Aboriginal History Volume nine 1985 ABORIGINAL HISTORY INCORPORATED THE EDITORIAL BOARD Committee of Management: Stephen Foster (Chairman), Peter Grimshaw (Treasurer/Public Officer), May McKenzie (Secretary), Diane Bell, Tom Dutton, Niel Gunson, Isabel McBryde, Luise Hercus, Isobel White. Board Members: Gordon Briscoe, David Horton, Hank Nelson, Judith Wilson. ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1985 Editors: Tom Dutton, Luise Hercus. Review Editor: Isabel McBryde. CORRESPONDENTS Jeremy Beckett, Ann Curthoys, Eve Fesl, Fay Gale, Ron Lampert, Andrew Markus, John Mulvaney, Peter Read, Robert Reece, Henry Reynolds, Shirley Andrews Rosser, Charles Rowley, Lyndall Ryan, Tom Stannage, Robert Tonkinson, James Urry. Aboriginal History aims to present articles and information in the field of Australian ethno- history, particularly in the post-contact history of the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Historical studies based on anthropological, archaeological, linguistic and sociological research, including comparative studies of other ethnic groups such as Pacific Islanders in Australia, will be welcomed. Future issues will include recorded oral traditions and biographies, verna­ cular narratives with translations, previously unpublished manuscript accounts, resumes of current events, archival and bibliographical articles, and book reviews. Aboriginal History is administered by an Editorial Board which is responsible for all unsigned material in the journal. Views and opinions expressed by the authors of signed articles and reviews are not necessarily shared by Board members. The editors invite contributions for consideration; reviews will be commissioned by the review editor. Contributions, correspondence and inquiries about subscriptions should be sent to: The Editors, Aboriginal History, C/- Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian History, Australian National University, G.P.O. Box 4, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601. © Copyright 1985 by Aboriginal History Inc., Canberra, Australia. Apart from any fair deal­ ing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher. Typeset by Manukailopa Grcic Printed in Australia by ANU Printery, Canberra ISSN 0314-8769 The cover design carries the text of the opening paragraphs of the Kamilaroi Myth, Emu and Brolga, the subject of the article by Peter Austin and Norman B. Tindale in this issue. The emu and brolga images are based on western New South Wales cave paintings recorded by Mr F.D. McCarthy. Cover design by Richard Barwick. ABORIGINAL HISTORY VO^JME NINE 1985 Part 1 Erraa 2 Intrccuction 3 Diare Barwick 4 Pete Austin and Norman Tindale Emu and Brolga, a Kamilaroi myth 8 Luis: dercus Leaving the Simpson Desert 22 Rona Kelly and Nicholas Evans The McKenzie massacre on Bentinck Island 44 Patrcl McConvell Time perspective in Aboriginal Australian 53 culture: two approaches to the origin o f subsections Stepun Muecke, Alan Rumsey Pigeon the outlaw: history as texts 81 aid Banjo Wirrunmarra Margret C. Sharpe Bundjalung settlement and migration 101 VOLUME NINE 1985 P a rt 2 Tamin Donaldson From speaking Ngiyampaa to speaking English 126 Join Harris Contact languages at the Northern Territory 148 British military settlements 1824-1849 Johr B. Haviland The life history o f a speech community: Guugu 170 Yimidhirr at Hopevale JohrSandefur Aspects o f the socio-political history o f Ngukurr 205 (Roper River) and its effects on language change Ann Shnukal The spread o f Torres Strait Creole to the central 220 islands o f Torres Strait Reviws 235 ERRATA Aboriginal History, Volume 8 p.26 fn 10, third line Change [wiraedzeri] to [wiraedjari] p.27 bottom line Change ‘apicao-’ to ‘apico-’ p.29 fn 15, last line Change ’Worjmbon to ’Warjaibon and ’ni:amba to ’lji:amba p.31 line 9 Change w a d i to w a d i line 10 Change m a d i to m a d i p.33 1st para, third last line Change ‘of their’ to ‘or their’ p.34 Table 2, 2nd column Change “ mission’town’ to “ mission’near town’ p.39 Plate 1, line 4 C hange k u n y tu i to k u n y t y i p.40 Plate 3, line 2 Change nhiileyikiyalu to nhiilyikiyalu INTRODUCTION Aboriginal languages have long intrigued linguists and historians alike. Their number, dis­ tribution and diversity raise interesting questions about their relationships to one another and to languages in other parts of the world and consequently, about their ultimate origin. Unfortunately, however, their importance as vehicles of Aboriginal culture and thought has only gradually been appreciated. The lateness of this development is to be regretted because so many of the languages, particularly those in the more closely settled areas of Australia, have become extinct in the meantime and others are now on the verge of extinction. The aim of the present volume is not to describe or analyse Australian languages, how­ ever. Rather it is to show how studies of them may be used to contribute to a better under­ standing of Aboriginal history. To illustrate this the volume brings together eleven papers written by linguists focussing on different aspects of language and history. These fall natural­ ly into three fairly distinct, although partly overlapping, groups: those dealing with oral texts and history (Austin and Tindale, Hercus, Kelly and Evans, Muecke, Rumsey and Wirrunmarra), those using historical linguistic techniques to attempt to probe deeper into pre-historical aspects of Aboriginal origins, distribution, and culture (McConvell, Sharpe), and those describing sociolinguistic aspects of language use and change (Donaldson, Harris, Haviland, Sandefur, Shnukal). Yet the volume is more than just a presentation of different aspects of what linguistics has to contribute to Aboriginal history — it also provides insights into, and comments on (more or less directly) the Aboriginal condition today as well as on the Aboriginal response to a constantly changing world. Thus the papers dealing with oral texts and history are just as much about change and death as are those about specific languages and their speakers. Other papers show how adaptable Aborigines have been in adjusting to the new circum­ stances they have found themselves in following contact with Europeans — new languages were developed for example, and their own modified to meet new requirements. This is important for being rarely recognised, as is the Aborigines’ skill in using whatever linguistic resources are at hand to build intricate communicative systems which few Europeans ever get to observe let alone understand. This is illustrated by John Haviland’s article on the linguistic situation at Hopevale in North Queensland, for example. Haviland not only shows how Europeans have been misled into thinking that the traditional language of the area, Gugu Yimidhirr, is dead, or just about so, when it is in fact very much alive and plays a subtle role, together with English and other Aboriginal languages, in interpersonal commun­ ication between members of the Hopevale community. Still other papers give an insight into ways of Aboriginal thinking and the way they viewed various events of significance. Thus there are eye-witness accounts about how Wangkangurru people left their home in the Simpson desert at the turn of the century and how the Kaiadilt people saw a would-be settler make a systematic attempt in about 1918 to eliminate them by ‘shooting down everyone except the girls he intended to rape’. Finally, the volume is about history itself, about how texts become historical documents. For this reason four of the papers include texts transcribed in their original form. The publi­ cation of the original is by no means superfluous. Even when the language is traditional and few if any readers are likely to know it, a mere translation is not enough: the text with the gloss is, after all, the closest we can get to what people said and thought. In the field of oral history, it represents an historical document. Tom Dutton and Luise Hercus Diane Barwick As this volume was going to press we were shocked to be informed of the sudden death on 4th April, 1986 of our friend and colleague Dr Diane Barwick, foundation editor of this journal and principal guiding force throughout its existence. We publish the following letter, which expresses sentiments shared by members of the Board, from the Foundation Chairman to the current chairman as the Board’s tribute to one who has inspired us throughout the last decade. A further appreciation of her work and contribution to Aboriginal Studies is to be presented in a later issue. ‘I wish to put on record an appreciation of Diane Barwick as a foundation editor and planner of Aboriginal History. When it was decided to start an interdisciplinary journal of Aboriginal history within the Department of Pacific and Southeast Asian History Diane Barwick was the first person we thought of to join us at an editorial level and to help at the planning stage. Diane was at first hesitant. 1 had struck this kind of hesitancy before, particularly by senior anthropologists only too well aware that failure of an Aboriginal-oriented project tended to reflect adversely on the Abo­ riginal people rather than on those organising the project. Expectations, so I was told, were raised and could not be lived up to. But Diane’s hesitancy was shortlived. Once convinced that those involved were committed and that finance was available, she quickly made the project her own. Editorial conventions were worked out to suit several disciplines, scholarly procedures were laid down for reviewing articles, and longterm plans were made for regular publi­ cation. Needless to say Diane’s contribution was a major one. Her own exacting stand­ ards soon became journal standards, and her wealth of contacts and breadth of vision ensured interdisciplinary success. From the first Diane had a large say in choosing the members of the Editorial Board, many of whom were handpicked as valued and trusted colleagues with the right sort of qualifications.