "message stick" is carried in addition to these emblems. He carries his own weapons with him and has yellow or white paint on his legs from the knees down and the same color on his forehead band. His companion is similarly decorated.

On the arrival of a messenger at a camp, usually in the afternoon or early in the morning - because at these times the men are at home - he sits down in sight of the camp of the single men. Some of the men go and speak to him, lighting a fire and offering him food and water. On learning that he has a message to deliver they go and inform the chief men, who come to where he is sitting. After some conversation the messenger opens his bag and produces the mooroonga, the crystals, and other articles, and delivers the message, stating who it is from and the time when, and place where, the bunan is to be held. He then proceeds with the rest to the single men's quarters, and all the initiated men in the camp are called and informed of the message. All then run in a serpentine line through the women's camp, making a peculiar noise, by which the women know of the call for a meeting for the bundun, and there is general rejoicing. Having gone in this manner through the camp, the men form into a group in a clear space close by and dance round a few times, calling out the names of a few camping places, etc, after which they disperse to their own quarters. That evening, after dark, the messenger swings his bullroarer a short distance from the camp and the women commence singing the songs usual on such occasions.

The next day or perhaps in a few days' time the messenger leaves this camp and proceeds on his journey to deliver a like message to another tribe. He would thus proceed until he reaches the farthest tribe or section of a tribe whom he has been directed to summon. Sometimes, however, the messenger goes no farther than the first tribe, the headman of whom sends the message on by one of his own men, of the same totem as the original messenger, who carries the message to a man of the same totem in the tribe to whom he has been sent.

At the several places where the tribes camp at night - by the way corroborees are generally held at night at the camp fires - when within a few days' journey of the bunan ground a man is sent forward to inform the headmen there that the tribe will arrive about a certain day. Frequently no such notice is given, because the men at the main camp are expecting arrivals from different places and are always ready painted every afternoon. Moreover, it adds to the excitement of the meeting for these contingents to come without warning.

Arrival of contingents. - When a strange tribe arrives to within half a mile from the general encampment a halt is made while the men paint themselves with pipe-clay, drawing lines on their faces, chests, and limbs; they also put on all their articles of dress and arrange feathers in their hair.

When all is ready the messenger who has brought them sounds a bullroarer somewhere out of sight, and the men, about two feet apart in a single zigzag line, follow their headman. The women, children, and novices of the contingent follow in a group. Every man holds in each hand a green bough about 18 inches long. Sometimes the men have a boomerang or other small weapon in one hand and a bough in the other. At short intervals the leader pauses and, turning half round to the right, swings the bough in his right hand into the air, and this action is repeated by all the other men. Then he turns toward the left, and swings the bough in that hand into the air, which is also repeated by all the others. As they swing the boughs they give a shout. They thus go through the main camp, looking in at every hut or gunyah, after which they march toward the large circle, shouting and swaying their boughs. They are now joined by the men of the local tribe and other men who have arrived on previous occasions, and all approach the circle, the newcomers being in the lead. The women and novices are all standing in a group in the center of the ring, having come straight on while the men were going through the camp. Infirm old men and women and small children would not go into the ring, but would sit down close by.

The men now enter the ring through the opening in its wall and form a cordon around the women (figure 2).

If the tribe is a numerous one, there may be two or three circles of men. The men dance for a few minutes, and then close in around the women, in the center of whom the novices are standing, and raise their bushes into the air. Each man then walks outward to the boundary of the ring and lays his boughs outside of the embankment. As every man goes to the part of the wall nearest to him, the boughs are scattered all round it. After this the women and novices withdraw, and sit down outside of the wall on the side farthest from the pathway, with their backs toward the latter, and the women commence to sing and beat their rugs. The headman of the local tribe then calls out the names of a few of the chief camping grounds, water holes, or remarkable places in his country, and all the men present shout. The headmen of the other tribes follow in succession, each naming a few chief places in his country.

The headman of the local tribe now starts along the pathway, followed by his own people; the headman of another tribe, accompanied by his people, follows, and thus all the men leave the ring. The women remain sitting, and continue to sing and beat their rugs, the novices remaining with them. The newly arrived men are shown the drawings on the ground and trees. At the chief figures the men stop and dance and shout, but some of the muttima are only looked at in passing, or a short halt is made in front of them. The wizards go through various forms of jugglery, pretending to bring different substances out of their bodies.

On arrival at the small inclosure the old men enter it and dance round the figure of Dharamoolan (figure 4), the rest of the people going round outside the embankment. All the men then return along the track and go into the large circle and dance round. The women now cease singing and get up and go away to the camp, the men shortly following. The men and women of the new arrivals, visiting tribes, erect their quarters on the side of the main camp nearest their own country.

That night the local tribe makes a corroboree for the benefit of those who arrived during the afternoon. On nearly every succeeding night a corroboree is held, the tribes taking their turns to provide this amusement in the order of their arrival.

Daily performances at the bunan ground. - While waiting for the arrival of other tribes, the men and women already assembled daily go through preliminary performances similar to those just described, beginning a few hours before sunset.

After partaking of the evening meal the young men of the tribe whose turn it is to make the corroboree that night commence to paint. While this is being done one or two bullroarers are sounded at short intervals in the adjacent forest. Fires are lit on a cleared level space in a central part of the camp convenient for all (figure 7, c.)

This corroboree ground is used by all the tribes present. As the men of each tribe corroboree in turn, the women of each tribe beat time and sing for their own men.

Every morning at, or before, daylight and every evening about dusk a bullroarer is sounded by one of the single men in the vicinity of the camp. When this is heard in the camp the elderly women begin to sing, and at intervals the men raise a shout in unison with one another. Every evening the boys go and sit among the women as they sing.

Taking away the boys. - When all the tribes expected at the bunan have arrived, the headmen hold meetings at the wurra wurrudthang and select the yooroonga or band of men who accompany the novices and their guardians into the bush. The yooroonga are strong, active men, well acquainted with the tribal customs, who perform the different pantomimic feats and assist the headmen to carry out the various rites and maintain discipline. The day of taking away the boys is also fixed at these meetings, and a guardian (jumbi) is assigned to each novice. This guardian is one of the brothers, own or tribal, of the women from among whom the novice could obtain a wife in accordance with the tribal laws; in other words, he is the brother-in-law, actual or titular, of the novice he has in charge.

About sunrise on the appointed morning the men go through the camp in single file, with bushes in their hands, and muster all the women, novices, and children to that side of the large ring farthest from the pathway. A sister or some near relative accompanies the mother of each novice and remains with her and carries her yamstick and a net bag in which are a headband and other articles of dress which she is entitled to wear after her son is taken. This woman also paints the mother in the manner customary in her tribe. One of the headmen takes the yamstick, with the bag attached to it, and inserts it in the ground a little way inside the ring, by this means defining the place where both mother and son are to sit. The mother of each novice is then seated outside of the embankment opposite her own yamstick, her relative sitting behind her. The other women and children sit on the ground farther back.

Each novice is painted with red ocher and grease by his brother-in-law, assisted perhaps by other relatives (figure 3, b).

Tullimbah (c.1798 - c.1870), Wollongong, 1858.

The boys are now also invested with the belt, headband, and other articles of a man's attire. The other men of the tribes gather wood, and they kindle a large fire, mulleech or mulleej, in the middle of the ring (figure 3, a). When the painting and other preliminaries have been completed the guardians take the novices on their shoulders and carry them into the ring, followed by several other men, who keep up a guttural chant. Each guardian then lets his novice down and seats him on the bank immediately in front of the mother of the boy, who puts her arms around his waist, he being within the circle and she just outside (figure 3). He is directed to gaze intently into the fire, which by this time is a mass of blazing embers, his guardian remaining near him to watch that this instruction is strictly complied with. The novices of each tribe are generally placed in groups on the side of the ring which faces in the direction of their own country, their mothers and the other women of their tribe being also in a group by themselves just outside. In the plate, I have shown both novices and women all in one place to save space and to prevent confusion.

All the novices, who are called yangomidyang, are similarly placed in a row along the inside of the embankment, at the opposite side of the circle to that from which the track emerges. Their mothers, who are behind them, are also required to look into the fire. If the mother of a boy is dead or is absent, the mother of one of the other boys looks after him as well as her own son, or perhaps a tribal mother or relative of the boy takes him in charge. The headmen walk about, directing the proceedings generally, and the other men stand in different groups, most of them being on the side of the ring opposite to where the women are.

As soon as the boys have been placed, a number of men walk several times around the fire, between it and the novices, clapping their hands and repeating an exclamation at each step. At a sound made by the headman these men fall down with their heads toward the fire, where they lie still for a short time. When the headman considers that boys and men have been sufficiently exposed to the fire, he hits the ground with a piece of bark which he holds in his hand, and the other men, half stupefied by the heat, rise. They then step back and stand outside the embankment. All the women and children are now told by the old men to lie down, and are covered over with rugs and bushes, some of the men walking about to see that the covering is not removed.

When all is ready the principal headman gives the signal, and two men sound bullroarers near the ring, walking along, taking up their position near the side from which the path emerges (figure 3, g). Each guardian then catches his novice by the arm, leads him along the pathway, the boy, dazed and stupefied by the heat of the fire, keeping his eyes cast on the ground and remaining silent. All the men beat their boomerangs and other weapons together and shout, making a great noise, which some of them keep up till the boys and their guardians, accompanied by most of the men, are out of sight. The covering is then taken off the women and children by the men whose duty it is to watch them, and they are set at liberty. The women who have charge of the mothers now invest the latter with the articles carried in the bag. After this all the women and children proceed to a new camp, which will be described in subsequent pages.

Ceremonies in the bush. - When the novices get out of sight of the women a halt is made and a rug is thrown over the head of each boy in such a manner that he can see only the ground at his feet. The novices are told by their guardians that a number of things will be shown to them by and by, and that they must pay attention to what they see and hear, but must not speak or laugh or be afraid. They are then taken along the pathway and are shown the drawings on the ground and on the trees, a short stop being made before all the principal figures, around which the old men dance. During this time the doctors or wizards go through various tricks of jugglery, pretending to bring up out of their mouths certain substances, such as quartz crystals, pieces of bone, string, etc, collectively known by the name joea.

The novices are next placed standing around the outside of the smaller ring. Some of the old men enter it through the opening in its wall and dance round the figure of Dharamoolun, extending their arms toward it, then drawing them back again, exclaiming "Dharamoolun! Dharamoolun!" several times in succession. The novices, standing outside of this cordon of old men, wave their arms in a similar manner (figure 4). The novices, the rugs still on their heads and their eyes cast down, are next taken farther into the bush and seated on the ground.

All the men now paint themselves a jet black with powdered charcoal and grease. As soon as this painting is completed they go into the bush to a place which has been previously selected as a suitable camping ground. Here and there on the journey saplings are bent over, under which the novices have to pass in a crouching attitude, and at other places are logs under which they have to crawl on their hands and knees at the bidding of their guardians and the other men. Several stoppages are made and at each the men go through different performances. Sometimes they imitate flying foxes. Several men go on ahead unknown to the novices, and one man climbs up a tree and hangs on with his hands and feet to a branch, another man hangs on to the first, and so on till there are as many as one man can support. The novices are then directed to look up and see the suspended men. In succession these men drop on their feet and all then dance up in front of the novices. At another stopping place a number of men are covered with bushes, under which they make a humming noise like bees. At a signal the bushes are thrown down and the men dance before the boys. Sometimes a number of men go ahead and climb trees and saplings and imitate the song of the locusts. The novices are brought on under the trees and are told to look up, after which the men descend to the ground and dance about.

On arriving at the camping ground a space about 60 feet or more in diameter is cleared. In the center of this space, which is called mudthiwirra, is raised a heap of earth about a foot high, called thalmoor, and on top of this a fire is lighted. Around this space the men of the various tribes make their camps, each in the direction of their own district. The guardians and the novices camp by themselves at one side of this cleared space, in a semicircular yard of boughs, having one or more fires lighted at the open end. The boys lie down on bushes and leaves, their heads being covered with rugs, some of their guardians remaining constantly beside them. During the time that the novices are out in the bush with the old men they are forbidden to speak; if they want anything they must make signs to their guardians.

After the camping place has been arranged another small space is cleared and a line of holes the size and shape of a human foot are dug about six inches deep. Sometimes only one pair of holes are made, and the novices are placed in them and operated upon one after the other. When these preparations are completed the novices are brought out and are placed standing with their feet in the holes described, with their guardians beside them. The yooroonga, fantastically disguised, then kneel down in a line in the clear space, the outside man at each end having a piece of bark (boonboon) in his hands (figure 6, a, a).

These pieces of bark are about 2 1/2 feet long and 6 inches broad at the widest end. One of these outside men hits the ground in front of him forcibly with his piece of bark and all the men utter a low, rumbling noise, each man in succession bending his head toward the other end of the line. When the movement reaches that end the other outside man now hits the ground with his bark in a similar manner and the men bend their heads the contrary way. This performance, which is repeated several times, is intended to represent the breaking of the waves on the seashore and their recoil. The line of the performers is approximately at right angles to the nearest seacoast, so as to correctly indicate the direction of the waves.

Each guardian then comes behind his boy and, kneeling down, puts his head between the boy's legs. The guardian remains in the kneeling position, with the novice on his shoulders, while another man stands behind him, with one hand over the eyes of the novice and the other hand holding his chin in such a way as to keep his mouth open. A man accustomed to the work of extracting the teeth, or who has watched the operation on previous occasions, then advances and placing one end of a small wooden chisel (dthungan) against the tooth gives it a smart blow on the other end with a wooden mallet (bunyah), which forces it out. More than one blow is frequently required to dislodge the tooth. Sometimes the headman rubs the boy's gum with a large quartz crystal for the ostensible purpose of loosening the tooth and making it draw out easily. The tooth is either spat out or is taken out of the mouth with the fingers, but all blood flowing from the wounded gum has to be swallowed. During the operation the headman stands by directing the proceedings, and a large bullroarer (jummagong) is sounded impressively by a man standing in the rear. The jummagong is a very large bullroarer used by the men when away with the boys in the bush; the mooroonga is a smaller instrument, and is used in mustering the tribes, and on all occasions, when it is required, in the vicinity of the women's camp.

The ceremony of knock ing out the tooth is done either on the afternoon of the day of arrival at the mudthiwirra or the day following, according to circumstances. As soon as this ceremony is concluded the men take off their queer disguises and throw them on the ground where the foot holes are made, together with the pieces of bark used for hitting the ground, and everything is covered over with the loose rubbish which had previously been scraped away. The mallet and chisel are either burnt or driven into the ground.

The novices are then taken back to the mudthiwirra and are given human excrement, of which they have to eat a small quantity. At night the fire on the thalmoor is kept burning brightly to afford light to the men, who continue to play various games and dances the greater part of the night, very little sleep being indulged in. These performances consist for the most part of imitating animals with which the people are familiar or scenes from their own daily life, and, like the ceremonials of other savage races, are mixed with obscene gestures. During the day the men hunt to provide food for all the party, but the novices remain in the camp in charge of a few of their guardians.

These proceedings occupy about three or four days, the performances at the camp fire being somewhat varied every night. All then leave the mudthiwirra early in the morning, carrying with them all their belongings, and go to some place where there is a large water hole, the novices walking with their guardians, still silent and with their faces cast downward. Before leaving the fire at the mudthiwarri the novices are given pieces of dry bark lighted at one end. As soon as this piece of bark smoulders they renew it with another. On the way to the water hole some of the yooroonga go on ahead, unknown to the novices, and one lies down in a hollow place, such as a hole where a large tree has been burnt out or in a natural depression, or a shallow hole is dug in some soft or sandy soil. This man is covered over with a light layer of bushes or rubbish, and holds in his hand a small bush, as if it naturally grew there. When the guardians and novices reach this spot a halt is made, and the man begins to groan and move, thus causing the bushes and rubbish with which he is covered to shake and heave up and down. Some of the old men go through various incantations around this figure, and at a signal the man gradually rises out of the ground, throwing aside the bushes, and stands up in front of the boys.

All hands arriving at the water hole, the boys are stood upon the banks. The men go into the water hole, pretending to look for turtles, crayfish, eels, or the like, but in reality to wash off the charcoal powder with which their bodies had been painted. They splash or lave water with their hands upon the boys standing on the bank, the latter waving their arms to and fro in the direction of the water hole, imitating the actions of the men. These then come out of the water hole and walk about till they are dry, or light a fire to warm themselves if the day is cold.

A start is now made toward the place where the women have erected the new camp. When they have gone on a short distance some of the yooroonga, who are a little way in the lead, stop and two of them stand out in a clear space, one of whom is sounding the jummagong and the other the mooroonga. The boys are now brought to a stand and are told to look at the men who are swinging the bullroarers. The headmen then tell the novices that what they now see and hear is the instrument which they heard at the large ring and at the other places since they have been out in the bush. They are cautioned under pain of death not to reveal anything they have seen or heard to the women or children or any uninitiated person. The bullroarers are then handed to the boys for their inspection, and they are invited to use them. They are now permitted to walk erect and to look around. When the day is far advanced a suitable camping place is chosen, where they remain all night. Next morning the journey is resumed, and on coming near the new camp men and neophytes lay down their weapons and other articles which they have carried and decorate themselves to meet the women. The men and boys are painted with stripes and patches of white, according to the manner of their tribe, and the boys are invested with the belt, kilt, head-band, and other articles of a man's attire. The men are also dressed in their full regalia. As soon as these preparations are completed, one of the men swings a bullroarer and the others raise a loud shout or cooee and are answered by the women at the camp.

The new camp. - Immediately after the departure of the boys with their guardians from the bunan circle the women and children and some of the men who are left to supervise and assist them pack up all their belongings and shift to a suitable place which has been chosen by the headmen, and there erect a new camp, each tribe occupying the side next its own country. Sometimes this camp is formed only a short distance, in other instances it may be several miles from the original camp. Close by it is a partially inclosed space, called the dhurrawangan, built of saplings and bushes, with an opening in the side, over which the saplings are sometimes bent to form a kind of triumphal arch (figure 7, b).

Each mother is accompanied by the female guardian who has remained with her. Only those women are qualified for the duty of guardian who have had a son initiated at a previous bunan. These guardians and the mother of the novices are collectively called yanniwa, and have a camp to themselves close by the camp of the other women, only the old women of the tribe being allowed to go near them. All the yanniwa have had to carry firesticks in their hands ever since the boys were taken away, and they have also been required to sing the customary bunan songs at the camp fire every morning and evening. While they are singing these songs they lift burning sticks from off the fire and wave them in the direction of the novices. They thrust their yam sticks into the ground in a row and dance along facing them while waving the burning brands.

Early in the forenoon of the day on which the novices are to return, one of the yooroonga goes on ahead to the new camp and announces their approach. The yanniwa then go from their camp to the dhurrawangan, each woman carrying in her hand a piece of burning bark, which on entering the inclosure they lay on the floor, their fiery ends together, the other end pointing toward the woman who places it. Before going into the inclosure each mother inserts her yam stick vertically into the ground near the entrance. These yam sticks are all in a row, and on each one is a net bag, belonging to the owner of the stick, filled with small green bushes. Some of the old men who have remained with the women also go with the yanniwa to the dhurrawangan and light a fire near the outside of one end of it (figure 7, g). All the other women in the camp also repair to the dhurrawangan and lie around the outside opposite the opening or doorway, where they are covered with bushes by the men. The yanniwa are gaily painted, and wear strings of shells, eagle-hawk's claws and teeth of animals around their necks and in their hair. Each of the mothers is provided with a piece of bark, called jinnin, about a foot or eighteen inches long and two or three inches wide, tapering smaller toward the end held in the hand. These pieces of bark are painted with lines and dots of pipe-clay to make them ornamental.

Return of the boys. - When the necessary preparations are completed at the dhurrawangan the party from the bush makes its appearance. The men, painted and wearing their full regalia, advance in a group, the novices being in the middle; on getting near the latter are taken on the men's shoulders. The principal headmen walk by themselves just outside of the other men. A bullroarer is sounded somewhere in the rear just out of sight of the women, and the guardians march into the dhurrawangan and let the boys down from their shoulders, each in front of his own mother, being guided by the arrangement of the yam sticks near the door. The yooroonga stand near the entrance. Each mother then approaches her son and taps him lightly on the breast with the jinnin; the guardian then turns the boy round, and the mother taps him on the back in a similar manner. The guardians again take the novices on their shoulders and carry them out of the dhurrawangan, when they let them down on the ground and conduct them away to a camp a short distance off, where they remain for the night. As soon as the boys are out of sight of the dhurrawangan the covering is taken off the other women, who return to the camp; the yanniwa come out of the inclosure, carrying with them the firesticks before described, and return to their own quarters.

While the women and yanniwa are going away some of the old men who have been there from the first throw green bushes, which they have in readiness, on top of the large fire before referred to, making a dense smoke (booraylang), and all the men who were out with the boys in the bush stand round the leeward side of the burning boughs. The smoke caused by the burning of the green leaves ascends around them. After this fumigation the men disperse, some going into the women's camp and others to the boys' quarters. Until now the boys have been called yangomnidyang, but from this time forth they are ranked as woorgal, men.

That night some of the old men are present at the camp of the neophytes, and forbid them to eat the flesh of certain animals until they receive permission from the elders of the tribe. Young men who at previous bunans had been prohibited from eating certain kinds of food are at this meeting relieved from any further restriction in regard to it. A few animals are, however, tabooed as food until a man has been to several bunans or has attained a certain age. These forbidden animals to eat are called mookoo to the young men. At the conclusion of these proceedings one or more of the men go into the bush some distance from the women's camp and sound a bullroarer, after which they return to their own quarters and everybody retires for the night.

The day after the ceremonies the entire camp is again removed to a new site, as.on other occasions; the several contingents camp around the local tribe in the direction of their country, and each one makes a corroboree for the amusement of the others. These corroborees are held on a common ground, which is in a convenient part of the camp. The women belonging to each tribe beat their rugs and sing for their own men during the night on which it is their turn to perform.

When all the merry-making is over, if any of the people present have a personal grievance to bring before the headmen or a complaint to make respecting a violation of the tribal laws, the matter is fully discussed by the elders of the several tribes, and punishment is meted out to the offending parties in the presence of the men and women of the whole assemblage. As it would be a breach of the tribal customs for the neophytes to appear before the women, they are debarred from witnessing these proceedings, but are permitted to witness those at the next bunan ceremonies which take place.

The next day all the tribes from other places who have attended the ceremonies pack up their things and take their departure for their respective districts. There now remains only one further rite to be carried out before the neophytes are finally liberated, and this is performed by the men of each tribe on their own contingent of novitiates some time after their return to their own country.

Final ceremony. - The boys belonging to each tribe, after having been shown to their mothers at the dhurrawangan, as already described, remain with some of the old men of their own tribe, camping in the bush, perhaps some distance from where the women are, gaining their own living during a period of probation which is fixed by the headmen. During this term, which may extend over several months, the neophytes are not permitted to go into any water or to look into it. If it becomes necessary for them to cross a stream they must get some one to carry them over it.

At the end of this period of probation they are again brought back by their guardians to a place near the women's camp, where a platform of bark about a foot or eighteen inches high has been erected. The yanniwa, painted and dressed in their ornaments, are at the platform, having laid down their firesticks on the ground close by; the other women of the tribe are also present, a little farther back, and some of the old men stand near directing the proceedings.

When everything is ready a signal is given, and the guardians appear with the boys on their shoulders, a bullroarer being sounded out of sight. The men let the novices down from their shoulders and leave them standing on the platform. Each mother now steps forward and taps her son with a piece of bark, jinnin, on the breast and on the back. From that time until now the boys have been compelled to carry a firestick, dhungga, in their hands when they went out hunting or when removing from one place to another, and the yanniwa have continued to do the same, but from this time they need not do this.

The yanniwa leave their firesticks lying on the ground where they put them down at the platform, and those used by the novices were thrown away when they were taken on the men's shoulders. The yanniwa and other women return to the camp, and the neophytes are no longer kept under restraint; they are now free and can go about among the men, although they must not associate with the young women, nor must they allow any woman's shadow to fall upon them until the old men who are the repositories of tribal law and tradition allow it.

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3. Approximate location

Within the article Mathew provides precise information regarding the location of the bunan ceremony described therein. He visited it in 1895 and in February 1896 obtained further information regarding its use from George Nipple Bandicoot. For example:

The last bunan which was held by the Shoalhaven river tribes took place about eight or ten years ago, at a place two miles and a half N. 130 W. from Cooloomgatta trigonometrical station, in the parish of Cooloomgatta, county of Camden, New South Wales..... The general camp (figure 1) was pitched on level land in a forest, near a small watercourse rising in the western side of the Moean range and flowing southwesterly into Broughton creek, a tributary of Shoalhaven river.

According to precise geographical information provided by Mathews within the article, the location was close to Moeyan Hill, and likely near the intersection of Coolangatta Road and Swamp Road. The small creek referred to by Mathews as flowing southwesterly into Broughton Creek now only exists in part, subsumed by residential and agricultural developments over the intervening 140 years.

Possible site of bunan ceremony indicated in purple, located in the vicinity of present-day Coolangatta Road, south southwest of Moeyan Hill, south southeast of Berry, and north of Cullungutty Mountain. Source: Google Maps.

Mathews mentions in the paper that the watercourse adjacent to the bunan ground flowed southwesterly out of Moeyan Hill, towards Broughton Creek, which was flowing in a north - south direction west of that location. However, the orientation of the watercourse drawing in figure 1 does not appear to align with that; it flows directly north to south and then in a south easterly direction. This may merely be explained by the graphical requirements of the printed article and space restrictions therein; or by the original path of the watercourse through that area in February 1895. This land has been part of the Alexander Berry and Edward Woolstonecraft grant since 1822. It is noted as a wooded area in 1895, suggesting that intense farming did not take place at that site, though it may have been subject to cattle grazing.

The present writer is not aware of any recent archaeological investigations of this site, or its listing on government heritage databases.

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4. Aboriginal words

The following are words - mostly Shoalhaven - referred to by Mathews in the article, and in many instances printed in italics by him for emphasis. Such words usually include a description of their meaning by Mathews. In numerous instances separate words appear to have been combined by Mathews into a single word, such as in dhurra wangan and wurra wurrudthang; or when a word such as boonboon can indicate a multiple or plural.

boonboon - a piece of bark
booraylang - dense smoke
bunan - a young male coming of age initiation ceremony
bunyan - a wooden mallet
burbung - initiation ceremonies of the Wiradthuri tribes
corroboree - an occasion for the gathering of people which includes performance such as dance and story telling
Dharamoolun - the supreme being and primordial God of the Yuin people
dhungga - a firestick
dhurrawangan - a partially inclosed space, built of saplings and bushes, with an opening in the side, over which the saplings are sometimes bent to form a kind of triumphal arch
dthungan - a small wooden chisel
gunyah - a protective structure which houses people and is built with natural material such as wood and bark
jinnin - a piece of bark
joea - doctors or wizards who go through various tricks of jugglery, pretending to bring up out of their mouths certain substances, such as quartz crystals, pieces of bone, string, etc, collectively known by this name
jummagong - a large bullroarer
jumbi - a guarding assigned to each of the boys (novices)
Kamilaroi - a group of people from northern New South Wales
mookoo - animals forbidden to be eaten by the novices
mooroonga - a smaller bullroarer used in mustering the tribes, and on all occasions, when it is required, in the vicinity of the women's camp
mudthi - a bullroarer
mudthiwirra / mudthiwarri - at the camping ground a space about 60 feet or more in diameter, which is cleared
mulleech - a large fire in the middle of the ceremonial ring
mulleej - a large fire in the middle of the ceremonial ring
muttima - figures or devices raised on the ground or carved into trees
thalmoor - in the mudthiwirra space is raised a heap of earth about a foot high, on top of which a fire is lighted
Wiradthuri - people from western New South Wales
woorgal - boys undergoing a certain stage of the bunan ceremony; or men, following completion of the initiation ceremony
wurrawurrudthang - a private meeting place for the headmen located at a retired spot in the bush, a short distance from the general camp
yangomidyang / yangomnidyang - boys undergoing a certain stage of the bunan ceremony;
yanniwa - the collective name for guardians and the mothers of the novices, who have a camp to themselves close by the camp of the other women, only the old women of the tribe being allowed to go near them
yooroonga - a band of men who accompany the novices and their guardians into the bush

Within his writings, R.H. Mathews refers to the Dharawal language, also known as Thurrawal or Tharawal, of the Illawarra and Shoalhaven region of coastal New South Wales, Australia, which also extended westwards in the Southern Highlands and areas southwest of the Sydney Basin.

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5. Discussion

The Mathews paper is significant for a variety of reasons, both cultural and historic. Some of those include:

Secret and sacred business: Whilst the Mathews paper is detailed in regards to geographical setting and processes connected with the Shoalhaven bunan ceremony of circa 1888, it is obvious that much of the associated story telling and oral and ceremonial information such as rites provided by Elders to the young men is omitted from the paper as published, and perhaps not even passed on to Mathews. This is likely related to secrecy and sacredness protocols and according to age, social standing, sex and even tribal and/or family affiliations within Aboriginal communities. Needless to say, much of this information never reached non-Indigenous ears.

God / Creator: The references to the sacred God-figure Dharamoolun and the significant role it plays in the bunan ceremony is indicative of the presence of such material, though its detail is not revealed.

Totems: The important use of totems in broadcasting news of the upcoming ceremony amongst neighbouring tribes is referred to. Totems exist across tribes and connect individuals within those tribe. For example, if you are a message bearer and you totem is koala, then you would seek to pass your message on to a member of another tribe whose totem is also koala.

Doctors / Wizards: Mathews refers to doctors and wizards, who are also known in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven by the term Kuradgi. They are usually older males with special spiritual, medicinal, and mystical powers.

The manner in which individual groups are dealt with and treated within the ceremony is interesting, with distinct divisions made between male elders, mothers of the novices, the male and female guardians of both the novices and mothers, and children. The rather brutal and harsh nature with which the novices are treated during the ceremony is also of note, being subject to treatment such as having to lower their heads for much of the time, not speak, have a front tooth knocked out, having to eat excrement and not bring allowed to bathe.

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5. References

Eklin, E.P., R.H. Mathews: His contribution to Aboriginal Studies, Part 1, Oceania, 1975; Part 2, 1975.

Mathews, R.H., The bora or initiation ceremonies of the Kamilaroi tribe, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, London, XXIV, May 1895, 411-427.

-----, The Bunan Ceremony of New South Wales, The American Anthropologist, Washington, D. C., Vol. XI, October, 1896, No.10, 327 - 344.

-----, Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales, Government Printer, Sydney, 1907, 44p.

Organ, Michael, A Documentary History of the Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1850; including a Chronological Bibliography 1770-1990, Aboriginal Education Unit, Wollongong University, December 1990, 646p.

-----, A Documentary History of the Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1900; including a Chronological Bibliography 1770-1990, Report for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 1 December 1993, 364p.

-----, Tullimbah - Aboriginal Warrior of the Illawarra, blogger.com, 5 February 2022.

Smith, Jim (editor), Some mythology and folklore of the Gundungarra tribe, by R.H. Mathews, Den Fenella Press, 2003.

Thomas, Martin, R.H. Mathews and anthropological warfare: on writing the biography of a 'self-contained man', Aboriginal History, 28, 2004, 32p.

----- (editor), Culture in Transition: The anthropological legacy of R.H. Mathews, Series: Aboriginal History Monograph 15, ANU Press, September 2007.

-----, The many worlds of R.H. Mathews - In search of an Australian anthropologist, 2011, 472p.

Wikipedia, Robert Hamilton Mathews, Wikipedia, accessed 16 August 2025.

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Last updated: 17 August 2025

Michael Organ, Australia

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