“There was a great battle [at Broulee] there were two survivors”

“[The Cassilis warriors] ran in 10 yards and launched 60 spears into the sleeping possum-rugged guard[s]. Then, with the war cries, they ran forward to nulla nulla any un-speared guard and ... they running close together and so many of them became an easy target for 35 spear-throwers. Those un-hit either stood still or fled in terror up the [?missing word]. But a second shower of spears was launched at them. Then the loud and feared voice of Red Kangaroo to his warriors, “Get your spears! There’s more Cassilis warriors somewhere about!” Every warrior pulled his spear from [the] dead or dying. “Now Burradella, you and your warriors look to the U mouth and any Cassilis warriors that may try to slip by. I’ll take my warriors to deal with those Cassilis warriors getting away at U end.” “They speared three trying to break their way through the thick hop-vine scrub. But a number escaped into hop scrub. They [the Gunnedah men] followed with shield and nullas [sic] in hand. Burradella counted 34 killed and six badly wounded inside the first 60 yards of the U (...) Red Kangaroo and his warriors fell back into the hop scrub where only tomahawk or nullas could be used. And Burradella and his men got in touch with RK, making them 35 strong. Then Red Kangaroo led his warriors to attack again, roaring his battle cry. And the warriors of Burradella worked through [the] scrub, and on an agreed battle cry, they rushed from two directions at the centre of the Cassilis warriors. It was nulla and shield or tomahawk and shield – no spears or boomerangs could be thrown in that scrub and heather. Cutting the Cassilis party in two, both Nammoy River tribe parties turned on the same Cassilis-separated party and killing [sic] two Cassilis warriors. (...) Red Kangaroo soon came at a run, followed by his warriors, to the camp and spoke with Boobuk, and [asked?] how they hadn’t seen the smoke signals. He looked at the three Cassilis warriors they had killed.”

“They fancied me to be one of their tribe who had been recently killed in a fight, in which his daughters had been speared also. As I have before said, he was buried at the mound I saw, and my having the remains of his spear with me, confirmed them in this opinion.”

“After a little time, and a great deal of challenging bluster, the two tribes commenced fighting in reality. When my relations, for so for convenience, I suppose, I must sometimes call them, saw what was going on, they led me a short distance off, where they remained with me, looking at the conflict. It was anything but play work—it was evidently earnest. One man was speared through the thigh, and removed into the bush, where the spear was drawn. A woman of the tribe to which I had become attached, was also speared under the arm, and she died immediately. At last peace was restored, and the parties separated, except about twenty of the tribe to which the woman belonged who had been killed;”

“In a few weeks — but as I have already said, I have now no recollection of time — we left this place, and joined a friendly tribe, about fifty in number, and on the evening of our meeting had a Corrobberree. The next day we all started together to meet another tribe; but on joining, from some cause or other, they quarrelled, commenced fighting, and two boys were killed. I could not then understand what all these quarrels were about, but afterwards understood that they were occasioned by the women having been taken away from one tribe by another; which was of frequent occurrence. At other times they were caused by the women willingly leaving their husbands, and joining other men, which the natives consider very bad.
When these fights occurred, I was always kept in the rear. After the skirmish just mentioned was over, the tribe to whom the boys belonged retired farther into the bush, when we made our huts, as I have described, with boughs and bark.  Suddenly in the night, the others came upon our party and drove us away.  The bodies of the two boys who were killed were laying in one of the huts, so they cut off their legs and thighs, carrying them away; the remains of their bodies our people burned in the usual manner; we then left for the sea side.”

“Soon after a messenger was sent to another tribe, with whom they had a quarrel about the women; the message was to say they would meet them at a certain place to fight it out. In about four days he returned, with information that the challenge was accepted; so we went there, I, of course, not then being conscious of what we were going for. On our arrival at the battle ground, about twenty miles distant, we found five different tribes all collected together, and ready for action. The fight commenced immediately, and it lasted about three hours, during which three women were killed — for strange to say, the females in these quarrels generally suffered the most.”

“A desperate conflict took place among natives on Thursday near the Military Barracks; and a number of spears flying, a private of the New South Wales Corps received one by accident in the foot, which penetrated to some depth. The combattants were a long time prevented by the curiosity of crowds of spectators, who pressed upon all sides, from the continuance of hostility; but several Officers and Gentlemen interfering in commanding that no interruption should be offered to their customs, the battle shortly after closed and in a few seconds the field groaned beneath the weight of numbers falling under the waddy whose aperient powers furnished in a twinkling an unpleasant spectacle of fractured heads and half expiring veterans. Their mode of assault and defence with the waddy is certainly entitled to remark; for notwithstanding the most violent rage and impetuosity, yet the head is the only part guarded; every other being here opens to the blow of the antagonist, who never avails himself of the advantage but hammers at the head of him who endeavours to confer a lasting obligation on his own. The conflict which was truly spirited while it lasted, was provoked by the conduct of Wilbamanan, no less remarkable to his countrymen for his manly courage and prowess than for his perfidious manners; who attempted to force away the wife of a native from Broken Bay; in which attempt he eventually succeeded, after the unhappy object of contention had undergone the terrible fatigues and barbarities consequent on a savage rivalship that holds in contempt the female choice and inclination.”

“We remained in peace and quietness, until a messenger came from another tribe, saying we were to meet them some miles off. Their method of describing time is by signs on the fingers—one man of each party marking the days by chalkings on the arm, and then rubbing one off as each day passes. After travelling two or three days, we arrived at the appointed place, and found there a great number assembled, not one of whom I had seen before; and that evening we had the usual Corrobberree. In the morning we all went on a hunting excursion in perfect good humour, so that I had nothing to apprehend. It was a kangaroo hunt, and, as this was the first I had been at, I looked on with great interest, for I began to consider myself, by compulsion, a native, and to take a part in all their exercises. (...) We killed several very large ones, on which, with roasted roots, we made a great feast. After that, they all pipe-clayed themselves, and had another Corrobberree, and then, as usual, began to throw their spears about. This I thought would end in mischief, and the women appeared to think so too, for they ran into their huts. My guardians, as a precaution, took me with them. Nothing serious, however, occurred that night. In the morning it appeared that the Pootmaroo tribe had taken two women from the Yaawangis in the course of the night; or, that they had gone away willingly with their seducers. The consequence was another fight, but it ended without bloodshed. The affair, however, was not forgotten. After that, the tribes separated, each going to its respective locality.”

“Before we left this place, we were unexpectedly intruded upon by a very numerous tribe, about three hundred. Their appearance, coming across the plain, occasioned great alarm, as they were seen to be the Waarengbadawá, with whom my tribe was at enmity. On their approach, our men retreated into the lake, and smeared their bodies all over with clay, preparatory to a fight. The women ran with their children into the bush, and hid themselves, and being a living dead man, as they supposed, I was told to accompany them. On the hostile tribe coming near, I saw they were all men, no women being amongst them. They were smeared all over with red and white clay, and were by far the most hideous looking savages I had seen. In a very short time the fight began, by a shower of spears from the contending parties. One of our men advanced singly, as a sort of champion; he then began to dance and sing, and beat himself about with his war implements; presently they all sat down, and he seated himself also. For a few minutes all was silent; then our champion stood up, and commenced dancing and singing again. Seven or eight of the savages—for so I must call them—our opponents, then got up also, and threw their spears at him; but, with great dexterity, he warded them off, or broke them every one, so that he did not receive a single wound. They then threw their boomerangs at him, but he warded them off also, with ease. After this, one man advanced, as a sort of champion from their party, to within three yards of him, and threw his boomerang, but the other avoided the blow by falling on his hands and knees, and instantly jumping up again he shook himself like a dog coming out of the water. At seeing this, the enemy shouted out in their language “enough,” and the two men went and embraced each other. After this, the same two beat their own heads until the blood ran down in streams over their shoulders.
A general fight now commenced, of which all this had been the prelude, spears and boomerangs flying in all directions. The sight was very terrific, and their yells and shouts of defiance very horrible. At length one of our tribe had a spear sent right through his body, and he fell. On this, our fellows raised a war cry; on hearing which, the women threw off their rugs, and each armed with a short club, flew to the assistance of their husbands and brothers; I being peremptorily ordered to stay where I was: my supposed brother’s wife remaining with me. Even with this augmentation, our tribe fought to great disadvantage, the enemy being all men, and much more numerous.
As I have said in the early part of this narrative, I had seen skirmishing and fighting in Holland; and knew something therefore, of what is done when men are knocking one another about with powder and shot, in real earnest, but the scene now before me was much more frightful—both parties looking like so many devils turned loose from Tartarus. Men and women were fighting furiously, and indiscriminately, covered with blood; two of the latter were killed in this affair, which lasted without intermission for two hours; the Waarengbadawás then retreated a short distance, apparently to recover themselves. After this, several messages were sent from one tribe to the other, and long conversations were held—I suppose on the matters in dispute.”

“Night approaching, we retired to our huts, the women making the most pitiable lamentations over the mangled remains of their deceased friends. Soon after dark the hostile tribe left the neighbourhood; and, on discovering this retreat from the battle ground, ours determined on following them immediately, leaving the women and myself where we were. On approaching the enemy’s quarters, they laid themselves down in ambush until all was quiet, and finding most of them asleep, laying about in groups, our party rushed upon them, killing three on the spot, and wounding several others. The enemy fled precipitately, leaving their war implements in the hands of their assailants and their wounded to be beaten to death by boomerangs, three loud shouts closing the victors triumph.
The bodies of the dead they mutilated in a shocking manner, cutting the arms and legs off, with flints, and shells, and tomahawks.
When the women saw them returning, they also raised great shouts, dancing about in savage extacy. The bodies were thrown upon the ground, and beaten about with sticks—in fact, they all seemed to be perfectly mad with excitement; the men cut the flesh off the bones, and stones were heated for baking it; after which, they greased their children with it, all over. The bones were broken to pieces with tomahawks, and given to the dogs, or put on the boughs of trees for the birds of prey hovering over the horrid scene.
Having apparently gratified their feelings of revenge, they fetched the bodies of their own two women who had been killed; these they buried with the customary ceremonies.
They dug two round graves with their sticks, about four feet deep, then coiled up the bodies, tying them in their skin rugs, and laying them in the holes, with some boughs, and filling them up with earth: a ring being made round each place by clearing away, and lighting fires. After raking up the ashes over each, the sticks which they had used for digging roots were put over them, as I have already described the spears of the men are, who are killed.”

“This diversion finished, as usual, with a regular fight, beating each other about with their clubs most unmercifully. I afterwards understood this quarrel to be occasioned by a woman having been forcibly carried away by another tribe: one of those with us. She was living with the man who had taken her, and, as the man and woman were then both present, they wanted to chastise her for not returning to the tribe to which she belonged. In the skirmish this woman was felled by a heavy blow; seeing this, the men began to prepare for a fight also; one man threw a boomerang amongst the women, when they all ran away. The native who had stolen the girl, then came forward by himself and told them to take their revenge on him, and began to sing and jump and dance, upon which her father went up to him. They both remained quiet for some time, when the men called out to the father, telling him to let him have her, as the man she had been promised to was not worthy of her. Eventually the girl returned to her father. She appeared to be about fifteen years of age, and certainly was no beauty to fight about.”

“In the evening there was another great Corrobberree, and the next morning a fight; because one of the women had run away with a man, leaving her husband. It resulted by her being speared very badly.”

“Our next halting place was Morriock, where we found a great abundance of squirrels. After being there some time, the greater part of the men left on a distant hunting excursion, leaving about half-a-dozen other men and myself in charge of the women and children. On going away, they marked their arms in the usual manner with stripes, to denote how many days they would be absent; and one man of ours, who remained, did the same; rubbing off one mark each day, to denote the lapse of time. Soon after our people had left, another tribe came and made their huts very near to ours. The very next day they began to show hostile intentions, taking advantage of our weakness, and at length threw their spears, killing a boy and girl. Upon this a conflict ensued, which lasted about an hour. Finding we could defend ourselves, they very soon left and we immediately sent away a messenger to our tribe to tell them what had happened in their absence. They returned as quickly as possible, and a war council was held as to the propriety of following the others, which ended in preparations being made for a pursuit. The smearing with pipe-clay began again, and the spears and other implements were made ready for action.
It appeared the cause of their attack upon us was some very old grievance about the women. I am sorry to say it, but these dear creatures were at the bottom of every mischief. From Adam, that old root digger, downwards, it has always been the same, in every clime, and nation.—Then why fancy my very pretty looking, slightly clad Venuses, to be worse than others? On their part, I repudiate the imputation.”

“The next morning our party started, fully armed for the combat, and with passions highly excited at the thought of the advantage taken of them by their cowardly assailants. After they were gone, we, who were left, buried the bodies of the children in the usual manner. After two days’ absence, our fighting men returned, several of them severely wounded; but their revenge was satisfied, for they had killed two of their opponents.”

“The next place we went to was called Ballackillock, where we found a tribe already settled, if a few days’ residence under sheets of bark and branches of trees, may be so called. Both parties were very friendly for a short time, and then there was a great fight, in which a young woman, about twenty years of age, was speared through the thigh. As she belonged to our tribe, she was brought into our huts, from whence it seemed, she had absconded with a man of the other party, without her parents’ knowledge. The quarrel being over, and all quiet, the men went to the lake fishing, leaving the women to their usual occupation, and the poor girl by herself in one of the huts. The man she had eloped with knowing all this, went to her, and carried her off; so that when the tribe returned they discovered the flight of the fugitives, on whom they vowed vengeance.”

“Thomas commences his June 1840 letter to La Trobe with a statement that it is his ‘painful duty’ to inform him that the Western Port blacks had deceived him in February, by leaving all the women and children and the old men with him at the river Kunnung at Western Port, and telling him that they were off to the east (Gippsland) for bullen bullen tails, whereas in fact they had gone with the specific intention of finding and killing Gippsland blacks, eating their flesh and bringing some back to Western Port. [...] They had followed tracks and come upon a sleeping encampment of 14 at Taringal by the Snowy River (it was actually the Tarwin River, but Snowy was what he wrote in his first report). They killed nine with spears and tomahawks, one man, two lubras and six children – the rest escaped. The bodies of two of the children were quartered and brought back to Kunnung. As well, the whole body of a little child was brought back and planted in the bush not 20 yards from where Thomas was camped at Tobinerk. They ‘showed no remorse’, in fact, ‘exulted in their triumph’ but were ‘dreadfully frightened’ of what La Trobe would do when Thomas reported.”

“The next day we moved on to another fresh water lake of considerable extent, where we encamped, not very much at our ease, as we saw another tribe on the opposite shore. In the middle of the night we heard a dreadful uproar in that direction, and in the morning learned that those we had seen before dark had been fallen upon by some others whilst they were sleeping; so on hearing this we went to their assistance. On our arrival a horrid scene presented itself, many women and children laying about in all directions, wounded and sadly mutilated. Several of the poor creatures had rushed into the lake and were drowned. The few who had escaped were hiding themselves in the reeds; but on our proffering assistance and protection, they joined us, and went to our huts. The dead were left, it not being safe to lose time in burying them, as our number was not sufficient to make us safe from a similar attack. The day following we therefore left the spot, and kept wandering about for some time after, until we came again to our old quarters at Moodewari, where we remained some months.”

“A short time after this affair we shifted our quarters, and, when on a hunting excursion, accidentally fell in with the tribe to which he belonged, and a very desperate fight ensued. As is the case with them in such matters, when the parents cannot be punished for any wrong done, they inflict it upon the offspring.  So now, the savages having got hold of a child of about four years of age, which this man had had by the young woman before referred to, they immediately knocked it on the head, and having destroyed it, they killed the murderer’s brother, also spearing his mother through the thigh, and wounding at the same time several others; so that vengeance was heaped upon him and his tribe in a most dreadful manner.”

“The tribe which arrived the last, only remained a few days, when another fight occurred, again about the women—one of whom was killed, and several severely wounded: they then left.”

“One day we saw a large party of natives coming towards us, but they passed on to the back, at a distance; and, when there, began to polish themselves up with clay, and ochre, as if for a fight; it occasioned us great alarm; but we hoped our defenceless position would induce them to treat us mercifully. There were about sixty of them, and they soon undeceived us as to their intentions; for they came first to the other bank of the river, shaking their spears; and then crossing over, attacked us so furiously, as to give the women and children only time to attempt escape. My old friend, and supposed brother-in-law, had a spear sent right through his body, and then they hunted out his wife and killed her dead upon the spot. The savages then came back to where I was supporting my wounded friend; who, seeing them approaching, sprang up, even in the last agonies of death, and speared the nearest assailant in the arm. My friend was, of course, dispatched immediately, with spears and boomerangs; as was a son of his, who was with us at the time.
Strange to say, not one raised his hand against me; had I done so against them, I must have been sacrificed instantly; for what could I do, being only one against so many? The cause of this sudden unprovoked cruelty was not, as usual, about the women, but because the man who had been killed by the bite of the snake belonged to the hostile tribe, and they believed my supposed brother-in-law carried about with him something that had occasioned his death. They have all sorts of fancies of this kind, and it is frequently the case, that they take a man’s kidneys out after death, tie them up in something, and carry them round the neck, as a sort of protection and valuable charm, for either good or evil. They took the son’s life because he had a daughter, who he had promised to the man who killed him, and had afterwards given her to another.”

“They were five young women belonging to the last party we had met with, who had made their escape, in consequence of another great fight which had ensued between my old friends, and the tribe who had killed my protectors. They told me, three men of the hostile party had been killed, and that they had burned the bodies of my said-to-be brother-in-law, his wife, and his son, to prevent their enemies from mangling them; and, that if the women had not left, they would have been taken away by force by the opposite party.”

“A pitched battle took place between a tribe of the Melbourne and the Goulburn blacks. The scene of warfare was in the vicinity of the Sydney Road, about seven miles from town; about eighty blacks on either side placed themselves at a distance of about ten yards apart, two ropes placed at that distance, separating them from each other; the more courageous of either party occasionally advanced within the open space intervening, and were immediately selected as targets by their opponents. At a short distance from this scene, some forty or fifty women and children, belonging to the respective tribes were also engaged in a similar occupation. Mr. Robinson, the Protector, upon being informed of the circumstance hastened to the spot, and immediately despatched a messenger to town for Dr. Thomas, who, upon his arrival, found between thirty and forty wounded, some dangerously, and one man, belonging to the Melbourne tribe, hopelessly so, having received a spear in the breast, which had penetrated a considerable depth, inflicting a frightful wound. A lubra, belonging to the Melbourne tribe, also received a dangerous wound on the cheek with a boomerang. Mr. Robinson's horse was speared, and when our informant left, the courage and animosity of the belligerents appeared unabated, notwithstanding the severe injuries received on either side.”

“Affections! — we shall see more about that presently; but, perhaps I may as well say at once, that my dearly beloved played me most abominably false, for at the end of our honeymoon, (perhaps it might have been a few months after that moon had gone down,) one evening when we were alone in our hut, enjoying our domestic felicity, several men came in, and took her away from me by force; she, however, going very willingly. The next day — as I had no Supreme Court to go to for damages — I went over to the tribe the intruders belonged to, and told them how I had been treated. I confess I did not make a very great fuss about my loss — if it was one — but endeavoured to whistle it down the wind gaily. Several of the friendly natives were anxious I should take the usual revenge upon her and the man she had left me to live with, but I refused, and in the end, she was speared by another man, with whom she had been coqueting, and to whom she had also played falsely. Mixed up by relationship, as all these parties were, after a great number of altercations about her having run away from me, and the circumstances of her death, there was another fight, in which many heads were broken. I, however, took no part in these, excepting assuming the defensive, and threatening them with punishment if they interfered with me, being now, and having been for a long time past, quite as expert as any of them with the spear, and boomerang. After a great deal of talk and noise, all became reconciled, and there was another Corrobberree on a large scale.”

“Lately, in the vicinity of the town [Sydney], a battle took place, where about 200 were engaged, I believe in consequence of the death of the celebrated Bennelong, who visited England some years ago, and was taken great notice of. The spears flew very thick, and about thirty men were wounded.”

“On the 20th, I learned that there was that day to be a fight amongst the natives, at a place designated for that purpose. (...) Having first obtained the captain's permission to do so, I got ready at 9 a.m. and went to the spot in question with Mr de Silvier and Krasil'nikov, the supercargo's assistant.
On our arrival, there was nobody about; but after a little time a large crowd began to gather (for the English have a particular love of fights of every sort.) At 11 a.m we saw some 30 armed and running natives, all quite naked. Each had with him three spears, a shield, and a bludgeon, all these articles being made of an exceedingly hard wood which the English call ironwood. At length, another 20 or so men ran up and, at a signal given by one of their number, they divided into several parties. Then a dreadful racket was raised on all sides and, in an instant, from two opposite quarters, spears flew. (...)
All at once, the bludgeon goes to the head and a man is half killed by a single blow. One can scarcely imagine with what desperation and what ferocity the natives fall upon each other, now striking, now repulsing. If a man falls, his strength gone, other men instantly club him almost to death, striking at his temple with a bestial joy. The clash of shields, flying fragments of spear, the wild cries of the victors, the pitiable wail of the wounded, bloodied faces, broken limbs: I confess that only the English could admire all this. But the battle lasted for more than two hours and ended only when many had grown weak. I remained a few minutes longer at the scene of conflict to gaze at the wounded combatants. I looked and was horrified: blood flowed in streams, here from a head, there from a chest or shoulder. One individual had had an eye put out; from the forehead of another there protruded the tip of a spear. In short, almost all the natives were wounded in the most awful fashion.”

“The Blacks knew of spasmodic raids which had been attempted by the numerically stronger Lake George tribe and also by their next door neighbours round Yass. These had been beaten off with little loss. The one serious attempt on their supremacy occurred not long before the Whites arrived. This was a combined attack made on the North and East by these two tribes. Much slaughter resulted on both sides, but after a three day running battle the invaders were repulsed.
As combatants had to be fed, many of their women had been brought along to see to the army's needs, not only to carry food, but with replacements of spears and boomerangs. The victorious Nganbra warriors captured many of these lubras. They were incorporated into the tribe and later became the mothers of more men for the fighting forces. For this reason, the losers were weakened, more by the loss of their women than by their men slain in battle.
One quite extraordinary feature of these battles was that little bitterness was shown afterwards. Normal friendly relations would be resumed by all contenders. Seemingly, fighting with them was more of a sport than any life and death struggle.
That was the last fight of any consequence, and Ngambra's supremacy was never again threatened up to the time of the Whites taking over the dominion.”

« An esteemed correspondent, one of the old identities of this district, whose knowledge of the district extends to the Thirties of last century, furnishes us with the following instance of a tribal battle between the aboriginal tribes of Monaro and this district. In the early Thirties of last century (he writes) were the times when the black tribes engaged in their tribal fights. On one occasion I well remember the King of Monaro came with his forces to wage war against the Canberra blacks, then known as the Pialago tribe. The plains lying between Duntroon and Queanbeyan, on the east side of the river not so long back were known as Pialago Plains. They presented a picturesque sight, their almost nude bodies grotesquely marked in blue and white war paint, with feathers in their hair, each one furnished with spear, boomerang and shield. They were lithe and active fellows, standing over six feet in height—a contrast to the poor creatures that used to hang about the settlements in after years. The blackfellow of those days was a savage in all his glory; but if he was any savager than the white man of his day records do not tell us. The opposing forces drew up in fighting attitude out on the open plain—Monaro and Pialago braves prepared for a determined contest. The Canberra forces drew a line across the plain, and defied the Monaro foe to cross it. Poor simple wildmen of the bush, ready enough to engage in a struggle with each other—tribe against tribe—to their own weakening. It never struck them how much better it would have been to combine against the white usurper, whose foot was already on their soil, and before whose incoming tide ere long they would pass away like a dark shadow over the face of the sun. There is a tradition that the Canberra blacks were camped on the Gundaroo river in the vicinity of the present village of Sutton when at daybreak the Yass tribe rushed their camp, but to their own sorrow, for the Canberra tribe of warriors were too strong for them, and made short work of their discomfiture. But to return to the fight between the Monaro and Canberra tribes. According to Mr. McQuoid, of Tuggranong, and Mr. Wright, of Lanyon, it was a grand stand-up affair, and lasted throughout the day. Spears were flying and boomerangs whistling through the air, amidst the whoopings and yells of the combatants and the incessant rattling of their shields. But towards evening the King of the Monaro army drew off his forces. Next morning the Monaroites, marched up in front of the Pialagoites with a loud shout, and with much stamping of their feet on the ground, seemingly to frighten the Canberra warriors. But there had been a heavy fall of rain, and the ground being soft and slushy their blue-and-white war paint became presently obliterated with the mud they had stirred up. Their ludicrous state elicited roars of laughter from the Pialago warriors; and this seemed to so enrage the Monaro braves that they rushed with blind fury on their grinning foes, only to spend their strength in vain. Seeing this, the King of Monaro hurriedly withdrew his men from the field, and began a long and disastrous retreat, while ever on their rear hung, like an avenging Nemesis, the harrassing foe. On and on, for full 15 miles, past Cuppacumbalong, the territory of King Bongong, eight more miles to Naas, another 18 miles up to Booth's Creek (as it is now called, but by the blacks named Durrandimmey), and so retreated to their own territory, defeated and disgraced. In after years there was found the skeleton of a blackfellow in a small cave out that way, at a place called Bobeyong. It was of great stature. The writer was shown a cleft between two rocks out that way, where some of the bones of the wounded in that battle who had died were packed. It was somewhere about eight or nine miles up Alumny Creek. In another cave in the same neighborhood, some years later were found a few skeletons and some broken spears. »

“Long before the white men came into Gippsland, a large number of the Brabrolung Kroatungolung and Tatungohlung went towards Maneroo on the war path. At Gellingall, about twenty miles up from Buchan, on the river of that name, they left their women, and proceeded to a place now known as Fanwick, where their spies surprised two Brajerak — an old man and his son. The former was killed, but the latter escaped. The skin of the slain man was eaten, and his legs cut off, and carried to the camp, where the old men roasted them and shared the flesh among the boys, in order that, when the old men were dead, the boys might know what to do. ”

“Recollections of Billy Murri Bundar. - Billy is an old black fellow at Burburgate. His father was Ippai Mute, and lived at Wundula, near the Mukai. Wagiira was chief of the Wandula tribe; he was a leader in fights, and made laws when he chose. Billy cannot tell how he was appointed chief. When Billy was a boy, a Burburgate black fellow, Charley, was killed by one of the Wee Waa tribe, some seventy miles lower down the Namoi. Upon this being known, a man known as Guzguela (charcoal), with the class names Murri Ganur (red kangaroo), summoned the men of Burburgate to go and take vengeance on the guilty tribe. An old man called by the whites Natty (whose proper names are Yawirawiri Murri Ganur), was one of the leaders. The warriors were painted red and yellow. They were armed with spears and shields, with boomerangs, bandi and berambi (two kinds of clubs). They met near where the bridge now is, about half-way between Burburgate and Wee Waa, and, after great talk, fought till many were killed.”

“About 28 [18 ?] or 20 years back nearly half the tribe were killed between Kangerong and Arthurs Seat. ”

“The natives at Pumice-stone River having a quarrel with another tribe, at the distance of five-and-twenty miles to the S.W., they were about to set off for the latter place in order to decide it; and as I was then living with the chief of the Pumice-stone River tribe, he insisted on taking me with him. We accordingly set out early one morning, travelling from ten to fifteen miles daily. Our party consisted of ten men, eight or nine women, and fourteen children, the king, his son, and myself. The men carried the nets, and the women were loaded with fern-root, &c.; all parties, men and women, being armed with spears. On the third day we halted, and all the men went out fishing. After eating a hearty meal, they commenced painting and decorating themselves with feathers. The king himself covered me all over with charcoal and bees’ wax; and, when all were dressed, we again went forward, and in a short time arrived at a number of huts, which had been erected for the occasion. They were so numerous that I could hardly count them; and each tribe (for there were many tribes assembled to see the fight) appeared to have their huts distinct from the other. On our arriving within a small distance of the encampment, we all sat down; and as soon as we were perceived, the assembled multitude began to shout, and immediately my companions were visited by several of their friends, and all began to weep piteously. Shortly afterwards the chief of the tribe on whose ground we were came to us, and having conversed for some time with our chief, he pointed out a place on which we might build huts for ourselves. The women of our party then immediately commenced building, and in less than two hours had finished five or six commodious huts, in which we all rested that night. The next morning a large party, including our chief and several of his men, went out kangaroo hunting. They were not, however, very successful, having only caught one large kangaroo. They, however, gave me a great piece of the hind quarter, of which they made me eat very heartily; and here I will observe, that at all times, whether they had much or little, fish or kangaroo, or any thing else, they always gave me as much as I could eat. The same evening at sunset, the whole party, carrying fire-sticks, went away about a mile and a half to where the battle took place the next day, the chief leaving me with his wife and two children in the hut. He however returned some time in the night, for I found him at my back when I woke in the morning. The next day, after breakfast, the ceremony of painting was gone through afresh, and we marched in regular line, our tribe having been joined by several strangers, all of whom seemed much rejoiced at my accompanying them. We shortly arrived at a level piece of ground, in which had been dug a circular pit about forty feet in diameter. I was now left in care of the chief’s wife at a short distance from this pit; but being anxious to view the fight, in spite of her endeavours, I went up towards it. She, however, followed me, calling out and weeping; upon which one of the men of our tribe came to me, and taking my hand, led me up to the pit. I there saw a woman of my tribe, and one of another, fighting desperately with sticks. The battle did not, however, last long, as they appeared to be quite in earnest; and in five minutes their heads arms, &c. being dreadfully cut and swelled, our woman was declared the conqueror, and other not being able any longer to oppose her. The victory was announced by a loud shout from all parties, and the amazonian combatants were immediately carried away by their respective friends. The man who had brought me to the pit still continued to hold my hand, and I observed his whole body tremble like an aspen leaf. The chief’s wife now came again to me, and endeavoured by every means in her power to force me away; but finding I still refused, she went for her husband, who immediately came, and taking away my spear, forced me out of the crowd. He then called several other chiefs around me, and showed me to them. This caused great talking and laughing among them, from surprise at my colour and appearance. The king then addressed them at some length, apparently asking them not to hurt me, which they gave me to understand by signs that they would not. I was then delivered up to our chief’s wife once more, who led me back to the place where we were left before. I had however a good view of the pit, round which the whole crowd still remained. I now found that, while I had been engaged with the chiefs, another fight had taken place in the pit, for I presently saw a man carried out by his friends, who were of our tribe, bleeding profusely at the side from a spear-wound. He was brought down to where I was, and place on two men’s knees, with some kangaroo-skins spread over him; the men, women, and children howling and lamenting, much in the manner of the lower Irish. They supplied him with water from time to time, but his wound was evidently mortal, and in less than an hour he expired. The chief’s wife then took me away a short distance from where he by, and the whole party set to work immediately to skin him; but from the distance at which I stood, I could not perceive the maimer in which they did it. In the mean time two more men had entered the ring to fight; and here it may not be amiss to observe, that previous to each fight the same ceremony is used that is described by Thomas Pamphlet in the combat which he witnessed. The third fight was now going on, while our party were engaged in skinning their deceased companion; when it appeared, from a tremendous shout, that some unlooked-for event had happened in the pit. I afterwards learned that the spectators judged that foul play had taken place between the combatants. The crowd upon this drew away from the pit; and our party, accompanied by those tribes that were friendly to them, formed themselves in a line, while their adversaries did the same opposite to them. The battle then became general. Several from each side would advance, and having thrown their spears, again retire to the line, in the manner of light infantry. Others would get behind the trees, and there watch an opportunity to burl their spears with greater effect In this manner the fight continued upwards of two hours, during which time many retired from the line severely wounded, and another man of our party was killed. What number may have been killed on the other side I had no means of ascertaining. Our party now began to give way, which being observed by the women and children with whom I was, they made signs to me to accompany them; and with the exception of those who were employed in skinning the body, we made off.”

“Mr [Martin] Lynch in his early boyhood - about 1830 - witnessed a battle at Fairy Meadow, between the Illawarra blacks and the Bong Bong blacks, over something in the lady line.
The battle took place in a naturally clear spot - the real Fairy Meadow - situated immediately on the north and east of what is now the junction of the Main Road and Mt Ousley road. Mr Lynch declares that several hundred men on each side took part in the battle, which consisted of a series of intermittent onslaughts, which extended over three days and nights.
During the continuance of the battle some of the men and women would go abroad hunting for food.
The battle was won by the Illawarra blacks. Many blacks on both sides were killed and more wounded. The killed were buried in the tea tree scrub between the site of the battle and the sea (between two arms of Fairy Creek). The weapons were mostly spears, nullah nullah’s, and waddies of one shape or another.
Mr Lynch explained that the dead of both parties were buried along the northwest bank of Fairy Creek, east of the North Illawarra Council Chamber. About 70 men were killed in the battle, including both sides, and all the corpses were buried by the victorious Illawarra tribe.
The graves were dug along the bank of the creek, which was somewhat sandy, the depth of each being about three or four feet. The blankets, tomahawks, billy cans and all other articles owned by each of the deceased were buried with them, some wood also being placed on top of the corpse. The explanation given by the survivors was that the wood and other articles would be required by the departed in another country.
He (Mr Lynch) witnessed the burial of several of the men killed in the battle. The place of the burial was not the usual locality for interment by the blacks - the slain in battle only being placed there. The usual burial place in that quarter was in the sandy bush land on the south side of Fairy Creek - now Stuart Park - east and west of the Pavilion. The sand banks, near Tom Thumb Lagoon, Bellambi, and Towradgi, were likewise burial places, where many bodies were interred from time to time. He had witnessed nearly twenty blacks buried in the spot near Fairy Creek already mentioned. As a rule they did not desire white people to know where they (the blacks) buried their dead, but after the district became somewhat settled their burials could not be kept secret.
The blacks carrying out the burials and the deceased’s relatives used to stripe their bodies and heads and necks and limbs with pipeclay, as marks of mourning for the departed.
Regarding the battle, he had witnessed it each of the three days over which it extended - hostilities being suspended at nightfall. His mother and step-father also viewed it each day from the elevated ground between Mr Bate’s brickyard and Mrs Aquila Parsons’s residence.
The Illawarra tribe fought on the north side of the Meadow, and the Bong Bong tribe on the south. Spears were thrown thick and fast between the combatants, and repeatedly he had seen men struck with them on both sides, sometimes causing the man struck to fall mortally wounded, while in some instances the wounded person would struggle to withdraw the spear - not always successfully.
In close quarters nullah nullahs and other hand to hand weapons were used furiously in the mortal combat - one of the persons so injured not infrequently having his skull crushed or limbs broken.
The dead were left unburied until the battle was over, after which the victors carried the bodies to the place stated and buried them there as already mentioned.
The cause of the battle was the taking away from the Bong Bong blacks a young jin of their tribe by an Illawarra black designated Dr Ellis by the whites. He induced her to leave her tribe with him, and carried her away captive unknown to them, and hence the rupture between the two tribes, resulting in the battle and bloodshed narrated. The captive maid was in the immediate vicinity of the hostilities all the time as were the jins, the latter carrying about and supplying to the male warriors the deadly weapons and other requirements of the ongoing engagement.
The young jin who was the cause of all the bloodshed did not hide her desire to flee to her own tribe, even while the battle was proceeding, but from doing so she was forcibly prevented, and beaten again and again most brutally, until her head was almost in a state of jelly and was covered in gore - the brutality being inflicted mainly by her captor (Dr Ellis). So frightfully was she beaten and battered that his (Mr Lynch’s) mother took compassion on her and took her to her own home and doctored her there for some time until she recovered sufficiently to rejoin her lord and master and his tribe.
The Bong Bong blacks came down the mountain range from their own country, making the descent opposite Dapto, to wage war with the Illawarra tribe, at whose hands they sustained defeat in the pitched battle as stated - the survivors returning again by the same route over the mountain to Bong Bong to tell their tales of blood and daring deeds by the way.
The young woman, or jin, concerning whom the battle took place, remained in Illawarra all the remainder of her life and passed away, as did the whole of her race, from time to time in rapid diminution, unknowing and unknown in an historic sense. Sanguin was the mortal tribal conflict that had taken< place regarding her, and numerous as were that slain that bled or fell in her interest.
Her remains, like those of the sable warriors who died concerning her, were interred in the usual crude grave in Illawarra soil, without a stone or any other sign to show her last resting place.
Mr Lynch states that he never remembered the blacks having actually murdered any white persons in the district, though several were scared by them now and again. He mentioned however that Mr Hicks, subsequently of Bulli, was decoyed into the bush in the Shoalhaven district under the plea of showing him some cedar, and that he narrowly escaped being killed by his false guide or guides. He saved his life by jumping over a precipice, falling on suspended vines and thereby being saved from being smashed in the fall.
Letter by Martin Lynch to Archibald Campbell in 1898 :
.....Recollect to see the fight between the Bong Bong Aboriginal tribe and Wollongong tribe. Both tribes in number wood be fully 15 hundred. The number killed would be over 100. This was origanated by Aboriginal Dr Ellis taking a gin away from the Bong Bong tribe. The fight was on Mr James Towensend paddock, which is accultiry Para Meadow. They buried the dead at the bottom on Towensend paddock on an arm of Fairy Creek.”

“About the beginning of the last century the Monaro tribes had encroached on the land of the coast tribes, and the savages' way of settling disputes was by war. As was usual, the chiefs met beforehand to decide all particulars, and the spot chosen for the combat was where the Cobargo Showground now is. This was about 1830, and the actual fight was witnessed by the late WD Tarlinton. The battle lasted all day, being won in the end by the Monaro tribes and the next morning there were 60 dead blacks on the field.”

“In 1840 Thomas was told that long before Europeans had arrived there had been tribesmen living on French Island, but these had been massacred by a raiding party from Gippsland. There were tribal songs telling of these events.”

“About nine years back two were killed where we was (sic) en­camped by Western Port and about 28 or 20 years back nearly half the tribe were killed between Kangerong and Arthurs Seat.”

“While in the Bathurst country, I witnessed a Corrobborey, or meeting between two hostile parties, and for some time entertained an idea that they were only amusing themselves; in fact, after all their trouble, it was not very evident which party got the best, though it was quite so that two individuals got the worst of it, one of them having his head broken, and the other his leg.”

“In an affray that took place on the Wollombi between two tribes, four men and two women of the Comleroy tribe were slain;”

“l was to-day present for the first time at a battle of natives, ten men being engaged on each side. A clear spot had been selected as the place of combat. The two bands advanced to about thirty paces from each other; then a parley commenced, in which words got higher and higher, until, in exasperation, two or three ’bumarangs were thrown from the one side. Presently, the others returned the challenge in the same way, and then the parties gallantly closed, and began to belabour one another’s heads unmercifuly with their clubs. Three or four of the combatants were soon prostrate, and the blood on their backs showed that the blows had been forcibly applied. Threats, dark and deep, were now heard; spear were got ready for action, and the dreadful howl of defiance was raised. The combatant again opposed each other ; but with more deadly weapons than before. But, while the sight of blood arouses the valorous feelings of the men, it evidently excites the softer sensations of the other sex; for now, all at once, there rushed between the parties a hag bearing the name of woman. Her eloquence was great, if we may judge by the noise she made. She suited the action to the word and the word to the action, and, as often as a man lifted a spear to throw, she interposed herself. Her violence was becoming outrageous, when there came forward from the opposite side a woman also armed with a tomahawk, and seemed inclined to take summary means to quiet the first intruder. She,however, was not to be daunted; for, in reply, she brandished her stick as though game to the back bone. The angry mood, however, of these two females suddenly changed; for they ceased to threaten, and agreed to endeavour to preserve peace between their friends; but the first, finding her efforts in this direction to be unavailing, abandoned herself to despair, and, seizing a tomahawk, cut her head with it in a most dreadful manner. Whether she intended also to cut short her existence or no, remains an unsettled question, for the tomahawk was wrested from her hands. The female affray was to me by far the most amusing part of the business, and no London fisherwomen could have assailed one another with greater seeming virulence, or with mere ready language. The one party had hawks feathers stuck in their hair, a sure sign that their intentions were deadly.”

“About four years ago [1836] 77 people were killed at Little Brighton not nine miles from Melbourne. [...] [They have] no monuments whatever further than devices on trees where any great calamity have befallen them. On a large gum tree in Brighton, on the estate of Mr McMillan was a host of blacks lying as dead carved on the trunk for a yard or two up. The spot was called Woorroowen or incessant weeping. Near this spot in the year 1833 or 4, the Gippsland blacks stole at night upon the Western Port or Coast tribe and killed 60 or 70 of them.”

« Our natives listened very attentively to these recitals, their knowledge of the English language allowing them to understand the greater part of what was said, and as they were about being employed in quieting these disturbances, they took the greater interest, as it gave them an opportunity of retaliating on their old and formidable enemies, the Gipp's Land tribes, who bad invaded Westernport some years since, and had nearly annihilated a whole tribe. One of the old warriors of this tribe, who had escaped the massacre, said that his people were laying about the country like dead kangaroos. On my expressing surprise at the number that must have been killed, he construed it into an expression of unbelief.  Look at my people,'' said he; where are all my brothers ? do you see any old men ? I am the only one. I talk with the young men. My old companions sleep at Monip. He then told me that the herber or wild blacks from Gipp's Land had surrounded the tribe one night, and having killed nearly all the men, stole the females and destroyed their children, so that few escaped. Nearly all the remnant of this tribe whose members were then young, has now entered into the native force, and makes an efficient police ; being such excellent trackers, nothing can escape them when once on the trail. As the general characteristic of this people is never to forget an injury, the propriety of sending them to quiet their greatest enemies will admit of being questioned. There is very little doubt that when opportunity offered, they would execute their commission most effectually by shooting them, and what else could be expected from those who were still half savages, whose education bad been commenced under the protectors. »

« The chief or mor mun of the Yowengerre was Pur. Rine, native place Warmun, is dead. This tribe once powerful are defunct and the country in consequence is unburnt having no native inhabitants. This is the reason why the country is so scrubby. The natives of Gippsland visit the inlet at Pubin.borro and other inlets in the snowing season. There must have been an awful massacre of these natives. Mun mun jin ind’s father was a Yowengerre; Mun mun jin ind gave me an account of the natives of the country and also gave me the names. The natives of Gippsland have killed 70 of the Boongerong at Brighton. »

“About 1833-4 another massacre is reputed to have taken place on the western side of Tooradin when about 25 of the Bunerong tribe were killed ’in the gray of the morning’.”

« The aborigines of this island consider that when they can compass the death of a friend or foe by stratagem instead of in open warfare it enhances their standing as skilful warriors according to their notions of one. Previously to the country which lies on the Western side of the bay of Western Port (between what was at one time Manton’s, and Allan’s run) being occupied by squatters in the year 1835, the Gippsland blacks attacked some five-and-twenty of the Western Port tribe in the gray of the morning, and cut off every one of them. Their tombs consist of many cairns plainly visible to this day. When I went to reside at Dandenong in 1838, the blacks told me of the occurrence, and that they never had been able to avenge the wrong. »

“On one occasion, it being a holiday, the boys were allowed to pay a visit to the blacks' camp, some distance out of Parramatta, towards Prospect. The blacks had assembled from various parts of the colony, for the annual feast given them by the Governor, and to receive a blanket apiece. The latter gift is still customary wherever any blacks remain. Before the feast came off, quarrels had sometimes to be adjusted, and on this occasion a fight took place, which we had the opportunity of witnessing. There were probably six or seven hundred blacks assembled at their camps. The women of each party had first to be placed at a safe distance. The men painted themselves with white pipe-clay and red ochre and thus, without any clothing, the two parties advanced towards each other in a half circle, in ranks three and four deep, armed with spears, boomerang, nullah-nullahs, waddies, and shields. When within a hundred yards or so of each other, the battle began. The spears flew across the half circle in great profusion, but were well parried by the shields. Then came the boomerangs, striking the ground first, and then rebounding in all directions among the enemy. These are dangerous weapons and cannot be warded off so well as the spear. After a little time, the contending parties closed in, and a hand-to-hand fight with their nullah-nulllahs or waddies ended the affray. Three blacks were killed and a number wounded. Next day, notwithstanding, both parties assembled at the feast together and made friends. (17-18)”

“The late Mr. William Thomas, who for more than a quarter of a century acted as Protector or Guardian of the Aborigines, and had in the discharge of his duty visited nearly every part of Victoria, undertook at my request, some years ago, to make  a careful estimate of the number of the Aborigines at the time when they possessed the land; and he arrived at the conclusion that the total number could not be less than 6,000. From his statement it appears that the Aboriginal population in 1835-6 of the counties of Bourke, Evelyn, and Mornington was 350. But he adds that one-half at least of one of the tribes inhabiting these counties had perished in 1834 in a war with the Gippsland and Omeo blacks, and that previous to the war the total number was certainly not less than 500.”

“But the manner in which the aborigines of the northern districts generally dispose of the dead, appeared to me to be the most important point on which the evidence of Davies could be brought to bear; and it will doubtless be horrifying to the reader to learn from that evidence, corroborated as it is by independent and unquestionable testimony, that in that part of Queensland the bodies of the dead, whether they fall in battle or die a natural death, are, with the exception of the bodies of old men and women, uniformly eaten by the survivors. The fights of the aborigines are frequent, and occasionally bloody ; and on such occasions, the dead, of both parties of the combatants, are carried off, skinned, roasted and eaten by their respective friends I Davies had seen as many as ten or twelve dead bodies brought off by one of the parties engaged, after one of these fights, all of which were skinned, roasted, and eaten by the survivors. And when I observed that so large a quantity of human flesh could not surely be consumed at once, he replied, that there were so many always assembled on such occasions, that the bodies of the dead were cut up and eaten in a twinkling, there being scarcely a morsel for each. (355)”

“An exterminating warfare by the Twofold Bay natives and their allies has nearly depopulated the country; happily the feuds have ceased, and the few that remain live in peace.”

« Two Fold Black fellows long time ago killed many many, rest all dead »

“The first of their adversaries in the field, were the Kempsey blacks, who came over one afternoon, and fought the Yarra-Bandini natives at our very doors. The battle was conducted in the most fair and open manner; each party drew up in two lines, armed with spears, shields, and boomerangs, and threw spear for spear for a considerable time, before any damage was done. At length a Yarra-Bandini black was slightly wounded in the forehead; and soon after a Kempsey native, whom the sawyers had named Major Lovatt, was transfixed with a spear, which apparently passed through his lungs. This concluded the fight; both the hostile parties now mingled together in the most friendly way; and the Yarra-Bandini tribe was even more anxious than the other, in their endeavours to alleviate the wounds of the dying man. My partner also rendered every assistance to him, but he expired in a few minutes.”

“Accordingly, under the pretence that an immense flock of ducks had settled on some lagoon down the river, the Kempsey natives, who are few in number, but more conversant with the customs of the whites than the others, succeeded in persuading some cedar dealers and sawyers at that place, to lend them some muskets, which they loaded with slugs, and they then proceeded down the river in a boat. The Tryal bay blacks, who were quite taken by surprise by this unusual manoeuvre, were soon worsted, and several of them were wounded by the shot, but none killed.”

“Matters now became more complicated, for one of the Nambucca river tribes, being indignant at the treatment of their neighbours at Tryal bay, took part in the quarrel. message, returned in a great hurry, glistening with moisture from having swam across the creek; as she had seen the Tryal bay tribe, who were coming up to fight the natives at our place. She had scarcely bounded away from us to warn them of the approach of their enemies, when the latter appeared, marching in Indian file, having their bodies painted with red stripes, and their bark shields whitened with pipe clay and adorned with double red crosses. They advanced with a measured tramp, carrying their spears aloft at a uniform slope, with their shields on the left side. They had just arrived where we were standing, when the Yarra-Bandini blacks, having been warned by the gin of the approach of their enemies, dashed out of the adjoining brush, and throwing themselves into regular rows, five or six deep, commenced a furious dance in defiance of the other party, leaping up and down at a measured tread, whilst they beat time with their nulla-nullas and waddies, accompanying each jump with a short loud shout. As soon as their adversaries had arrived opposite to them, each party halted, whilst the chief men on both sides advanced, and commenced a most animated dialogue, occasionally threatening each other with their spears. A very old woman, whom the Tryal bay blacks had brought up with them, seemed to be particularly active in abusing and insulting the Yarra-Bandini natives, whom she railed at unceasingly in a loud screaming voice. As the Australian aborigines look upon their women as very inferior animals to themselves, I suppose the Tryal bay tribe had brought up this scolding old lady, in order to evince the greater contempt for the other tribe; much upon the same principle, which once induced a king of France to send a defiance to an English prince by a scullion, instead of a herald, in order to insult him the more grievously.
After a long altercation the two hostile tribes mingled together, as though they were on the best terms with each other; they encamped, however, for the night, at some distance apart. Next morning the fight commenced, in which, according to the usual custom, the three natives who had been the original cause of the quarrel, stood prominently forward, exposed to the spears of the Tryal bay blacks for some time, without receiving any assistance from their companions, until one of them received a spear wound on the instep, and another on the knee. The fight then became general, but no further damage was done, as each party was equally adroit in warding off, with their shields, the missiles that were flying about. This engagement seemed to conclude the quarrel between the Yarra-Bandini and Yarra-Hapinni blacks, as the gin Dilberree, who had been carried off, was restored to her friends. It was, however, some time before the other quarrels, which had arisen from this affair, were fought out; after which a general peace had to be consolidated by solemn corroberrees, danced successively on the grounds of each of the belligerent tribes.”

“A tolerable idea of their manners and customs may be formed from an occurrence which took place within Mr. Meredith's knowledge. An intimation being given by a neighbouring tribe to that settled near Goulburn, that they would kill a certain old man among the latter, a council was held forthwith on the subject, and means discussed how this indignity should be prevented; when, after much deliberation, the elders and fighting men decided on a most strange and horrible expedient, being that the old man's own son should kill him then, and so deprive their foes of the pleasure! The young man immediately rose, took two spears, and gave his miserable old father his death-wound as he sat, unconscious of any harm, by his fire, although it was some hours before he expired; his son meanwhile tending him with the utmost care and affection. After his death his son and the whole tribe mourned and howled over him several days; and then, taking their weapons, they set forth to go and kill as many as they could of the other tribe, to avenge the death of the old man. They were very successful, leaving several of their foes dead; but the police magistrate of Goulburn, annoyed by their fightings, threatened them with punishment, which caused them to set off in a large body, and well armed, on a peaceful visit to the Bathurst tribe, who received them with all honour and civility, and gave a grand corrobbory on the occasion, inviting the strangers to see them dance.”

“A blackfellow who had no fear of the darkness, and was a terror to his own tribe as well as to his enemies, abducted a gin (who certainly was not fair to view); armed with a shear blade he surprised a camp at night and killed three of the enemy. The injured tribe mustered some thirty or forty men, and arrived close to his camp. He had only six warriors, but defied them, and after many days deliberation they gave him best, consoling themselves with the idea that he was possessed of an evil spirit, and it was no use fighting "the debil debil."”

“Previously tribal feuds had been responsible for many murders among the blacks, and when the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan blacks had met at any time, war between the two tribes always resulted, and they killed each other until one side gave in. The method of fighting was for the armies to face one another at a short distance and to throw spears and boomerangs until the battle was declared closed. Each side would then bury its dead, after which the tribes would’ return to their respective camping grounds. During one of these battles, which was fought on The Bland, two blacks on the Murrumbidgee side were killed by the one spear, which passed through both of them. One also had’ his head taken off by a boomerang. This was the last fight between the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee blacks.”

“In 1837 with Cobborn Jackie at the head of the Lachlan-Murrumbidgee tribes, a fierce battle was,fought against the Namoi blacks. Jackie, a young aborigine employed by my uncle, was wounded in the side just near the waist-line with a long, jagged spear. The spear did not go right through the body, but seemed to be lodged in the stomach. To remove the spear, Jackie’s comrades in arms pushed it through till the jagged end came out on the other side, and then they sawed off the long end and pulled the point till the shortened spear came out. First aid was applied by plugging the sides with clay-mud, and then, on a sheet of bark as an improvised stretcher, Cobborn Jackie and other warriors carried the wounded black from Namoi to Burrangong, a distance of three hundred miles. When the stretcher-bearers reached the station, Jackie was still alive, but weak and helpless. My uncle gave Jackie and his attendants a hut for their own use, but the blacks were not at home in this place, so they built for themselves two mia-mias, one for the men and one for the two gins. Only those who were charged with the care of Jackie remained on the station; the others went back to their regular camps. Cobborn Jackie was in charge of the nursing staff, and saw to the morning and evening meal for the sick man, but it was my special privilege to take him his dinner each day. He was never able to stand up, but lived for six months, and I found’ him dead one day when I took him his midday meal. (22-23)”

“The following account of a pitched battle between two tribes of aborigines on the Lachlan is given by one of the pioneer squatters, the occurrence taking place on a new run, which he had taking up during the dry season, about 1837 :
These continued droughts had also the effect of bringing the natives down to the river for water, and I saw, upon one occasion, tribes from the east and the west assemble within a mile from my station, and witness a pitched battle fought between them to settle some dispute. The number was nearly equal — about 400 on each side — with the wives and children of each tribe encamped at the rear. Several old, grey-headed chiefs advanced from each side, armed with spears and boomerangs, to within 50 yards of each other, and commenced what appeared to be a very angry discussion; at length they became so excited, after a long parley, that they threw their spears at each other, which was a signal for a general attack from both sides. The reed spears were thrown in such numbers and with such rapidity that they filled the air for about fifteen minutes, and had the appearance of a shower of spears. Some of the spears were warded off very dexterously by the combatants on both sides by shields of strong bark borne on the left arm. Several, however, on each side were killed and wounded, when the eastern tribe evidently became alarmed and retreated, allowing several of their wives to be captured by the western tribe.”

“On returning to our huts, we were greeted by the sight of nearly all our warriors, many of whom had been coming in, in the interim of our absence. Our whole number of effective men, as I may not have remarked before, was said — how correctly, I had no exact means of knowing—to be about seven hundred. But, with the loose discipline to which they were subject, more or less of them were always absent on any given emergency. Decampment, so to speak, was but the work of a moment, and warriors, women, and children, were all on the long war-path. During the first three days, we were only allowed time sufficient for sleep; and we tasted, absolutely, nothing, save now and then a mouthful of water, which was generally half mud, and sometimes brackish at that. Standing around the mud-hole, or rather scrambling to obtain a handful of its contents, nothing is more common than for native men to growl and snarl at each other, like the same number of native dogs over the carcass of a dead kangaroo.
When the three days’ stage of our march was measured, the tents were pitched, the fires were kindled, and a short hunt supplied a very scanty meal. The next morning, leaving a hundred men to garrison the encampment, we resumed the path which some heroic muse has celebrated as Leading to glory or the grave. During this day, as we were nearing the enemy, every tread was cautious, and every eye was frequent and searching in its glances to detect an ambuscade. At dark, not daring to light a fire, we laid ourselves down and slept upon our arms till midnight. According to the information of the spies, who accompanied us as guides in this expedition, we were now so near the quarters of the enemy, that we could reach them at that chosen hour when they would be found in their deepest sleep — a sleep which proved to many of them, as it was intended to be, the sleep of death.
Resuming our arms and our march at midnight, two or three hoars brought us in sight of hostile fires. Here we paused. Agreeably to the order of attack, we were divided into two parties. One was to surprise and attack, while the other, at a distance of forty rods, was to surround the encampment, for the purpose of intercepting and cutting off the fugitives. I was detailed on this latter service.
The charging party had advanced to within some fifteen to twenty rods of our unsuspecting victims, when one, more watchful than his fellows, caught the sound of approaching footsteps, and yelled the alarm. Before it was fairly uttered, a volley of missiles laid him dead. The projectors followed the projectiles, and with nearly equal swiftness. The strife which ensued was hand to hand; but it was unequal. Many were struck before they could get to their feet. The outcry of terror and death was horrible. Women, with their children, were flying and falling in all directions, while the mere handful of surviving men, with a valor unsurpassed by the palmiest exploits of ancient or modern chivalry, stood and fought like tigers. By the clear light of the moon, which rendered most of the scene distinctly and fearfully visible, I beheld a poor woman, with a child under each arm, flying from the stormed encampment, hard by the point at which I was posted. The sight roused my pity. Unfaithful to my painful trust. I determined to permit her escape, and pretended to be looking another way. Ill-fated mother and children! The sight had attracted an eye that knew not to pity, and the barbed weapon which pierced the maternal bosom, reached it by passing through one of the children; and, the next moment, I saw the tomahawk despatch the little survivor.
The time of this massacre did not occupy more than half an hour; and small, indeed, must have been the number who escaped to tell its ensanguined tale. When the work of destruction was ascertained to be complete, and before daylight broke upon the scene, we left it; but not before some of the victors had availed themselves of the opportunity of allaying their cannibal hunger. ”

“We were once more in our quarters. (…), when a scout brought in the intelligence that an enemy had invaded our hunting ground, and that, from all appearance, they had come to offer us battle. Instantly, the reeking meat fell untasted, and the luxury of the feast gave place to preparations for the greater luxury of war. Nor was the time allowed for preparation long. For, while the warriors were giving their weapons a brief inspection, female hand were putting the other movables into portable condition; so that when the former were armed, the latter were loaded for the march. In a few minutes from the sound of the tocsin, we were waiting for the word which was to set our whole train in motion. It came, and all were on our way to find, and chastise the foe. Nor did he compel us to a protracted search. In less than four miles their shout of defiance broke upon us, and were echoed with due emphasis. We found them posted in a wood. An American and a western man would have called it an opening. The trees were large, but sparse, and without the impediment of an undergrowth. The consequence was, that it presented a fair field, and brought the two parties into mutual view, at a desirable distance previously to the onset. The reader will not fail to perceive that this is the only case, recorded in connection with my island residence, of anything like a pitched battle. Skirmishings; night attacks; and other specimens of desultory fighting were by no means wanting; but this is the first and only instance, which fell out in that connection, of the meeting of large forces, de- liberately, in the day-time, and with what we are accustomed to consider, The pomp and circumstance of glorious war. When within some hundred yards of each other, the two armies halted, and formed in order of battle. Then the two chieftains strode out on to the middle ground, till they had reached a distance suitable for the purpose, when they fell into a long parley. Whether it contemplated a pacification, I had no means of knowing; but from the result, as well as from a general knowledge of savage character, I presumed it was meant for nothing more than a part of the afore-said pomp and circumstance. This ceremony was followed by another of a less questionable character. When the chiefs had terminated their interview, an armed man advanced a few paces toward us from the opposing ranks, who performed a number of antics, and displayed a deal of grimace and gesticulation of a violent character. Then, squaring himself, in true martial style, he poised and shot his war spear directly into our lines. This was the unmistakable throwing down of the gauntlet, and, perhaps, included the ceremony of devoting us to the infernal gods. At all events, it was followed by immediate action.
For about the space of three hours, the death-dealing missiles were showered as thick as hail. Within such a time, projectiles would not only begin to fail, but the combatants, waxing impetuous, would be fain to mix themselves in strife of a more personal and deadly kind. It was so in this case. The original distance had been gradually lessened, so that, as spears and patience failed, they were ready to grapple each other in pairs. From this period, the style of the contest was merged in the duello, in which each seized the other by the hair, and, with his war-hatchet, either cleft his cranium, or plied it for that purpose, till he had hardly strength for another blow. For a long time the scale of battle hung on an even beam. Every man fought as if he were conscious that the issue depended on his single arm. At length, however, the enemy gave way. The rest of the action was a rout, on their part, attended with a slaughter unprecedented by the whole of the regular engagement. For half an hour we hung upon their flying squadrons, when, too much spent for a longer pursuit, our leader called a halt; and each party, satisfied in its own way, retraced the path by which it had sought the war. ”

“We were now to prepare another for more than twice as many hundred of our enemies. Our good spears were once more rebarbed. Our wigwams were broken up; and we were again upon the war-path. Stopping only to sleep, and only a night in a place, we found ourselves, after a long and wearying march, on the hunting ground of our enemies. There was an oath, or rather a couple of oaths, between us. They had sworn our deaths; we had sworn theirs.
Our warriors were divided into four parties, with orders to patrol the hostile territory, and spare neither age, sex or condition. And literally — too literally — were those atrocious orders obeyed, during the six weeks of interskirmish which ensued. How many our arms destroyed in that time, we had no means of knowing, with any great definiteness. But, upon a comparison of accounts, our chieftain comforted himself by believing that the number of men was little, if any, less than two hundred, beside large lots of women and children. True, we paid for this princely satisfaction by some large losses of our own. We had gone into the enemy’s ground with seven hundred warriors — a little over one hundred of whom were missing when we left it — as, at that time, we could hardly muster six hundred. This septimation of our men was accompanied by a proportionate riddance of such encumbrances of the expedition as wore the shape of women and little ones. For such as they— a hundred, more or less—are hardly included in the foss-account; especially, when, as in the present case, we had the proud satisfaction of having been the killers of two hundred male enemies, full grown, with only a little more than half as many of our male effectives killed. ”

“Shortly after I settled amongst them I gave Jack Weatherly, one of the tribe, a double-barrelled gun to procure for me the lyre-bird. He was employed occasionally in this way when opportunity offered, and with practice became a very good shot. One day, without my expressing a wish for any more of the birds, he applied for a much larger supply of powder and shot than I had formerly given him at one time, stating that a large party of his tribe were going to procure lyre-birds, and promising me, after four or five days, no end of curiosities in the shape of birds of the air and denizens of the forest. As he had always satisfactorily accounted for what he had before, I gave him it without reluctance. The days lapsed into weeks, when he stalked up to the station, evidently elated with some success, which he was not long in telling me. After getting the gun, &c., he went to a council of war which was being held to take into consideration the glorious opportunity now presented to the tribe of avenging the onslaught I have alluded to above. The old men, who always shut their eyes and stopped their ears when they saw a gun being fired off, decreed that the powder and shot which had just been received from the various squatters on the ostensible plea of procuring lyre-birds, &c., should, by Jack Weatherly (who was appointed leader of the expedition) and those of his compeers who were proficient in the use of their guns, he buried in the skins of the wild blackfellows as they termed them (to show them the new mode of warfare they had adopted, and thus to prevent a recurrence of their visits) wild in contradistinction to the life of amity they themselves led with the white men. After four days’ march through the barren mountains which separate Western Port District from Gippsland, they on the fifth day sighted the smoke of some fires on the skirts of the beautiful pastoral district there. On the following day, about mid-day, they surprised the camp, making prisoners of all in it, which consisted only of some old men and some children. They then went in search of the able-bodied men, whom they espied very busily engaged in fishing on the banks of a large river not far off. They managed to sneak upon them within ten or twenty yards, and then blazed into them, killing or severely wounding every one of them, seven in number. Those who escaped the first volley jumped into the river and swam across, but the second volley brought them all down. After cutting out their kidney fat, they took as much of the carcases as they could well carry on their return route, and having mustered their forces at the camp where they had captured the old men and children, they despatched them also, and then commenced their retreat. When they reached the first station on the Western Port side of the mountains, they still had portions of the legs and thighs of their enemies, which they had not consumed, but reserved for those of the tribe who were not present. Many maintain that the aborigines are not cannibals. They are not cannibals for the love of human flesh, but there are occasions when they do eat their enemies, as in the present instance, where they did it to render, according to their notions, the deed of retaliation more complete, and under an impression that partaking of the flesh of an enemy tended to confirm hatred and foster a passion for fresh deeds of vengeance.”

« The details of this expedition were also confirmed by Rawson who saw the raiders return on 9 March 'bringing immense quantities of human flesh with them'. For several days the feast continued, the women and children taking part, and surprise was shown that Rawson would not join them – 'it had exactly the appearance of fat pork with a very thick skin'. »

“In 1839 a group of Bunurong women, children, and old men were left at the station of Samuel Rawson and Robert Jamieson at Yallock for a period of five weeks. When the able-bodied men returned they told the settler that they were responsible for many deaths in Gippsland.”

“Tuesday 19 March 1839
Reported that the Goulburn River Blacks were coming to kill Derrimart for some supposed outrage he had been guilty of, in killing a native man of another tribe.
Saturday 23 March 1839
The tribe of Natives from the Goulburn arrived this evening. A fight commenced. ... Several Natives were wounded with spears. ”

“Mr Murry stopped behind. He came into my office and placed on the table the hand of an infant to convince me they had killed these people. I expressed my abhorrence at the practice and of the wickedness of it. He seemed to think I was wrong and he right. Said the blacks very bad, killed were along way off. Another had a piece of human flesh. Both these members had been roasted in a clean and perfect state. My son George had seen the process when he was going they had two large heaps like charcoal fires and which the women told him was dead men meat the women were roasting it. The manner in which they describe the way they killed the native family was extremely cruel. The family was alone when they first saw them. They were intent on their distinction and proceeded to surround them. One black walked strait to the man who was sitting down. He got up and seeing the blacks began to make a noise. He branded the spears till at length one thrown by Ningkallerbul, a koy.un or plain battle spear, passed into his thigh where he fell and they then speared him. They speared the wife and knocked the child on the head with a waddy. They then cut up the bodies. The man they destroyed as he was lean. The woman they cut up. First the joints were cut off, then the head. The trunk they eat, and heart and liver. They smeared their bodies over with the blood. Roasted the body. The limbs they brought with them which they roasted at Port Phillip ie. Melbourne, and when Mr Thomas told me they had done no harm they then had actually the human flesh in their huts and in their possession.”

“Thursday 11 April 1839 - Am received note from Lonsdale by Billy Lonsdale informing me that the Wartowong or Barrabal Hill blacks were in the township. Several natives called to communicate this information. Went off to receive them. Pm walked to the native encampment, natives all busy preparing spears and other native weapons and I was informed that the Wartowerongs had arrived and was on the encamping ground to the westward. Went and visited them. They were all seated in one group with their spears and other implements of war in their hands. These whole persons were decorated or marked in different device with a yellow earth or clay. Their heads were completely bedaubed as indicating I believe of hostile feeling. The resident tribes said they were big one sulky. They had come it appeared with the intention of redressing their wrongs done to their tribe by some of the Waverong. King Bull and Devilliers, who it appeared had murdered one of their tribe: Der.in.der.in brother. They marched to the camping ground in military way in a compact body and seated themselves on the western extremity on the bare ground. There were the men and youths 36 in number viz 25 adults and 11 lads. A large assemblage of whites, many of whom were low characters, surrounding them. ½ an hour after their arrival the women and children came in carrying what we supposed at a distance spears but which proved to be sticks about seven feet long and one inch and ½ thick, called Tilbert. There were 36 individuals among the females, viz. 19 women and 17 children, total number of the tribe 72. Mr Thomas and Parker was on the ground. The women sat down about 200 yards in rear of the men at the foot of a large tree. Soon after the arrival of the women, one of the men named [blank] attended to by seven or eight others went out from the group they were divested of their garments or mantle with their waist girt and their implements of war in their hand, they took up their station on the rising ground opposite Mr Close [Clow’s] house and then displayed a variety of menacing or war attitudes, a great deal of gesticulation accompanied the same. The seven or eight attendants were also armed their position was in the following manner: [Figure 4.1]. The one that gave the challenge in front attendants a few yards in the rear. After the challenge was given they then advanced and nearby at the same time they were saluted by a loud shout or yell by the Waverongs and Tar.goon.ger.rong combined and who immediately were seen descending the hill towards the Wortowerongs and wending their way among the trees which had an imposing and pleasing effect. I advanced to meet the Waverongs and Tar.goon.ger.rongs, met Bull or [blank] who was coming down the hill by himself, told him to desist from fighting. A large party to the northward of Bull all in battle array was proceeding to the fighting ground. There were lookers on. To the south the party of Waverong and Tardoongerongs were descending and beyond them the women and children. They met on the low ground and formed in battle order thus: [Figure 4.2], and then commenced a vehement discussion, shaking their spears and clubs at each other. ... Whilst myself and assistants were engaged with the men a large party of women had met and were in sharp conflict about 300 yards distant in a southwest direction from where the men were fighting. The attention of the spectators were called off to this cabal and hastened to the scene of action. A large party of whites were looking on but none attempted to prevent the poor creatures from doing mischief. Reverend Mr Grills said afterwards that he saw one woman get three strokes on the head before she could ward off the blow. They were fighting with long sticks seven feet in length 1 ½ inches thick. When I reached the spot I rushed in among them without hesitation and laid hold of their weapons and calling on them to desist, pushing them away and after a little exertion succeeded. One woman shewed me her chin, the top of which was knocked off. She was greatly excited. The bystanders seemed pleased with the mischief the poor creatures were doing to each other. After pacifying and separating the women I hastened to where the men were engaged. They had it appeared exchanged spears during my short absence and were in a state of great excitement brandishing their spears and making a great show of war attitudes but the principle part of their proceeding was coloqual. They, the natives, called and entreated me to get out of the way and let them fight. I said they should not. Big Jaggy Jaggy was very pert and told me to go away. I said I would not. He said buggah my eyes, but I was aware he did not understand what he was saying. Captain Baccus assisted me in some degree. Some of the whites said I was exposing myself to danger, it would not do to think of it. Mr Grills and Waterfield did not try to stop the combatants. All the whites kept at a great distance. After some considerable parley the combatants withdrew. Where I shook hands with all the parties and they acknowledged that fight all gone by and by plenty at corrobbery many very interesting and affectionate scenes occurred during these occasions when the Wartowerongs came in some of the opposite party came to diferent individuals and embraced each other in the most affectionate manner. They had been at one time intimate friends or were related by marriage but the custom of their respective tribes now for a short time disavered them until the wrongs inflicted on their people or nation had been redressed. When these parties met they mutually embraced each other. In the evening I attended their corrobberies, two parties were corrobberying at the same time a large party of ruffians were on the ground but behaved in an orderly manner. A vast difference to what it was when I arrived first. The encamping ground presented a well lit appearance, no less than 75 fires were counted by me and I have no doubt but 100 fires or more were burning. There could not be less than 500 natives in the camp the natives wanted to know when they were to have another feast. They appeared all tolerably well contented. Native weapon fight: the women fight with their sticks before mentioned thus [Figure 4.3], holding the over their head to ward off the blows given by their antagonist. These sticks are about five - six and six foot some seven foot in length and 1 ½ inches in diameter. They were short or chissel pointed at one end, and they were there to push off the gum from the trees. Retired to my house between 11 and 12.”

“I had two wives, both from Brt-britta. One of these had been married to the Dargo man who killed my brother Johnny at Aitkin’s Straits. I then collected all the men from Bruthen, Wy-yung, and from Binnajerra, for all my own men had died or been killed, so that only boys were left. But those others were also like my own people. We all sneaked round south of the Lakes, and to Merriman’s Creek, where we found the Dargo man. Flanner, whose brother he had also killed, speared him. We let him lie there, and we did not eat his skin, for he was a Kurnai, one of ourselves. As he was a friend of the Briakolug, we went up to the Heart, near Sale, to look for them. We found a number of Dargo, Briaka, and Brataua there, and we fought ; but we were beaten, because they had guns as well as spears, and were helped by two black police and a white police trooper. We ran away, and left everything behind us, our blankets and clothes, and only took our spears. We ran back to where we had left our women near to Meetung ; near to that place where the wild dog turned the Kurnai into stone. Our enemies and the police followed us up as far as Lake Tyers, but they could not cross, and we escaped. For a long time we were quiet, but at last we went up to Maneroo to get the Brajerak to come down and help us. By this time the white men had brought so many Brajerak down from Maneroo and Omeo that we  had become friends. So we got the Maneroo men to help us, and with them went round the mountains to Omeo. There we got Nukong, their head man, to help us, and we left our women there. Nukong also sent lewin (messengers) to the men of the Ovens River and Mount Buffalo to send help ; and it was arranged that we should meet them at Kutbuntaura (Bushy Park). Then we all went off by way of Dargo, but we found no one there. At Bushy Park the men from the Ovens River and Mount Buffalo met us. We went to that place to get some food, and also to see some Brabrolung men of Wuk-Wuk, who were living there, pretending to be friends of the Briakolung and Dargo men. There could not have been less than two hundred of us — at least the white men counted and told us so. From that place we went round the country looking for our enemies. We sent out four spies in the daytime, while the main body lay concealed in the scrub, and only travelled at night. Sometimes I was one of the spies, sometimes Tankowillun was one of them with me. We went all over the country, even down to the Tarra, but could not meet our enemies. At length we pretended to be friends, and returned to the Mitchell. We waited a while, and then sent to the Snowy River men, who came to us. But the blackfellows from Maneroo and from the Ovens returned home, and only a few from Omeo remained to help us. While this was going on, the Dargo and Briaka sent messengers (lewin) to me, saying that we would fight and then be friends. It was decided by the Dargo old men that the fight should take place near to Deighton, at a place called Yowundeet. We met there and fought, but no one was killed. They were too strong for us, and ran us back to the Mitchell River. We now again waited for some time, till Charley Buchanan brought us a message from the head man at Dargo that we should be friends. It was their custom to do this by sending a spear jagged with quartz as a token. This one had much glass on it. We said among ourselves, We will pretend to make friends, and wait till by and bye. The spear was passed on by way of Bruthen, and sent up to Omeo, and so round back to Dargo. Then we all gathered, only the Kroatun (Snowy River men) would not come, for they were frightened — two of their men had been speared. Bruthen Munji told us, We must send a message to the Dargo men where to meet us — but we must be very quick and get up to Bushy Park. We had with us some Omeo men, with their head man, Nukong. Our head man was Bruthen Munji. On the morning we were to fight we were all ready — we were painted with pipeclay. This was because we were very angry at our two men being killed, and to frighten our enemies, who were painted with red ochre because they had killed our men. We were seated in a long row — our spears on the ground ready. Our women were in front, beating their ’possum rugs. Nukong was at one end, just behind our row ; Bruthen Munji was at the other end of the row, standing behind close to me. It was about noon. He looked up at the sun and said, We will eat first. The enemy were not in sight, but were not far off. Then a Brabrolung man came to us — he was a messenger — he was sent to us, but we knew him — he was our friend, and the husband of old Nanny. He said, There are not many of you! Bruthen Munji replied, Never mind how many — we will see. Then he ordered the women to go back out of danger. He made us a great speech. He told us that we would beat them. There was no gammon about him. Then we fought, and when Billy the Bull’s father speared a Kutbuntaura man the others ran away. There was a running fight ; they ran off and left all their things behind them. By and bye I shot one man, and others were speared. Several of the women were caught. Some of the Brabroliing young men from Swan Reach ran down a Brt-britta woman. They could not, however, keep her, because they were too near to her — like cousins — and as she wanted to have me, and had no father, her brebba mungan (father’s brother, or mother’s sister’s husband) gave her to me. He could do this because she had been caught in a fight and was not a young girl. This was how I got my first wife from Brt-britta.”

“Verbatim from the words of my informant : A number of Kurnai were encamped high up on the Tambo River, near the Brajerak country. Some of the men came upon fresh tracks of Brajerak. Bruthen Munji was there. He was a very strong man, and was very skilful. He returned to the camp, and said to the others — “Someone must go and see where they are.” He told Tankowillun to go, because he was very cunning and of very sharp sight. Such a man is called Benning Benning (spy.) By-and-bye he returned, saying, “1 found them ; lots of women and children.” Bruthen Munji said, “Yukka tun” (well said). Then they got their spears ready. Some men went to hunt for food to leave with the women, for they might be two or three days away. Other men fixed sharp pieces of quartz in their spears with gum. Bruthen Munji said to the women, “Go away down the river to Jillun (about 25 miles). If we do not catch them where they were, we shall not be back tomorrow ; then all of you go on to Bruthen.” This was why the men had caught so many possums for the women. Bruthen Munji sent spies off again. The Kurnai had to wait a good while before two of them returned at nightfall. “Where are they?” “Down there at the same place where they were this morning.” “Yukka tun,” said Bruthen Munji. The Kurnai then said, “Well, what shall we do ?” The two spies replied, “The two others are waiting there till night.” About sleeping time these returned, and gave a signal whistle (the sound here made by the narrator was produced by pulling out the lower lip between the thumb and forelinger and sharply drawing the breath through the fold.) All the Kurnai then had a corroboree ; they danced nearly all the night. But they did not sing. They were quite silent, and only made gestures and stamped their feet. In the middle of the night they all marched off well armed.They walked until they were about two miles from the Brajerak, then they had another silent dance. Then they marched again, and, when near morning—there was no moon — they got close to them, not more than half a mile away. Two spies went first. Two other spies who had gone on now met them. “Where are they?” They reply, “Just here.” The dawn was coming. Then all rapidly painted themselves with pipeclay — red ochre is no use, it cannot frighten an enemy — and divided, so as to surround the camp. The spies whistled like birds, to tell when all was ready. Then all ran in ; they speared away, they speared away ! They only speared the men, and perhaps some children. Whoever caught a woman kept her himself. Then they eat the skin of the Brajeraks.”

“Yattemittongs [Ormeo] are the original inhabitants with whom the other mountain tribes as far eastwards as Maneroo Downs are in amity – a deadly animosity exists between them and the natives of the Coast. A whole tribe having been destroyed by these Yattermittongs and their allies a short time previous, blanched human bones strewed the surface and marked the spot where the slaughter happened. I was led here by an Aborigine and all the circumstances minutely detailed.”

“When I was a young man, beard just growing — I had been made 'Jerry-ale' — a lot of strange blacks came down to Gippsland. They were some Dargo River blacks, and with them some Omeo blacks. The Gippsland blacks did not meddle with them, because the Dargo blacks live on the upper part of this river (Mitchell), and therefore belong to us. The names of two of the Dargo blacks were Tare-ngun and Too-turn-burr ; they were two brothers, very strong men, and left-handed. There were several others, but I forget them. Among the Omeo blacks were one called Panky Panky and another Binjo. I don't know what these names mean, they belong to another language. This mob of blacks camped at the Top Plain, near Bushy Park, and were looking round for 'possums, and so on — hunting. The Gippsland blacks were camped near Bushy Park, and I was there, and so knew all about this. The Dargo blacks quarrelled with the Omeo blacks, and they separated camps. Tare-ngun sent two men to find out where Panky Panky was encamped. In the night, just before dawn, the Dargo blacks all surrounded the Omeo men's camp. Binjo's wife saw them, and jumped up and sang out. The others rushed in — they were armed with reed-spears, pointed with glass — and speared the two men. Binjo ran out, but was followed, and overtaken about half a mile off. He had his blanket rolled up like a 'Bamarook,' [shield] and caught the spears in front; but other men came behind him, and he was killed. He was full of spears. He was left lying there. I don't know what became of him; I expect the wild dogs eat him. Then they caught the women, and each man who had first speared the man took his wife. Then the men killed in the camp were skinned, and the skin roasted and eaten. Panky Panky was a very big, fat man, twice as fat as 'Billy the Bull'. All the men who were there helped to eat the skin. Then the camp was thrown down on the dead men, and Tare-ngun and the others went away with the women. One woman had a fine little boy at her back, in her 'possum rug. One old man took him out, and, holding him by the feet, knocked his head against a tree, and killed him like a 'possum. Some said, 'Why did you do that; we wanted to keep him?' He said, 'By-aud-by, when he grows up, he will kill you.' To an enquiry what roast skin tasted like, Harry says, 'Like porcupine'; and Toby, otherwise Wunda Garerout (which may be freely translated, 'Where is the creek?'), remarks, 'Yes; like porcupine. I once eat a piece of a Tarra blackfellow, when I was a young man.'”

“Shortly before I left Baroo, there was a terrible battle between our tribe on the Macquarie and one further south-west on the Lachlan river. (…) The cause of the war was similar to that of the siege of Troy. One tribe had carried away a gin from another. All the clans of the two tribes entered into the dispute; and as you went among them, you could hear them for weeks talking of the coming battle, and preparing for it. You did not hear the sounds of forges and factories and arsenals; but you saw them preparing spears of all kinds. Next to the spear their deadliest missile is the boomerang. (…)
The battle was to be fought near Baroo, as the Lachlan blacks were the aggressors. The natives, except when excited by the chase, the feast, the corrobora, or some piece of fun, are rather torpid looking; but, for weeks before this battle, they were as much alive as my countrymen before a faction-tight in the south of Ireland, or a party procession in the north on the twelfth of July. Here you would see one fellow cutting currywang wattles and pointing and polishing them into spears, nicking the head to make it hold the bits of pointed quartz and poisonous gum ; there, another cutting a slice off the miall, or the iron-bark, and squinting along it, and then bending it under his foot till he gave it the right curve for a boomerang; yonder, another making clubs, and another sharpening tomahawks.
When the day of battle came, the warriors mustered about three hundred on either side, besides numerous black and white non-combatants. The whites, indeed, according to colonial law, could in no way interfere. The battle was fought on a clear space of some fifty acres, between two belts of timber. They approached in line from either side, yelling rage and defiance, and shouting their war songs, and rattling their spears and shields to awake martial fury; just as highlanders are inspired with fighting ardour from the sounds of the pibroch.
The two lines marched up to within about one hundred yards of each other ; and all sat down in perfect silence. We followed up, but some black fellows, who acted as police, came up and said, These black fellows cabon coola (very angry), you stand narang way from spears. Suddenly one fellow, who had been sitting tailor- wise, sprang to his feet like whale-bone, and sent his boomerang into the air. Then he delivered a shouting, gesticulating speech, in pure native. It ended with the most exasperating of all words to a black, ’yamble’ a word that implies blackest meanness and falsehood. This was the signal for all to spring up; but all did not fight at once. Two singled each other out, and speechified and fought till their missiles were exhausted or they were wounded or killed. Then other warriors, friends or kindred, took it up and fought, till perhaps two dozen were engaged ; and so it went round. The speeches and spear-casts were marvellously like those recorded in Homer, only of course Trojans and Greeks were better speakers but not better fighters with bad tools and Homer could narrate the battles of Troy better than I can that of Baroo. Old Eagle-Hawk and Dick were conspicuous in the centre. I stood behind a tree, in company with Ash, not far behind them. The blood of the old Hawk was up, and, with an eloquently growled sentence, he singled out his man, and they met within thirty yards of each other between the lines. Most of the fighting ceased when they encountered. Indeed, we were so intensely excited by it, we saw nothing else till it was decided. The old Hawk’s antagonist flung a wammerah, which the old warrior turned off with a touch of his heeliman, and he discharged his, which was similarly treated. The other threw his boomerang with awful force, and it was splintered to fragments on the little narrow shield; but a portion of it struck Eagle-Hawk’s wrist, and I think disabled it. He then delivered his boomerang with all his might, and the other in attempting to stoop his head failed, and it laid open his throat and he bled to death. AVhen he fell, a shout of triumph rose on our side, and old Eagle-Hawk appeared frantic with joy and rage. His defeated antagonist’s brother stood forth, and Dick sprang out to meet him ; but his father would not yield the delight of another encounter. One of his young gins brought him fresh weapons which she had gathered up. Dick was disappointed, but had to yield. Alas ! it was Miall Tommy, the most terrible spear-thrower of the Lachlan blacks, that the exhausted old man had to meet. I trembled for him. The old Hawk threw his spear, and Miall Tommy sprang up at least five feet and let it pass under him. He eyed old Hawk, and throwing himself back, with all his force flung his spear; the disabled shield-arm of the old man failed to throw it fully off, and it entered his left side and pierced through his heart. He sprang with a cry into the air, and fell instantaneously dead. A yell rose from the opposite ranks. As Eagle-Hawk was being drawn away, with his great venerable head lying back and his eyes staring wide open, I felt an inclination to give Miall Tommy the contents of my gun ; but I dare not, and it would have been unfair. Dick only gave a glance at his father, and, with all the coolness of rage and determination, sprung out to meet the slayer. There was awful disparity between the weight and years of the two warriors ; but Dick was a terrible marksman, and as lithe as a squirrel. Miall Tommy threw his spear, and Dick sprang up as high as his own head and let it pass. He was scarcely right on his feet till a wammerah whizzed at his head. He dropped on his haunches and let it pass over. Then, as he rose, before his antagonist could well recover himself, Dick threw his boomerang. Miall Tommy caught it on his heeliman, but it broke, and the longer part flying inwards split open his abdomen, and the bowels fell out over his thighs. The earth rang again with the shout of our blacks. Both sides appeared to become ungovernable, and missiles flew for a minute in showers. You would see fellows leaping or stooping, and hear the rattle of the missiles on the shields. They soon ceased, however, and the wounded man’s nearest friend stood out to do single combat with Dick. Just then king Bogan stepped into the midst and spoke. He caught Dick in his arms, and the chief of the opposite side did the same by his man. They struggled and foamed to get fighting ; but the battle was over. The kings had spoken. It lasted about five hours, and there were only six killed and some fifteen wounded.
(…) I may now mention, that near my own house on the Yeo Yeo, some years afterwards, I witnessed another battle, most fierce and bloody, of the natives. (…)
To return, however, to the battle of Baroo. Both parties came to a truce and concluded peace. Blacks are not revengeful, when they have fought it out and vindicated their honour. They afterwards even feasted and corroborated together. After the battle there was terrible wailing and tearing of hair among the gins over the dead. The five wives of Eagle-Hawk were inconsolable.”

“Tonight the natives had a general fight with their clubs and mulgars. Old Burmudgerlong was wounded on the shoulder and others were also wounded. I went among them. Burmudgerlong wanted the white men to shoot the other natives. I got him to Sievwright’s hut and ordered him tea and damper. Sievwright took away his spears; he was about useing them. He was much excited. It was occasioned by the natives interfering with their women, the Elengermat women. Before this fight I amused the natives with fireworks,pyrertecnics; catherine-wheels and squibs. They also had intended a corrobery but the fight broke it up.”

“The natives were all fighting whenI arrived at the camp. It was, as VDL Jack said, a big fight: spears,boomerangs, marls and clubs went to work. Several blows were given and exchanged. It had lasted two hours. Thomson’s native commenced it. (...) In the fight Pejerrer and Thomson’s black and chief of Elengermats had all been struck. ”

“Sir, I have to state to you the particulars of an affray which took place last Tuesday night, the 31st instant, the particulars of which are as follows; On the evening above-mentioned, two parties of Aborigines encountered each other within a mile-and-half of my station part of the Barrabool Hill natives and part of the Mount House tribe, who immediately gave battle, but were defeated with a loss of three men and two unfortunate young women. On the Wednesday morning, the few natives immediately belonging to my neighbourhood arrived, bearing this intelligence, evidently in a great state of excitement, and dreadfully afraid to return to their encampment, without the protection of myself and servants, who were to be well armed. Directly after breakfast, I started, accompanied by the natives, to within a short distance of their huts, where they all remained, and I proceeded forward, by myself, and on reaching the spot found their report to be perfectly correct. Such a disgusting scene can scarcely be imagined, the whole encampment deluged with blood ; first lay the body of a middle aged man named Codjajah, speared through the breast in many places, his bowels taken out and the fat drawn off them, and a few pieces cut out of his thigh. The next body was that of a woman speared in many places, quite dead. A short distance from her stood a young lubra with two spears through the belly, the whole of her intestines hanging to the ground - she was perfectly sensible - it would have been a charity to have shot her then, but she departed this life in the evening. Besides these three, within a short distance of the huts lay the bodies of two more men, known by the names of Jim and Big-one Tom, they were partly eaten their fat being taken by their Christian brethren.”

“In the year 1842, I witnessed the fight here depicted between the Pangarang and the Oorilim tribes on the lower Goulburn — the latter tribe were encamped on the banks of the Goulburn, not far from the station where I then resided, and had invited the Pangarangs by message-stick to visit them. A number of that tribe arrived one fore noon, and as soon as they had built their mia-mias, I strolled up to the camp of a man named Wigiloptka but called Neptune by the whites. I had been told that a fight was likely to take place, as Neptune had recently lost a son, and he suspected his death had been caused by the witchcraft of the Gorilims. Neptune was sitting cross-legged before his fire, roasting an opossum, his two lubras tutting behind him.
In a few minutes the mother of the dead boy commenced a low mournful dirge, and directly she did bo, her husband, who up to that moment had been laughing and talking with me, became grave and ailent. The woman gradually worked herself into a rage, cursing the Oorilim for causing the death of her child, and taunting her own people, and her husband in particular, for not avenging his death. Gradually the noise of the camp became hushed, and several other women joined in the chant for the dead, Neptune, who had sat motionless as a statue until now, suddenly sprang to his legs, as if he had received an electric shock, and dashing his opossum cloak to the ground with a wild cry, settled his spears, and rushing into the open space between the two camps, threw a reed spear high into the air. As it felt quivering in front of the Oorilim camp, every man rose and ran to his weapons, and in a minute the two tribes, about thirty men in each, stood opposite to each other.
The conflict now commenced in earnest, spears and boomerangs whizzed through the air, the men shouted and yelled defiance, while the women of the tribes hung on the outskirts of the combatants, cursing and taunting, lashing the ground with their opossum cloaks and yumsticks, throwing dust into the air, and dancing with rage like very maniacs, as they were for the time. Every now and then they would rush at each other with their long, heavy yamsticks, and smash each other’s fingers. The children screamed, the dogs howled, and altogether the uproar of the fight was deafening. After a time, as the rage of the combatants increased, the spears were thrown aside and the men rushed at each other with their war clubs and headshields, and a general hand-to-hand fight took place and lasted for some time, until a third tribe, the Benbedores from the lower Campaspe, who were not mixed up in the quarrel and who were encamped on the opposite side of the river, crossed in their canoes, and rushing in a body unarmed among the belligerents, clasped the fighting men round their waists from behind, and by that means succeeded, with much loud talking, in stopping the fight.
When peace was restored, I who had watched the combat from behind a tree found that no great damage had been done. One man was severely cut in the thigh by a boomerang, two were speared, and a few broken heads made up the sum total of the casualties. Shortly after, the tribes seemed to have forgotten their quarrel, and were again on friendly terms, and on the following night held a grand Corroboree.”

“John Michael Skipper, referred to in The News of Saturday by Mr. D. Hope-Johnston, was a clever artist. who made sketches illustrating early South Australian incidents. These are of historic value.
Unfortunately for members of the public they cannot enjoy an inspection of his artistic work, as the samples are in the possession of private families.
A highly valuable picture was made by Mr. Skipper in 1843. It. was a pencil sketch of the last battle between the Tandanya (Adelaide) tribe of aborigines and those from the district now known as Mount Barker. From the pencil sketch which was made on the' site of the conflict the artist executed an oil painting depicting in detail the different phases of the battle.
More than 1,500 warriors were engaged. Of these 10 per cent were either killed or seriously wounded. The Tandanya tribe triumphed.
Mr. Skipper and the Misses F. A. and Mary Thomas were present. They were compelled to move about incessantly to avoid the flight of spears and boomerangs.
The battle was fought in an area now partly occupied by the University sports ground.”

“In 1843, the doctor, a great man in the Woeworong tribe died, and his relatives and friends after going through certain ceremonies set off to the number of twenty-five armed men for Gipp's Land to revenge his death. Many of these warriors had with them double barrel guns and rifles, and there remained no doubt of their intentions. Now these men were under the protection of W. Thomas Esq., perhaps the most efficient officer of the whole department. News was taken to him at his station at Nerree Nerree Warren, of the intention of the blacks, and he arrived in Western port shortly afterwards in time to find his sable friends returning from the slaughter of nine men belonging to the Berber and Tandil tribes.”

“A mob of blacks travelling from the Namoi came to Calangan Station (owned by Mr. John Harris), and, during the night, raided a camp of Murrumbidgee blacks, comprising seven men, two women, and a half-caste child (two years of age). The seven men were murdered, and the women and child were taken to Namoi. (25)”

“We are informed that a fight took place on the Park Land, near the Location, on Tuesday last, between two tribes of natives, and that many of them, were speared, the results of which must have proved mortal in several instances. One man was seen who had received a spear through his neck. The weapon had been pulled out, and the consequent hemorrhage must have caused death within a short time. The police appeared after the battle, and dispersed the combatants, but too late to avert the fatal consequences.”

“The late Mr. Thomas, in his notes prepared for this work at my request, describes a fight which he witnessed on the 5th December 1843. The tribes from Barrabool, Bun-ung-on, and Leigh River, encamped at a spot lying to the north of Melbourne, at half-past four o’clock p.m. They advanced in close lines, ten deep, and ten in each line, and squatted on the grass ; the Barrabool west of the Bun-ung-on, and a little to the north-west of these the Leigh River tribe. After sitting in silence for about half an hour, King William, the principal man of the three tribes, advanced spear in hand, and quite naked, as indeed were all the warriors. King William harangued the groups. He stated that certain blacks were charged with killing two natives and abducting their wives ; that the blacks so charged and their tribe were not afraid of appearing before the Goulburn, Mount Macedon, Yarra, and Coast tribes, and they were ready to have the accusers’ spears thrown at them. While King William was speaking, another black came forward and produced a number of charges, challenged his enemies, and acted generally in a rather violent manner. Whereupon two warriors arose and made speeches, and expressed their willingness to receive the spears of their opponents in the face of the assembled tribes. Then ensued a general disturbance. All the men of all the tribes were greatly agitated, and many seized the opportunity to re-furbish their weapons. Those accused of murder were quite naked and in mourning — that is to say, painted white — and those charged with a lesser offence, being accomplices or otherwise implicated, were also naked, but decorated with boughs {Murrum or Mooran Karrang) just above the ankles. The men with the boughs on their ankles were on this occasion stationed in front of the tribes, about ten yards from the nearest of those squatting on the ground. Their opponents advanced towards them, shook their weapons, threw dust in the air, and commenced stamping and hissing, and grinding their teeth, dancing from time to time through the ashes of a bark fire that was kept burning at the spot. Then they formed a line, and were headed by their principal men; then they arranged themselves in a moment in the shape of a crescent, and as quickly formed again a straight line, all the time hissing, grinding their teeth, stamping and grimacing, shaking their spears, and jumping to an extraordinary height. At one time they stretched themselves on the ground so as almost to touch the grass with their noses, keeping their spears parallel with their bodies, and, acting in concert, they presented a very remarkable spectacle. They ran backwards, sideways, and all ways, approaching often close to the line of the men in murrum. All these frantic gestures were used, however, merely to excite themselves and the accused. The principal men on both sides kept up their somewhat angry discourse during the whole of this procedure, and finally settled what was to be done. The word of command at length was given : each black was at his post armed with his wonguim, mulga, and leonile, either in his hand or lying on the grass at his feet ; and in a moment a shower of missiles was directed towards the men in murrum. Some of the missiles hit others not implicated ; their ire was aroused, and a general fight ensued. Spears were hurled, and those amongst the accused who were not struck were attacked with clubs and the leonile. (The latter, a most formidable weapon, is used to strike at the head only.) The men not engaged in the quarrel now interfered, going amongst the belligerents, with spears in their hands, not throwing them, but pretending to throw them, whereby they incurred danger in thus intermeddling, as spears were thrown by angry men at them. A blow of a waddy from a disinterested individual put an end, however, to this, and after a brief scrimmage the battle might be said to be over. At this stage the wives of the accused persons joined the melfe ; and wailing, howling, and jabbering, they commenced a fight of their own. Each woman, holding her yam-stick {Kun-ang) advanced towards her opponent and aimed a blow. This was received on the yam-stick, which in defence is held in a horizontal position, so as to protect the head. She struck perhaps two or three blows, and then held her stick downwards but ready for defence, and received the blows of her antagonist. This strange fight was continued for some time, and the awful howls and execrations were deafening. At last the men interfered. They hurled spears at the women, but so as not to touch them, yet not until a strong man went to them spear in hand in a very threatening manner did they disperse. As they departed, shrieking defiance, they beat the ground. A strong, stout stick, sharpened at one end, most often at both ends, and hardened in the fire, about seven feet in length, and used commonly for digging roots, &c. with their yam-sticks. Finally the head-men, after much discussion, settled the differences, and this great battle was finished.
Mr. Thomas states that of all the fights he has seen he has never known but of one death to arise from their frays.* He has seen desperate wounds inflicted very often, but none but one was mortal. The one death referred to was that of Ter-run-uk, a fine young Llackfellow of the Bun-ung-on tribe, who, in a fight with the Barrabool men, was struck with a wonguim, which passed through the lower part of his thigh. He was carefully attended to by Mr. Thomas, who had him removed to his own farm at Pentridge, but he died, contrary to the expectations of the large number of natives who were encamped near Melbourne at the time and witnessed the occurrence. In the great fight above described six natives were severely wounded, one being penetrated by a double-jagged spear. It went quite through his thigh. The long part was broken off, and the remainder dragged through the wound. Ten of the women had their knuckles broken, and many of the men were injured by the wonguim. ”

“Police Report. — Melbourne, 7th April 1844. — Woolorong was suspected of murder, and condemned to be speared at by seven of the best men of the Western Port tribe ; as he ran by them at a certain distance, he escaped the spears thrown at him ; but a general fight took place, and the police had some difficulty in suppressing the affray, after many were seriously wounded.”

““On going out I found the whole of the men of the different tribes (amounting to upwards of 100) engaged hand to hand in one general melee.
“On being directed by some of the women, who had likewise sought shelter near my tent, to the huts of the Bolaghers, I there found a young woman, supported in the arms of some of her tribe, quite insensible, and bleeding from two severe wounds upon the right side of the face; she continued in the same state of insensibility till about 11 o’clock, when she expired.
“After fighting for nearly an hour, the men of the Bolagher tribe returned to their huts, when finding that every means I had used to restore the young woman was in vain, they gave vent to the most frantic expressions of grief and rage, and were employed till daylight in preparing themselves and weapons to renew the combat.
“Shortly before sunrise they again rushed towards the Targurt and Elengermite tribes, who, with about a dozen of Wamambool natives, were encamped together, when a most severe struggle took place between them, and very few escaped on either side without serious fractures or dangerous spear wounds. Although the Targurt tribe were supported by the Elengermite and Wamambool natives, and were consequently much superior in number, they were, after two hours hard fighting, driven off the ground and pursued for about four miles, to where their women and children had retired; when one of the former, named Mootinewhannong, was selected, and fell, pierced by about 20 spears of the pursuers.
“The body of this female was shortly afterwards burned to ashes by her own people, and the Bolagher natives returned to their encampment, apparently satisfied with the revenge they had taken, and remained silently and sullenly watching the almost inanimate body of the wounded female.”

“When two or more tribes congregate, they are ushered in by the messengers, who had been previously despatched with their diplomas, one of whom, some hours previous to the tribes’ approach, will return, and state the success or ill-success of his mission. The new comers will sit down about half an hour, when the principal males assemble. If their meeting be hostile (which is known for days before), the war-cry is heard for a mile or more ere they arrive at the encampment. At length the party arrives ; all males are seated together, their heads and faces daubed with clay; they look beastly and terrific. The one I shall describe took place 5th December 1844 at half-past four. The Barrabool blacks close lined ten lines, with eight and ten in each line, seat themselves W. of the Buninyongs. After half an hour, King William, chief of the Barrabool tribe, advanced and stated that charges had been made against his blacks of killing two of the Buninyongs and stealing lubras ; that his blacks were not afraid of them, and had come down and were ready to have the accusers’ spears thrown at them. While speaking, another advances, and brings charges against the Barrabool blacks, and bids them to come forward. This rouses the ire of the opposite tribe, when two step forward and rebut or acknowledge the assertions, remarking that they also are ready, in the presence of the other tribes assembled, to stand foremost and receive the spears of their opponents, &c. A general bustle may be seen now in both parties ; the parties more particularly accused prepare themselves, if of murder undisputed, perfectly naked, and in mourning from head to foot, squatted the ground, without spear or any other weapon .save a shield to ward off the spears. In this case it is more a judicial proceeding, or the law being carried into effect, and though the tribes are all under arms it is more to check any disturbance or interruption to the execution of what they consider the sentence. But if it be a disputed case, the parties accused on each side, generally two, three, or four, may be seen stepping forward, capering round and round, with small bunches of leaves round their ankles, as sometimes in a corrobboree ; both parties are now on the general move, shaking their weapons at each other, which raises their anger, giving three yells, stamping, and making the most frightful grimaces, and with distorted gestures gathering up dust and throwing towards their opponents, which excites both parties the more. A fire is made ; then kicking the fire about they form themselves again into lines, and their chief leads them ; they generally branch out and form a crescent, or extend into a long straight line. They may be seen now on both sides capering in the strangest attitudes the body can be placed in, some running to and fro with long spears in their hands, with their noses almost touching the ground ; others vociferating, lifting up their heels to their bottoms ; some advancing even among their opponents, and as actively backing themselves, pointing and gritting their teeth, while others are dancing round and round like Jim Crow. Those with leaves around their legs are stationary. All the aforesaid moves and grimaces are merely flashes in the pan ; the chiefs and other important characters keep on wrangling, pointing with their spears towards one party and another till the word of command. Then each black is at his post, and wonguims, spears, &c., all beside each fighting man, and the real warm work commences with wonguims, which are hurled apparently indiscriminately, but not so. You would be apt to doubt, seeing them five minutes after they commenced, to which side some belonged there appears such confusion ; but among them it is otherwise each knows his work. The missiles are, in the first instance, hurled without intermission, directed to those who have the boughs on their legs. Some soon hit others, who plant themselves (purposely) near their friends, which causes a general fight. When the Wonguims are all exhausted, then spears are used ; and should, after all, the parties who should have received punishment escape (those with boughs around the ankles), they are pounced upon with bludgeons, and at close combat seldom escape unhurt. If things get too serious, the chiefs of other tribes will interfere (for the blacks never fight but in the presence of two or three other tribes, aware of their own weakness or passions), and with leonile rushing between the contending parties, bring the matter to a close, which is, like its commencement, ended in war, war, war, as they call it, or high words. The fighting over, one after another may be seen moving off grumbling as he goes, and in half an hour all is the greatest harmony, and generally there is a corrobboree at night. They seldom do much execution in their fights a few wonguim and spear wounds in some not dangerous parts of the body. They are too adroit in warding off from the breast and other mortal parts.”

“Mr. Stuart informed me that a few natives only had visited the camp; but that on one occasion some of them appeared armed, being as they said on their way to a grand fight, four of their tribe having been killed in a recent encounter.”

“We soon had opportunities of witnessing, first a battle, then a corrobory, or native dance. One day we saw from our tents people of all classes coming out of Melbourne, crossing the punt above and the ferry-beat below us, and all proceeding in one direction. We added ourselves to the concourse ; and soon came amongst the trees, about half-a-mile off, to the assembled warriors and spectators. The appearance of the savage people was wild and hideous, painted red and white, naked, with their long spears, their boomerangs, their waddies ; and with the women and children belonging to each tribe, two groups of them, each under a tree apart. There was much noise and stir on both sides. One warrior would suddenly start out from amongst his comrades, and going up rapidly to the very front rank of the enemy alone, be there defied them, taunted them, poured upon them scornfully his utmost contempt ; and they, all the while he was making contemptuous gestures and talking vehemently, were crouched in a row, sputtering with their lips, and tossing dust towards their defier. Then the same defiance was acted by the adverse party. There was all at once a commotion and a shout — or well rather — and then a bomerang flew, many following after it — and spears too — and shields were as actively used for defence as the weapons were for injury. To witness this war burlesque there were nearly a thousand of the Melbourne people, whilst of the natives there could not be more than three hundred. Would to heaven all Christian wars were as bloodless! To hear the yells of onset and the shouts of victory, and to have seen the shifting panoply of dreadful strife, the flight of horrid weapons, you felt pretty certain all must be annihilated. Slain none ; wounded one ; one man was speared through the leg. Had I not seen afterwards other battles, I should have set this down for mere mockery. Thus they do not kill each other in open warfare, but secretly and treacherously. This battle took place through the Port Phillip tribe having been over to Goulburn, eighty miles off, and stolen away their lubras, their wives, not called gins in this part of Australia. One of the lubras resisted, and was killed ; the others were brought away. (187)”

“I once saw two or three hundred natives, in the York district, fighting in open ground, the adverse parties facing each other. I saw great numbers of flies or boomerangs flying through the air, but had no opportunity of making any observations worthy of record.”

“The following morning, just before daylight (and at the same hour for months after), arose from the camp that long-drawn-out wail of some female relative of the deceased, which persons familiar with our Blacks forty years ago will no doubt remember. Here and there also, had anyone stood in the camp, might have been noticed a woman sitting at her fire, silently weeping as she listened to the song of sorrow. Shortly after sunrise the men, spear in hand (for no one ever left the camp without at least one spear), went over to the new grave. Entering its enclosure, they scanned with eager eyes the tracks which worms and other insects had left on the recently disturbed surface. Concerning these tracks, I was told by my brother, who was present, that there was a good deal of discussion, as in the eyes of the Blacks, as we all know, they were believed to be marks left by the wizard whose incantations had killed the man, and who was supposed to have flown through the air during the night to visit the grave of his victim. The only difficulty was to assign any particular direction to the tracks, as in fact they wandered to and from~ every point of the compass. At length one young man, pointing with his spear to some marks which took a north-westerly direction, exclaimed, in an excited manner, “Look here I. Who are they who live in that direction? Who are they but our enemies, who so often have waylaid, murdered, and bewitched Bangerang men? Let us go and kill them.” As Pepper’s death was held to be an act particularly atrocious, this outburst jumped with the popular idea of the tribe, and was welcomed with a simultaneous yell of approval which was heard at the camp, whence the shrill voices of the women re-echoed the cry.
The principal point being settled, and all doubt as to who caused Pepper’s death being thus removed from the Bangerang mind, grave deliberations followed for many days around the camp-fires. The main body of the tribe was collected, and messengers sent to the neighbours to learn whether they had any objections to an onslaught on the devoted people, as, owing to the intermarriages of tribes, difficulties sometimes arose in such cases. Spies, too, went quickly into the hostile country to gain information as to the whereabouts of its inhabitants. These preliminaries having been gone through, those men of the Bangerang who chose to be of the party, and one or two volunteers from neighbouring tribes, started on the war-path. As they had a long forced march before them, and they had agreed to go entirely without fire and to leave their tomahawks behind, lest the smoke and the noise of chopping out opossums should discover their presence to their intended victims, they applied at the last moment to my brother, who was on the station at the time, for a small quantity of flour, with which, of course, he declined to supply them. All being ready, and the dogs secured in the camp to prevent their following, the war party, consisting of some fifteen men, one by one, clubs and spears in hand, without a syllable of adieu to wife or child, took their departure, the sable forms of the dusky warriors, who gradually fell into Indian file, being quickly lost to sight amidst the shades of the forest. What occurred on the occasion of this Expedition was related to me some time after by more than one of the actors in it, and may be taken as a fair specimen of Australian warfare. It was as follows:
On leaving their own country the party proceeded stealthily, and chiefly by night marches, to the neighbourhood of Thule station, visiting on their way those spots (known to one of the volunteers) at which parties of the doomed tribe were likely to be found. After several days’ wandering from place to place, subsisting on a few roots hurriedly dug up, and suffering considerably from hunger and fatigue, they caught sight, as they were skulking about towards sun down, of a small encampment, without being themselves seen, upon which they retired and hid in a clump of reeds. About two o’clock in the morning the war-party left their hiding place and returned to the neighbourhood of the camp, and having divested themselves of every shred of clothing, and painted their faces with pipe clay, they clutched their spears and clubs, and walking slowly and noiselessly on, soon found themselves standing over their sleeping victims.
I can well realize the scene, for I have often heard such described. Had there been an on-looker at that moment near the camp, he would have observed in front of the mia-mias several small fires, some smouldering, some burning up brightly, and, to windward of them, the recumbent figures of perhaps a dozen sleepers, little and big, wrapped in their opossum-rugs. Close by some of them he would have seen a number of spears stuck upright in the ground, showing where the men lay, and almost in the ashes of the fires a pack of half-starved dogs. Directing his eyes to the distance, he might then have become vaguely sensible of some dark objects in motion. If they had attracted his attention, it would have been, however, only for a moment, as their speedy fading from sight would probably have led him to imagine them to be only the result of changing clouds, and moon light in the forest. Suddenly he would once more have caught sight of the dusky shapes, but this time unmistakably, and nearer at hand. Then he would have watched their approach, now lost amidst the shadows of the trees, now re-appearing and flitting lightly over spaces shone on by the moon. Had he been a novice in such matters, even then he might have failed to realize the import of what was passing before his eyes, so shadow-like and silent would have been the apparition. By degrees, however, the objects he was observing would become more distinct; he would recognize them to be men, naked, armed with spear and club, bent nearly double, and approaching with quick noiseless steps. Soon they would be at hand; within the halo of the camp fires, standing erect; when circles of white clay around the eyes, and streaks of the same material along the ribs and legs, giving them the ghastly look of skeletons, would become visible. He would now see the expanded chest, the inflated nostrils, the flashing eyes of the sinister visitors.
According to native custom no one was on watch at the camp, and I have often heard the Blacks say that their half-starved dogs seldom gave the alarm in cases of strange Blacks, though they would bark if the intruders were white men. Arrived at the fires, the attacking party paused a moment, held the points of their spears in the flames and allowed them to burn a little, so that another pang might be added to the wound they were about to inflict; then with their fingers they gently raised the rugs a little from the chests of the doomed wretches, and at a given signal, with a simultaneous yell, plunged their long barbed spears into the bosoms or backs of the sleepers. Then from the mia-mias, which were quickly overturned, came the shrieks of the dying, the screams of the women and children, blows of clubs, the vociferation of the prostrate, who were trying to defend themselves ; the barking of the dogs and the yells of the assailants, who numbered fully three to one. Altogether it was a ghastly, horrible scene that the pale moon looked down on that night at Thule ; and with its enactment it might be thought that the death of Pepper had been avenged to the full. Such, however, was not the case. Whilst the massacre was in progress, the men in the camp being troublesome to despatch, as each struggled desperately as long as he was able, and with an energy which few white men are masters of when grievously wounded, a number of women and children had made good their escape. These, it was rightly judged, would return to the camp after some hours, and to wait their coming and murder them was at once determined on. With this view the assailants betook themselves, whilst it was yet dark, to a patch of scrub close at hand, having first mutilated the slain in the most horrible manner, torn out the kidney-fat from the wreaking corpses, burnt the camp utensils, and possessed themselves of such food as was to be found.
From their lurking-place the half-starved savages watched the camp until shortly after sunrise, when the defenceless mourners made their appearance and were at once seized. What followed cannot be described. At last all were killed, except one young woman, whom a black fellow rescued from the slaughter and took away as his wife. Her fate, however, was not long delayed, for, on the march home, which was begun at once, a brute, whose thirst for blood was unusually deep, walked up behind her and knocked her brains out with his club. After the slaughter of the women and children, daylight disclosed the fact that one of the attacking party, a volunteer from a neighbouring tribe — the murderer of the young woman — had slain his own brother in the melée without recognizing him. (313 – 320)”

“On my next trip from Mount Gambier, I found on coming to She Oak Wells, that the blacks of that district were that very moment at the midst of a fray with the Tatiara blacks (...) I tethered my horses and took up a position on an embankment within view of the fight, but at a safe distance from a stray spear. The main bodies on each side would charge with the fury of demons, and coming to close quarters would lay on, the men with their nullahs-nullahs and the women with their yam-sticks. The men carried for defence wooden shields about six inches wide and sharpened at each end. They were so dexterous with these that they could ward off spears thrown from a distance. While the nullah-nullah fighting was in full swing, spear-throwers stationed somewhat in the rear were hurling their spears with, in many cases, fatal effect. Some blacks lay dying, and some were running about with their bodies transfixed. There seemed to be about 200 engaged in the fight, which lasted some hours and ended in the defeat of the Tatiara tribe and the capture of as many of their young gins as possible ; while the old crones were driven off as the rest of the fugitives, leaving the dead and wounded on the ground.”

“I remember an instance of an old black fellow dying of as near an approach to old age as may be conceived ; but, as usual, he was questioned after death by one of the sapient mischief-makers of his tribe, who elicited, or pretended to elicit, from him, a report to the effect that his death was caused by the influence or connivance of someone belonging to a neighbouring tribe, doubtless pitched upon, by the old villain out of spite ; the consequence of which of course was, a demand for vengeance on the head of the unfortunate victim thus selected. The usual fighting then ensued, and several on either side were killed ; each of whom having been likewise supposed to impart after his death the name of his murderer, occasioned still farther necessity for slaughter. In this manner an idea may perhaps be obtained of the effect of this destructive custom. These battles of course have their terminations, but in the space of two years I witnessed, as nearly as I could estimate, the destruction of between sixty and seventy lives out of two tribes residing on or near my station, the result entirely of this custom”

“In the early days the natives were very plentiful, and the camp of the Adelaide tribe was always on the Torrens. I have seen two or three native battles. The tribes would come down from Mount Barker and Encounter Bay and fight on the plains. I saw one big fight near where Hilton now is. I suppose there must have been 400 or 500 blacks engaged. They threw their spears, and occasionally got to close quarters with their waddies. One or two were killed. The whites did not interfere, because the fight was a tribal one, and, indeed, we found it very exciting viewing the encounter from a safe distance.”

“Rode on to Churnside’s Mt William. ... Said the natives of the Hopkins and Mt Rouse had a fight at his station with the Grampians on the Wannon some time back, one was killed and several badly wounded, the Grampians blacks defeated. Saw a lot of natives at Churnside’s and one half cast child.”

“BLACKS FIGHT - AN OLD TIME INCIDENT

The following interesting article, written by Eugene F. Rudder, appeared in an exchange: An aboriginal tribal tight was novel, exciting and most interesting. The weird fantastic manner in which every man engaged was bedaubed with paint and decorated with feathers made him look a much more formidable being than he really was. The hair was caught up on top of the head into a cone mixed with white ochre, and wound around with long narrow strips of bear or opossum skins to keep it in position. On top of this would be stuck eagle, swan or native companion feathers arranged according to the fancy of the individual warrior. His body, arms and legs would be painted with lines and rings of white ochre, to make him look as terrifying as possible. A fully dressed warrior would be equipped with two spears, a shield (which, in the North Coast districts, was made of hardwood; about three foot long and eighteen inches wide, and coming to an obtuse point at each end, with a handle firmly fixed on the inside), and two fighting or hunting boomerangs, rather long and heavy and not greatly curved, with the edges sharpened sufficiently to cut into what they struck. In addition he would have two paddymelon hunting sticks made of very heavy strong wood; about fifteen inches long and one and a quarter inches thick, brought to an obtuse point at each end. These, and a short knife made of bone (or iron when they could get it) pointed, and only about an inch long with a 4-inch handle, bound round with string and gum, completed the fighting weapons of a fully-armed combatant. The knife was not intended to kill, but to wound an enemy in single combat. The object was to emasculate the foeman. The only body dress of the aboriginal warrior was two bundles of narrow strips of opossum skins fastened to a belt around the waist and hanging before and behind to just above the knees. On one occasion the writer saw a wound that had been inflicted on a powerful aboriginal with one of the short knives. It extended from the shoulders to the hip. The wound was some days old, and was then filled with dry earth, the tips of the wound being fully an inch apart, but the man seemed to make little of his frightful injury. Burnt earth was commonly used by the natives to cure bad wounds at that time, the burnt earth being placed on the wound and allowed to remain there. In 1859 I witnessed a fight in Queensland between, the Mary River blacks and the Fraser Island blacks on a small plain not far from Mr. Palmer's property, one of Queensland's pioneer sugar growers, five or six miles from Maryborough. It was a treeless plain on the margin of a dense brush on one side with sloping forest ranges running up into the hills on the other, and both ends being flanked by thick half brush and half forest timbers. The flat was about fifteen chains long, and five chains wide. On riding down one of the sloping ranges to the plains with a companion, we noticed that there were two camps of blacks, one at each end of the plain, the centre of each camp being nearly hidden by the thick trees. On nearing the camps we were met by a couple of Maryborough blacks, who tried to persuade us to go away, but this we refused to do; we promised, however, not to come too near, and not to interfere in any way. This satisfied them, and we took up a position on an open ridge running down to the plain, whence we could have a good view of both camps. 'Men were standing about in the open, painting each other for the fight — some of them talking very excitedly. We also, noticed that the elderly gins were congregating together and talking very excitedly, and that all were carrying yam sticks. These sticks were made of very hard strong wood, and about five feet long, and an inch and a half thick in the middle, and coming to a very sharp point at both ends. They were used chiefly by the women for digging up yams. Occasionally the women would fight with them, holding the sticks in the middle with both hands and striking and stabbing with them, terrible wounds being sometimes inflicted.

DERIDED BY THE GINS
After waiting for some time, half a dozen old women from the Fraser Island tribe marched straight up to a group of the Mary River warriors, already armed and ready for the fight, and began to abuse them, flourishing their yam sticks as if to stab the men in the face or body, and continued to do this for a couple of minutes, working themselves up into an apparent fury of rage, but the men stood it all quite calmly, not deigning to notice or speak to the women. After shrieking themselves nearly hoarse at the first group of men, they went to several other knots of men and went through the same performance, until they marched back to their own camp. As soon as these viragos had reached their friends half a dozen women from the Maryborough tribe marched to the Fraser Island blacks and went through a similar performance, and apparently tried to outdo the women of the other tribe in ferocity and violence. This, we were afterwards told by some civilised blacks, was done by the women to show their contempt for the enemy tribe as fighters not worthy to stand up against their own men.

THE CHALLENGE
A few minutes later a remarkably fine-looking blackfellow from the Fraser Island tribe, painted in the most fantastic manner, came out from a group of men and walked to within a hundred yards of the Maryborough camp, where a number of fully armed men were standing in groups in front of their gunyahs on the edge of the thick timber, and stood, a fine looking figure, apparently throwing out a challenge to any Maryborough black to come out and do single combat with him. No one answered him or made any response and he ended his tirade by hurling a boomerang with all his force at a group of half a dozen men standing in front of the nearest gunyah, but they simply opened out and let the boomerang pass between them. The Fraser Island man then turned and walked back to his own camp without as much as turning his head to see if an attack would be made upon him. He carried himself magnificently, and with his war-paint and weapons looked a rather dangerous foe to tackle. Soon after this incident the fighting men on both sides began to come together in a body, but notwithstanding the fact that we estimated there must have been fully seventeen hundred blacks — men, women and children of both tribes — on the plain, there were only about sixty men on each side to be actually engaged in the battle. As the armed men moved towards the centre of the plain, there was much excitement among the non-fighting men and the women in the camp, who had come to the front of the camp to look out. Presently, the men stood, and were addressed by an old man with no war- paint or weapons upon him. He appeared to be earnest and emphatic. When he concluded his oration he walked back to his gunyah and sat down. Similar proceedings wore going on in the enemy camp, the man addressing the Fraser Island men was a far finer looking fellow. When his ceremony was over, both sides moved to the centre of the plain, and ranged themselves into three lines of men, each about nine feet apart in the rows. When all was apparently ready, a man from the centre of the first line stepped to the front and addressed the enemy, using only about a dozen words, which, was responded to by the apparent leader on the enemy side.

SHOWERS OF SPEARS
The moment that these men stepped back to their places in the front line, a shower of spears was hurled at the enemy by the Fraser Island men, instantly followed by a shower of spears by the Maryborough men. Every man was armed with two spears and a shield made of Queensland sandal wood, about two feet long and about seven inches thick, with a handle cut inside the shield to hold with the hand. It was intensely interesting to watch the men on both sides, trying to catch the point of a spear on their shields. If they succeeded they would give a quick jerk of the wrist and the spear would either fall out of the shield or the point of the spear would break off in the shield. The latter was what was most desired, as it was looked upon as a valuable trophy of a fight, although the marks of a spear in a shield were highly prized. In another moment another flight of spears was thrown, and every black again tried to catch a spear on his shield, but he stepped on one side to let the spear pass should he miss it. As soon as the second flight of spears was thrown the men in the second rank stepped to the front and again a shower of spears was in the air.

CHIVALROUS COMBATANTS
It was then that occurred a remarkable phase of the fight. Two men were to be seen walking, between the lines of fighters calmly picking up the spent spears and carrying them through the lines to the back of the fighters. They seemed to take no notice whatever of the spears that appeared from the distance to be falling thick around them, but they did their work quite calmly and apparently without fear. We found out that it was the rule in such a fight for the enemy to be most careful not to throw a spear so as to endanger a picker-up of spears being hit, hence their deliberate calm way of passing through a flight of spears without fear.

FIRST BLOOD
When the fight was at this stage a drizzling light rain began to fall, just enough to wet the grass and, make it slippery, and while the grass was in this stage a very tall, active-looking young Mary River warrior made a spring to pick up a spear from the ground close to him. As he stooped to get the spear, his feet shot from under him and he fell sideways. While in the act of getting up a spear struck him in the cheek, passed through his mouth and stuck out fully two foot through the other cheek. He got up slowly, but there was an instant shout and all fighting stopped. The speared man walked slowly to the front, and was quickly surrounded by a howling demonstration of sympathy, mixed with shouts of anger.

THE DUEL WITH KNIVES
While this was going on, a man was seen to leave the ranks of the opposition side, and run up one of the low open ranges. In another moment, the man who had been speared burst with a shout from the women that surrounded him, and started in pursuit of the man running up the hill, who began to slacken his speed, apparently to let his pursuer come up with him. After going a few hundred yards, the man in front dropped to a walk, and the man chasing him slowed down. When they were about one hundred and fifty yards apart the man in front turned round and walked slowly back towards his enemy, who also dropped his pace to a walk. They had no weapons but their knives, which they held in their right hands. We had followed to see what would happen. Watching the men we expected to see them rush at each other to try to get in a first blow. Instead, they made no attempt to strike, but deliberately put their arms around each other’s neck, and not till they had got good holds did anything happen. Then commenced a whirling of arms, and presently they fell to the ground, and twisting their legs around each other squirmed about the ground, still trying to stab and score each other with their short knives. A number of men from both sides came up to look on. We were expecting every moment to see one man give in or be killed, but instead there was a sudden cessation of the struggle, and each man quietly and without haste unwound his legs and arms from the other, and without uttering a word, got up and walked to his own group of tribesmen, a dozen yards away. Hardly a word was spoken, and the two groups of men, each with their wounded comrade with them, walked to their separate camps. We could see the blood oozing from several wounds in each man, but they did not appear too weak to walk.

THE END OF THE FIGHT
In the meantime a great, wailing cry came up from the women in both camps, but we soon found that the single combat was the end of the fight. When the men reached their camps, the women stopped their cries, and the men stood about in groups talking excitedly, the wounded men being taken to some gunyah among the trees. We learned afterwards, that under some conditions, the first blood drawn from a serious wound put an end to the fight. Realising that the fight was over and that it was getting late, we returned to Maryborough after a most exciting and interesting day's experience.”

“On one occasion by some means, either with or without her consent (I think it was the former) (...) a marriageable young man of the plains, stole a nice young woman oi the hill tribes and the result was a declaration of war. For days, hooting and yelling messengers passed from camp to camp. This sort of aboriginal ambassadorial, and diplomacy continued for nearly a week without any satisfactory results. I suppose the blacks of the plain were thought to have had the best of the bargain, because neither king, priest, father, mother, brothers nor sisters, nor the whole fraternity of relations, could induce the maiden to renounce her gallant Leander.So the Murray blacks resolved to take her, or at least "to know the reason why". Meanwhile as the sap was up in the trees as high as the blood in their bodies, they prepared for the contest by stripping the bark from the white and blue gums, in pieces of about three feet by two feet six inches, out of which they made their shields. (...)
When properly "done," (...) it received a coating of pipeclay or lime, and then was ornamented with red bands made of the juice of a small tuber which grew in abundance on the virgin soil. The warriors themselves painted their faces, arms, breasts, and legs in a manner which gave them a most hideous expression, calculated I suppose, to inspire feelings of dread in the minds of their enemies ; but as the adornments Were given to both parties, I should imagine that the dread would be mutual.
If the reader can imagine 300 or 400 warriors on each side in all their panoply of glorious war, marching in line with shields as here depicted, and "the quivering spear uplifted high," he will admit that war, even among the aboriginal Australians had its serious aspect. (...)
The morning of the day of battle dawned, and by ten o’clock both forces were in motion. Scouts were thrown out. The battle-field selected was a clear space of a few acres a few hundred yards to the east of Mr. Gwynn’s residence (...). On reaching the ground, each side formed itself in single line, facing each other, separated only by a space of not 100 yards; the women and children of each tribe occupying the rear of each side respectively. Then followed more palaver, or yabber yabber, degenerating at last into language more expressive than polite, and of an extremely personal character ; in fact each side did its best to "rile" the other. The "riling" was as mutual as the abuse was reciprocal. Where was I all this time ? I followed the Murray tribe for some time, at a very respectful distance, and at last. perched myself where I was out of danger but could see and hear all that my curiosity desired. Unlike the Americans they never fought among trees, and unlike the Europeans there was no danger of a stray shot. I was safe. Their fundamental law of battle was a most humane one, and that was, the side which had the first one, or at most two, killed, must accept, defeat ; then each party would retire to its respective camps.. There was no such thing as a war of extermination with these tribes. If my memory does not deceive me, I do not think the same intertribal law held good on the immense Peninsula of Port Lincoln, on the western side of Spencer’s Gulf. The signal for battle was given, and out shot from both sides a volley of spears, the sharp-pointed ones used in hunting large game. These were neatly caught on the shields. (...)
This sort of thing might have gone on till the youngest brave was grey-headed, and no one would have been hurt. Presently their passions became more inflamed, and then began as lively a bit of fighting as the most inveterate fire-eater could have desired, and called into play all the attention that the quick-eyed men could command. Some spears flew in graceful deadly curves through the air, while others hissed along, like so many flying serpents, about a foot or so from the ground. The shields wore now up, now down, as instant emergency required. The lines drawing closer, one of the Murray tribe had a barbed spear clean through the calf of his leg; the spear had to be broken to get it out of the wound. Things at this moment began to look critical, when a posse of mounted police, which had been seat for and hurriedly dispatched from Adelaide, galloped forward and stopped further bloodshed.
(...) Under a threat of being shot at, proceedings between the contestants were stayed for a time. The women and children taking care of the spears, the men were allowed to fight out. their grievance and vindicate their soiled honour with waddies ! (...) Imagine 700 or 800 painted savages with painted shields, yelling like demons and hurling at each other 800 waddies, all on an area of less than an acre. The waddies were thrown with amazing rapidity ; some met in mid-air and went up like a pair of newhr married sky-rockets. Those that came home to the object aimed at, were parried by the shields, and going over the contestants’ heads, they glittered in the sun like a shower of twenty-inch icicles ; falling in the rear they were secured by the lubras and children, then handed to their fighting husbands, or fathers, as the case might he. Sometimes a waddy would be received obliquely on a shield, which was otherwise held upright, the result, was it would glance against the head or face of the right or left hand man ; should it hit the head no evil would follow, as the thickness of the skull was an unfailing safeguard against concussion of the brain ; but should it, unfortunately, find its way to the region of the stomach, then followed a fearfully explosive grunt, a sudden collapse of all martial ardour, and a speedy retirement to the rear. These events tended to break the order and discipline which, up to this point, had been well sustained. Then followed a fortuitous and promiscuous mixture, outvyinig a hundred full blown Donnybrooks ; hard bits were resisted by harder heads, until both parties were exhausted, and the result was, in the language of the football and cricket field "a draw." No lives were lost thanks to the presence of the police, and but little damage was done, whilst as to vindicated honour, it was, in the words of the drill instructor, "as you were."”

“In 1849 I saw a battle where about 500 of the Narrinyeri met some 800 of the Wakanuwan, and it was very evident that if the conflict had not been stopped by the colonial authorities the Narrinyeri would have signally defeated their opponents.”

“Later that morning Jacko saw two strange men pulling a raft up on to the beach. He ran back to camp and woke his father, who grabbed his spears and ran down to the beach. The two strange men made signs of peace. They spoke a strange tongue and made signs to explain that they had been blown away from Dulkawalgee, as they called Bentinck Island, and they wanted to camp until the wind dropped and they could try to paddle back home.
Buldthud took the men back to his camp and gave them water and some blue-fish to eat. He made sign talk then, telling the men to stay and rest and later they could go and camp on the next point. He would go and tell the rest of the people that it was all right. When they saw a fire on the point they were to walk around and he would show them the well for water. He picked up his spears and wommera and went off.
But Buldthud was only gammon (pretending) to be friendly. He intended to kill those two men. When he was out of sight they ran off to another big camp where there were many more Larumbanda men, including my own father, Goobalathaldin. He ran into camp shouting : Two strange men have come – they might try to steal our women so we must kill them.
All the people were excited. They laughed and danced about while men put their spears in the sea to tighten the bindings, and got boomerangs and nulla-nulla clubs ready.
When they were all ready Buldthud took them across to the point where the Kaiadilt men were going to camp. They hid themselves near a well behind sand dunes where the visitors would get their water. Then Buldthud lit the signal fire. The Bentinck men came along carrying only wommeras; this is a sign of peace when visiting another country. A man cannot kill without a spear, but if anyone throws a spear at him, he can fend it off with the wommera and then use the wommera to hurl the spear back. Buldthud pointed the way to the well and they went toward it while he waited behind.
The Kaiadilt men became suspicious as they neared the well. They must have seen signs of tracks through the long yellow grass and scrubby bush, or smelled the hiding men. They turned suddenly and started running back. The Larumbanda men jumped up and ran after them hurling spears. The Kaiadilt kept dodging the spears and then pulled them out of the ground to throw back at their attackers. The running fight went on until two Larumbanda men were wounded badly, one with a spear in the shoulder and another with spear in the thigh.
Buldthud had been hiding behind a sand dune. He now came running and calling out, saying that they should not kill the Kaiadilt as they were his friends. He ran between his own people and the Kaiadilt and began defending them by deflecting spears with his nulla-nulla. When they stopped throwing spears he walked backwards towards the Kaiadilt men, calling on everybody to be good friends. When the Larumbanda men put their weapons on the round the Kaiadilt went toward them slowly. But (95) of course Buldthud was still gammon and he managed to sneak up behind the Kaiadilt men and knocked them both to the ground with his nulla-nulla. All the Larumbanda grabbed their spears and rushed up and speared the helpless men until they were dead. Their bodies were dragged down to the sea and thrown to the sharks. A cruel story, but life was very hard for the old people. Sometimes there was not enough food to share, and they were always fighting over food and women. A man could trust only his closest relatives; anyone else might be planning to kill him at the first chance. (96)”

“I was camped with my cousin Nalga. We were single men and hunted together. One day we went out to the reef to hunt fish at low tide. We speared enough fish, for two meals and took them inland to cook. While we were making firesticks we heard women talking a few hundred yards away. We were tired of being single and decided to steal some wives. There were two women so we sneaked up and caught them and tied vines around their necks as a sign of marriage. We took them away into the bush.
We knew we would have to fight for the women, so after a few days we began to make spears. We made the spearheads from hard-wood, and our girl friends made binding string from the inner bark of beach hibiscus. There were no long straight sticks left for spear handles so we had to join three short pieces of hibiscus wood together and bind the spearhead to them. We needed to make fighting boomerangs but couldn’t find any good bent limbs or roots. We decided to make a lot of the short-pointed throwing sticks called lalbanin, in place of boomerangs.
The old men would come at night to try and kill us as we slept. We camped in the bush and at night made a fire and put heaps of grass near it; but we didn’t sleep there; after dark we four slipped away into the bush to camp under grass without fire. One of us always kept watch.
One night when Nalga was keeping watch he saw a mob of men creeping up to our campfire and getting ready to spear the heaps of grass. As they stabbed their spears into the grass we came up behind and speared two of them. Before they knew what was happening we knocked two more down with our throwing sticks. The others ran away back to tell the rest of their people.
A few days later we left the women in hiding and went down to hunt for fish. While we were on the beach a big mob came over the sand dunes behind us. We ran as hard as we could along the beach and they followed, throwing spears. We threw our spears back at them and also any of theirs that did not break on hitting the ground. We killed or wounded many men with our spears and throwing sticks before we got away. They did not try to kill us again for a long time.”

“The greatest flood remembered by our people came during the lifetime of our big warrior, Warrenby. He was a very tall and strong man and a full warrama when the flood came. Warrenby had two wives then and was living with them and other men and their families on Langu-Narnji. There is one high place on this island. It is a big sandridge on the south-east side — nearly 100 feet above sea level. There is some coralite rock near the top of the ridge and a low cave in the rock. When the heavy rain began Warrenby and his people went up into this cave for shelter. The rain kept falling for days and the tides were coming higher and higher, flooding the low country. The people were wondering about this flood, as they themselves hadn’t made it. They thought someone else must have been able to make a flood and had sent it to punish them. The rain poured down and the people couldn’t hunt or fish. Their walpas (rafts) were washed away, and soon their firewood was gone and they were cold and shivering. The water rose higher and the sandhill remained the only place above water. Then the people saw they were not alone. All the wallabies were also on the hill, and snakes, goannas, lizards, rats, centipedes, cockroaches, and birds. Everything living had come scrambling, up on to the hill to escape the flood. There was now plenty of food.
At first they ate raw meat, but when the rain eased they gathered driftwood and dried it out in the cave before cooking their food. Fish, dugong and turtle swam where the wallaby should have been feeding, but when the waters went down many of the sea creatures were stranded in shallow pools, and Warrenby and his mob grew fat on the harvest of the storm.
Warrenby watched the water going back and said to his people: We didn’t make that terrible flood, but we’ll be blamed for it because we own the flood-making place. Many people all over these islands will have drowned, and their relations will be coming to kill us for payback. We must make many spears and boomerangs; we must have more nulla-nullas.
While the people still had plenty of food left from the flood they set to work making more weapons for the fights that they knew would come. Other Larumbanda who had sheltered on high ground such as Dinglema also crossed over to Langu-Narnji to join Warrenby and make a strong force of fighting men. Day and night they had a man watching the crossing at Doolgarnun Point so that they wouldn’t suffer a surprise attack.
For almost a moon the men made weapons and practised fighting while the women gathered shellfish, crabs and any other food they could get.
Then one day the guard at the crossing came running to say that a strange man was crossing at low tide. Warrenby went with the other men and spoke to the stranger, who said he was Yanggarl from Forsyth Island. He was just passing through and looking out for some of his people who had been swept away in the floods. They gave him some food and while he was eating, some of the Larumbanda walked away and talked about him. They asked Warenby what he thought.
He stinks like fish vomit. I think he’s a spy sent by the Yanggarl to see how strong we are. We must kill him. The Yanggarl man was given more food and while he ate it greedily, Warrenby speared him. They dragged his body away and threw it into the sea for the sharks.
Another moon passed, and by now Warrenby had all his plans ready, and every man knew his job. So when a boy came running from a crossing to say that a big mob of men were coming, only Warrenby went down to meet them while the rest hid themselves. He saw a of painted warriors coming along the low cliffs opposite. They were running along, dancing and jumping about. Some were do doing the dance of the Brolga, some the Crane, some the Seagull and Barramundi. Each man was doing his own totem dance and they each carried a bundle of spears and boomerangs.
They saw Warrenby standing on the crossing with only a couple of fish spears in his hand. They came closer, and Warrenby called out : Why have you people come here? We’ve come to kill all you Larumbanda mob because you made the flood, and many people died, they yelled and screamed back.
The painted warriors danced about, working themselves into a rage. They screamed insults at Warrenby and his mob, and tugging their beards, threw their wind at Warrenby to try and kill him by sorcery.
Warrenby went out on the crossing toward the warriors and tried to tell them that the Larumbanda had not caused the flood. He gammoned (pretended) to be frightened and told them to go away and leave the poor Larumbanda in peace because most of their men had also been drowned in the flood. The Yanggarl believed Warrenby because they could see no tracks of men going to or from the crossing. They became hungry for an easy killing of a few men, and the capture of their women and children. They were not afraid of the cowering Warrenby and his two fish spears.
Warrenby kept getting closer to the Yanggarl and all the time waving and shouting at them to go away. They didn’t know that Warrenby could throw a spear further than any other man, and all the time he was judging the distance to them. His first spear came as a complete surprise when it flashed into the capering mob to bury its serrated double head in the throat of a Yanggarl and put him threshing on the sand.
The Yanggarl men now screamed their fury at Warrenby and rushed. in a mob tog within spear range, fitting the hollowed back ends of spears into wommera hooks as they ran. Warrenby also turned and rail, but when the first spear quivered into the mud near him, he turned and hurled his last spear and shouted his defiance as it thudded into the stomach of a running warrior.
It now became a running fight, with the powerful Warrenby easily keeping his distance ahead of the yelling mob. Every now and then he would turn and wait for a spear to come and cleverly turn it aside with his wommera, then he would pull it out of the ground, fit it to his wommera and hurl it back at the enemy before running on toward Doolgarnun Point. Two more Yanggarl were down in the mud clawing at spears in their bodies by the time Warrenby ran up the beach at Doolgarnun.
The Yanggarl shouted in triumph when they saw a young boy get up from the long grass behind the beach and run ahead of Warrenby. They were now certain that the Larumbanda were few and hurled more spears and boomerangs as they chased the two along a shallow grassy valley between two long sand dunes. Warrenby stopped by a pandanus palm and turned to shout insults at his pursuers, using the pandanus as a shield against the shower of spears and boomerangs.
The Yanggarl were now in the trap, and most of their spears and boomerangs had been thrown at the running Warrenby. Their war cries turned to yells of fear when a mob of men rose out of the grass on each side of them and began hurling spears and boomerangs. The invaders turned to run from the trap, but whistling spears and whirling boomerangs cup them down. Only one man escaped to the crossing, but Warrenby, in relentless pursuit, caught him out on the mudflats to end his life with a spear.
The Larumbanda gave the Yanggarl as much mercy as they would have received from them, and went among the wounded invaders, smashing their skulls with nulla-nullas until every man was dead. They then dragged the bodies along to a deep channel and threw them in to the water, saying, There you are, rock cod, there you are shark. All you sea people can now have a big feed.
Since that time of the flood and the battle afterwards, the Yanggarl have always been few in numbers, and have never again come in battle against us. Today only a few Yanggarl are left here at Mornington.
The old folk say that it wasn’t a good thing to kill all those Yanggarl men, because their home island of Forsyth is between Mornington Island and the mainland, and when the tribe was strong they stopped the mainland tribes from raiding the Wellesley Islands after women. After the Warrenby fight the Yanyula tribe from Booraloola used to raid Forsyth Island, travelling by walpa from the mainland.”

“I may now mention, that near my own house on the Yeo Yeo, some years afterwards, I witnessed another battle, most fierce and bloody, of the natives.”

“It appears from the Moreton Bay Free Press, published at Brisbane, that on December 22 last, one of those barbarous and disgraceful scenes was enacted among some of the aborigines, which are usually termed a war or fight, but which should rather be looked upon as among the superstitious ceremonies of a religion of which very little is known. The scene of the conflict was a tine green flat, above a mile beyond Burnett’s Swamp [near Stones Corner]; and here, on the afternoon of the above day, were assembled a number of blacks of the Amity Point, Logan, Bribe’s Island, and Ninny-Ninny (Ningy-Ningy) tribes - the former being opposed to the two latter; in all they amounted to about one hundred and fifty - men, women, and children. The cause of the quarrel was, a Logan black, called Harry. having stolen a gin or female of one of the opposite tribes. The battle commenced by her father running at Harry with a sharp knife, about half a foot in length. The latter was armed with a similar instrument and, locked in each other’s arms, a most sanguinary conflict ensured, in the course of which both parties received some very severe stabs in the back and along the ribs. A partial encounter with the waddy and coontan then took place along the hostile lines, ending with a grand melee, in which the spears and boomerangs flew about with great rapidity; and, in the course of which the blacks displayed great tact in the use of their small shields. At last the Amity Point and Logan Blacks were routed (they were much less numerous than the others), and it was then discovered that one of the Bribe Islanders was killed. The poor fellow had received a spear through the right breast: it entered near the arm-pit, and must have penetrated the right lung, for he died within ten minutes of receiving the wound. The warriors were all hideously bedaubed with red and yellow ochres, their hair frizzled out and ornamented with parrots’ and other feathers. During the fight, the old women of the tribe, decorated in a somewhat similar manner, stood round a fire, chanting, or intoning, in a most monotonous manner; altogether it reminded one of the incantation scene in Macbeth" When the death of the black was discovered, his tribe set up a most unearthly yell, and beat their heads meantime with their waddles. The deceased was the brother of Diamond, who was employed for some time in the Customs’ boat; but on no account could the blacks be induced to pronounce his name after his decease.
(...) The writer adds that the fight of Dec.22 was followed by the revolting practice of cannibalism; for the black who was killed in the above affray was roasted and eaten; and the horrible feast was perpetrated within three miles of Brisbane.”

“This savage conflict [Event #92] led to a similar affray a few days afterwards, at Logan, in which as before, the Amity Point and Logan tribes were opposed to those of the Ninny-Ninny and Bribe’s Island.”

“The last tribal fight, war really, was fought at the mouth of the Tambo river between Billy Thorpe’s tribe [Brabuwoolong] and the South Gippsland mob – the Port Alberts. It lasted all day and right into the evening. How it come about was the other tribe had got to the Tambo food-hunting and they decided to swin over to swan egging, but word soon reached the Swan Reach Aborigines and they got together, the men and the women too, and off they went with their war weapons, barbed spears, waddies, sticks, and killer boomerangs. (...)
The children were left in the camp with all the old people or anyone sick, they never went to the fights. Billy and George were only young lads and after the warriors left they nicked off after ’em, following for miles without being caught. They got part of the country where fires had been through and they had a job hiding there, just brunt trees, stumps and logs. They got spotted. Well, it was too far back to the old people, so their parents left them there, but well hidden in an old hollow log covered over with burnt branches. Grandfather told me ’it was ’olla all right but it had plenty stingin’ nettles inside’. Their people told these boys not to move out of that log till they got back.
The tribes met at the mouth of the Tambo River and they had a terrible battle, a lot of them killed and wounded on both sides. Grandfather told me ’it wasn’t till dusk our people come back past where we was, still in that ’olla log and we was howlin’ and yellin’, and it was Old Kitty Johnson and Dick Cooper who found us. My parents were both dead in the battle and so were Geoge’s. Kitty took us and reared us up. (38) ”

“Corroborees sometimes do not pass off so amicably ; an old grievance may be revived, or a new one may arise, which will not admit of friendly arrangements ; in which case they resort to fighting. Such was the position of affairs between certain tribes one beautiful November morning, when they adjourned from their camping ground to a little valley bright with flowers, the low hills on either side of which were thickly studded with shrubby trees. At the foot of the valley there was a clear lake, where swans and pelicans were sailing in all the pride of freedom; and on its margin, under some large gum trees, grew the white and blue forget-me-not, from which quail and snipe started at every step. Some rocky hills jutted into the opposite side of the lake, and beyond the plain stretched away up the valley of the Fiery Creek, till it met the wooded spurs of the Pyrenees, whose rounded heights closed the view. On the low hills on either side, amongst the shrubby trees, the belligerent tribes, about a hundred men in number, took up their respective positions, with loud shouts of defiance, and in constant motion, to enable them the more readily to avoid the missiles of their adversaries. Near the men, and round the upper part of the valley, the women were stationed in little groups. Suddenly the tribe on one side rushed in an irregular line down the hill, and, after having discharged their boomerangs, which trundled along the ground like hoops, up the hill of their opponents, instantly retreated to their partial cover. The other tribe then rushed down their hill, and discharged their boomerangs in the same manner at the retreating body; again the first tribe assault, and again their opponents repel it, every man vigorously leaping and shouting. While the young women collected the boomerangs and carried them to the men, occasionally exhorting them or fighting amongst themselves with their poles, the old women screamed and threw dust into the air, clasping their hands high over head, and quivering in every limb as it fell upon them. At length the men on either side seized their leeowils and mulkas, and rushed into the valley to meet each other hand to hand, fighting as with battleaxe and shield. In a brief space of time, a few bruises, scratches, and broken fingers, satisfy the contending parties, and all appear friends again.”

“In these days, fierce fights often took place among the aboriginals in the vicinity of Brisbane, and the white boy, who was here and there and everywhere among the blacks, of course, witnessed them. Once there was a great gathering from all parts of the country, the different tribes rolling up to witness a grand new corroboree that the Ipswich tribe had brought. After the corroboree a fearful fight came off, some Northern tribes — the Bribie, Mooloolah, Maroochy, Noosa, Durundur, Kilcoy, and Barambah blacks — ranging themselves against the Brisbane, Ipswich, Rosewood, Wivenhoe, Logan, and Stradbroke Island tribes. Altogether there were some seven hundred blacks, and they were camped in this wise The Brisbane, Stradbroke Island, and all from the Logan up to Brisbane had their camp at Green Hills (overlooking Roma Street Station, where the Reception House is now), the Ipswich, Rosewood, and Wivenhoe tribes were on Petrie Terrace, where the barracks are, and the Northern tribes camped on the site of the present Normanby Hotel.
(...) Always in these ceremonies the same sort of thing was gone through, and as they have been already described, we will leave them to come to where the old warriors were fighting. The Brisbane side chased the others as far as Red Hill, and then, two of the Northern blacks being wounded, one with a spear through the calf of the leg, and the other with a similar weapon through his thigh, a halt was called. This was done by the friends of the wounded yelling tor, which meant hit or wounded. A halt in the proceedings was always brought about so. The Brisbane tribe then retreated, and were chased back as far as the road that now leads to Milton on the river bank, when three of their side got wounded one with, a boomerang in the chest, another with a waddie on the head, and yet another man got a spear through his foot.
After these happenings both sides decided on a rest for a while, and so they squatted down about one hundred yards apart. An interval passed, and then two men from one side got up and rushed in a threatening manner across to the others, who retaliated, and so things went on in the usual way of a fight. As the spears and waddies flew here and there the white boy was amazed to see how they were dodged. Looking on, he felt it was impossible for a man to escape being hit, and yet most of the weapons passed between legs or over heads, or were turned aside on a shield. When some time had been spent in a general sort of fight, an Ipswich blackfellow challenged a Bribie Island black to fight with knives and waddies, accusing him of being the cause of the death of a friend, and calling him all sorts of names, also uttering dreadful threats. The two met, and started viciously hitting at one another, till the Ipswich black split the other’s shield ; then weapons were thrown aside, and a hand-to-hand fight with stone knives ensued. The cuts were frightful, and Father was relieved when at length the pair were separated by those looking on. It was found that the Ipswich black had less wounds than the other, so the former had to stand and allow his enemy’s friends to cut him to make things more equal. This, as I have already stated, was always done. It was the aboriginal’s idea of justice. When Father went out to the blacks next day to see how the fight was progressing he found every one in the midst of a great feast of all sorts of animals. After they were satisfied, however, they painted and decorated themselves again, and then much the same sort of thing went on. Women fought as well as men, and on this second day Father noticed two gins of the same tribe — one a young girl of eighteen years, and the other over thirty — who seemed to have a quarrel to settle. They fought about a young man. One said he belonged to her, and the other said no, he belonged to her ; and the jealous pair fought and squabbled very savagely, using not only their tongues, but also their hands and weapons. The younger one seemed to be getting the better of it, when the other suddenly made a prod with her yam stick, and sticking the sharp point into her enemy’s body, killed her immediately.
The dead girl’s brother at this ran and felled the conqueror to the ground by a blow on the head with a waddie. The blow was so severe that the skull bone showed out, and the woman lay as one dead. Her body was carried to her hut then, as was also that of the other gin, and a great wailing and crying and hacking of flesh began. Amidst all this noise of the mourning it was hardly possible to hear oneself speak, and the white boy, growing a little frightened, went home.
Next day, when Father again went to see how things were, he found to his astonishment the wounded gin sitting up ; he had expected to find her dead. The wound on her forehead was filled in with fine charcoal. The body of the dead gin had been skinned and eaten.
A good many were wounded before this fight ended, the Brisbane side getting the better of it eventually. Afterwards, when all the tribes journeyed homewards in different directions, they took with them their wounded, carrying them on their shoulders, a leg on either side of the neck.”

“Another big tulan, or fight, Father remembers at York’s Hollow (the Exhibition). He and his brother Walter were standing looking on, when a fighting boomerang thrown from the crowd circled round, and travelling in the direction of the brothers, struck Walter Petrie on the cheek, causing a deep flesh wound. The gins and blacks of the Brisbane tribe commenced to cry about this, and said that the weapon had come from the Bribie blacks’ side, and that they were no good, but wild fellows. The brothers went home, and the cut was sewn up. It did not take long to heal afterwards.
At that fight there must have been about eight hundred blacks gathered from all parts, and there were about twenty wounded. One very fine blackfellow lost his life. His name was Tunbur (maggot). In the fight he got hit on the ankle with a waddie, and next day died from lockjaw.”

“I recollect a fighting party which mustered near our homestead which was near the blacks’ main camp of their tribe; they came to avenge a black that another tribe had killed. All the young men that were employed on the stations left to join the fighting party; I as a boy was permitted to learn or see all that they were doing. They gathered together at night and in the morning they were all gone; the fighting men in one direction and the women, children, and old men in another direction, to hide themselves in a thick scrubby place where no one could find them. The fighting men were away for about a month. When they returned the young men to l do fall their doings while away. They brought back with them three women, the only ones they thought worth having. The fighting men, upon leaving, detached a small party which went ahead to pick up tracks,etc., the main party keeping out of sight in the hills and unfrequented parts, but as close to the trackers as they considered advisable, and runners kept passing from one party to the other. They followed the tracks for a long way for many days and tracked them back to where they first commenced, and then the trackers sent a message to the main party to close in after dark so as to surround the enemy’s camp. They came and prepared themselves for the attack by painting themselves with pipe-clay, all of the same pattern, and then they surrounded the camp of the blacks they intended to attack, and about an hour before day light in the morning they began to clap their boomerangs together on one side of the surrounded camp, from which, on hearing the sound of the boomerangs, the blacks rushed out on the side opposite the noise, where they were met by a shower of spears and boomerangs. The ring of fighting men closed in until they were close round the camp, in which there was no noise or movement, and were waiting until it was light enough to see what was to be done, for they did not wish to kill the women or children. When they could see they found that two of the men had climbed into a very tall river gum tree. One of these men was lying flat upon a broad limb of this tree. It was so high that the force of their spears was nearly spent when thrown up, and he caught some of them, and with them wounded some of the attacking party. Finding this, they stationed one young man who was noted for his skill in throwing the nulla, and another thrower of the nulla was told to throw his weapon so that it might hit the limb near the man’s head, and when the man flinched at this the other expert threw his nulla and fractured the man’s head, and he fell, striking the branches of the tree in falling to the ground. While they were engaged with him his companion in the tree descended and tried to rush off, but was clubbed to death. Some of those attacked managed to escape. The man who had thrown the nulla and brought down the man was regarded as a very important person after this, and for years afterwards he was very proud of his performance, although he had only one eye and an injured hand, for when he was a little boy travelling with his father and mother, it one night came on to rain, so they stripped off a sheet of bark and propped it up for a shelter, and in front of it lit a fire, leaving the child sheltered by the bark while they went to strip off more bark to make a hut with. While away the prop slipped and drove the child into the fire and kept him there until he was horribly burned, and when he was grown up the face looked as though all the flesh was burned off one side, and his arm was nearly useless, but in other respects he was very active and strong. To return to the camp of the attacked people— It was searched when it was light, and some women and children were found there, for the women do not run away in such attacks. The children were at the backs of the huts covered over with rugs. They selected three of the younger women to take back with them. The bodies of the dead men they cut up, as they always did those they killed in fights, to cut out their fat, and they declared these men had no hearts (in other words were cowards).”

“About the year 1862 there was a big fight between the Swan Hill and Murray blacks at Dimboola (Nine Creeks at it was then called). They fought for nearly one week, and came back with their arms and legs all bandaged up with mud and bark. When any of the blacks received injuries they first put soft clay on the wound, then laid a strip of bark over the clay, and then bound It with sinews from a kanaaroo's tail. They would leave this on until the broken limb or wound was healed.”

“A correspondent sends us an account of a great native battle which lasted two days. The scene of the conflict is stated to have been contiguous to the Mission station, and the tribes engaged were on one side of the Murray, Lake Albert, and Coorong ; upon the other, detachments from the Goolwa and Milang and neighbourhood. About 190 warriors were engaged in the encounter ; and, although our correspondent had not heard of any having died, there were upwards of twenty severely wounded. One well-known blackfellow, George Merriman, received a wound two inches deep in the head. The police had been for some time on the alert to prevent this battle, but the natives took advantage of the absence of the troopers at bush fires to have their fight out without interruption.”

“The funeral of Mr. John Thomas Greer, of Petersham, formerly one of the most picturesque figures on the North Coast, took place at Fermnount, Bellinger Elver (says the Sydney Sun).
Mr Greer, who went to the Bellinger River almost 70 years ago, was 82 years of age. With his father and brothers, he went from the Macleay River by packhorse, crossing the Nambucca in a cedar dug-out. They were among the first few settlers on the river.
Mr. Greer witnessed a most unusual tribal battle between the aborigines some 67 years ago. Two tribes, the warriors numbering over 1000, met on the Bellinger, at a spot now known as North Beach. A pitched battle occurred, and continued for several hours, although casualties were few.
One of the combatants was a half caste named Yellow George, who died a few years ago In the Macleay district. Yellow George was struck with three spears simultaneously. Although his wounds were only slight, he became infuriated, dashed into a hut, and secured a muzzle-loading gun and returned to the fray. That settled the battle, the enemy disappearing without a shot being fired.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...) La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“La bonne harmonie est loin de régner toujours entre les tribus. Aux relations les plus amicales vient souvent succéder la guerre. Ce n'est point l'ambition, la soif des conquêtes, le désir d'étendre ses droits, l'appât des richesses et de la toute-puissance qui leur donnent naissance. Elles tiennent à des causes purement individuelles, à des violences sur les personnes, le [88] plus souvent à l'enlèvement des femmes, avec ou sans leur consentement. Jamais les tribus n'ont à défendre leur territoire contre les empiétements d'un Cyrus ou d'un Alexandre. C'est plutôt quand Paris enlève Hélène à Ménélas, qu'elles poussent leur cri de guerre. (...) Le mari ne reste pas longtemps sans apprendre à quelle tribu appartient le ravisseur de la femme qui lui a été enlevée. Pour qu'elle lui soit rendue, il fait entendre les réclamations les plus vives. Restent-elles sans effet, toute la tribu prend parti pour l'époux outragé. Tous les siens se répandent dans les tribus voisines et amies, criant de toute la force de leurs poumons: Caouis! caouis !
A cet appel les tribus se lèvent en masse, et, dans une assemblée générale, déclarent la guerre à celles qui paraissent participer au rapt en refusant de livrer ses auteurs. (...)n La campagne est toujours de courte durée. (...) Comme toujours, les sauvages marchent au devant de l'ennemi sans être sous le commandement de personne. Ils n'ont point d'éclaireurs, point de grand' gardes ; leur plan de campagne est des plus simples et n'exige point d'études stratégiques. Les deux armées, qui rarement se composent de plus de quatre-vingts hommes chacune, s'avancent l'une contre l'autre sans chercher à se surprendre, sans se tendre d'embuscade. Les guerriers confient une partie de leurs flèches aux enfants qui marchent à leur suite, et se tiennent prêts à combattre. Aussitôt que les deux armées sont en présence, le cri de guerre Coubede ! coubede !— terme injurieux qui répond au mot grossier employé souvent, en France, pour désigner une femme de mauvaise vie, — part de tous les rangs. Mais ce n'est guère que lorsqu'elles sont à une distance d'une trentaine de mètres l'une de l'autre, que la lutte commence. Jamais les combattants ne se prennent corps à corps. N'ayant ni lances, ni haches, ni casse-tête, c'est leur adresse qui décide seule du sort de la bataille. Au cri de Cotibedè ! répété dans les deux camps, se joignent des cris inarticulés que poussent tous les sauvages en lançant leurs flèches. Pour les séparer, les vieillards, au risque d'être atteints eux-mêmes, se jettent entre les deux armées ennemies, font tous leurs efforts pour arrêter les combattants, pour les empêcher [91] de rougir le sol de leur sang. Les femmes en font autant : elles pleurent, elles poussent des gémissements ; puis bientôt, s'animant aux cris de leurs maris, elles-mêmes en viennent aux mains. Pendant que les hommes continuent à se darder de loin, elles s'approchent, s'empoignent et s'administrent de rudes coups.
Le combat ne finit point faute de combattants. Quand un certain nombre de soldats ont reçu des blessures, quand quelques-uns ont mordu la poussière, l'armée la plus maltraitée prend la fuite, laissant aux vainqueurs le champ de bataille. Ceux-ci sont impitoyables, jamais ils ne font de prisonniers. Ils achèvent le malheureux blessé resté étendu sur le sol, quitte à rendre son cadavre à sa famille ou à sa tribu. Les fuyards se sauvent au loin et la poursuite n'est jamais acharnée. (...)
Si sincère qu'elle puisse être, la paix est rarement de longue durée. La même étincelle rallume l'incendie, la même cause, en se renouvelant, produit les mêmes effets. Pendant son séjour dans la tribu d'Ohanlaala, Pelletier a vu éclater douze guerres dont il ne s'est pas borné à être le témoin impassible, mais auxquelles il a pris une part très-active. Il a été assez heureux pour s'en tirer sain et sauf, pour n'en rapporter aucune blessure.”

“Tipamangani of Clan 9 stole Pinyampunga (the initial offense was wife theft.) Kutampawayangani, Pinyampunga's Clan 2 brother wanted her to go home to Country 4 and marry someone else. There was a fight at Pitamu in which Turimpi and other Country 1 men participated. Kutampawayangani was injured.”

“Blacks Tribal Fight

A Unique Experience
Mr. Walter Harvie of Coffs Harbour, who is now 83 years of age, was the only white witness of the biggest aboriginal tribal fight along this coast in the last 60 years. It was about 40 years ago. Mr. Harvie describes the unique incident as follows:

I was drawing cedar from Bongal scubs to the Bellinger at the time, and employed two black boys. Their father was boss of the coast blacks from the Bellinger to a good distance north. We named him ‘Long Billy’. The boys were about 16 and 18 years of age and very intelligent. They were very useful to me in minding the bullocks. Naturally they wanted to go and see the fight, and they asked me to go with them. I went -- partly because I was anxious as they were to see the fight and partly because I wanted to keep in touch with the boys, in case they might be enticed away. They had been with me about two years and could speak English. Later they joined the Queensland black police.

Aboriginal Customs
The two boys I had were ‘Caperas’, which meant that they were a stage between boys and men. They had undergone their examinations by the heads of the tribes some time previously for promotion to manhood, although it was not in such a severe form as in former years. But they were barred from eating certain kinds of food. Bush turkeys, goannas and flying foxes were taboo, also several kinds of game, but fish, oysters, damper and any other food were allowed. They were debarred from living in the camp with other blacks, particularly if there were any women or girls about. They had an appointed chaperone, who was always with them. He was generally an old aborigine who, in addition to his fighting implements carried a nitched piece of thin wood with strings attached, which made a buzzing sound when whirled in the air. It was a ‘row row’, and when used in the right way would make a row all right. This was used by the man in charge to keep all stragglers away from where the caperas were. There were other caperas in the group besides my two boys.

The Battle Ground
The battle ground was on the bald ridges between Bongal and Boambi Creeks and when we arrived there we met a great number of blacks. The fighting men were naked, except for strong belts in which they carried their fighting implements. Their bodies were painted with fantastic stripes of different colours. They carried spears and heelaman in their hands. The heelaman was a piece of light wood about 16 or 18 inches long and about 14 inches wide, rounded on one side, and it had a grip hold for the hand on the flat side. This was their shield for warding off spears and blows from other weapons. I was directed by the head men to stay with the boys, as I would be safe with them from any weapons flying about. The boys soon found a suitable spot from which we would have a good view, and all the time the old chap kept up a noise with his whirling machine to keep intruders away.

The Battle
The fighting men were rushing about making an unearthly row on both sides, but after a time they got into two lines about 50 yards apart. Then a large number on either side fell back as reserves, some distance away. Two men who appeared to be distinguished warriors jumped out in front of each line and made short speeches. When they finished they threw the boomerangs, which was a signal for a general clash. There was a yell that could be heard a long distance away and boomerangs and throwing sticks filled the air like flocks of birds. After they had expended all these missiles they started with spears about 10 feet long, of which they had great numbers. It was wonderful to see how they could elude them, knocking them aside, catching them on the heelaman, jumping straight up to let them pass underneath their feet, and even catching them in their hands and returning them like a flash. But each man kept his eyes glued on his opponent. Spears were picked up by the toes and returned, and it was wonderful how they could protect themselves behind the heelaman.
After about half-an-hour's strenuous fighting the front line men had used up all their weapons. Then the front line fell back on both sides, removing all who had been put out of action. The reserves took their place in the line and the fighting went on as fierce as before.
When all the spears and boomerangs were used up the others joined in and they started with copens, a very dangerous weapon about 3 feet long with a heavy knob at the end. The contestants then got scattered in pairs over about half-a-mile of clear ridge and there was very fierce hand to hand fighting. We had a good view from where we were and could hear their weapons clashing on the shields. There were desperate yells and we could see the men falling, but whether they were seriously wounded or not we could not tell.
About an hour from the time the battle started we could see that both sides had had enough. The southerners began to get away to their camp in twos and threes, and shortly afterwards there was a general stampede and the battle was over, bar the shouting and rattle of weapons. When the noise had quietened down there was much talk between the leaders and the different tribes (there were a number of tribes engaged) and soon they came to an agreement and began to attend to the wounded, of whom there were many. Some were so seriously wounded that they never recovered. I was told that three were killed outright in the fight.
I made a rough count and calculated that about 500 men were engaged in the battle. They were the finest crowd of men I've ever seen together -- tall and muscular, and every one an athlete of no mean calibre. The lubras were very plucky. They ran about among the fighting men picking up weapons that had been used.
I believe I am the only white man in New South Wales, and perhaps in Australia, who has ever witnessed such an exhibition. It would have made a fine picture, especially the hand to hand fighting near the finish, which was very fierce, and there were dozens lying about the ground in various attitudes. A great many had to be carried off to the different camps. The carriers made rough stretchers of saplings to carry those who could not walk and the wounded were attended to by old aborigines and lubras, who seemed to be experts at fixing up spear wounds and broken heads.

A Big Corroboree
I saw some that had to be helped off the battlefield taking part in the big corroboree that was held at night. There must have been over 1000 blacks congregated there, all in nature's garb except for short fringes worn around their hips by the lubras and pieces of skin of some animal hanging from the belts of the men. They had no blankets - the government dole had not reached this far. But they had plenty of rugs well tanned and sewn with a thread of their own make.
All the tribes took part in the corroboree. I remember that one part was a kangaroo hunt. A number of the blacks camped at Boambi for a long time, feeding and tending the men who were were wounded in the fight. I was running my bullock team there and was often about my run. Although they must have been often on short allowances of food they never interfered with my bullocks.
I noticed in a Sydney paper some months ago where a writer stated that aboriginals never used the boomerang in their fights. That is wrong. I have seen several, and the boomerang was always the principal weapon used.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
The two sentences highlighted in italics immediately above have been inserted for the sake of historical completeness. They appeared in the original handwritten account submitted by Walter Harvie to the newspaper editor but were omitted from the published version. The heading and sub-headings were all inserted by that editor.
In the language spoken by central and north coast of New South Wales aboriginal tribes the term caperas, said by Walter Harvie to have applied to youths of the mid-north coast tribes whilst they were undergoing the initiation into manhood process, is more usually spelt caparras or keeparras - for that spelling see a 1899 description of the keeparra initiation ceremonies practiced by the tribes of the Port Stephens area. The implement referred to by Walter Harvie as a ‘row row’ is today generally termed a bullroarer, ‘copens’ a nulla nulla, and ‘heelaman’ a shield.
Walter Harvie was born in Nova Scotia in 1843 and arrived in Australia in 1860. He was acknowledged by his peers as having been the first white settler in 1865 at Coffs Harbour on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. His assumption he may have been the only person in NSW, or even in Australia, to have witnessed such a large tribal battle was astray. Other written accounts of persons witnessing similar have been noted. For instance an anglican minister Rev. James Hassell (1823-1904), in his 1902 published autobiography titled In Old Australia : records and reminiscences from 1794, mentioned when he was a scholar from 1832 to 1835 at The King's School in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta in NSW he and other boys witnessed similar large tribal battles in that area.”

« Mr. Walter Harvie, Coffs Harbour’s first white settler, has something to say in reply to Mr. James Grayson, of the Nambucca River, who in a recent issue of the Nambucca Newsmade the suggestion that Mr. Harvie’s memory must have slipped a cog in his recollections of old-time black fellow battles in these parts. Mr. Grayson can take it from us that there is not much wrong with Mr. Harvie’s memory. What he says hereunder will show that he knows what he is talking about.
In his article Mr. Grayson described Mr. Harvie as a pioneer of the Nambucca, and went on to say, He gives an account of a dinkum abo. battle which he tells us took place 40 years ago, when 500 bucks took the field.
With all due respect for Mr. Grayson, says Mr. Harvie, I wish state that I never was a pioneer of the Nambucca, never saw a blacks’ fight there, and never wrote an article saying that I did see one on that river. But I saw a pretty lively scrap between the Bellinger and other tribes between the two arms of the Bellinger about 45 years ago.
A Bagawa black was badly wounded in the leg and several others were badly hurt; but they patched it up by holding a corroboree at night, which many of the settlers went to see, with their families.
Referring to Mr. Grayson’s remark that the last big fight of the blacks took place in Queensland about 66 years ago, Mr. Harvie says perhaps he is right. But I am not interested in that, he adds. The fight that I witnessed took place in the year 1866, on the Bald Hills, about half a mile south of Boambee Creek, near Bonville Reserve. I made a rough count of about 600 fighting’ men, and every one was an athlete. They told me that one Macleay River black was killed, and I know that several were wounded and never recovered. »

“Many of the Brisbane blacks have lately been working for settlers in the neighborhood, but so quietly had the arrangements for the fight been kept that little or nothing was known of it until an unusual stillness in the camps directed attention to something unusual being on foot. It was then found that the black were making a general muster, and about 9 am. fierce yells showed their whereabouts. Some white, attracted by the noise, were noon on the field of battle, but all their efforts could not stop a fight from taking place, until many of the blacks were wounded, not a few of them seriously. The women of the tribes seemed the must eager for the fighting, and by their yelling encouraged the men to ’go in’ again after some of them evidently, if left alone, thought they bad enough of it.”

“One such rule involved sending a messenger down south before the expedition set out, to ask permission from the local group having custody of the mine, to open the way. Reuther gives an example of the trouble caused when this was not done. Elderly Adnjamathanha men recall being told of such an incident which must have occurred in about 1870. They claim that the required messengers, two women, were not sent down before the main party as was the usual custom. Deprived of their happy times, as an informant put it, the older men of the local group closed the trade boundary. When the expedition arrived notwithstanding, the locals, led by the notorious Larrikin Tom, ambushed the party in the mine and disposed of them all but one.”

“One day we crossed a valley, where he told me many blacks had at one time lived of whom not a trace was now to be seen. They had gradually been killed and eaten by other tribes. ”

“There has been another disturbance amongst the natives. Early on the 10th almost all Larrakeyahs came into our camp in a frantic state, asking every one to lend them spears, as a large number of the neighbouring tribe, the Woolnahs, were about to attack their camp. This they did during the morning: but the Larrakeyahs having been well supplied with spears, rather astonished them, for, after exchanging two or three showers of spears, and having two of their party wounded, they cleared off to Doctor’s Gully for a time. In the cool of the evening we were informed they were having it out on a sandy beach about a quarter of a mile distant. I proceeded with several others to see the fight and it was certainly one of the most romantic scenes I ever beheld. We stood on the cliff just above the sable warriors, and not more than ninety or a hundred feet away, the descent being very abrupt, but with some large trees, covered with creepers, growing between high-water mark and where we stood.
There was, fortunately, a break in the foliage between us and the natives, which enabled us to see all that took place, their dusky forms showing out distinctly on the white sand. When we first arrived they were engaged in a wordy war, abusing and defying each other, and making the most unearthly noise imaginable In a few minutes they had worked themselves up to a fighting point, and spears were flying from both sides. How they managed to avoid them Heaven only knows; but it was an extraordinary sight to see sixty or seventy men jumping from side to side, leaping in the air, and, throwing their spears at the same time. We could also now and again hear the dull thud of the metpardings or club. The lubras, some with piccaninnies on their back, kept behind either party, pick up the spears and handing them to their lords and masters.
When any of them chanced to be hit they all set up a most unearthly yell, and kept on urging the men on to fresh exertions. Some of them came up the cliffs and asked us to come down and fight for them, and drive the Woolnahs back to their own country. On telling them that the whites had no intention of interfering in their quarrels, they perfectly understood us, but still urged us to come down and speak to the Woolnahs that we know.
This we did, and, strange to say, in two minutes they were talking to us and to each other, as though nothing had been further from their thoughts than fighting. We found that three or four had been wounded, and one was said to be mortally hit, a spear having entered his chest. It being nearly dark, we started back to camp, and had hardly got on the top of the cliff before they were it again.”

“About 1875, just before the establishment of the earliest stations on the Finke River, a sud den catastrophe overwhelmed the local Aranda group of Irbmangkara. A middle-aged man, called Kalejika, who belonged to a Central Aranda local group, paid a visit to Irbmangkara, and then told some Upper Southern Aranda men that Ltjabakuka, the aged and highly respected ceremonial chief of Irbmangkara, together with some of his assistant elders, had committed sacrilege by giving uninitiated boys men’s blood to drink from a shield into which it had been poured for ritual purposes. According to an old Aranda custom, fully initiated young novices, at a certain point of their manhood ritual, used to be given blood to drink which had been drawn from the veins of their elders. This was done during a special rite which was spoken of only in whispers of fearful secrecy. To offer any of this blood to uninitiated boys would have been a particularly detestable form of sacrilege. In Christian terms, it would have been equivalent to the action of a priest who had poured consecrated communion wine from a chalice into the drinking mugs of children attending a carefree birthday party. It seems incredible that Ltjabakuka and his elders would even have considered indulging in such a frivolous perversion of one of the most sacred Aranda rites; but Kalejika was an esteemed elder in his own region, and a number of Upper Southern Aranda men believed his story, or perhaps pretended to believe it in order to satisfy some private grudges that they might have held against Ltjabakuka. For sacrilege was an offence always punished by death. In the pre-white days capital punishment was easy enough to inflict when the offender was a young man. But when the ceremonial chief of an important centre and his chief elders had been accused of sacrilege, the only persons who could be called upon to punish them were men who came from totemic centres linked by myths with the home of the offenders. Though Tnauutatara lay in Upper Southern Aranda territory, few of the Tnauutatara clansmen were keen to undertake a raid on Irbmangkara: too many of them were linked by personal kinship ties with the Irbmangkara group, and no man could be compelled against his wish to kill his own kinsfolk. Similar kinship considerations affected the Western Aranda groups living along the mythical trail linking Irbmangkara and Kularata; indeed, these groups dismissed Kalejika’s story with indignation as an empty fabrication of malicious lies. It was rather easier to stir up to action some of the Matuntara men who lived on the trail linking Walbmara and Irbmangkara. In the end a band of avengers was organised, consisting of perhaps fifty to sixty warriors. Most of these were Matuntara men, but there were a few Upper Southern Aranda men to be found among them.
The latter, as was to be expected, came mainly from places in the Horseshoe Bend area, situ ated more than a hundred miles away from Irbmangkara. However, at least two Upper Southern Aranda men from closer sites - Kangkia, who came from the eagle centre of Pmoierka, and Kaminnga, who came from the emu centre of Erpalka - were persuaded to join the avenging party. The leader of the combined band was a Matuntara man called Tjinawariti, who came from the region south of Tempe Downs. The name Tjinawariti, which meant literally eagle’s foot, was the term given to the Southern Cross in the Matuntara area. Tjinawariti, who belonged to the eagle totem, was a man renowned both for his height and for his prowess with spear and boomerang. Another important man in the avenging band was Kapaluru, a native cat totem ceremonial chief from Akaua, on the Palmer River. His influence was directly responsible for the addition of several more young warriors to Tjinawariti’s band. And so, late one afternoon in 1875, three par ties of warriors, hidden among the bushes of the nearby mountain slopes and in the undergrowth in the river bed at their foot, were watching the men and women of Irbmangkara returning to their camp at Urualbukara, laden with the game and the vegetable foods which they had gath ered during the day, for since the upper pools of Irbmangkara constituted closed territory to all except the initiated males on ceremonial occasions, the normal camping grounds of the Irbmangkara folk were located at Urualbukara, the southernmost pool, four miles below the source of the springs. The avengers were numerous enough to form a group of tnengka, this term being the name given to a body of men who could overwhelm a whole camp of victims by means of an open attack made in broad daylight. The only reason for this party’s going into hiding was to ensure that every member of the Irbmangkara population had returned to the camp before the murderous assault was under taken. These fifty or sixty tnengka had accordingly been split into three parties upon arrival at Urualbukara two parties took up positions on the hill slopes of Ilaltilalta and Lalkitnama respectively, while the third hid in the thick under growth that covered the river bed south of the camps. This arrangement was intended to frustrate any attempts of escape on the part of the victims.
The sun had sunk very low in the western sky before the waiting warriors could be reasonably certain that all members of the Irbmangkara camp had returned. Keeping under the cover of bushes and trees, the armed men crept forward with the relentless and uncanny skill of hunters used to stalking suspicious game animals. As soon as the clearing around the camp had been reached, they rushed in, like swift dingoes upon a flock of unsuspecting emus. Spears and boomerangs flew with deadly aim. Within a matter of minutes Ltjabakuka and his men were lying lifeless in their blood at their brush shelters. Then the warriors turned their murderous attention to the women and older children, and either speared or clubbed them to death. Finally, according to the grim custom of warriors and avengers, they broke the limbs of the infants, leaving them to die natural deaths. The final number of the dead could well have reached the high figure of from eighty to a hundred men, women, and children. Before leaving the stricken camp, the bodies of all clubbed victims were prodded with spears to make certain that there was no life left in them. For the warriors had to be sure beyond all doubt that no eyewitnesses had survived who could later on incite reprisals against them. Satisfied that they had carried out their grim task with flawless precision, the warriors now left the Urualbukara camp. But they had made one fatal mistake. Laparintja, one of Ltjabakuka’s wives, though severely clubbed, had merely shammed death, and had succeeded in stifling her urge to scream while being prodded by a spear point. She had in addition successfully covered her blood stained baby son Kaltjirbuka under her own prostrate body. As soon as the avengers had departed, she raised herself cautiously; and, taking her child with her, she had slowly wriggled towards the bulrush thickets that grew on the edges of the closest pool. Once she had reached the bulrushes, it was an easy matter for her to make good her escape northward to Irbmangkara, and beyond the uppermost pools towards Arbanta, where another camp of Irbmangkara folk was located.
As the warriors were about to return home, an unpleasant surprise awaited them: Nameia, a middle-aged Irbmangkara man, who was very late in returning from the hunt, suddenly burst into view. He was accompanied by a second man called Ilbalta who belonged, like himself, to the Paltara class. Suddenly fearful of having their grim deed betrayed to avengers, the warriors rushed at both hunters and hurled their spears and boomerangs at them in a frenzy of alarm. Ilbalta was handicapped by an old cut in the leg, and was quickly brought down and speared to death. But Nameia, though hurt by a spear-thrust in one leg, proved unexpectedly fleetfooted. When his pursuers drew uncomfortably close to him, he stopped, picked up some of the spears that had missed him, and threw them back at his attackers. The latter paused for a few moments, and the break enabled Nameia to continue his flight. Since rising clouds of smoke in the distance showed that there were other camps of people located upstream from Irbmangkara, the warriors did not dare to pursue him too far, lest they should encounter additional late-returning hunters. Tjinawariti called off the chase, and then dismissed from further service those Southern Aranda men who had assisted him, so that they could return to their homes. After that he set off for Akaua with his Matuntara followers. Over the whole band of tnengka warriors there now hung the fear of terrible retribution: Nameia had seen most of them, and had recognised all those that he had seen; for every man in the band had been a visitor to Irbmangkara in former years. Moreover, though Nameia’s conception site was situated at Tnotitja, on the Finke River upstream from Pantjindama, his parents had both been Matuntara people. His father Kurubila had been an important ceremonial chief from the great Matuntara native cat centre of Akaua. Many of the warriors who had raided Irbmangkara had hence been his personal relatives.
Nameia, like Laparintja, made his way up the Finke valley to Arbanta. Like Laparintja, Nameia was completely overwhelmed by grief. His West ern Aranda wife Tjakiljika, who came from Kaporilja Springs near Hermannsburg, and his two younger sons Pmatupatuna and Unkuarintana, had died in the general slaughter at Irbmang kara. Both Nameia and Laparintja quickly spread the grim story of the massacre at Ar banta and at other camps nearby; and soon the gorge walls above lrbmangkara were echoing with the wails of men, women and children, who were mourning their dead kinsfolk. Some days later several members of the Irbmangkara group who had been away on visits to other camps returned to Urualbukara, and buried the dead victims. The maimed infants had all perished in the meantime.
The next step taken by the survivors was the selection and the ceremonial dedication and fit ting out of a revenge party, who would be com missioned to go out as leltja and kill all of the men responsible for the massacre, down to the last guilty participant. Messengers went out as far as Njenkuguna in Central Aranda territory, Ulamba and Jamba in Northern Aranda territory, and the Ellery Creek and Upper Finke valley portions of Western Aranda territory; and everywhere mourning rites took place for the dead during which moral support was enlisted for the punishment of the Irbmangkara raiders. Finally a small party of avengers, chosen for their special prowess with weapons and their special skills in bushcraft, was assembled near Manta on the Finke River, some miles upstream from Irbmangkara. Here the men were put through the special ritual which was believed to endow avengers with the ability to creep upon their unsuspecting victims in safety and to evade without difficulty the spears of their enemies. For, unlike a band of tnengka warriors capable of de stroying a whole camp in broad daylight, the leltja were avengers who had to move stealthily through hostile territory in order to kill isolated individuals who had left the security of their main group camps. After passing through their special ritual, the members of this leltja party made their way down the Finke valley. Their leader was Nameia, who had by now fully recovered from his wounds.
The party included at least two of Ltjabakuka’s sons, also several of his close relatives. But the numbers of the avengers had to be kept to the lowest possible limits commensurate with safety. Possibly no more than ten men went out on this revenge expedition. They knew that it would take them at least a couple of years to achieve their retaliatory errand. For they were moving into the well-populated country of enemies who were expecting a reprisal visit, and who were therefore on their guard. They would have to pick their victims off, perhaps one man, and certainly no more than three men, at a time, preferably when they were out hunting; and after each kill the avengers would have to lie low for weeks till their victims’ relatives had given up looking for them. They would have to live off the land in hostile territory, and often move about singly so that any persons sighted from a distance accidentally could not raise an alarm about a travelling band of warriors. But with their own lives continually at stake, these leltja avengers killed and waited between kills with the determination and the patience of highly intelligent beasts of prey. Sometimes the killing of a man might involve also the killing of his wife and children in order to wipe out all danger of eyewitness evidence. But slowly they achieved their purpose. One of the few Irbmangkara raiders who escaped retribution was Kangkia. He was cornered, but succeeded in convincing the avengers that he had been compelled by force to accompany the tnengka band, and that he had hung back during the attack so as not to kill anyone personally.
After they had picked off the guilty Aranda warriors, Nameia’s band of avengers moved from the Horseshoe Bend area across the South Australian border as far south as the Hamilton River; for some of the Matuntara men had gone down into this distant region. After that the avengers made their way back in a north westerly direction into the Palmer valley. In the end even the dreaded and watchful Tjinawariti and the respected Kapaluru succumbed to their spears. After these final successes the avenging party hastened to return to the security of the Krichauff Ranges, probably at some point south of Alitera; and then they made their proud return journey up the Finke River into Western Aranda territory. Here they found that the world which they had left behind over three years earlier had changed completely. It was 1878 by now; and white men had invaded their land during their long and dangerous absence. The first structures built by white men greeted their eyes on the banks of the Finke at Hermannsburg. Their friends and relatives in the native camp were overjoyed to see their courageous kinsmen returning. Their spare and gaunt forms proved how tough life had been for them during the past three years, and how often they had had to endure hungry days and nights because there had been too many enemy hunters waiting for them in the best game country. But they had achieved their object, and there had not been a single casualty among them. They were given a heroes’ welcome, and no one ever forgot the amazing achievement of these warriors an achievement that would bear comparison with that of any modern guerilla fighters in any other part of the world.”

« Tjalkabota's father, as a Southern Aranda man, feared that he might be seen as connected with the massacre. So he and his group, deeply shoked by the events, immediately retreated to hide in the hills in the northern-most area of their territory, as far away from the massacre site as possible. 'I was terrified,' Tjalkabota recalls. His family stayed up north for many months, only returning when they thought things had settled down. »

“The men of Countries 1, 2, and 3 fought the men of Countries 7, 8, and 9. Wariton of Clan 13 at Country 1 received five spear wounds. Turimpi of Clan 19 at Country 1, Warlitom's paternel half-brother, became wild and threw a spear at Purutimiri of Clan 3 at Country 9, killing him instantly.”

“Portamini gave some of hia clanswomen to Tipunguti and Kungwuni, two Clan 16 men. A Clan 1 man wanted one of these women. A fight was scheduled at Muluwayangampi, at the southern edge of Country 3. The men of Clans 16 and 17 of Country 1 fought in support of Tipunguti and Kungwuni. The men of Country 1 sent to Country 9 for more fighters. Men of Clans 1, 3, 16, 19, and 20 from Country 9 came to fight; members of Clans 5, 7, and 12 came as spectators. The men of Clans l and 2 at Country 3 and clans 3 end 4 at Country 4 opposed them. They fought the first day with spears and the second day with clubs. Tipawamantamiri, a Clan 22 man who was fighting on the side of Clans 1, 2 , 3, and 4, was injured on the second day. As a settlement for this injury, Ngampurliri of Country 9, who had been pongki 1n the f1ght, suggested that Tipawamantamiri wound him as a counter-injury. Tipawamantamiri hit Ngampurliri with a small club until the blood came. Then the people said: This finish now. Free now. Shake hand. ”

“CASINO, Monday. — A district pioneer who recalls a tribal fight between aborigines at Fairy Hill, has been revisiting the Far North Coast after an absence of 26 years.
He is 75-year-old Walter Cook, of King Street, East lake, Sydney. The Cook family owned all the land where Broadwater is now situated and were its first settlers. When the family moved to Fairy Hill — which is eight miles from Casino towards Kyogle — they were among its pioneer settlers.
The only ones before them were Mr. Johnny Reeves and his family. The tribal fight started over the seizure of a woman of the Northern Rivers tribe by Clarence River natives. About 60 warriors in full warpaint clashed at Fairy Hill, a few hundred yards from the Cook home.
Mr. Cook recalled that, although he was only aged four then, he was more thrilled than afraid. Spears were hurled, nulla nullas used, and at least two deaths resulted in addition to many injuries before the fracas ended. Some wounded natives were treated by his mother. ”

“After such a conflict the reader possibly expects a description of fallen warriors swimming in blood ; but rela­tives and friends take care that none of the combatants are injured. Mortal wounds are extremely rare. Mangoran had received a slight wound in the arm above the elbow from a boomerang, and was therefore pitied by everybody.”

“In the next borboby one person happened to be pierced by a spear, which, being barbed, could not be removed. His tribe carried him about with them for three days before he died.”

“In May 1887 a fight erupted at Rapid Creek that showed up some deep rift of misunderstanding between the missionaries and the locals. The Alligator Rivers people camping at the Rapid Creek had run out of food, so the missionaries gave them a sack of flour. This caused the enmity of the Larrakia and Woolner, who evidently considered the missionaries and all their supplies as ’theirs’. One of the Elders, ’a man of considerable eloquence’, left the station enraged (and ’without the necessary permission’). Much debate ensued until the men painted themselves and battled it out at the beach four miles from the mission. Five men were injured and one from the Alligator Rivers died from his wounds.”

“A pitched battle was fought between the Cooktown blacks and the allied M’Ivor and Normanby tribes at North shore ; the casus belli being a gin stolen by a Cooktown boy from the Normanby tribe. Two Cooktown boys were speared, and one is believed to be fatally injured, the spear having pierced his abdomen.”

“At a corrobborie which I witnessed, held preparatory to marriage, the betrothed husband wore a belt from which hung in front the small apron of fringes, with a tail of black feathers dependant behind. (...) The corrobborie was after the usual order, and seemingly set forth the prowess of the man, his dexterity with the spear, and skill in the chase, and I think it may be read as a challenge in which the man publicly announces his intention to take the maid. Women and children were present. On the next day there was great emotion, as a rumour of another blackfellow having declared his intention to catch the girl spread. At night in the camp there was a veritable babel of tongues, the women discussing the matter in all its bearings in their camp, and with their neighbours across the camps. Occasional1y above the din an old lady would harangue, and now and again the headman in the Wulnar camp, the father of Long'aba, would answer in a speech delivered from his camp 150 yards distant. It was long after midnight before the camp was quiet. Towards five on the following day the Larraki'a congregated near the camp and two sides formed, armed with reed spears. In the open space between the two lines of spectators sometimes a single black would hurl his spears one after another at an opposing blackfellow who would as adroitly avoid them, ducking his head, bending his back, or shifting s1ightly to one side, while sometimes seven or eight on each side would be engaged. As the spears were thrown others gathered them up, and in their turn hurled thm back; occasionally, but rarely, spears were flying in both directions. Two or three were wounded, and in one the spear stood in his skull over the ear. He staggered, and the spear being pulled out, was carried into the scrub. I did not expect to see him alive again, but he was about some days after. I noticed that good humour prevailed throughout, and that the contestants appeared to be actuated more by a desire to exhibit their skill than instigated by bad blood. Muttered signs of approval, irrespective of the side, were given at any good throws or a particularly clever avoidance of the spears, and hearty applause, much laughter, and derision when there was a hit. After dusk the uproar of the preceding night was resumed, but the next day it was known that the rivals were to settle the question by a duel with clubs, he with the hardest head to win the maiden's hand. The result was adverse to the betrothed, and later, when the girl fled and was pursued by the tribe, it was by the gallant who had won her love she was captured.”

“The men living in the country round about Alice Springs in the Macdonnell Range were summoned by Inwurra, that is, properly accredited messengers carrying Churinga, who had been sent out by the Alatunja of the group to assemble for the purpose of making war upon the Iliaura tribe, which occupies the country between eighty and a hundred miles to the north of the Ranges.
For a long time the northern groups of the Arunta tribe had been in fear of the Iliaura, who had been continually sending in threatening messages, or at least it was constantly reported that they were doing so, for it must be remembered that imagination plays a large part in matters such as these amongst the natives. Several deaths, also, which had taken place amongst the Arunta, had been attributed by the medicine men to the evil magic of certain of the Iliaura men. When the messengers and the men summoned had assembled at Alice Springs a council of the elder men was held, at which it was determined to make a raid on the Iliaura, and accordingly a party was organised for the purpose. Such an avenging party is called an Atninga.
When all was prepared the Atninga started away for the north, and, after travelling for several days, came upon a group of Iliaura men, consisting of about a dozen families, near to whom they camped for two days.
As usual on such occasions, the Iliaura sent some of their women over to the strangers’ camp, but the fact that the use of the women was declined by the visitors at once indicated that the mission of the latter was not a friendly one. The women are offered with a view of conciliating the Atninga men, who, if they accept the favour, indicate by so doing that the quarrel will not be pursued any further.
In the Iliaura community were two old men, and with them matters were discussed by the elder men amongst the Arunta at a spot some little distance from the camp of the latter. After a long talk extending over two days, during which the strangers set forth their grievances and gave the Iliaura men very clearly to understand that they were determined to exact vengeance, the two old men said, in effect, “Go no further. Our people do not wish to quarrel with your people; there are three bad men in our camp whom we Iliaura do not like, they must be killed. Two are Iturka (that is men who have married within the forbidden degrees of relationship); the other is very quarrelsome and strong in magic and has boasted of killing your people by means of Kurdaitcha and other magic. Kill these men, but do not injure any others in our camp, and we will help you.”
These terms were accepted by the Arunta, and it was agreed between the old men of the two parties that an attempt should bemade to kill the three men on the next day. At daylight the old men of the Iliaura went some little distance away from their camp, and there made a fire, and called up the other men of their party. This special fire, at which it is intended to surprise and kill the men who have been condemned and handed over to the tender mercies of their enemies, is called Thara (the ordinary word for fire being Ura). At the Atninga camp another fire, also called Thara, was lighted at the same time.
Shortly after daylight a number of the Arunta, led by an old man, went over to the Thara of the Iliaura, all of them being unarmed, and here they took special care to engage the condemned men in conversation.
The remainder of the Atninga party in full war-paint, with whittled sticks in their hair, their bodies painted with red ochre, carrying spears, boomerangs, and shields, and each one wearing the magic Kirra-urkna or girdle made of a dead man’s hair, crept up unseen and, suddenly springing up, speared two of the condemned men from behind. The third man — one of the two Iturka — had grown suspicious during the night and had accordingly decamped, taking his women with him.
A large number of spears were thrown into the bodies of the men who were killed. When they were dead the Atninga party danced round the bodies, and taking the whittled sticks or Ilkunta from their heads, broke them up and threw the pieces on to the bodies. These Ilkunta are always worn by certain groups of the Northern Arunta when they really mean to fight, and amongst the same natives also under these circumstances little curved flakes are cut by means of flints on their spears about a foot from the pointed end.
The Iliaura men looked on quietly while the killing took place, and when all was over, the spears were taken out of the bodies by the men of the Arunta who had acted as decoys, and were handed back to their respective owners. It is supposed that if the latter themselves removed them some great evil would befall them, as the body and anything in contact with it of a victim killed in this way is strictly tabu to the killer.”

“Tampu of Clan 13 at Country 2 stole Bongdadu of Clan 16 from her husband, Puli of Clan 8 at Country 1 (...) Tampu and other fighters of Country 2 began making spears. Puti, Tampu's paternel half-brother, left the Country 3 camp and went to the Country 1 camp. Puti reported: Sneak attackers are coming today. They fight you. An open fight followed that evening between Countries 1 and 2. No one was hurt.”

“A tribal fight took place yesterday between aborigines near the town. The Pindinnie blacks considered they had a grievance because one of their women joined the Kalgoorlie blacks. The Pindinnie men arrived at Kalgoorlie a couple of days ago, and after some unsuccessful parleyings an attack was made. Both parties assembled in full force with spears and boomerangs, and all perfectly naked. The fight lasted a couple of hours. One man was speared in the small of the back and another through the thigh. The former was able to walk today, but the latter had to be carried to the hospital. Both belong to the Kalgoorlie tribe. There were a number of minor injuries on both sides. The police today proceeded to the scene and fired over the heads of the blacks, who then ran away and are now hiding in the scrub. One Pindinnie native has been arrested. About 200 natives took part in the fight. Several white residents in the locality witnessed tho battle from a distance.”

« There has been (remarks the Kalgoorlie miner of November 18, in referring to the aboriginal fray) war and bloodshed in Kalgoorlie among aboriginals, strangely enough on the day of tho exciting municipal elections. The cause, however, was not rivalry for candidates for the Kalgoorlie mayoralty, but that old and ever to-be subject of strife among mankind: woman. In the scrub adjoining the western end of Collins-street a big contingent of Kalgoorlie blacks engaged in battle with a dusky swarm from Pindinnie in real aboriginal fashion, apparently because a Pindinnie woman joined the Kalgoerlieites and would not return or be surrendered. The Pindinnie tribe have a bad name among those who profess to know the characteristics of our natives, and it seems that, to use a police trooper’s words, when the Pindinnie fellows come across another set there is sure to be ructions. The fight lasted for about a couple of hours, and was a very lively affair, there being about 70 active combatants, with a numerous and noisy gathering of eagerly-concerned black spectators. There were but very few white witnesses of the encounter, and they were too much aware of the risk to interfere. Spears and waddies were flying about in shewers, with the accompaniment of fierce war cries and a great kicking up of dust by the fighters, who moved about, dodging missiles and retaliating with rare agility. To those who saw the battle it was no surprise to be told that half-a-dozen had been left dead on the field of battle - the surprise lay in the fact that only two men were seriously hurt. The dusky women showed the greatest interest in the sanguinary proceedings as spectators and barrackors, and, in the great excitement of the fight dispensed with much restrictive attire. Messengers were sent to the police, and at about 6 o’clock a mounted constable arrived, the battle being then in its concluding stage, with the foemen in a rather exhausted condition. The constable stayed till the fighters had dispersed, and being made aware that a couple of men had been severely hurt, endeavoured to get hold of a Pindinnie native who was declared to have done the serious mischief. He was not successful, but visited the scrub again at daybreak on Tuesday morning in company with a black tracker able to identify the wanted warrior, who was taken by surprise at a small camp and removed to the Kalgoorlie lockup. Later jn the day the two Kalgoorlie blacks declared to be the most hurt were removed to the hospital. One has a wound in the small of the back from a spear, which is believed to have penetrated a considerable distance, and the other was speared right through the thigh. There were evidences of many comparatively minor injuries such as bruises and gashes upon the fighting men of the Kalgoorlieites. The Pindinnies had for the most part cleared into the further bush by noon on Tuesday. The Pindinnie blackfellow arrested, a young follow, is expected to be brought before the Police Court this morning. »

“Once George illuminated his conversation with an aphorism. Describing a battle between the Tully River blacks and those of Clump Point, in which his mate, Tom of Dunk Island (leader of the Clump Point party), had been severely wounded, he said—’Nother fella boy from outside, come up behind Tom. He no look out that way. That boy tchuk ’em boomerang. Boomerang stick in leg belonga Tom. Tom no feel ’em first time. He stan’ up yet. Bi’mby when want walk about, tumble down. Look out. Hello! see ’em boomerang alonga leg. He no more can walk about.
The boss remarked—Might be long time, Tom feel ’em leg sore.
George—Ah! me like see ’em kill alonga head. Finish ’em one time. Danger nebber dead.
Whether George wished to enforce the opinion that in battle nothing short of death was glorious, or that Tom though wounded was still valorous and would live to fight again, was not clear, but Danger nebber dead, probably represents the only aboriginal aphorism extant.”

“My father told me that in his father’s time the Malanugga-nugga came in from the coast to raid the Alawa, carrying off our women and killing our men. Perhaps that accounts for the fact that today the Alawa is not a numerically strong tribe. (...)
It required extraordinary cunning and stealth for any group of people to make an undetected approach on the Alawa, but the Malanugga-nugga could do it. They moved quickly between waterholes, never showing a smok, nver talking, careful that they did not flush big flights of birds, until the moment when they flung themselves upon my people, slaughtering the men while they slept and making off with the potential mothers of their children.
The raiding parties were known as Gulgar. No more terryfing word existed in the Waliburu langage. They descended upon us in hundreds, throwing spears and boomerangs indiscriminately and thrashing about them wityh nulla-nullas with cracked skulls and limbs. There were times, of course, when the Alawa carried out reprisal raids, but from what I have been able to learn they were not often successful. Our blood is still relatively pure.(...)
The Alawa once believe themselves destined to rule all the aborigines, a fantasy not unknown in the white world. To achieve this, one of our raiding parties stole a number of rifles from an O.T. Line camp and went looking for the Mara people at Wadanardja below the Roper. They had recently raided us and this was to be their moment of truth. The malanugga-nugga would be next. But the only people killed that day were hit with spears and boomerangs. My people fired the rifles aimlessly into the air, unaware that the bullet and not the explosion of a cartridge was lethal. (43-44)”

“Mr. Flick most graphically describes a big Bullen Bullen, which was held on the flat, now the Lismore racecourse. At this time, said Mr. Flick, these flats were quite different to what they are now. To set from North Lismore, now Pine-street, one had to cross a creek running from the river. This creek was known as Slater’s Creek. It ran up to the present Lismore Showground. At this time the creek was heavily timbered with dense scrub, which was very difficult to penetrate; in fact a person had to cut a track through the heavy vines. The creek divided North Lismore proper from the natural grassed flat, upon which the present High School now stands; this piece of flat was selected and owned by Mr. Flick’s father. To get from the High School flat to the race course flat another creek - Currie’s Creek - had to be crossed. This creek was also very heavily timbered. The main river, too, was bordered on both sides by dense scrub. It can be readily seen that when the scrub referred to reached the scrub covered hill at the back these small grass flats were separated and separated and surrounded completely, and the view from one flat to another was obscured. At this time Mr. Flick’s father was living quite close to where the High School now stands.
The track used at that time by the few white people and the blacks passed by his father’s back door. It was here Mr. Flick, when quite a boy, saw his first real Bullen Bullen, or tribal fight. It was, said Mr. Flick, a sight one could never forget. The 500 dark warriors approached from Fine-street, or North Lismore, in the direction of the racecourse, where it was decided the Bullen, Bullen should take place against 500 warriors from the Tweed. It was a beautiful and wonderful sight to see the natives passing in fours, all in a crouching position. All the blacks were painted in different markings, and their bushy mop hair was decorated with the gaudy colored feathers of parrots. Each man carried two spears, two boomerangs, one nulla nulla, and a yellerman or shield. Beyond wearing a tabby tabby they were naked.
It was some time before all the warriors filed past. Then followed some hundreds of old men and old women and children, and hundreds of dogs of all sizes, breeds and descriptions brought up the tear. After passing Mr. Flick’s home, and some chains closer to the convincing ground, the warriors halted on a rising piece of ground. Here there was a true military square. Boy like, said Mr. Flick, he went in hot haste to see all he could. Mr. Flick was on a lower plane than the warriors, when he heard the war whoop given by the whole band. They then made one bound in the air, as if they were one man. I can conscientiously say, said Mr. Flick, when that great body of human flesh came with a thump on Mother Earth the large gumtree branches quivered. One wild concerted rush was then made for the battlefield. When Currie’s Creek was reached, with its wide border of scrub, they were not quite sure of the location of the enemy. But as they approached the opposite bank, and nearing the race course flat, they found the enemy in ambush near the edge of the scrub.
Without any warning the enemy threw their whole weight at the Lismore men, using nulla nulla and shields. Spears could not be used on account of the dense scrub. After a terrific battle the Lismore men forced the enemy out on the flat. Then in double quick time a double line was formed on both sides. It was at this stage that the young gins picked up for the occasion came into position. The order for battle was then given by the chiefs. It was, said Mr. Flick, a weird sight to see the air almost black with spears, and the alertness with which each warrior warded them off. While the fight was in progress, the young gins in the rear were watching closely their chance to hand the spears back to the warriors. The fight went on for some hours, the men surging to and fro, until the chiefs called a draw. This ended the battle as far as the soldiers were concerned. Like all other such battles, it was fought as the result of an elopement by a young Tweed black with a Lismore gin. When the draw was called the conflict was finished. The two rivals for the gin tben had to fight it out to see who was to gain the prize.

CLAIMANTS FOR LADY’S HAND
The chief then called forward the two claimants for the lady’s hand, and they were each handed a nulla nulla and yellerman. They were then ordered to fight. This, said Mr. Flick, was one of the finest pieces of athletic work be had ever seen. With open wild rush these two young men flew at each other. The rattle and thumps of the nulla nullas and shields made a weird sound. The skilful handling of the yellerman prevented the body from being hurt. The bounds, feints, rushes and pressure put forward by each man would cause the most complacent mind to become excited. With a wild rush and heavy exterior blow by the Lismore man the yellerman held by his opponent was splintered.
A conference of the chiefs was then held, and it was decided that the combat should be finished with knife and shield. The knives used were made by the blacks out of hoop iron broken from an old cask. The hoop iron was broken off to the length of an ordinary butcher’s knife, and ground to the shape required. Some stinging tree bark fibre was round the end to form the handle, and finished with beeswax, which made a very firm handle. These knives would do just the same work as an ordinary knife, hut had to be sharpened more often.
When the two were ready they would approach each other with more cunning and care. Here again the lunges, feints, etc., were most scientifically carried out. At times the men, with flash-like hounds, would almost jump right over each other. This combat lasted for some considerable time, and finally the Tweed man showed more skill than is opponent, who received at the hands of the Tweed man a deep gash in the thigh, which put him out of action. The Tweed man being the victor had earned the right to the gin.

PEACE DECLARED
Then after a very strenuous day peace was declared between the two tribes, and they all adjourned to a bend in Currie’s Creek Just opposite the Carlton Park racecourse saddling paddock, which was three parts surrounded by dense scrub. Camp was then struck at this spot for a month to celebrate the wedding of the young couple. Before the wedding feast the wounded warrior was given medical attention by the medical man of the tribe. The doctor ordered a sheet of gum bark to he stripped from a tree and brought to him. He also ordered a fire to be lighted. He then took a piece of the Inner bark and placed it on the fire. Eucalyptus was then laid on the hark, which was . then laid on the wound, which was bleeding very freely. As each piece of bark became cold a fresh piece was laid on the wound, and this was continued until the bleeding was stopped. The wound became quite clean, and in a few weeks after treatment the warrior was walking about again.”

“At daylight the neighbourhood was aroused by the screams and war chants of the women, the angry exclamations of the men, the din of arms, the clattering of spears and throwing-sticks, and the rattling of the sconce of some fair one, whose only crime, we were led to understand, had been a too close relationship with the weaker party. This hurly-burly was kept up for about four hours, and but few, either men or women, escaped without one or two spear wounds through the thigh or leg ; in the course of the day, the few who were able to walk about were seen limping about the streets of Perth, begging alms.
We could not refrain from evincing some astonishment at the utter indifference these savages showed to the sufferings of their wounded companions ; a poor woman was speared in three places : the moment the deed was done, the man who shielded her, by constantly presenting himself between her, and the threatened blow of the assailant, conceiving that he had done his duty, walked coolly away, leaving the object of his protection writhing on the ground in the bitterest agony. A smile seemed to be playing upon his countenance.”

“For as long as the Walbiri can remember they have been in intermittent conflict with the Waringari. The tribes frequently raided each other to avenge old killings and to abduct women, and neither placed any reliance on the word of the orther. Matters apparently came to a head some time before the Tanami gold-rush of 1909. Until then, the Waringari had claimed the ownership of the few native wells at Tanami and the country surrounding them, but in a pitched battle for the possession of the water the Walbiri drove the Waringari from the area, which they incorporated into their own territory. By desert standards the engagement was spectacular, the dead on either side numbering a score or more. Such forcible conquest of land (or, rather, water) was, to judge from the published accounts of Aboriginal societies, most uncommon among Australian tribes; but it s possible that it occurred more often than we realize in the desert region where water is a precious commodity.”

“The men of Clan 1 at Country 3 became wild because the father of these two women had been a member of Clan 1. Clans 1 and 2 at Country 3, aided by several Clan 14 men from Country 5, fought Clans 9 and 11 from Country 3. They fought with clubs the first day and spears the second day. No one was injured.”

“A number of Lancefield blacks arrived at Malcolm on Tuesday and went on to Gwalia by train in the evening. There was subsequently a fight between the Lancefield and Darlot tribes. Several of the natives were speared; one fatally, his body being riddled. A young gin was also fatally wounded. Another gin was found with her wrist broken and a spear through her thigh. It appears that a few weeks ago a couple of the Lancefield tribe left, taking their gins with them, and joined the Darlot tribe. Subsequently the Lancefield tribes joined and set out for the purpose of revenge. They stole on their unsuspecting victims at daylight, giving them no opportunity to defend themselves. After throwing volleys of spears they retired. Troopers are now out in all directions to intercept the murderers. A brother of the murdered man states that all the people in his country will muster in force and kill every one of the Lancefield tribe.”

« »

« »

“The men of Countries 8 and 9 opposed the men of Countries 4 and 5 in an open fight at Yapilika. Wilinguwa of Country 9 speared and killed Wamokayalami.”

“A native tribal tragedy occurred at Brock’s Creek last Wednesday. It seems that a Brock’s Creek native saw and loved a maiden belonging to the Daly River tribe, and, following the good old primitive custom, forcibly seized and brought her to Brock’s Creek. The girl’s relatives and friends armed, and followed on the fugitive’s tracks, crept upon the abductor in his camp, speared him through the heart, and retreated with the recovered woman toward Daly River.
The friends of the murdered man pursued and overtook the enemy a few miles from Brock’s Creek, and a pitched battle followed, in which several natives were wounded, and one Daly River native was killed. The Brock’s Creek natives, satisfied with having fulfilled the old Mosaic law, then returned home.
An eyewitness states that the natives on both sides displayed exceptional ferocity and fierceness, and the battleground was littered with broken spears.”

“Puti sent word to Pipawayata that Clan 8 would fight Clan 9 at Imarlinapi. The men of Clan 9 moved to Imarlinapi to await the fighters of Clan 8. On the first day, Puti and Pipawayata fought with clubs. Puti was wounded twice and crippled. On the second day, Clan 8 fought Clan 9 with spears. Pull of Clan 8 was wounded. Everyone shook hands. The fight was over. No one had won.”

“The Port Darwin correspondent of the Register, send the following sensational account of a fierce tribal battle which took place between two opposing mobs of blacks at Rolling Bay (a brief report of which appeared in Monday’s Miner). The encounter was witnessed by Mr. James McPherson, who arrived at Port Darwin a few days ago from a trepanging expedition along the coast. There were about 60 Junction Bay natives employed, by him on one side, and some 30 or 40 marauding natives from the Liverpool River on the other. The fight took place on a clear space near the seashore.
Mr McPherson pulled ashore to his smokehouse on the morning of January 24, and noticed that only a few of his working natives were about. He was told that they were expecting a fight with hostile natives. At about 4 pm that day, a peculiar blood-curdling yell rang out from some bushes about 200 yards away, and immediately following this scores of ghastly white painted figures darted out from thick bushes on both sides of the clearing at the rear of the smokehouse.
The air was so thick with flying spears, and the combatants approached within about 15 yards of each other. The spears used were large heavy barbed ones. The natives of both sides showed amazing quickness in avoiding and warding off these barbed pointed death-dealers. In about a quarter of an hour nearly all the spears were broken.
One of the Junction Bay natives was then transfixed by a large spear, as he was in the act of stooping to pick up a spear thrown by an opponent. The transfixing of this man seemed to fill both sides with terrible fury. They immediately closed, and a furious hand-to-hand melee ensued.
The Junction Bay natives had the advantage in numbers and weapons, being armed with knives, tomahawks, and iron bars 4ft. long made from hatch battens taken from the wreck of the steamer Australian. Their opponent had only ordinary bush waddies and womeras. The iron bars proved deadly weapons, inflicting ghastly wounds wherever they struck.
Within half an hour the survivors of the marauding party fled into the scrub. leaving 11 of their number on the field. Those were immediately hacked and beaten to death with tomahawks and iron bars. Those who fled were pursued, and Mr. McPherson thinks that few if any escaped. On going ashore on the following morning Mr. McPherson found that all the bodies had been cremated, only a few charred bones being left in the still mouldering fire.
Mr. McPherson states that a wonderful lot of odds and ends from the wreck of the steamer Australian are to be found among the natives hundreds of miles down the coast. In one camp he found a much-prized oval mirror, which probably once adorned one of the steamer’s saloon cabins.”

“There is an unpublished account in the records of the Aurukun Mission of a local massacre on the upper Love River in the early twentieth century.”

“One day he received word that a raiding party of Wombiahs had come upon two of his brothers out hunting and had killed one of them. I never saw a human being, white or black, so cut up with grief or so furiously determined on revenge. I had an awful job to stop him going off to avenge his brother 's death — but, naturally, no matter how much I sympathised with him, I could not let him loose with that Snider and a pocketful of cartridges. There would have been some weeping and I wailing in the Wombiah tribe if he had got away.
Later we both had the satisfaction of seeing a party of Wombiahs get their deserts. We cut the track of a party which Cubagee declared were those of a mob of Wombiahs returning from a raid, and while I was exerting my influence to stop him from riding after them and avenging his brother's death, we heard a, lot of 'yackoing' behind us, and saw a mob of Wargiahs making a detour to avoid us. It was obvious that they were in pursuit of the Wombiahs. I then decided to follow and see what would happen, and late in the afternoon came up; with them just as the Wombiahs turned to fight it out. For perhaps half an hour we sat on our camels watching the opposing 'parties hurling insults at each other over a level strip of ground; then both sides flung volleys of spears, boomerangs and throwing-sticks, following up by charging each other and engaging in a series of hand-to-hand scraps with clubs and shields. They yelled and howled, clubs thudding on the heads and shields; then the Wombiahs broke and fled in groups, I expected to see the ground littered with corpses, but although some were badly knocked about, not one fatality had resulted, as far as I could see, though it is quite likely that some have to be left to die later on as the badly-thrashed Wombiahs continued their flight for home.”

“The Warumeri (…) now have about forty people, since the last generation suffered a severe loss through a disastrous fight with the Wangurri over the right to certain women (17). Certain members of the Warumeri clan in the last generation married women who should have become the wives of Wangurri clansmen, since their fathers stood in teh relationship of mother's brother to ego. The Wangurri organized a raid, killed many of the Warumeri men and took the women for themselves. (27-28)”

“When I was very young an old man of my mob told me how he and some other Lardil were camped on Forsyth while on a trading trip. One night the Yanyula came sneaking along paddling their walpas, and made a surprise attack on them. Two of his mates went down with spears in them and were killed. He ran away and hid among rocks until daylight and then escaped by walpa across to Denham Island. The Yanyula captured all their women and took them away to the mainland.”

“The Lardil people were very angry when they heard this man's story, and decided t pay back the Yanyula mob. Next time they heard that the Yanyula were out on a raid, the Larumbanda and some West Lardil, the Balumbanda, joined with the Yanggarl and killed many of the Yanyula in a big fight on Forsyth Island. This was not before the white man came.”

“When the Melville Island force arrived, there was a fight. All of Clan 4, Clans 9, 10, and 13 from Country 3, and Clan 11 from country 8 fought Clan 8, Clans 12 and 13 from Country 9, and Clan 10 from Country 1, while Clans 1, 2, 3, and 4 from Country 3 fought Clans 3, 16, 17, 20, and 22 from Country 1 (The fighting was intra-moiety; brother fought brother.) Louie of Clan 17 got behind the lines of Clans 11, 12, and 13. Cabbagie speared him. (Louie should not have been behind the rank of men who were not his brothers.) The fight stopped. The people of Country 1 said: Wayatuwa. Finish. Louie has spear. Johnson has spear. Now, finish. Two Clan 16 men brought clubs to Johnson. He hit Turimpi and then they shook hands. Turimpi took a big pocket knife, put his arm around Johnson, slashed his own head, and said: I am sorry. No matter. I am sorry, They shook hands and rubbed their chests together. [initial problem = theft of sweet potatoes]”

“The men decamped shortly before noon, but reappeared just as we were rowing back to our ship in the dinghy. I did not take much notice of them, and, as soon as we climbed aboard, gave orders to prepare for our departure. I was myself busily studying my charts which I had spread out over the hatch, when quite unexpectedly a blood curdling yell rang out from the shore. My first impression was that we were about to be attacked, though the distance we were from shore did not make that probable. The warriors, for such I now realised they were, had fore-gathered in a group immediately below the tamarind. They were gesticulating wildly, with their spears held in their throwers all ready for action, and knocking their knees together with a quick, vibrating action of their legs. All of them were looking in the direction of the mangroves.
My cry, boss, gasped one of our boys named Dick; he’s going to fight. You see that mob sitting close up that sandhill?
Fight? I repeated.
The whole thing was as clear as a pikestaff. Did it not explain everything that had seemed suspicious about the natives when they presented themselves to us? Were not the men in their war paint? And were they not carrying decorated spears? Was not the smoke signal we had connected with a hunting expedition a challenge to the enemy? The very beach we had left less than a half hour ago had been chosen for the ominous rendezvous! It was all so very strange and sudden, but nevertheless a fact; and at this stage it did not require the perspicacity of an Aboriginal to fathom it.
I could not see the enemy myself, but had heard them announce their presence by responding with a devilish howl.
We’ll wait awhile, Johann, I ordered. Pull in the mainsail, boys.
The local warriors were now beginning to show signs of excitement. Now and then one of them would run forward a chain or so and challenge the enemy, as if requesting them to send a man to meet him. His antics would bring forth bellowing shrieks of admiration from his comrades; and as soon as he rejoined them another man would plunge into the open and try to create a greater impression than the former.
Look! Look! There they come! shrieked Dick, exuberant with emotion. From his gestures I saw that he was obsessed with the spirit of war and was dying to jump overboard to swim ashore and be in the fray himself.
The enemy was indeed now plainly visible on the foreshore, running one behind the other, with their bodies bent and carrying their spears horizontally at their sides. They had come right into the open and were boldly stepping towards the Tarula men, who remained steadfast and treated the advance with utmost contempt.
The attackers were yelling savagely and had quickened their pace to a fair sprint; but they still ran with their bodies stooped, while they seemed to be dodging from one small tussock to another as they advanced, as if they were seeking cover. To me this precaution seemed altogether superfluous, if not ridiculous, because the tussocks were at the most little more than knee high, and thus left the vulnerable parts of their trunks completely exposed.
It was not long before they found themselves facing the Tarula group, and only about four or five chains distant from them. They made no attempt to encircle their victims, but halted in a body opposite them.
Whilst the Tarula remained as rigid as statues, it was the newcomers’ tum to display some clever and valorous acts of incitement of much the same character as we had earlier observed on the other side.
This lasted a good twenty minutes without leading to any untoward result, and I was just persuading myself that the men on both sides had merely been playing to the gallery and had never intended to fight at all when one of the strangers, more daring than the rest, bolted to within about fifty paces of the Tarula men and, with an air of Take that! dispatched his missile into their midst.
This was the spark that brought about an explosion. Although no one was hit by the spear, the Tarula replied with the quickness of lightning. Instantly the air became alive with flying spears that had been aimed at the impudent stranger. But it was marvellous how cleverly he dodged them all. In half a moment he was joined by his comrades; and then the fight began!
Old Dick was hysterical; and his swarthy skin turned almost white with excitement, while his eyes seemed the size of saucers as he followed the upheaval on the shore. His sympathies were all for the Tarula.
Please, boss! he pleaded, you give me mug getty [rifle]. Let me frighten that cheeky mob been come up this country. His voice was trembling with emotion. This country belonga Tarula. He’s little bit all the same my people. Me want to help him. That other mob, he’s too cheeky; might he want to steal’ em Tarula women. I know he no want to let him go. Please, boss!
The old chap was most sincere and fervent, but it was obviously impossible for me to accede to his request.
In the meantime the disturbance on the beach had assumed a businesslike aspect. The belligerents were howling like wild animals. Volleys of spears I had flown from side to side, but apparently without any serious mishap to anybody. The parties were very evenly matched, with about twenty warriors on either side. They now stood only about a chain apart, and all proved wonderfully adept in dodging or warding off the ugly missiles which ordinarily would rarely have missed their mark.
Then came a diabolic yell. It recorded the first casualty. One of the Alligator men had been transfixed by a spear which entered his body somewhere in the region of the groin. It must have been a nasty hit, for the fellow doubled up and fell to the ground writhing with pain.
Two or three of his comrades rushed to his side with the intentions, obviously, of carrying him to a place of safety. It was a most courageous and risky undertaking, for numbers of spears, which they warded off, were hurled at them during the attempt. Before they could lift the wounded man another missile entered his chest, which must have killed him almost instantly. Boisterous yelling heralded this additional success from the Tarula side.
Yet another disaster awaited the enemy. Just as one of the carriers stooped to lift his fallen comrade a heavy missile entered his thigh with such force that its barbed blade came through on the opposite side. The nerve of the man was remarkable, for he called on one of his mates to break the shaft; and when this had been done he limped away with those who were carrying the fallen hero beyond reach of the spears.
Dick by this time was beyond himself with pleasure and pride. For my part, seeing the serious tum of events, I was wondering whether I could interfere. I had had one or two unpleasant experiences while endeavouring to quell disturbances of this kind before; and unless I was prepared to shoot down several of the men to attain my end I realised the danger of going ashore. Natives under conditions such as these go mad with excitement and rage, and are not responsible for their actions. Besides, even had I succeeded in clearing the beach and temporarily restoring order, the parties would only have met again a few miles on and continued their battle with renewed vigour and vengeance.
I decided not to go ashore but to see what effect a salvo would have. Aiming at the tamarind tree, well over their heads, I discharged all the · cartridges from my rifle chamber in quick succession. The result was anything but satisfactory; far from being deterred, the warriors took not the slightest notice of the reports. If anything, I imagined they received the effort as a salute of appreciation from me, for the Tarula almost immediately made a terrific rush at the Alligator men, and a regular melee ensued!
The Tarula by this time had a numerical advantage over the aggressors. Most of the spears had been broken during the several onslaughts, and the men were making use of waddies and heavy rods which Dick informed me were iron bars that some of the men had taken from a shipwreck on the western side of the Gulf.
They were exciting moments. The warriors chased each other around and fought like panthers. Blows were directed at opponents’ heads or arms, and parried time and again. The awful clouts could be distinctly heard above the general din aboard the Hilda; but none of the men ran the risk of parting with his club by using it in any other way than for striking.
Then an Alligator warrior had his chance. He was a huge fellow, well over six feet high, and as nimble as a cat. I had been watching him for some time and observed how cleverly he had avoided being hit. He managed, however, to come face to face with a Tarula, and made a terrific swipe at his head with an iron bar. The Tarula parried skilfully, but the weight of the iron, combined with the severity of the blow, resulted in the smashing of his wooden’ waddy to splinters. The iron bar struck the unfortunate fellow’s head with frightful force and brained him ....
It was a horrible sight, and one I never want to see again. But, like the ill wind, it did good in that it ended the battle.
The Tarula instantly changed their war cry to a heart trending wail. And behold! the Alligator men did likewise. Nobody attempted to continue with the fray a moment longer; and so hostilities came to an abrupt termination most unexpectedly. It was a perfect armistice. Why this should have followed the death of that particular man was beyond me to ascertain, and Dick could not help me either. The fellow had not been uncommonly conspicuous in the battle, and I had not regarded him as a chief. I wondered whether the gruesomeness of his murder had, perhaps, brought the combatants to their senses, on both sides, and whether, after all, the casus belli had been so trivial that the serious and revolting consequences had suddenly filled them with repugnance and horror.
Not another spear was thrown nor another blow attempted. The scene was spontaneously changed to one of utter despair. Men who had ferociously assailed each other a few minutes before stood around the unfortunate victim in a body and looked the picture of sorrow and sympathy.
Five or six Tarula warriors lifted their fallen comrade and carried him under the shade of the tamarind tree, where, I noticed with my glasses, they covered him with green branches. The Alligator men followed and took part in the rendering of a pathetic and plaintive dirge. I was bewildered; the proceedings puzzled me beyond measure; they seemed so paradoxical.
Having missed the tide, I decided to row ashore and see if I could be of service, either official or medical. Knowing that the man under the tamarind was beyond human aid, I thought it best not to worry the mourners, but ordered Dick to follow the tracks of the injured Alligator men.
We had not to go very far before we reached them. It was a pitiful picture that met our eyes. There were six men in all. The principal victim was lying on his back, with liis head resting on the lap of another who was bending over him and feelingly muttering words of sympathy and encouragement. A single glance sufficed to convince me that the man was quite dead, but, owing to his glazen eyes being open and to his sardonic grin, his mates were evidently not aware of the fact. The lethal spear heads had been removed and the wounds plastered with ruddle. The men had done everything in their power to keep the unfortunate comrade at ease.

”

“The gaingar is so deadly and results in so many masualties that it is rarely used and only under the most extreme provocation. There are only two recorded cases in the last twenty years, one betweeen the peoples of the Caledon Bay area and those of the Buckingham Bay; the other between the peoples west of the Goyder river and along the seacoast and those east of the Goyder and in the interior (...) The writer recorded fifteen deatjhs in the Caledon Bay fight, and fourteen killed and one severely wounded in the Goyder River combat.”

“The gaingar is so deadly and results in so many masualties that it is rarely used and only under the most extreme provocation. There are only two recorded cases in the last twenty years, one betweeen the peoples of the Caledon Bay area and those of the Buckingham Bay; the other between the peoples west of the Goyder river and along the seacoast and those east of the Goyder and in the interior (...) The writer recorded fifteen deaths in the Caledon Bay fight, and fourteen killed and one severely wounded in the Goyder River combat.”

“The second round of the fight was at Tuwamparum on Melville Island. Each side made new spears. Clans 3, 4, and 5 from Country 9; Clan 21 from Countries 7 and 9, and Clan 15 from Country 5 joined Clans 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20 from Country 9. Clan 13 from Countries l, 2, 3 and 4, Clans 3 and 4, from Countries l and 4, Clans 9 and l4 from Country 4, Clan 11 from Country 5, and Clans 21 and 22 from Country 1 joined Clans 1 and 2 from Country 3 and Clans 8, 16, and 17 from Country 1. Five Fellow of Clan 17 at Country 1 was killed.”

“A third round was held at Manapi on Melville Island. Several Country 9 men suffered minor wounds. Three men fighting on the Country l side were seriously wounded: Tjimiko of Clan 8 at Country l, Dennis' father of Clan 13 at Country 2, and Pawpaw of Clan 13 at Countries 3 and 4.”

“A fourth round of the fight was held at Tuyu, the site of a sawmill operated by Billy Wood, a white man. Cantor was injured. After the fourth round, everyone shook bands and made friends. ”

“The Wyndham police have forwarder to the Commissioner (Mr. R. Connell) details of a gory battle between two tribes of natives in low-lying country cast of the Forrest River Mission. The natives had met on Goonda Doo Plain to peacefully discuss their differences, but, as has happened previously at such meetings, the talk, talk developed into a fight. On this occasion, however, the fight was more serious than ever before, and one native was killed and others injured, two of them seriously.
Constable J. F. Bond, in. his report of the result of his inquiries, states that although 20 or more natives who were concerned in the fight were questioned, it was impossible to decide with any degree of certainty which native was killed. Definitely, though, it was either Mulumerrie or MoorungduL Missionaries at Forrest River believe that Mulumerrie was the unfortunate native, but aboriginals say that Moorungdul was killed, and that his body, was taken into the bush by his fellow tribesmen.
The natives told the police that it was impossible to say who threw the spear which killed Mulumerrie of MoorungduL as there were hundreds ot spears travelling through the air. One of the natives who was seriously injured has since recovered, but the other, Doonmarrie, who was speared in the thigh and the foot, was taken to the bush by his tribe and nothing is known of him since. Inquiries by the police indicate that it was a pre-arranged plan, that the tribes should meet at Goonda Boo Plain for, for some days preceding the meeting natives were seen to be heading in that direction, and when questioned they said they were going for a talk, talk. It is an annual custom for the native to meet thus, and the talk, talk usually develops in to a brawl of a harmless nature. This year there was a disturbing element in the form of a comely aboriginal girl, who was known as Margaret.

Margaret’s Romance
Margaret was desired by many strapping bucks, but favoured only two Erie and Jibberoo. These two were at the talk, talk, and so was Margaret and they decided to fight for her there and then. Spears were produced, and Erie quickly demonstrated that he was the master in this primitive method of warfare. He soundly beat his rival, and gloried in his knight-like conquest, but Jibberoo, though beaten in fair fight refused to allow the prize to be handed over, and received the support of his tribesmen.
The natives were drawn up for the talk, talk in two lines facing each other, one numbering about 70 and the other about 60. At the time Mr. Wiliani Thomas Taylor, a missionary from the Forrest River Mission, was present with some mission boys, and, scenting trouble, he exercising the authority the natives usually allow the white man, took all the spears from the natives, returning them only after Margaret had been handed over to Erie. To subdue the warring elements, too, he fired a couple of shots from his rifle into the air.

The fight begins
Peace reigned for a time, but so excited had the natives become that a fight was inevitable. A spear whizzed through the air, and was immediately followed by others until the opposing sections were engaged in fierce battle. The fact that they were painted in accordance with the tribal customs when preparing for fight indicated that the natives had anticipated something of the sort. Their shining, hideously painted bodies dashing here and there, with spears upraised, the natives yelling and screaming as in the frenzy of a corroboree, bore down, on each other with murderous intent, and the missionary and his boy had to withdraw because of the danger from flying spears.

War of Other Days
By this time it had developed into a war of other days, when huge bands of aboriginals, untamed and unspoiled by civilisation, fought to kill or be killed. Rapidly the two lines diminished in size as spears found their marks and warriors dropped in their places. The missionary and the boys were near out of sights and the details of the remainder of the fight must be left to the imagination. It is thought, however, that the natives fought until fatigue took its toll and they slunk away into the bush, leaving only the wounded, one of whom subsequently died, on the bloodstained plain.
Very few of the natives have since been seen, having taken to the bush through fear of being speared by members of the opposite faction, and whether Erie or Jibberoo got Margaret will have to be ascertained later.”

“Clan 8 fought Clan 1. Then Clan 11 joined Clan 8; Clan 2 joined Clan lo Next Clan 9 aided Clans 8 and 11; Clan 14 aided Clans l and 2. Later, Clan 10 joined Clans 8, 9 and 11; and Clan 13 joined Clans 1, 2, and 14• Foxj and Noel were injured. Litju became enraged over Foxy's injury and threw a club which put out Larry's eye. Then Clan 16 joined Clans 8, 9, 10 and 11, and Clan 17 joined Clans 1, 2, 13,and 14. Babui of Clan 17 said to the Clan 16 men: What ia wrong that you help, Arakatori? Wall, no matter, I help Pungarluwula. (Arakatori is Clan 16; Pungarluwula ia Clan 1. Note that Clans 16 and 17, who ollaborated in donating the girl to Summit, entered the fight an opposite sides). A Clan 16 man replied that Clan 8 was short of soldiers.. Babu1 replied: No matter you short of soldiers. You go along mainland and get soldiera. Everyone laughed. (Laughter apparently terminated the fight.)”

“Years later, Dukey of Clan 12 wa identified as Wiyapunga's murderer. (...) There was a fight at Pinyanapi between Wiyapunga's country 4 and Dukey's country 5. Dukey was supported by his countrymen of Clans 5. Their opponents were the Country 4 men of Clans 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 14 and a few members of Clan 13. Hector of Clan 1 and Country 4 also fought against Country 5, but the rest of his clansmen would not fight Country 5; they were Dukey's brothers-in-law through Dukey's deceased wife. Father Gsell heard of the only severe injury in the fight. He told the natives that they should stop fighting.”

“The lugger Chantress returned today from Melville Island. The owners report that a big tribal fight between natives from two of the neighbouring islands had taken place, fully 1.000 aborigines having taken part. Several severe spear wounds had been received, but there had been no deaths reported. The natives had fought with eight-foot fighting spears in the traditional style, having previously notified their foes of their intention to fight. One native employed on the Chantress had announced his intention of fighting, saying that he would return to the boat if he was living when the fight concluded.”

“One wintry afternoon in 1932 on the Daly River in North Australia I saw that some of the men in an Aboriginal camp near my own had painted themselves garishly with earth-pigment. I knew this to be a sign of impending trouble but no one would give me any clear idea of what was to come. At about three o’clock the men began to go unobtrusively downriver, and some women and older children drifted off in the same direction. Each man carried a womerahor spear-thrower and a handful of mixed spears but this fact, in itself, meant little for in those days every male Aboriginal went armed on the shortest journey. Curiosity overcame any fear that I might be unwelcome if I followed so I made haste after them as soon as 1 could. By the time I made my camp and stores as secure as possible the party was lost to sight in the timber. I had to cast about a good deal to find the right direction, but eventually the sound of a distant uproar led me out of the savanna and on to the edge of a clearing where I could see more than one hundred men, my friends among them, locked in noisy battle.
I stood awhile at the edge of the clearing to take the measure of what was happening, for I had not before seen a large-scale fight. The human scene had a savage, vital splendour. The pigments daubed on the men’s bodies gleamed harshly in the late afternoon light. The air was filled with flying spears, each making a brief flicker of light as it sped. Some of the overshot missiles slithered with a dry rattle into the timber nearby. One pair of eyes could scarcely take in all that was happening at once. A distracting and continuous din came as much from spectators, of whom there were again over one hundred, as from combatants.
The men were ranged in two groups, one whitened, one yellowed, each in a very rough formation of line, about sixty paces apart. Scarcely for a moment did the lines hold form. Some men, alone or supported, were running forward to throw their spears, others back to retrieve spent weapons or snatch new ones from supporters, others from side to side in challenge to a succession of enemies. Sometimes a solitary man on each side would stand with the others in echelon on both flanks. Old men, capering with excitement on the sidelines, would suddenly run to the battle line to throw spears, and then go back to their former posts. Women, with fistfuls of spears, would come without apparent fear into the danger area to offer the weapons to their menfolk, at the same time shouting in shrill execration of the enemy. On both sides great shows of anger, challenge, and derision were being made. Some men would range up towards the enemy and contort their faces hideously; some, the older, would chew their beards and spit them out; some would bite on the small dilly-bags worn as neck-ornaments or stuff their loin-cloths into their mouths; here and there one would turn and, with gesticulations of insult, poke his anus towards the other line. Only the light duelling spears were in use but I saw one powerful Aboriginal, on what seemed the weaker side, run abruptly from the middle of the fight to wrestle fiercely with supporters to gain possession of their heavy, iron-bladed spears. They would not yield them, and sought to pacify him. He returned to continue fighting with the light spears.
The patterns and canons of the fighting eventually showed themselves through the aggregate moil. The struggle could be seen to resolve itself into discontinuous phases of duels between pairs of men with supporters. I could identify various pairs hurling spears at each other and, at the same time, see eddies of movement as others came to support them, so that something like a battle of masses would thus develop. This led to much cross-movement, and a veering of the heat of battle from place to place in the line as principals here became supporters there when an associate or kinsman came under heavy attack. Later, the principals would resume a phase of their own duels.
In trying to sort out the encounters of pairs, my eyes were drawn and held by an Aboriginal of striking physique and superb carriage who always seemed pinned by an unremitting attack. He seemed, as far as any individual could, to dominate the battlefield. He was so tall that he stood half a head above the tallest there. His muscular power was apparent in his bulk but it was the grace and intensity of his fighting which captured my attention. His favourite posture was to fling arms and legs as wide as possible as though to make himself the maximum target. Having drawn and evaded a spear he would often counter with a dexterity and speed remarkable in so large a man. His fluent movements in avoiding injury—an inclination of the head, a sway of the body, the lifting of an arm or leg, a half turn—always seemed minimal. I saw his spears strike home several times. As they did, the roars of exultation from his own side, and of rage from the other, would bring a rally to both. He himself stayed unwounded through the afternoon after a peerless display of skill and courage.
The battle died, as if by agreement, towards sundown and some of the antagonists began to fraternise, others to drift away. No one had been mortally hurt though many had painful flesh-wounds. There was some talk of continuing the fight another day. ”

“Several days of dancing preceded the fight. Two weeks after the exchange of messages, the Melville Island fighters arrived at the Mission in thirty-five large canoes. Each side held a dance, after which the fighters moved into position for combat. They stood several yards apart in two parallel lines while the opposing leaders conferred in the area between the columna; Each Melville Island fighter threw spears and clubs at the Bathurst Island fighter directly opposite. Few injuries resulted. (Note that in this round of the fight the Bathurst Islanders did not throw weapons but merely defended themselves. They accepted a mild form or punishment.) The Melville Island women collected the scattered weapons and returned them to their owners. An open fight broke out and continued until all were injured or too exhausted to fight. One Melville Islander was killed. ”

“An aboriginal battle on the Daly River, Northern Territory, was described in the Darwin Supreme Court this morning, when a native named Myjinite was charged before Judge Wells with having murdered an aborigine named Darmart, otherwise known as Charlie, on or about June 29. Alligator, a member of one of the tribes, said that a big mob of blacks, belonging to several tribes were fighting near the Daly River when Charlie was killed by a spear. His body was taken to a billabong, and later placed in a tree. (...) Barney, who belonged to the Angulmeri tribe, said that the battle was over a lubra which a tribesman wanted to take. Three tribes came together to help the blackfellow, one of which Charlie was a member. Barney did not see Charlie hit with a spear, but heard some lubras crying out. He heard Myjinite say later that he had killed the wrong one. Benjamin, an old aborigine, said that as the spears were thrown, they were picked up again by the opposing tribes, who wore defending the lubra, and were hurled back again. Many blackfellows suffered wounds from these.”

« Far into the depths of the North Australian bush a party journeyed recently bringing the white man’s justice to a country, a stone-age people. They went because of stories that had filtered through the thick country of the Daly River, south-west of Darwin, that two natives had been killed in tribal fighting. (...) On his first journey the policeman was accompanied by the coroner. Dr. Kirkland, and three sons of the dead native Charlie, one of whom was well over six feet tall and of outstanding physique. The coroner viewed the bodies. Through thick timber and over extremely bumpy country the party travelled to the edge of Butterfly Creek. There, upon a newly erected platform of palm-tree trunks, rested the body of the native ’dead-fella’ Charlie. His uncovered body was placed there until birds and ants between them had cleaned his bones, and the sun bleached them. Platform burial is accorded only those natives who are held high in the esteem of their tribe. (...) The second body had been buried low in loose, red. sandy soil; buried sideways and with the knees drawn up. The name of the second native was Noel. Natives exhumed the body so that the coroner might establish the fact that it was there. (...) The number of blacks in the fight had been estimated by a white man at 200. »

“Whilst on Groote Eylandt I witnessed real battle with spears. One of them looked very, serious, too, for the natives meant business. But, fortunately, on account of their efficiency in parrying spear throws no blood was shed. However, the result was quite satisfactory, as each man had thrown a spear at an opponent, and, regard less of the issue, that was all they required. Both sides then quietly adjourned to the shade of a tree, sat down together, and their friendship was renewed. It is a strong custom with them, that they never sit together until the battle is over.
Yes, it was all about a woman, Jeboma, of the Umbokubu tribe, had designs upon one of Monkey’s wives, and as Monkey, who belonged to the Bartalumba tribe, objected strongly to his attentions, a fight took place between the two men - the result, Jeboma speared Monkey, and he died.
Thus Jeboma Increased his harem to live, but the tribe to which Monkey belonged threatened revenge, and the relations between the two tribes became very strained. Nothing really happened for twelve months. Then, one quiet morning, Mundowara, an old man belonging to the tribe of Jeboma, walked off into the bush to fetch sugar-bag (wild honey). He didn’t return. But a few days later a big fire was seen about 30 miles away - it was Mundowara’s fire. He was burning the scrub and grass over the land where Monkey had been slain. This is the custom, and a sign that the way is now clear, and further, that Monkey’s tribe were invited to battle. Custom also ruled that neither tribe should cross that land until the devils had been burned away.
The excitement in the camps grew; days were spent rehearsing and preparing spears; everything else was neglected.
Several days passed before Mundowara returned, looking particularly pleased. He squatted down with his people and unfolded the news, The enemy were advancing slowly, but, as it was necessary for them to catch their tucker in the vicinity of burned-out country, they might easily be a week.
At last the day arrived - Monkey’s tribe were in sight. By midday the enemy reached a very old paper-bark tree, about a mile from Jeboma’s camp, and there they lay down for a final rest and to resharpen their spears. Meanwhile the natives on Jeboma’s side were becoming most excited, and the young boys were all smiles, for a real light was something well worth seeing.
Two hours later the enemy rose, shook the sand off their bodies, gathered their bundles of spears and womeras, and slowly began to approach the opposing camp, headed by a very old, shrivelled-up man with a long tangled beard. Just then, one of Jeboma’s men rushed out, and stuck into the centre of a flat piece of ground a stick with a native apron flying from the top like a flag. This was to denote the field of battle, and was a sign to the enemy that all was ready.
Within a few minutes the enemy had taken up their position about 10 yards on one side of the flag and Jeboma and his men were on the other. Immediately, the little old man from the enemy’s side passed the flag and went over to Jeboma’s front. There, he walked up and down in front of them, shaking his feet, pointing at them with quivering fingers, and yelling out all manner of threats. He told them in forceful language what Jeboma had done, and what was the custom of his tribe. He screeched, with a frothy mouth, most of the laws that his forefathers had created, and he emphasised how good they were, and how they should be reverenced. Also, he reminded them of the battles of the past - when he was a young man. This continued for nearly 20 minutes, and then, suddenly, he rushed back to his own side, and the battle was on.
One man from the enemy’s side - a near relative of Monkey’s - came forward, shaking a handful of quivering spears, and darted, up the line and then down, making the most grotesque faces and diabolical noises. Like lightning he turned, faced his line of enemy, and hurled a big shovel-headed spear at one particular man. By a quick, clever parry, the spear was sent flying up into the air, and then the next man camp upon the scene. This man seemed to be possessed with the fury or a devil, for he ran up and down the same line like a maniac, one moment grovelling in the sand and then jumping over imaginary obstacles. Then, with a terrifying shriek, he turned, and, like his predecessor, plunged in his longest spear. Close as it was, he missed; for his enemy, quick as a cat, jumped to one side. This procedure continued until each man had hurled his best spear at some member of Jeboma’s camp.
It was a most exciting show, and, although little blood was shed, the action of Jeboma killing Monkey and stealing his wife was considered to be fully avenged, and both tribes were now on friendly terms. This practice is a confirmed custom, and no amount of reasoning will alter their method of revenge. And after all, perhaps it is fairer than some of our methods. They do all come out into tho open - there is no shooting up narrow lanes, and no smashing of heads with beer bottles.”

“According to a message reeceived in Adelaide yesterday, the air ambulance of the flying doctor service had left Alice Springs for Yuendumu Mission Station to attend about 12 natives injured in a tribal battle. Three of the aborigines were reported to be seriously wounded.”

“Two full-blooded aborigines were killed in a tribal fight at Yuendumu native settlement, 180 miles north-west of Alice Springs, on Friday night.
A Native Affairs official stationed at Yueudumu brought the bodies of the two men, Jacky and Kenny, to Alice Springs during the week-end. Four other natives were wounded in the fight, one of them seriously. Constable Johnstone went from Alice Springs to Yuendumu today and arrested one native.
With Native Affairs officer Bray and a blacktracker he then went in pursuit of an aboriginal who has gone bush. Reports reaching Alice Springs from the settlement say that Mr Long, an officer at Yuendumu, showed great courage in stopping the fight, which arose from an ancient feud between two factions of the Warlbri tribe.
Late on Friday about 150 natives lined up in opposing groups and begun to fight with spears and throwing sticks.
Mr Long rushed between the groups and persuaded them to stop, but not before Jacky and Kenny had been killed.”

« Two natives were killed in a battle between two warring tribes at Yuendumu, 180 miles northeast of Alice Springs, at the week-end.
Before there was more bloodshed, a Native Affairs official, Mr Arnold Long, rushed between the natives and stopped the battle. He wrenched a spear from one native and broke it across his knee.
His quick action in disarming one black quietened them all. The warring factions usually wander in different areas, but when they meet, usually about once a year, they always fight. »

“That afternoon the fight commenced. Clans 13 and l4 fought Clans 8, 11, and 16. The sons of members of Clan 13 aided Clan 13. The sons of memobrs of Clan 8 aided Clan 8. (This is the expression of the partially corporate nature of the iruma groups.) Cabbagy received a slight head wound. Manuel was mortally wounded and died that evening.”

“One of the superstitions of the blacks is that relating to the anointing of the body with the "gouri" (or fat) of their victims. It was believed that this act imparted great strength and increased the prowess of those participating in the rite. The inter tribal raids of this kind were not carried out openly as in ordinary warfare. They were night surprises of the most relentless and cruel character, and the scene which followed was about as diabolical and revolting as anything that could be imagined in the way of savagery. Should the "Crargee" doctor, or wise man, indicate any other tribe which had given real or fancied cause for offence the young bucks of the aggrieved party would retire from the main camp to an appointed place of meeting.
Here they would paint themselves with white and red pigments, and, armed with suitable weapons would steal forth on their devilish expedition, usually at the time when the intended victims were asleep in their mia mias. One such raid took place on Thurgoona Station as late as 1834. Just before dawn about a dozen young bucks — of the nomad class — crept stealthily through the long reeds on the river flat, and the first intimation the peaceful Woradgery tribe had of the attack was conveyed by a shower of spears and boomerangs into the gunyahs. The huts were razed to the ground the inmates speared indiscriminately, and, amidst screams of agony and yells one of the boys was snatched from his mothers a arms and carried off as quickly as the raiders had come. Later on the whole of the available warriors of the Woradgery tribe collected and went in pursuit of the invaders accompanied by some of the station hands. Some distance away they came upon the scene of the terrible "buckeen" rite. They found the traces of the murder of the abducted black boy, the annointing of the murderers with his "gouri" or kidney fat, and cannabilistic feast which followed. The warrigals had then made their escape to the mountains. On the morning after a "buckeen" the victimised camp presents a tragic and desolate spectacle with the wrecked gunyahs, blood stained ground and surroundings and dead and dying gins and picaninnies.”

“This horror was matched some years later by the wiping out of the Plenty River local group of Udebatara, from which there was only one small survivor – a small weeping boy who was taken away by one of the fierce ‘avengers’ and raised as his own son.”

“Another widely-reported incident of the same period was the killing of a large camp of black men, women and children in the vicinity of Mt Eba, again on a charge of ‘sacrilege’ – an atrocity which sent shock waves of horror as far as the Aranda-speaking area, some five hundred miles distant to the north.”

“We mentioned before that a large battle was reported to have taken place at Piwingang, near Tailem Bend. The reason, we were told, was that while some local men were out hunting, a Tatiara group surprised a camp of people near the opening of the Murray into the Lake and abducted some young women. Those who escaped swam across the River and warned the hunters. As there were only a few fighting [p. 21] men among them in comparison with the Tatiara party, they went further down the River with those women and children who had survived and assembled a large number of warriors belonging to several language/dialectal units. They divided into small groups and set out in search of the Tatiara. Reaching Piwingang they ambushed them: only a few escaped.”

“Pinkie Mack provided an example, although the date of the event was uncertain (probably prior to 1882). On the Brinkley Reserve before the houses were built, there were several camps opposite the swamp near McHughes Landing. Here some people were living and attending to the smoke-drying of three corpses placed on their platforms. Members of the Walerumaldi with their headman Polmandendjeri from Polmanda (Pomanda) were also there; they were anticipating that fighting would break out. One day in spring the men were out spear-fishing in their canoes along the Lake entrance of the Murray, while women were gathering mussels and swamp bulbs. They looked towards the shore and saw the old men struggling with the corpses which were trying to jump from their platforms and loosen their arms from the upright poles. From this sign, the people knew that a hostile group was on its way to fight. They returned quickly to their camps, attended to the corpses and waited expectantly. In the distance they could see a Walkandi-woni party moving through the scrub, searching for Polmandendjeri. The reason they were looking for this man was not made explicit. Pinkie Mack believed that accusations of sorcery had been made against him. Polmandendjeri sat some distance away, apart from his own men. The Walkandi-woni came to one of the camps and looked around but did not see him. In the meantime, the women set to work and prepared a feast for the strangers; they cut up the fish and roasted various water and land plants. While they were eating, several of the up-river people sneaked away and went in search of the Polmanda leader and found him sitting in one of the camps. They took hold of his spears. One man named Pombat, speaking in Tangani, called out, ‘Let me do it!’ As Polmandendjeri was sitting there eating, Pombat thrust a spear through his collar bone so that it impaled him to the ground. Pombat had a brother who was with the Walkandi-woni people; both were Tangani men and Pombat feared that his brother would be killed if Polmandendjeri were not. Immediately, the Walkandi-woni fled with the Polmanda men following them. They fought all the way to Wirange (Wirawar) opposite Wood’s Point, leaving the wounded and the dead lying there. At Pitjurungarung (Pitjuram) opposite Monteith jetty, they saw Pombat’s brother. The Polmanda men called out to him and he came across the River. As he landed, they speared him dead. ‘That is how the war began’, said Pinkie Mack, ‘those Polmanda men didn’t want the Walkandi-woni to find their leader and they had not protected him!’”

“Another type of song arose from friction between tribes over intertribal exchange of women in the southeast part of South Australia. Members of the Potaruwutj tribe of the Tatiara country, who were the Wepulprap or "Southern" people (to Milerum) were aggrieved over supposed ill treatment and killings by bone-pointing of women exchanged in marriage. The real trouble was the supposed dishonoring of the one-for-one exchange by the Tanganekald. They were being accused in the song of allowing marriages between "wrong" clans instead of sending women to the “right” ones. Their song was a [pelekawi], one of accusation and challenge. We call the Tenggi people women chasers / They are mating throughout the tribe / We call the Tenggi people women chasers / They are all chasing and mating. The term [Teggi] is the southerners term for the Tanganekald, the people of the Coorong lagoon. The insinuation was that formerly exchange of women was proper; now there was refusal. Milerum said, “This is a very dirty song—there is a lot of meaning in it; one word and the actions might make great trouble.” The song had been composed by Dongaganinj of the Potaruwutj tribe. The Meintangki (people of the Meintangk tribe), having heard the song, backed up the Tanganekald and made a hit of their own by singing a slanderous reply along with a challenge to fight it out at a place called Nunukapul, a recognized place of combat on the Telauri Flat near Marcollat (native name [Matkalat]). Several men were killed.”

“"BORO" BATTLE AT TOWNSVILLE
Affair of the Seventies
The early settlers in Queensland had the advantage of observing the aborigine at close range, and opportunities of studying his ways that are not available to the present-day inhabitants unless they find their way into the recesses of Cape York Peninsula.
Tribal fights frequently took place in those days on the outskirts of the towns, and usually had a small white audience; for there was little risk to the onlooker of getting a stray bullet, as would be extremely likely to happen in a modern battle even miles away from the centre of operations. In The Queenslander of July 31, 1875—sixty years ago—a correspondent at Townsville gave a first-hand account of one of these native encounters. The aborigines, now familiarly spoken of in North and North-western Queensland as "abos," were "boros" in the early days, hence the caption to this story.
Here is the correspondent's account:
The blacks appear to have been holding a week's carnival as well as their more civilised brethren. For some days strange blacks have been arriving in the town, and an old punt has done duty as a ferry-boat to convey the strangers across Ross Creek to a place opposite to the town, where the blacks have a large camp not 50 yards from the main street. On Thursday morning the ferry-boat appeared busier than usual, and some 300 warriors, in full undress, armed with spear, nullah-nullah, boomerang, and helimon, together with the great wooden sword, arrived on what was to be a sanguinary battlefield.
"BLOOD SOON FLOWED"
That the black troops were "plenty coolah" was evident from their proceedings. After a considerable amount of gesticulation and antic, assisted by vehement yells, boomerangs began to fly, and spears and nullah-nullahs hurtled through the air. Blood soon flowed, and the excitement grew wilder. A man rushes up to an enemy, and from behind deals with a savage blow on the back sinews of the legs with one of the formidable wooden swords, and then runs back to his friends. The wounded man drops, as a matter of course, and is removed by his friends, who presently take dire revenge, for a spear rushes into the opposing ranks, pierces the chest of a warrior, and makes its appearance between the shoulders.
His fall is avenged by a general assault of all hands on to one poor wretch, who retires with a skull on which there are several more sutures than was originally intended by nature. Reprisals were rapidly taking place. Whizz! goes a boomerang. In its rapid circular flight it scarcely pauses to take off a nose here, and gash a cheek there, before it reaches its goal, and splits in two the hand of a spear-wielder.
The combat lasts a long time. The dead and wounded are recovered, and then commences the coronach of the gins. A wailing corroboree fills the air, and we retire from the scene to wonder at the depravity of the blacks. We call them fools; our own warriors we call—heroes. What's in a name?”

“ECHOES OF THE PAST

Their warlike tendencies have ever been apparent, and a battle royal between hostile tribes was by no means an infrequent occurence in the days of long ago. The Argyle and the Lachlan tribes were among those most noted for their hostility, and an account of a tribal feud between the Lachlanders and the Bogan blacks is worth repeating. The latter bad been trespassing on the domain of those of the Lachlan and had left an impression of their visit by stealing two young gins from the encampment. This of course meant war to the knife. As a result three hundred Lachlanders put on their warpaint and started forth in pursuit of the marauders, accompanied by a retinue of old men, gins and picaninies. That they meant mischief was apparent from the hurried nature of their movements. Each warrior had twelve spears and a tomahawk, besides boomerangs, shields, etc. The gins carried all the camp paraphernalia. King Jemmy was the chief of the tribe and as he had worked on a station he could speak a little English.
Their mode of Warfare was different to that of the whites ; they made no formal declaration of war, their object rather being to sneak on the foe and annihilate him in one act if possible. Their war path lay through the country near about where the township of Parkes now stands and they overtook the Bogan blacks at the Bogan river, where they were camped at or near, the present site of the Waterloo homestead, so-called on account of the battle that took place there. At early dawn, led by a blackfellow named Billy Bust, they made a charge on the sleeping Boganites but before they reached them one of the gins gave the alarm. The Bogans were instantly on their feet, and as their weapons were at hand they were ready for fight immediately. A shower of spears from the Lachlans was not without its effect, as it placed about ten of the foe hors de combat, but the return fire of spears was equally effective, and brought the Lachlans to a bait. Then, the boomerangs began to fly as the opposing parties got into closer quarters. The King of the Bogans, seing he had an advantage of nearly 2 to 1 over his opponents, lost no time in charging forward and making the Lachlans give way, but they rallied again almost immediately, fighting like demons.
By this time a very considerable number of dead and wounded covered the ground, the Bogans apparently being the heaviest losers, but their preponderance of numbers gave them a great advantage, and their chief urging them on forced the Lachlanders to retreat, at first gradually but culminating in a rout, leaving 150 of their number on the battlefield, and the losses of their enemy were still greater. The victors followed the retreating blacks with great determination, slaughtering those that they overtook until after a chase of 50 miles the close of night arrested the carnage. About three score of the Seeing blacks with their gins took another course, thinking they would be safer if away from the main body, but they sadly miscalculated their chances, as early on the third morning their blood-thirsty, pursuers overtook them, when further slaughter took place. The remnant swam the flooded river and escaped that way.
A very, sorry looking lot was the Lachlan tribe when they got back to their old encampment. Only about half of the lubra's and less than one-third of the men returned, and these had clay caked all over their heads, as that was the emblem of mourning for their friends. The present writer in his youthful days had many opportunities of seeing the burial places of the Argyle tribe of Aborigines at Lansdown, the head centre of the Bradley estate at Goulburn, where numbers of them were buried. It was there that I first saw their peculiar habit of covering their beads with clay or earth of some kind on the death of one of their number, as a symbol of mourning.”

« A BLACKFELLOWS' BATTLE - ON THE BOGAN

Riding down the road towards Forbes in the early spring of 1859, on the banks of the Lachlan, not far from Tomanbil, I came up with a tribe of blackfellows on the warpath. There were about 200 men, with King Jimmy leading. About 15 old men and as many lads followed, and then many gins and piccaninnies. All told, they numbered about 600, and real terrors they looked loaded up with weapons of war, and wearing only loin cloths on their waists. Each man had a kind of tattoo, which had been cut into his skin years before, and now these sores gave him a frightful appearance. I learned afterwards that the more cuts the fighter had the higher his rank. Each man had twelve spears, a tomahawk, six boomerangs, two shields, and a nulla nulla.
From the King, Jimmy Arkel, whom I knew well, I learned that the Bogan blacks had stolen two gins from the Lachlanders, and it was in order to effect the restoration of the girls that the tribe was up in arms. They marched on and crossed the Lachlan at the Southern Cross Hotel, which was kept by Mick Doyle in after years, then out past the Kurrajong diggings, now called Parkes, and finally reached the Bogan, where their scouts saw the Bogan blacks camped on a lagoon not far from where Waterloo station homestead now stands — the station took its name from the battle that followed.

THE ATTACK UPON THE BOGAN BLACK
The head scout, Chalker — his real name was Billy Bust — called a halt, and they camped some four miles up the river. Chalker was one of the smartest men of the tribe. At the dawn of day the men were led off ready for the battle. Soon after sunrise they came, to a clear space about 500 yards across. The tracker pointed out the sleeping camp of the Bogans. There was not a bit of scrub to hide in. The Lachlan warriors charged across, and were half-way over the clearing when one of the gins gave the alarm. The Bogans were on their feet in a couple of seconds, and as they slept with their weapons besides them, they were ready for the battle immediately. The Lachlan men sent in a shower of spears and drew first blood bringing down about ten of the foe. The return volley brought them to a halt about fifteen yards off, with many hit and down. Then the boomerangs began to fly, and the strip of no man's land was narrowed to about ten yards.
The fight had only been in progress about five minutes when the Bogan King perceiving that he had a majority of about two to one, let out a war cry and charged forward, all his men following him. They knew the Lachlan men were better at a stand-off battle, and intended to thin their opponents’ ranks at the first charge. The Lachlanders gave ground, but held on for a few minutes.
Then they gave more ground. By this time the dead and wounded on both sides were numerous.

THE LACHLANS' DISASTROUS RETREAT
“King Jimmy saw that his men were beaten, so he gave the retreat signal. Eventually, after an hour’s hard fighting, they broke back. Never had there been such a battle in the history of the two tribes. More than 150 of the Lachlan blacks were down on the field, and the losses of the Bogans were even heavier. But it was not all over yet. The Bogan men gave chase, and a line of graves from old Corodgery to the Hospital Hill, at Parkes, tells how some of the fleeing men were caught and overcome.

CHALKER 'S HEROIC STAND
Right on top of the hill that overlooks Parkes, King Jimmy was hard pressed. Nine of the Bogan blacks were drawing near him and then Chalker turned to cover his getaway. Chalker had only his shield and a nulla nulla. One lad of about 16 stood by the one warrior. The nine attackers sent spears at him as fast as they could, but Chalker was so clever with his shield that he turned every spear, and when they had thrown their last one, his quick return of their spears brought three of them down. Then he went on after his king for he was loyal to the core.
The Bogan blacks kept up the chase until dark, and then camped on their track fully 50 miles from where they started at sunrise. Next morning they continued to march after the Lachlans, who camped that night at Waugan, 20 miles above Forges on the same side of the river. About 60 more with gins had gone another way, thinking that they would be safer away from the main body. Their calculations were all astray, for early on the third morning their pursuers came up with them and massacred several of them. The remainder of the fugitives swam the flooded river and got away. The battered remnant of the Lachlan tribe reached their camping ground, and a sorry-looking lot they were. Only about half of the gins and a third of the men returned. They had white claw caked over their bodies, it was their way of mourning for their dead.
During the following spring the Lachlans again rolled up in their war paint, and with a great show they started off once more for the Bogan. They travelled to the billabong, where Tichborne now stands, and then pulled up and came back, saving, “We can't find the Bogan blacks. That pfeller run away longa scrub.” They kept this pretended hunt up for a few years, and then gave up, and sold several of their weapons to Mr. Bilton Suttor, of Tomanbil. Many old hands will remember the fine collection of native arms in the little parlor at Tomanbil Station. »

“In the particular part of the west where I spent my " newchumhood " the blacks were quiet. Their passive attitude was due to several causes. One, I fancy was that the country, being the scantily watered heads of several rivers, the Barcoo, Warrego, and Belyando, was occupied by feebler and more pacific tribes than the big waterholes lower down. The warrior tribes seize the best country and force the weaker clans to take the worse. Besides, the blacks asserted that some time before the advent of the whites they had been the victims of a great raid. The tribes inhabiting the country lying between the Barcoo and the coast, including the watersheds of the Nogoa and Dawson rivers, had formed a temporary alliance, and their young men, numbering probably a thousand or more, had made a great raid across the Dividing Range, bursting unexpectedly on the unhappy dwellers on the western extremity of the great interior plain. The latter, taken at a disadvantage and split up according to their usual habit in moderate-sized groups hunting round the chief waterholes and scrubs of their widely extended country, were unable to offer any effective resistance. The men, old women, and children ware slain or forced to hide in the depths of the most inaccessible scrubs, and the girls were carried off by the victors. When the whites came, the Upper Barcoo blacks could not have recovered from this terrible harrying, and must have been still cowed and weak.”

“WEAPONS OF THE BLACKS
The Richmond blacks were very peaceful, and their morals were always above reproach, nevertheless they had their tribal wars, and chose as their battle ground what is now the racecourse flat or what we know us Carlton Park. Their chief weapons consisted of spears, boomerangs and "paddymelon sticks'' (a kind of nulla, with a spiked nob at the end). This last-named weapon, was always thrown both in battle and when hunting. For protection the ''heilamon" was carried. This was a kind of wooden shield sometimes beautifully carved and painted, and was used to ward off the showers of boomerangs, spears and paddymelon sticks, which, during a battle, often made the atmosphere far from healthy. The description I am now about to give will serve as a typical example of the way our Lismore or Richmond blacks went "over the top" in the days when Lismore was little more than a camp. It all happened over a young gin, which the Lismore blacks were supposed to have abducted from the Tweed blacks. Seeking redress the warriors from the Tweed marched down to the Richmond, and thus, on the first day of the battle on that racecourse we see the orderly array of Richmond braves drawn up in line as regular as that of any modern army.

TACTICS OF THE WARRIORS
The Lismore blacks chose as their background the hill on which the Dunoon road stands today. The Tweed army was massed, roughly speaking, between the Woodlawn road, and the river which was at their back. Thus the Richmond blacks had their backs against the "wall" as it were. At a given signal the soldiers, (as we may call them) behind the front line of attack threw their boomerangs, forming a kind of barrage, behind which the front lines advanced towards each other with spears and paddymelon sticks. How they were trained to these practically modern tactics, and who led the blacks is a mystery. When the two armies were within throwable distance of each other they stopped, and thus began the battle proper. A constant bombardment of the aforementioned weapons was kept up and there was no lack of ammunition as each side picked up the missiles thrown by the other. Now we come to the strangest part of the whole affair. No man was permitted wilfully to slay an enemy! Chivalry to the utmost point of madness, if you like. Should a Warrior rush on an opponent and slay him, he, the slayer, was put to death by his own men. After three days of this pantomime came the climax. As if by mutual consent hostilities ceased between the armies, and the issue was decided by a fight between the two kings.

DECIDING DUEL
Amid a deadly silence the Richmond king and the Tweed king stepped out in front of their respective armies. Each was armed with a "heilamon" (shield) and an armful of boomerangs. The duel was fought, each king throwing his boomerangs with the unequaled skill of which the aboriginal is so capable and each boomerang was deftly parried with the heilamon. Thus the duel went on until at last the Richmond king ran out of ammunition, and with nothing to save him but his shield. There he stood calmly awaiting the next move of his enemy. And it came in the form of a whirring, boomerang, which struck the shield of the Richmond leader, splitting it in halves, and glancing off it struck the stump of a tree and buried itself there. "Old Hand" is prepared to show anyone interested the exact stump with the piece of broken boomerang still in it, or if it has gone, the exact spot. Thus the three days' battle ended in favour of the Tweed. The narrator's mother was crossing the flat during this battle, and was forced to take refuge in a hollow tree stump. The battle was witnessed, by several whites, who, no doubt, to this day, can vouch for the truth of my narrative.

AFTER THE WAR
Differences being now settled between the Richmond and Tweed, both sides joined in a big wallaby drive through the dense scrub, which then covered the district.”

“The conflict was very hot; one of the Yan-Mondays was struck on the forehead by a womeran (club), and fell down apparently dead, another was hit in the face, a third had a spear run through his body, and many others were severely wounded. On our side only a few were slightly wounded — it was a fearful fight, spears and womeras flew constantly through the air, at last we could look at it no longer and therefore, with great emotion, went back to our hut.”

“I began to think that I had unintentionally given offence to my gay Lothario, as some time elapsed before I saw him. About three months after this occurrence, I was standing under my verandah, when I saw a black-fellow on the opposite side of the river trying his spears, shield, bomerangs, and nulla nulla together, which he placed on his head: he then took the dry and sapless trunk of a withered mimosa, placed it under his chest, and soon reached the wharf.
I found it was my friend Papoonya, who walked into my quarters in his usual independent manner, shook hands with me, and said that there was to be a “cobora mumcule” (great fight) between the Coast Tribes and the Beppo Jockeroos (Mountain Wild Black- fellows), that Eulopé the chief of his tribe, with all the chosen warriors, would arrive before sun-down, and that the fight would come off on the following day. He did not make any allusion to his lady-love, as they never speak of the dead. I had often heard him boast of the superiority of his tribe, and I knew Eulopé, who had acquired the "soubriquet" of Buonaparte, for his daring courage and opposition to the military when they first took possession of Amity Point, to be all that he had represented him, and, as I had never witnessed a "turn-up" between the Aborigines, I resolved to accompany them to the scene of action, but did not mention my intention to Papoonya.
Eulopé and his party did not arrive until the following day, when about sixty of them came to my quarters, the remainder of the tribe with the gins and piccaninnies having proceeded by a different route to the spot where the struggle was to take place. I was surprised at the superior stature and great muscular power of this party, whose personal appearance quite eclipsed that of the Light Company of the 39th, which composed the Detachment. I furnished them with plenty of sweet potatoes and maize, and they bivouacked in the open air, in front of my quarters. They were in high spirits, confident of success, and spoke of the Mountain tribes with contempt.
On the following morning I filled their nets with potatoes and maize, and told them that I should go to see them beat the Jockeroos, which greatly pleased them.
Although I was personally known to most of the coast tribes, and many of the mountaineers, whose friendship I had gained by a few trifling but well-timed presents of tomahawks and fish-hooks, I deemed it prudent to see to my arms, having on several occasions come in collision with the Jockeroos in my hunting and botanical trips. I therefore loaded both barrels with ball, and put a pair of pistols into my belt, in case my friends should be defeated, or I should be separated from them. Thus prepared I knew that I was able to cope with any party I might fall in with.
We then started, and after walking for about an hour and a-half, we reached the ridge at the eastern extremity of the plain at the base of Taylor's Range, when a scene of unbroken and unclouded beauty presented itself, altogether so different to anything I had ever seen, that I was rivetted to the spot. It was one of those magnificent days seen only in Australia. The glorious sun rode triumphantly in all his majesty and splendour, imparting life and health to all around, and his rays tinged the foliage and wild flowers with every diversity of light and shade ; the air was redolent of perfume from the aromatic shrubs with which the skirts of the plain abounded ; the sky was cloudless, and of that deep azure tint peculiar to that beautiful country and the "sunny south;" the trees were motionless, and all nature was at rest, except man, who was busily occupied in devising the destruction of his fellow-man, for some fancied insult. The plain was of considerable extent, thinly wooded, and bounded on the west by Taylor's Range, and on the base of which the Mountaineers had encamped. It was admirably adapted for a battlefield; and I must confess that, when I saw the Jockeroos I began to entertain doubts as to the result of the battle, from their formidable appearance and apparent numerical superiority.
As I was personally known to many of the most celebrated warriors belonging to the Mountain tribes, I resolved on crossing the plain to inspect their preparations for the forth, coming battle; and having apprised Eulopé of my intentions, I proceeded to the Jockeroo camp. They were fully prepared for the deadly struggle, sanguine of success, and much better provided with war spears, which were made of rosewood, and thrown without the wamerah, than my friends. A more formidable looking fellow than Moppe I never saw. He was about forty years old, upwards of seven feet high, beautifully proportioned, and the muscles of his upper arms reminded me of the gnarled trunk of an oak. He spoke with contempt of my friends, and said that he would beat Eulopé and make him carry bungwall like a gin.
After I had gratified my curiosity, I returned to the camp of my friends. During my absence the gins had arrived loaded with bungwall (a fern, blechnum cartilagineum) the root of which, when pounded and baked, is not a bad substitute for bread, but very astringent, guanas, snakes, emus, kangaroos, fish, ducks, turkeys, flying foxes, &c, which were thrown carelessly on the ground. The piccaninnies were running about, looking like so many imps of darkness, and gazed at me with astonishment and terror. The men were busily occupied in painting and adorning their persons, some of whom had a most terrific appearance.
On approaching Eulopé, I found that he had finished his toilet. His body was lubricated with emu oil and pounded charcoal, a rush was thrust through the cartilage of the nose, his long hair was carefully tied up in a knot, into which a bunch of the yellow feathers of the white cockatoo was inserted ; his breast, arms, and thighs, had been anointed with the gum that exudes from the eucalyptus, and then covered with the most brilliant feathers of the red shoulder, king, and blue mountain parrots; and as he stood before me with his contan (shield) on his left arm, his war spears in his right hand, and nulla nulla and bomerangs in his belt, his tout ensemble was strikingly grand and imposing. On the slightest motion, his great muscular power was fully developed; he trod the earth with the air of a conqueror, and was "the observed of all observers." I felt that the fate of the battle rested on him. My friend Papoonya came up at this moment, and presented me to his sister, a young and very pretty gin. She was evidently delighted with what was going on, and as much excited as her brother, whose person was unadorned; he wore his long hair loose, which reached to the waist.
I chatted with them for a few minutes, and then went to Eulopé, and told him what Mappe had said. He looked incredulously at me said nothing, but poised a war spear in his hand, which he shook with great violence, and his appearance at that moment was quite demoniacal. The brave old Duke of York, the chief of the settlement tribe, Bribe and Molrooben had arrived with their warriors during my absence. They probably mustered 500 fighting men, exclusive of the kippers and gins; and Moppe's force consisted of at least 700 approved men.  Understanding that the Pine River and Black Rock River tribes were expected, I suggested to Eulopé and the other chiefs that it would be prudent to defer the combat until they arrived; but they treated the suggestion with scorn. As soon as they had completed their arrangements, Eulopé formed them into line two deep, and they marched into the centre of the plain, shouting their war cry, which reminded me of the discordant cry of the laughing jack ass ; they sat down with their legs crossed under them, and continued silent and motionless, watching the movements of the Mountaineers. The kippers followed in the rear, but the gins and piccaninnies remained on the ridge where they had encamped.
In a few minutes after their arrival, the leaders of the Jockeroos marshalled their warriors in a similar manner, and advanced to meet their foes, shouting the war cry wah-ha! wah-ha! wah-ha! ha! ha! hoo! and when about fifty yards from them they sat down in the same silent and motionless manner. The deathlike silence that followed the terrific shouts of the Jockeroos, had a singularly depressing effect – not a whisper could be heard on either side – the gins and children being equally silent as the warriors. At this moment a mighty black eagle, which had probably been disturbed in his Eyrie on the mountains by the shouts of the hostile parties, soared majestically aloft, occasionally uttering a shrill, piercing cry until he disappeared. I felt instantaneous relief when I heard the noble bird, and my excitement returned.
They continued motionless for some time, but at length six kippers came from the rear of the Settlement Tribes, and approaching within twenty yards of the Jockeroos, they applied the vilest epithets to them, and threw their spears and bomerangs at the Mountain warriors, who warded them off with the most sovereign contempt, without condescending to notice them. The kippers then retreated behind the line of warriors, and the same ceremony was performed by the other party, which was treated with the like indifference by Eulopé and his warriors.
Eulopé then rose, and shouting his war cry drew a bomerang from his belt, and threw it with such force at a gigantic Mountaineer that it split his shield [Note : Their contnars, or shields, are made of the bark of the urtica gigas (stinging tree). They are shaped like the shields of the ancient chivalry of Europe, cover the body, and are impervious to spears], and wounded him so severely in the head that he fell senseless to the earth. A shower of spears and bomerangs followed, which was kept up for some time without any apparent advantage on either side. Eulopé having thrown all his missiles drew his nulla nulla from his belt, and rushed into the thickest of his foes dealing death and destruction around him ; and he was so ably seconded by the brave old Duke of York, Molrooben and Bribe, that the Jockeroos gave way, notwithstanding the desperate efforts of Moppe and Gorowamba, the chief of the Peak Mountain tribe, whose daring courage and noble bearing astonished me : but although the Jockeroos retreated before the impetuous attack of Eulopé and his brave followers, yet the havoc made by Moppe and Gorowamba soon inspirited them, – they rallied round their leaders, and fought with such skill and determination that the Settlement tribes began to retreat, notwithstanding the indomitable bravery and almost superhuman efforts of Eulopé, whose voice was heard above the din of battle, shouting his war cry as he felled to the earth some unfortunate Mountaineer who had dared to oppose him he seemed to possess the attribute of ubiquity, and to restore confidence to his flying and disheartened followers wherever they were most pressed. At length the Jockeroos drove them across the plain to the foot of the ridge where they had encamped, and the shrieks of grief and despair of the gins, as they slung their children at their backs, and the shouts of exultation of the excited Jockeroos caused the most conflicting emotions. I felt deeply interested in the fate of Eulopé and Papoonya, the latter of whom during the mêlée had fought with as much energy and determination as the most approved warrior; and fearing that the Jockeroos would drive my friends into the Settlement, and capture most of the gins, I resolved on shooting one or two of the most daring of the assailants, when at that moment Eulopé crossed the gigantic Moppe, upbraided him for his contemptuous message, and dared him to  the combat.
As if by mutual consent the warriors around them ceased fighting, and stood resting on their nulla nullas, confident in the skill and prowess of their respective chieftains. When I saw the great disparity in the size of the two heroes, I must confess, that I feared the result would be anything but favorable to Eulopé, who appeared to little advantage as he confronted the gigantic Mountaineer. They were covered with sweat and dust, their personal ornaments were disfigured or lost, and they were evidently suffering from their great exertions during the battle. Yet when they stood opposed to each other, and saw around them, spectators of the combat, the best and bravest of the Coast and Mountain tribes, it had an instantaneous effect on both, and their prostration and exhaustion vanished, with the hope of adding to the fame they had acquired by the defeat of their renowned adversary. A few seconds elapsed before a blow was struck, when Moppe made a feint at the arm of Eulopé (a ruse to put him off his guard) and instantly put in an overhand blow at his head with such prodigious strength that it split his shield asunder, and alighted on his shoulder. Eulopé, though staggering from the effects of the blow, returned on the head of the giant, which caused the blood to flow freely; but either from his previous exertions, or the effect of the blow he had received, through his shield failing him, it was not effective. I now felt assured of the defeat of Eulopé, as he fought at great disadvantage against his Herculean opponent ; but I was agreeably deceived: he changed his system of fighting, acted entirely on the defensive, and parried every blow with his nulla nulla with such skill and dexterity, that Moppe lost his temper, and rushed on him as if to bear him to the earth by his superior strength ; he did not appreciate the skill of the brave man opposed to him, whose coolness and self-possession, under such trying circumstances, never left him, and proved him worthy of the high opinion entertained of him by his compatriots. In closing, Moppe attempted to put in a tremendous blow, which Eulopé avoided by stepping aside, and before he could recover himself. Eulopé struck him so fair and forcibly on the head, swinging his body to give effect to the blow, that he fell to the earth to all appearance a dead man. The shouts of joy and exultation of the Settlement tribes were deafening; and a desperate struggle took place for the body of the fallen chieftain, which Gorowamba succeeded in obtaining. The Jockeroos, dispirited by the fall of their brave leader, gave way before the excited and desperate followers of Eulopé, and retreated across the plain. The gins, who had witnessed the defeat of Moppe, joined in the pursuit, and did good service with their bungwall sticks, which they handled like quarter-staves, and made the heads of many of the retreating Jockeroos rattle.
During the pursuit, Papoonya covered himself with glory, and through which he was made a "black fellow" (warrior) much sooner than he otherwise would have been. His sister Putchinba, who was particularly active in annoying the fugitives, at length attracted the attention of one of them, who turned on her with the most deadly intentions. The pretty maiden defended herself admirably, but must soon have fallen a victim to her temerity, when I called Papoonya's attention to her dangerous situation. He bounded like a kangaroo to the rescue, and placing himself before his sister, upraided the warrior for thus fighting with a wyah gin (young girl), and challenged him to fight. As the youth stood before the warrior, his figure and attitude were exceedingly beautiful – his eyes sparkled – his nostrils were dilated, his chest was violently upheaved, and his nerves were strung to their extreme tension he was the beau ideal of a youthful hero. The grim warrior looked with scorn and contempt on the beardless youth, and would fain have left him, to join his retreating friends; but Papoonya prevented him. Annoyed at what I have no doubt he considered the presumption of a boy, he attacked Papoonya with great violence, showering blow on blow with a rapidity truly astonishing, evidently thinking to kill him off-hand; but the activity and skill of the youth was more than equal to the superior strength of the mountaineer, who vexed at being foiled by a boy, incautiously exposed himself, when Papoonya struck him an overhand blow on the back of the head, and he fell dead at his feet. I shall never forget the convulsive agony with which the dying warrior grasped the shrubs around him. It was the last effort, and all was still and motionless. Papoonya shouted with joy and exultation over his lifeless foe, and then joined in the pursuit, which was kept up until they had driven the Jockeroos across the mountain. On their return, they plundered the enemy's camp of the towrows (nets) and provisions, and returned in triumph to their encampment.
As the sun was sinking beneath the horizon, when I returned to the camp, I resolved on remaining until the morning, to witness their conduct and bearing after the glorious struggle. The gins were occupied in bringing in the wounded and the dead. They then made fires and fetched water for their lords, when the wailing for the dead commenced. The camp at this time presented one of the most extraordinary spectacles ever witnessed. The warriors were lying in small parties round their fires, prostrate and toil-worn, discussing the events of the battle. The old gins formed a circle round about the camp, and held tea tree bark torches in their hands, by the light of which the young gins were seen beating their heads with stones and cutting their bodies with shells, to denote grief for the dead, and shrieking and yelling in the most frantic and extraordinary manner. As I lay by my fire, watching the dark figures of the poor gins, their frantic movements and unearthly yells almost made me fancy I was in Pandemonium.
Day at length broke, and dispelled the illusions of fancy. I shook hands with both Eulopé and Papoonya, and gave the latter a pocket-knife for his sister Putchinba, who was in a shocking condition, from her self-inflicted wounds, and proceeded to the settlement, highly pleased with the extraordinary spectacle I had witnessed. ”

“THE D. D. Gazette has received particulars of an aboriginal battle which took place at the beginning of the last month out on the Barcoo. One day two tribes – the Langlo and the Blackwater – met. Coolness had existed between them for the past five or six years, and no sooner had they spied one another than war was decided upon. They carefully advanced towards each other until the Langlo had invaded the Blackwater's territory. The latter objected to this intrusion, and expressed their objections in a rather forcible manner by throwing their boomerangs in the midst of the advancing army! (There were about 200 on each side.) The boomerangs flew round for a while, when getting tired of this distant mode of warfare, the opposing forces rushed at each other. Boomerangs gave way to nullah nullahs – so did four or five of the Blackwaters, who, soon discovering they were losing the battle, fled ignominously into the bush, leaving the Langlos masters of the field. The victors revelling in the triumph held a grand corroboree on the ground, and continued to hold them in various places as they marched through the county.”

“On the first day of January, 1862, I had the privilege of witnessing a pitched battle between the tribe [Mount Bopple] and fully a thousand picked warriors from Fraser Island. Port Curtis, and the Burnett. The battle took place in what was then the old township of Maryborough, just on the site of the present water reserve of Ulqlab Creek. I had seen but little aboriginal warfare before that date, but have witnessed a great number of regular field days since then, and must say these latter were incomparable to that great battle, when one regards either the multitude of the slain or the magnitude of the numbers engaged. It was calculated that the allies had not less than a thousand warriors of all arms ; while the Boppleites had close on five hundred men, and what they lacked in numbers they certainly made up in manly physique and martial bearing. Hostilities commenced about 3 p.m., and did not cease till near sundown, when the King of Fraser Island was laid low by a spear right through the abdomen. About a dozen other warriors were killed on both sides, but the allies were completely routed. They appeared to be quite crestfallen, and did not offer the least resistance when a Bopple chief, attended by a crowd of fighting men, rushed on to claim the young princess, daughter of the alien monarch, or whilst, as afterwards happened, they carried her away in triumph. ”

“Extermination battles seem to be completely lacking. I have only one example of a nocturnal raid, which I heard from Baker, who lived for 14 years among the Blacks. The raid was foiled. Those attacked pursued the enemy tribe and killed many, including men, women and children. This usually doesn’t happen, women and children being spared.”

“In 1874 the Mungerra tribe, which at that time inhabited the watershed and upper portions of the Cape River (Q.) had reason to believe that the death of their chief Multheroo was caused by the sorcery of a member of the Pegulloburra tribe, who inhabited the country 50 to 100 miles distant. The night after the old man's death a party set out after the burial, mad for bloodshed, and marching for about 40 miles they came upon a party of the Pegulloburra natives. As dawn was near they concealed themselves during the day and at night crept up to the camp when the in mates were asleep. The men and children were butchered before they could rise from the ground, and the women, after further atrocities were also slain. Years back, when a boy, I met an old gin who escaped from the massacre, and she stated that about 80 of her tribe were killed. This woman was stunned by a club and left for dead, but towards morning she recovered sufficiently to crawl to a waterhole where she bathed her wounds and then returned by slow stages to the main body of her tribe.”

“Sixty years back the Larrakia tribe of the Port Darwin district were the most powerful tribe in the Territory. Wars with neighbouring tribes were frequent, and generally originated from the abduction of women. On one occasion a member of the Woolna tribe who roamed over the lower portion of the Adelaide River stole a young- female from a camp inhabited by the Larrakia natives. A party of the latter at once set out in pursuit, but before they had proceeded many miles they were ambushed by a large party of Woolna warriors, and were all massacred. This slaughter led to a series of battles between both tribes, and over 200 blacks were killed. Eventually the woman was returned to her tribe, and peace was declared at a great corroboree held between Port Darwin and the Adelaide River.”

“One of the most fierce battles which ever took place, between the aboriginals in Queensland was caused by the Wonkomarra tribe of the Bulloo River hunting wild ducks in territory occupied by a tribe which inhabited the Lower Bulloo. Their method of declaring war on this occasion was different from that of other tribes. They sent a herald to the enemy stating that a fight was to take place. The life of this herald was held sacred, and he was allowed to return to his tribe. In the fight which followed it is believed that over 300 blacks were killed.”

“Soon after the sheep washing was over the McIntyre Brook tribe came in with the intention of having a tribal fight. They met the Canning Downs tribe about five hundred yards above the gate-house on the Warwick side going to Canning Downs on a very dull cloudy Sunday morning with every appearance of rain. The latter, the writer thinks, made them postpone the fight till the Monday morning, when they met on the Warwick side of Murphy's old bridge and had one of the most desperate fights ever known to the earliest pioneers of the Downs. From the blacks' own account there were three killed and a great number badly wounded. That finished their quarrels and they all decided to hold a large corroboree and make friends again, as they seldom cherished animosity to each other after the fight was over. ”

“There was evidently plenty of excitement owing to the numerous rows between the various tribes of blacks, and Mr Sutch gave "The Herald" man a very vivid account of one of these tights, which lie himself witnessed, the battle field being un the south bank of the Yarra, close to where Prince's Bridge now is, and just west of St. Hilda road. The participants were the Goulburn tribe to the number of between three and four hundred, the Jacky Jacky and Mor- dialloc tribes. All were in battle array, painted and pipeclayed in hideous fashion. When within about 200 yards of the others the Goulburn warriors formed a sort of crescent, and their chief went along the line haranguing them. After this each man stooped down and dug a hole in the soil with his boomerang, and the earth which he had scooped out was on a given signal, hurled at the enemy, the performance being accompanied by a series of appalling yells. The other tribes responded with signs of defiance, and then the serious part of the performance began. A man of the Barabool tribe, who had to be given up for some murder, was brought forward with his shield on his arm, and the Goulburn tribe commenced to hurl spears and boomerangs at him. How that agile native dodged the whizzing weapons, catching some on his shield and ducking to avoid others, is most graphically told by Mr Sutch; indeed his story would rank high as a bit of word painting. After dusky honor had been satisfied with regard to the gentleman of Barrabool extraction, a general battle royal ensued between the tribes, which resulted In the loss of three lives, one man whom Mr Sutch clearly saw receiving a spear right through his thigh, and a horrible jagged wound was Inflicted, and the only way of removing the spear was to break It off short und pull it through the limb. This man subsequently succumbed to his injuries. The Barrabool gentleman evidently had a desire to get level with his foes, for he afterwards came near where the Goulburn warriors were dancing a corroborree and hurled a spear which pierced the lung of a Goulburn man, so that when the spear was withdrawn it brought a portion of the lung wlth it. Mr Sutch quaintly remarks that he of Barrabool subsequently decamped. ”

“In 1869, when we lived at Bellevue, near Grafton, parties of blacks from the upper river were frequent and interesting callers. One day numbers of them passed, and King Billy, of Yulgilbar, told us that a big fight had been arranged, to take place not far distant, the opposing forces being men from Gordon Brook and Yulgilbar against those from Grafton and the Lower Clarence. He was very, anxious that we should see it, and promised that when the time was fixed he would send a guide to conduct us to the battle-ground.
King Billy was over 6 feet in height, of magnificent physique, and carried himself with a truly royal dignity and urbanity, even when clad in only a waist belt and a large red handkerchief. He was, moreover, respected by both whites and blacks for his honesty, sobriety, and trustworthiness. An English sportsman who stayed at Yulgilbar in the early 70's wrote in most complimentary terms of King Billy to the English newspaper, 'The Fjeld,' specially mentioning his great strength and endurance, and his skill , as guide and tracker on kangaroo shooting expeditions.
Early, one morning, a day or two after our invitation to view the fight, King Billy's son arrived to act as guide, and our party, consisting of my parents, our man and maid, my brother and myself, was soon ready for the bush track.
We were all on horseback, except our sable guide, a superbly built young warrior, who strode along in front. He was naked save for a belt and apron of spun opossum fur. The belt held his tomahawk. In his right hand he carried a long spear, and in his left a sheaf of war boomerangs. It was about four miles to the battle ground, an open lightly timbered flat, down one side of which ran a strip of dense and beautiful Northern Rivers brush. At one point a patch of the brush jutted out, and here cattle had made a camp, and had trodden down the undergrowth, leaving a dense canopy of interwoven branches over head. Under this canopy we were conducted, and told that this spot had been chosen by King Billy for the white spectators, as they could see everything, and yet be quite safe from stray spears and boomerangs. Here we were joined by a young settler and his wife from their home not far away. Some distance to the left we could see signs of the upper river encampment, and soon a party of elderly gins moved out into the open not far from us, and another party of viragos appeared from the lower river camp in the opposite direction. And then a wordy warfare began, and volleys of abuse were pelted ; from side to side.
They all carried green bushes, with which they vigorously thrashed themselves, apparently as a stimulus to fiercer and more furious invective. This went on for some time, until the up-river men began to move into battle order, almost opposite our viewpoint, and a distant shouting heralded the approach of the enemy. About a hundred strong, they came at a prancing run, two by two, in a long column, lifting the feet high and chanting as they ran, each man with his long spear at slope over his shoulder. At a signal the column suddenly split, one half wheeling to right and the other to left, the leaders, followed by the rank and file, each describing a perfect half-circle. When the points of the half- circles met the line was straightened out until the two by two column was reformed, when it promptly halted. As it did so, the spears were crossed and met overhead with a clear and ringing clash. It was, altogether, a pretty manoeuvre, beautifully executed.
Following this, the opposing forces formed two long lines opposite one another and with a space of about 40 to 50 yards between, a space which speedily became a medley of leaping forms and flying spears and boomerangs, while the forest rang with yells and cries from the combatants, whose quick, keen sight, and suppleness of limb enabled them to dodge, and, with their little shields, ward off most of the missiles in an almost miraculous manner. Quite close to us, one young warrior won admiration and applause from the white onlookers for a remarkably agile feat of arms. Three boomerangs came whirling at him almost simultaneously. Two he deftly turned to right and left with his little shield, and, leaping high, allowed the third to pass harmlessly ubder him! After charge and countercharge and rally had continued for a time, exhausted nature demanded a rest, so, apparently by mutual consent, hostilities were temporarily suspended. Two of our party took advantage of the lull to ride out and get the news. They reported that beyond a few bruises and fairly severe flesh wounds, no damage had been done, though so far the up-river army seemed to have got rather the worst of the encounter.
They also told us that Grafton Tommy had challenged a Yuigilbar brave to single combat, and the duel was to be staged close to our ‘coign of vantage,’ so that we might have a good view of it, and this information set us all alive and agog with excitement and expectancy.
Presently there was a movement in our direction, and the two combatants stood forth, their comrades on either side standing a little in the back ground. Big, muscular men both of them, Tommy especially being of fierce and sinister aspect.
At a signal, they hurled their spears, and then several boomerangs, and when these were exhausted, and had done no harm, they drew their tomahawks and charged. Chop, chop, chop, went the little axes, but all the blows were caught on the shields or warded off. Suddenly, they each stepped back a pace or two, flung axe and shield to the ground, and, rushing forward, closed in a desperate grapple, apparently determined to decide the issue by an appeal to nature's weapons. Backwards and forwards they reeled and strained and struggled, but, so well matched were they in strength, that neither seemed able to gain an advantage, until, without warning, the onlookers were startled by the sight of crimson streams cascading down, the Yulgilbar champion's back. Comrades rushed in and separated the antagonists, and it was found that Grafton Tommy had a short stabbing knife concealed in his thick mat of hair, and with this he had reached over and stabbed his opponent in the back — a treacherous act, and quite outside aboriginal codes of the game.
Here this story must end, for the sight of blood at such short range was too much for our womenfolk, who voted the incident ‘savage’ and ‘cruel.’ Therefore, a hasty retreat was ordered, and the horses’ heads were turned homeward. My feelings and those of my brother at being dragged away at, to us, such a highly interesting stage of the proceedings, may be better imagined than described. We wondered what women expected to see a fight if it wasn't blood. In a day or two we heard that the down-river and Grafton natives were eventually the victors, though the tables were turned at another fight some months later.”

“One of those now rare occurrences took place on Tuesday and Wednesday last, upon the Water Reserve, Lower Southgate, the contending parties being the Lower Richmond River tribe, in alliance with those of Ulmarra and the Lower Clarence; and their opponents the Grafton tribe, aided by the Lawrence and Upper Clarence blacks. The blacks have been assembling for some time past for this particular event, and although those assembled did not number so largely as in former times, the surroundings were not shorn of the ceremonies with which events of this kind have been conducted by the aboriginal holders of this country for one cannot risk saying how many ages. To add to the importance of the recent declaration of war and its resultant battle, the ceremonies were accompanied by the more important one of the "Bora," or mysteries connected with the initiation of young lads to man's estate. For some weeks past preparations have been going on for the battle that was to decide a dispute, the intricacies of which we have not been able to unravel. The movements of the aboriginals in the neighbourhood of the contemplated battle-ground naturally created some interest amongst the white public in the vicinity, with the result that quite a number of those were present to witness the battle. One of those has written us a brief outline of what took place. The first of the battle took place on Tuesday afternoon, the concluding events being left over, as is usual, until the following morning. About 2 p.m. the Grafton army, quietly encamped with their friends, received intimation that the enemy was approaching. No sooner was this known than "Old King Tommy," of Carr's Creek, began to chant a defiant war song. This was taken up in admirable rhythm and time by some 15 to 20 women, and about half a dozen children. This chanting—which, judging by the attitudes and expression, was intended to convey the utmost contempt for the enemy, and to hurl defiance in their teeth—was kept up till nearly 4 o'clock. About this time could be heard in the distance first a sounding "whizz," and shortly afterwards an echo of stamping feet. Immediately after this was seen advancing through the timber about 30 stalwart-looking black-fellows, painted in all colours, and profusely decorated with feathers. No sooner did they come in view than they charged towards the site of the intended battle, moving almost as one man, such *** step did they keep. Having arrived *** ground, the Richmond tribe chanted *** song, and forming into a circle *** the points of their spears together, *** apparently of their unity in defending the other's cause. By this time the Grafton army had *** ready for the fray. Irritated *** the words of the war song, a *** stepped out and hurled a boomerang at the enemy. This was no sooner done than a splendid charge was made, and equally good defence—spears, boomerangs and paddymelon sticks flying in all directions; the men on each side showing their quickness of eye and agility of body in evading the flying missiles and implements of primitive warfare. There was really a good rally, each side well maintaining its ground, fortunately without any blood-shed. After a sharp contest both sides, apparently content with the prowess displayed, gradually retired, leaving the battle field unoccupied. By this time the shades of evening had fallen to such an extent that it was deemed advisable apparently to suspend hostilities until the morning. These were commenced about 10 a.m. with an attack by the Grafton tribe on the camp of their opponents, with the result that there was a general rush to arms, and a determined encounter took place, but terminating as on the previous evening without loss of blood. The rally was kept up for some time, until at last the Grafton tribe were driven back towards their own camp. After a rest of about half an hour, which both sides were certainly entitled to, one of the Richmond tribe, fully armed and gorgeously decorated, advanced in front of his companions and challenged one from the Grafton tribe to single combat. This, however, was not accepted, but in reply to the champion's remarks— which, no doubt, were far from being of a complimentary character—a charge was made and a great rally ensued, during which George, of Lawrence, had a spear driven through his arm, while one of his companions received a similar wound in the foot. This put the Richmond army on its metal. A desperate charge was made upon the Grafton tribe, during which two of the tribe were wounded, the Richmondites retiring unscathed. During these charges the gins and picaninnies became very excited, and appeared to be using the language to spur on their respective sides to deeds of daring if not desperation. Shortly after this the Grafton notability, Lazy Bill, stepped out from the Grafton ranks as champion, challenging any *** Charlie, who after a fine set too, and a good display of offence and defence, was compelled to succumb to Lazy Bill's superior skill. Charlie's place was next taken by a left-handed Joe, the latter speedily taking his opponent down. This was followed by a challenge from the Richmond side, in which Mick, of Lawrence, challenged Jimmy Avery, of Copmanburst. The latter, however, did and retired to their respective sides. This result brought out Jimmy Avery with a challenge to Harry, from Chatsworth. There was evidently a considerable amount of feeling between these two. Having thrown all their weapons at each other they closed, *** nulla nulla's. Jimmy succeeding *** twice upon Harry's head, *** claimed the victory. Harry, however, did not feel the effects very much, for when some of the white lookers on proceeded to his camp to see the extent of his wounds, they found him quite jolly laughing as if nothing had occurred. The blows, however which he received, would probably have killed a white person, or at least have given him a tremendous headache. *** *** *** final combat between Kangaroo Harry and Woodburn Jimmy, in which before *** close quarters, Harry succeeded in wounding his opponent. This concluded the *** *** the battle of Southgate, the *** *** in favor of the Richmond tribe. *** decorations of the aborigines—men and women—and their general *** have been something *** *** being *** of the battle, the *** of one of the gins who was standing close to a fire, caught alight, but with the quickness of her race she stripped out of her dress like a streak of lightning, thus escaping being seriously burnt. There were several whites present much interested in the proceedings, which in future years will be a thing of the past. During the last charge one gentleman (Mr. W. C. Doust, if we mistake not) was struck rather severely on the head by a boomerang, which came swirling round where he and others were standing deeply interested in the movements and manoeuvres of the blacks. ”

“On the Herberton Tableland are a number of ‘Boora’ grounds, where tribal ceremonies were, held, and about two miles from the town of Herberton is one such spot which was used regularly by the blacks for this purpose. A resident of the town told me recently that when a child, she with a companion, hearing of the fight, made their way to the scene of it. The two children crept as near as they dared and climbed a tree to better observe the proceedings. It was very exciting, and they shivered in their tree fearing that they might be discovered. So they were, for a policeman came along from Herberton, and ordered them to run home. On this occasion five natives were killed.”

“Several tribes of the aborigines, amongst whom were Bunya Bunya and Amity Point blacks, have had another fight in this district, hundreds of them having met on Friday and Saturday last at the Ploughed Station. No lives were lost, though many were severely wounded. Some of those who were known to be active in the murders or Messrs. Uhr and Gregor were amongst the number, but they took good care not to approach the township. I have not heard the reason of the present fight.”

“The aborigines have had several fights in this vicinity lately, the Brisbane, Limestone, and Tent-hill tribes having met to adjust their usual griev- ances, several were wounded, but on the last evening of the fray, the well known " Uncle Marny" received a severe spear wound on the chest,of which, however, he is recovering.”

“In the year 1852 several tribes, it is said, made the valley between the Limestone Ridge on the one side and the present Land Court and the Courthouse, in East-street, the rendezvous of their tribal battles which lasted for several days, during which many were slain, and I think I am correct in saying that the term "Coffin Holes," a swamp situated between the Old Racecourse ("Ploughed Station") and Blackstone, owes its origin to a very determined battle, which took place thereabouts between the different aboriginal tribes, then "camped" in the vicinity of Ipswich, and the killed were buried near that spot, the Coffin Holes.”

“There were large camps of aboriginals at different spots about Ipswich, and Mr. Watson well remembers several extensive fights, especially those that took place on the present site of the Queen's Park, when several hundred blacks fought so wildly ' that, many deaths resulted, and wounded blacks could be seen all over the locality. ”

“"On the flat country on which now stands the Ipswich railway workshops, the Logan River tribe of blacks came into conflict with the boys of the Brisbane River tribes. That was nearly 80 years ago. Nullanullas, spears, and boomerangs were freely used by both sides, and there were many casualties," was another recollection of Mr. Gardlner. The battle resulted in a decisive win for the local lads. the invaders from Logan being driven from the area.”

“(…) Sandy, King of the Moretons, led his black army of approximately 300, including the female pack train, into battle against the Wide Bay abo.s', in 1873, at the Glasshouse Mountains (…) This battle proved to be the last dinkum abo. scrap to take place on our eastern coast south of Wide Bay, which is 150 miles north of Moreton's Bay (…)

At the time when King Werriean, ruler of the Brisbane river tribes, with his small detachment of some twenty or so black warriors, were encamped on my Dad's farm, supposed to be engaged in scrub brushing, there were five sugar mills operating on the river (…) I remember the fateful evening as if but one night had passed in that distant time and the 56 years that have since run between, when the courier came from the head-quarters camp of the good King Sandy, situated in a black man's honey-bee line of flight, 30 miles distant towards the east, pitched on the old (Toora-kerry-kerry) camping ground of their ancient ancestors, who, from the earliest days of the first centuries, danced the rites of the totem-pole (…) And, although Werriean and his warriors were loth to depart from, their fattening ground on our old home farm they were soldiers of the King. No one saw the runner come, although they all knew quite well who and what he was, none took the slightest notice of him until he produced his token of authority, to wit, the "pumorriay," or the King's seal, known to us in pidgin English as the yabber-stick, without which a King's messenger will not be recognised as such. Much has been written from time to time round what some writers, who claim a, knowledge of aboriginal customs, are pleased to term the mysterious written messages that pass from king to king, or from his royal nibs to the Camps of his subjects. This is all bunk. This yabber-stick, as we may herein call it, has no power of speach. It is only as the king's seal upon the runner's des patches. When a runner is despatched from His Majesty's gunyah, he carries his life in his dilly-bag until his return, for, should he lose this yabber-stick or royal seal, the penalty is death. When the messenger has shown his token of authority on arrival at his destination, he then verbally delivers his message. (…) However, after the arrival of the King's messenger the camp of Werriean was the scene of activity, as, on the morrow, so the orders ran, Werriean was to march forward and connect with the main army (at the Pine River, south of Brisbane) led by King Sandy himself, who, for close upon half a century now, has slept in peace in that forest glade, the burying ground of thousands of kings. We all turned out next morning to see the warriors start. All were in marching order: — a flowing' shirt-tail and red painted legs — fancy meeting that on a Brisbane street to-day. As is the custom, the gins were converted into the baggage train; Lizzy, in accordance with her high rank, was given the honor of the major burden. (…) At this hostile meeting on the battle-field of the Glass-house Mountains, the last dihkum scrap south of Wide Bay and which, gave rise to that black man's legend, the "Weellabala Mollayan" (the spirit eagle), there were camped in the vicinity for two weeks or more upwards of 700 aborigines. (…)

(…) However, this battle of which I write — the , last dinkum shindy south of Wide Bay — was in reality of a different nature to any that had gone before in the memory of the oldest white settlers (…) Most aboriginal battles which' take place between tribes of different districts, and at a fixed time and place — taking months of preparation, mobilisation and war declaration — are, as a rule, of a sham fight nature, generally ending in a big corroboree in which, "after the treaty,' all take part. It is the duty of the gins to run and pick up all the spent amunition — spears, boomerangs, throwing sticks, etc.— after they have been hurled, and to act as a field ambulance. (…) In this battle there were about 30 killed and wounded (…)”

“Who were the two tribes that were supposed to be fighting ?
— (...) The South Burnett against Stanley River (...)
— How many would be in each tribe ?
— Oh, over a hundred (...)
— Was anybody hurt ?— Oh yes!
— Badly ?
— Oh yeah, they had to carry them out (...)
— Anybody killed?
— No, but I saw the spear. My (...) been speared. The two men been speared (...)”

“Aboriginal people say that a long time ago, before white man came, their ancestors lived at Tnorala. They hunted, camped and performed ceremonies here.
One day, early in the morning, a man climbed up the rocks, hunting for kangaroo. When he came back, he found all his people, men, women and children dead, killed. He knew that the kadaitcha men had done it.
This man went off and told the rest of the family, who lived along the nearby ranges. These people followed those kadaitcha men, who came from the desert country, to the south of here. The kadaitcha didn't make it back to their community. They were killed by the avenging family.
After the massacre, Tnorala became what Aboriginal people call a 'sorry' place: no-one has lived here since because of sorrow over the lost family. It is out of respect for the people that passed away here that the Aboriginal custodians ask visitors not to camp at Tnorala.”

“Two splendid blacks, evidently chiefs or braves renowned for their prowess, issued from the camp and proceeded to take up positions facing each other, but nearly a hundred yards apart. Having surveyed one another in grim silence for some minutes one of them commenced to yell out what was evidently a challenge to his opponent.
Gradually the savage, decked out in all the finery peculiar to his race, worked himself into a perfect frenzy, bounding backwards, forwards, and from side to side, poising his spear as if on the point of launching it, or rattling the sheaf of spears which he held in his left hand, or striking them against his small shield, but always evincing a studied desire to throw himself into the most graceful attitudes and to impress the attentive audience, who now crowded out of the camp, with a proper sense of his valour.
His antagonist seemed to watch all this with a composure which at first seemed quite natural, but as his vis-à-vis became more and more outrageous it could be easily seen that it required a great effort on his part to keep his temper and guard his dignity from the shame of interrupting the war-like speech and gestures of his excited enemy.
But he did succeed in curbing his passion, now plainly visible in the quivering of his facial muscles and in the restless shifting of his body. Hardly had the challenger ceased than he bounded fully 3ft. In to the air, and alighting with a yell of mingled fury and detestation he hurled back defiance for defiance, and abuse for abuse, adding, no doubt, many vituperative epithets which could at that moment add weight to his contempt and sting his rival into forgetting the etiquette of savage custom.
He certainly did not finish his speech, or if he did no one heard its closing sentences, for, with a howl of rage the first speaker hurled a spear at him. Without stopping in his harangue, without even seeming to notice the action, the chief kept his ground with a sang-froid, which was truly superb, merely warding off the missile with a horizontal wave of his right arm. I distinctly heard the "click" as the spear, struck by his wommera glanced off, and buried itself quivering in the ground some ten yards beyond him.
A series of fearful yells from a couple of hundred blacks now filled the air. The adherents of the two chiefs rushed to arms and hastened to their support, with every sign of a determination to conquer or die.
These latter seemed to have lost all self-control, yelling, dancing, spitting towards each other, biting their beards—always a sign that a black means mischief—and behaving in a most indecent manner.
The scene now baffles all description.
There were quite 150 blacks mustered on the flat, the sides being pretty even, while some fifty or sixty old men looked on, an interested but by no means silent audience. On the contrary, they were yelling, dancing, and encouraging the combatants by voice and gesture, and I several times thought they would come to blows among themselves.
Volleys of spears, yells, screams, and a confused muss of struggling humanity, was all I could discern after the first few moments, clouds of dust rising and hiding the contending warriors from our sight. The gins could be seen behind the respective parties collecting the spears, and running with them to their friends. Here and there on the edge of the hurly-burly, I could occasionally discern a couple of warriors engaged in single combat, cutting and parrying, advancing or retreating, or locked in a close embrace and exerting their utmost power to throw one another. Soon several warriors came limping out of the fray. I could see blood on all.
The gaudy patches of red, yellow, and white paint had given place to a very different colour. Nevertheless the fight continued with unabated fury. The flat seemed converted into a perfect Pandemonium, in which a host of demons were contending for the mastery. Several times I saw spears strike trees, splintering into fragments, thus attesting that they were not thrown in play.
For fully half an hour the din continued.
The stream of men either wounded or exhausted, who were leaving the field became more dense, until fully one half had thus retired. Then suddenly a shrill cry, different from anything I had yet heard, pierced the air, and, is if by magic, every arm was stayed, every voice hushed, and a deep silence, only broken by the groans of wounded men whom I could not see, fell suddenly upon the whole scene. The dust settled, and I saw the warriors standing quietly below, surveying each other without the least sign of animosity, with nothing to lead one into the belief that they had only one minute previously been engaged in a fearful struggle, excepting the forms of three or four warriors, who less fortunate than the rest, had received serious injuries, and were now lying extended on the field.
These were carefully and even gently lifted by their friends, and carried into camp, where no doubt their wounds were attended to. The gins and children spread over the field, collecting the weapons, and the sable warriors retired to refresh themselves, and to vaunt their individual deeds of prowess in the hearing of admiring young lubras, who, no doubt, would eagerly seek to reward such daring heroes in a proper manner. Throughout the fight I had considerable difficulty in restraining my men. The sight of the battle seemed to awaken all the savage attributes of their excitable natures. Their whole soul seemed to look out on the combat. They danced, snapped their fingers, and actually yelled with delight and excitement. What between watching the battle and restraining my boys, I had plenty to occupy my mind. To them, no doubt, the scene being enacted below recalled many similar fights in which they had taken part. No wonder that they were excited, and wished to join in the fray. No wonder, also, that my voice, generally so instantaneously obeyed, should now fall somewhat heedlessly on their senses. Still they quietened down after the first rush, and I could fully enjoy the unusual sight of nearly two hundred savages—who so jealously guard their customs from prying eyes—engaged in deadly combat, within point blank range of our Snider rifles.
I could not refrain from wondering at the entire absence of any ill-feeling or animosity among these people. They had been only a few minutes previously emulating each other in inflicting severe wounds and hurts, nay, even in slaughtering their enemies, and yet, here they were laughing, chatting, and feasting, with every manifestation of goodwill and reciprocal friendship. That the battle, though perhaps merely a sham fight, had been fought in downright earnest was only too apparent. But it had not left a vestige of that acrimony which we should have looked for from a like contest between civilised people. ”

““I was but four years old at the time, but I can see it all as vividly as if it were but yesterday. The room of one house fronts to the road. The occupants are the owners of all three cottages and their families. There are three grown men; the rest are womenfolk and children. Each man has a double-barrelled muzzle-loading gun, and on the table around which the women are seated are more guns, as well as ramrods, tins of percussion caps, and red-coloured powder flasks. The menfolk are stern and quiet — the mothers bear anxious countenances; even the children play quietly, unconsciously subdued by the atmosphere of tension about them. I remember how I stood on the tips of my toes and peeped through one of the circular openings of our ‘fort.’
Before my eyes was enacted a fierce tribal battle, and looking towards the top of the hill, where my old school now stands, I saw native women and children building their gunyahs. Other women were standing beside their warrior husbands, collecting the spears that the foe had thrown, and handing them to their menfolk to hurl back at the enemy.
Many natives were down on both sides, and bleeding freely from their wounds, and the wailing of women rose and fell like the chorus of a Greek tragedy. The worst fighting took place not more than 100 yards from our doorway. Mingled with the screams of the women and the children was a cry of exultation as the spear of some warrior found its target in the body of his opponent.
The ravine separating the tribes narrowed and shallowed towards the lower end of the street, and at this spot the warriors were clubbing each other with nullah-nullahs and waddies. They fought each other up the roadway until they were on the pathway outside the house. Some of the blacks were known to me. I had put broken victuals into the dilly bags of the gins, and had heard the pidgin talk of the piccaninnies in our own yard. The strong hand of my father dragged me away, and after looking through the aperture he placed his muzzle loader in position — just as a precaution. Only a month before a settler had been attacked by blacks at the One Mile.
Late in the afternoon, as the sound of savage combat faded away over the brow of the hill, our little garrison ate a meal of home-made bread and corned beef, with butter from the churn, at the handle of which the whole family had taken a turn. What sweet butter it was, too!— butter placed on thick slices of bread on which generous slices of corned beef had been spread — eaten with a gusto of appetite that bespoke strong and vigorous health.
That night fires twinkled on the hill top and down the gully. The combatants had proclaimed a temporary truce, but with the sunrise the battle was renewed, and my mother found me in my nightdress with my eyes glued to the peephole. There were no such things in those days as pyjamas! Both male and female, young and aged, wore that garment of white calico called a night dress.
The fighting, the yelling, and moaning were repeated all that day, but not a native was killed. After fighting ceased for the day the warriors fraternised. The next morning saw only the town blacks on the hillside. The enemy tribesmen had departed to their own hunting grounds, and peace reigned once more.””

““I remember well the old house where I was born,” Mr. William Low said yesterday. "Maroochy House it was called, but now the main road runs right over the spot where the old living-room was. The dense scrub used to stop only at our back and front doors when I was a kiddie there. One of my earliest memories is of a fight between about 200 blacks just out in front of the old homestead. I can almost see them to-day. Afterwards I learned they were two different tribes–the Gympie and the Maroochy blacks. There were spears and boomerangs and tomahawks flying through the air, and a noise that could have been heard miles away through the quiet forests. It was purely an inter-tribal affair, and they did not seem to take any notice of us.””

“The fellow tribesmen of the two aborigines who were plundered in Maryborough during a recent drunken bout demand satisfaction. They belonged to a Cootharaba tribe, with whom are associated the Brisbane blacks. Accordingly, a challenge was sent to the Maryborough natives and accepted, the convincing ground being selected near the river on the Maryborough side of Owanyllla. The opposing forces, numbering nearly 400 fighting men, with their gins as baggage carriers, met on Thursday afternoon, and after a preliminary dance the fighting commenced next morning. The conflict continued until near mid-day, when the sun or the Brisbane men made It "too hot" for the Maryborough warriors, who dispersed in as disorderly a manner as though persuaded by natlve police. Nobody was killed, and the wounds Inflicted were very trifling. We believe an armistice has been arranged until Maryborough can draw reinforcements from Frazer's Island and Bundaberg. Saltwater Creek is to witness the next meeting. Meanwhile, the Brisbane blacks are camped somewhere about the One Mile on the Gympie-road.”

“The [police] raid was seeking the “Darlot murderers” responsible for a “pay back” slaughter of eleven Aboriginal victims (men, women and children) from Laverton and Lancefield. These deaths also became known as the “Laverton Massacre”, one of an ongoing series of retaliatory tribal killings in this area from 1905—10 (Acting CPA in Bates MS365/97/263-273).”

“The annual assembly of the Eastern goldfields tribes is not merely, it appears, for the purpose of performing certain secret rites. It is a court where sundry matters of intense importance, both to individuals and tribes, may be settled. A strain of cynicism may lie excused when experience has shown that with the blacks, as with a superior race, these 'matters' generaly pertain to a woman. Tne proverb connected therewith is as common to the aboriginal as to the white.
The initial ceremonies having been performed, the tribes from the north yesterday afternoon proceeded to the consideration of sterner things. A weak-livered, sneaking member of the Southern Cross tribe had induced or stolen a woman of the north, only fit to mate with the braves thereof. Something had to be done in the matter.
Both sides realised this Yesterday morning the Southern Cross tribe went apart, and a little reconnoitering showed them to be preparing all the paraphernalia of war. The Menzies warriors went away foraging.
In the afternoon signs of approaching conflict were easily apparent.
Scouts brought in word that the Menzies tribe were returning arid were prepared for the offensive.
The Southern Cross braves, with a good idea of tactics, moted out and took possession of a small hill. From this scouts were sent out, while others acted as patrols.
About 3.30 the northern tribes got in sight, coming in in the formation of a square, with the gins dancing wildly round it and exciting their men to be brave and wipe the enemy out of sight.
On the Southern Cross side both warriors and gins performed war dances, afterwards forming up in order of battle.
Quite on a mediaeval plan actual fighting started with a single combat between the man with whom the abducted woman was living and her husband.
Taunts and war-cries were silenced, suddenly by a boomerang flashing suddenly out from the Menzies champion. It flew through the air and came straight to its quarry, inflicting an ugly flesh wound about two inches deep.
The Menzies crowd were delighted. Their joy was short-lived. The warrior, seeing the result of his throw, turned to join his companions.
Before he could get over any distance his opponent had launched a heavy war spear from a worn era. Though at a distance of 25 yards, it caught the Menzies man fair in the fleshy part of the back, piercing it like a dum dum bullet, and bringing the quarry down as quickly.
The tribes then made a rush at one another, and a melee would have ensued had not the Boulder tribe sailed in with waddies, and in true constable fashion restored some semblance of order.
Afterwards some nine single combats took place, the finish of each being distinguished by the fond embraces of the combatants, as proof of mutual respect and friendship. The main body had another general mix up, in which waddies, spears and boomerangs were freely used. The Boulder tribe was again in evidence as peacemakers, and finally the tribes desisted, carrying their wounded with them. They squatted down with each other to compare notes and exchange flatteries.
The Menzies tribe, the wildest of all the natives, could not let matters rest in this fashion, and showed their sense of superiority, or whatever else it might be called, by refusing to take part in the festivities when the moon rose last night.
The woman, the cause of all the excitement, it has been arranged, shall go back to her former wigwam, where, it was learned, a sound thrashing awaited her. As far as could be ascertained there was not much sympathy with her, which, perhaps, makes another link in the chain between black and white.”

“The fight which took place among the blacks last week, would be a very sorry affair compared with what they used to be when the tribes of this district were undiminished by contact with civilization, thirty years ago might frequently have been seen a muster of 600 to 800 blacks at one of their great gatherings, and one of the best “fights” I remember to have seen, took place here some time about the end of 49 and not very far distant from where the one of last week was held. The sides were the Richmond against the Clarence, but among the former were to be found the tribes of the lower Clarence, from Lawrence downwards, with those of Wyan, and the country thence to Casino, and towards the sea coast. On the opposing side were those of this district from Gordon Brook downwards, with the tribes round Grafton fully represented, and they were pretty numerous here in those days. The casus belli was really, I believe, what white people would call chafing. There had been some gossip carried between the tribes for a considerable time, very much in the same manner that pugilistic encounters are worked up between schoolboys, by the go betweens carrying the news of what is said of the other, and as in the latter case, no doubt also in the other, adding a little on every occasion. There were, it is true, sundry private quarrels, to settle the principal, of which were what might be termed family affairs. A young fellow for instance, belonging to the Grafton tribe, had induced a young damsel from the Richmond
TO ELOPE WITH HIM
in preference to remaining in her own bounds, and becoming the partner of a somewhat older and less acceptable man. In aboriginal, as well as in European life, the course of true love often ran other than smooth. There were several of such love affairs, accounts being on the whole pretty evenly balanced in the matter of gain and loose, but as there was in every tribe one who had to chew the cud of disappointment, he had the right of challenge to wager of battle, and as in the duello, not to exersise this was like non-acceptance of a challenge, an admission of oowardice. “King Tommy,” of Carr's creek, then a youngster,figured as respondent in one these cases, but very few of the others are left today. Every love affair produced a fight, and occasionally two or three, in which sometimes the combatants were of the same tribe,

ONLY RIVALS IN LOVE
The most bitter were those where there was a debt of blood to pay—a debt never condoned by other means than blood.
The spot selected for the encounter in this instance was a long flat, in wet weather a swamp, leading into a creek, on the banks of which were the camps, extending for a distance of half-a-mile. The creek was fringed with scrub, and close at hand was a large brush, which served the double purpose of cover in case of need, and [?]eld for the united forces to procure food by hunting. Out on this flat then the two rival forces were drawn, pretty equal in numbers. About 150, on each side of fighting men armed with spears, boomerangs, [?]rongs, kanines (clubs), jabbars (paddymelon sticks), and helamans. Among some of them there had been a good deal of fanciful painting in white and red, the pipe olay and a red pigment used for the purpose, with a few birds feathers stuck in the hair on the head, which was drawn together into a knot and tied tightly with a cord. The dark natural colour of the skin was usually made blacker by means of charcoal. The helamans were also painted with a black background of charcoal and grease, relieved with white and red bands. Every man was perfectly nude and nothing to fetter body or limbs except a worsted belt, composed of opossum hair made into a thin cord, and wound round the waist many scores of times. In this was stuck the smaller weapons, boomerangs and jabbars, occasionally a kanine or tomahawk. A knife (in olden time usually a shear blade, with rag wound round for a handle) was carried in the hand or mouth, the left hand carried the helaman and spears, while the right simply held the missile to be hurled at the adversaries. The [?]s and children posted themselves some distance away, the former having, for the most part, each a yam stick (a stick from 4 to 5 feet long, sharp at one end only). Two gray-headed warriors had been doing a lot of talk, apparently with the view of arranging preliminaries, but the effect was the opposite of what was intended, for the combatants sat down and evinced a desire to commence

ACTIVE OPERATIONS
Other men now and then, joined in the talk, which assumed the sound of altercations, accompanied with a good deal of gesticulation. This pour parleying lasted but half an hour, the talk increasing without signs of cessation, when a Grafton lady in a shrill tone put in her tongue, and advancing within [?] yards of the opposite side, began to declaim in a violent tone. Her subject was something not very complimentary to those she was addressing, for there was soon a perceptible movement in the dark forms, who had been taking it so quiet previously. To her voice she added gesture—spitting, and otherwise expressing her contempt and hatred. Within two or three minutes she had sent a barb which must have struck home, for a man who had been sitting with bent head and averted face, suddenly sprang to his feet and sent a boomerang with full force at the virago. A hundred voices warned her of the coming missile, which with the speed almost of a bullet, went whiring towards her head, and with a scream she just avoided what would otherwise have caught her fair in the body, and cut its way deep into the flesh. In an instant

THE FIGHT HAD COMMENCED
[?] a rush from the Grafton side, and weapons of all kinds flying in the air. There was a good deal of shouting, especially by those who were not in the forefront of the fight, and by the lads of each side who were in the rear picking up the boomerangs that went past or went circling away in the air in various directions, as well as the paddymelon sticks which formed a large portion of the missiles. These lads often had a throw on their own account, but taking pretty good care to have the sheltor of a tree at hand, when their presence attracted attention. Foremost among the Graftonians side was a tall fine fellow who would he remembered by old settlers

BY THE NAME OF SANDY,
and by the distinguishing title of “Long” as there were several others so named. Sandy was soon a conspicuous object both to spectators and to the other [?]. Full 20 yards in advance of his tribe he was within 30 yards of the Richmond fellows, and a heavy boomerang just thrown by him had split the heliman of one of his antagonists, who was quick enough to stop the weapon, but had not calculated the force, and he consequently had his left hand [?]ed besides receiving a severe contusion on the body from the quite spent missile. A great shout proclaimd the feat, and instantly the disabled warrior was covered by a couple of his friends, while he made good his retreat to the rear, his gin quickly recognising her lord running to meet him.

THE EXULTING SHOUTS
of the other side enraged the Richmond fellows, and [?]ing together in the centre Sandy had a lively time, [?] at him were hurled scores of missiles. It was marvellous how he escaped them, leaping now to the right, now to the left, again bounding fully five feet in the air, and all the while covered by that small piece of light wood, about 20 inches by 9, on which rained a quick succession of blows, not to be avoided by either means. He had an eye for everything, and over and over he would deliver his blows in return, and none dare come closer than the distance he had chosen. With a long spear he picked up, he transfixed a shield (the sharp point coming through a distance of there inches, a force which would have driven it through a man), and while the owner was thus discomforted, a paddymelon stick thrown from the side, caught the man in the thigh, and he too went down disabled, to another shout.
Wickeder than ever now fought the other side,

THEIR BLOOD WAS UP
and heedless of risks they closed in, when a light spear thrown at close quarters caught a fine big young fellow on the Grafton side named Nero. The spear was barbed and struck him a few inches below the collar bone. He still stood with his face to the foe making an effort to extract the spear but in vain, then he too made away to the rear, while the opposing ranks yelled in triumph. With the assistance of another to support him Nero could not travel more than 200 yards, where sinking on the ground he fainted with the pain caused by another effort made to extract the spear, and some gins who had also run to the spot concluding he was dead, raised a peculiar cry, and instantly the fight ceased.

THE RICHMOND BLACKS
drew back a short distance, while the others came around the fainting man, whom several old men of the tribe had taken in charge, and while one was sucking at his side, another was busily engaged in severing the spear at the point of contact with the flesh. The gins continued their wail while his mother and his own gin gashed their heads, and the blood trickled down in a steady flow. It was

A STRANGE SCENE.
the painted savages standing round the prostrated apparently dying warrior, who but a few minutes ago was as active as any of them. The old men with anxiety in their countenance, and the young men with looks of sorrow and revenge ; the gins with their song of wailing and in concert, now raised to a high pitch, and then dying away to almost a murmur. In about 10 minutes he became conscious again, and looking around was evidently confused in mind as to what had occurred. His attendants taking credit for restoring him, predicted he would soon be all right again, and with assistance he was able to walk over to the camp, although evidently suffering intense pain, as evidenced by the beads of perspiration on his forehead. After a little more palaver

THE FIGHT RECOMMENCED
and continued for another hour, during which several more casualties occurred, a Richmond combatant getting speared through the calf of the leg, and another one securing an ugly gash on the arm with a boomerang thrown again by Long Sandy, who had devoted particular attention to him as the man who had hurled the spear which wounded Nero.

THE GRAFTON SIDE
had come in for sundry knocks more or less severe, but Sandy was scathless. One old fellow named Wyaroo an ill-favoured lean old bag of bones who had had a lot to say, but kept pretty well out of the fray, was ensconced behind a tree about 3 feet in diameter, from where be used to give a good deal of “jaw,” and occasionally hurl a missile, was marked by the other side, and a boomerang thrown with remarkable precision, although the object was not seen, came skimming round the tree caught Wyaroo on the hip, and indicted a wound which lamed him for life. The old fellow was evidently not a favourite for little notice was taken of him by his own side, but the clever shot evoked lots of shouting from the other side. These boomerangs and the paddymelon sticks were the weapons most used, the latter thrown in a manner which gave them a screw as in cricket bowling, rendering them very dangerous as they turned in their course instead of going straight ahead after they touched the ground.

THE BATTLE WAS CLAIMED
by the Grafton side as they ran the others off their ground, and compelled them to take shelter in the scrub. When after daring them to come forth, and others declining, the claim of victory was a fair one. The single fights took place the next day, and brought out some real fighting. It was between 9 and 10 o'clock when the sides drew up in almost the same positions occupied the previous day, and every man armed as if the general fight was to be recommenced. None of them had troubled himself with a bath so that the general appearance, paint, was the same as yesterday, only a little faded. The old men had to air their eloquence before preliminaries were arranged, but at length two entered the lists by walking towards one another without uttering a word each had had his helaman, several boomerangs, and yabbars (sticks), and a knife. There was no dusky beauty concerned in this affair. It was simply a little bad blood stirred up by mutual friends or enemies. On the Grafton side was an able young fellow named Coppy from Gordon Brook direction, on the other side, a lithe, wiry, little fellow scarcely two thirds his weight, and some years his senior. When within 30 yards Coppy throw his first yabbar, the other crouched down behind his shield and waited the missile with his eyes just showing over the top, noting the direction and knowing the thing was not coming straight, never moved. It passed harmlessly past within six inches. Coppy's next effort was delivered with better aim. It was a boomerang and it was well for the little fellow he parried it so successfully for the force of the blow shivered the boomerang into several pieces leaving a deep indentation on the heliman. His antagonist now became the assailant, and a little more than 15 yards distant he threw his yabbar, which Coppy received on his hellman near the top, but it broke its way through giving tho owner a hard rap and than bounded up twelve feet in the air. The mass of hair on Coppy's cranium must have broken the force of the blow or otherwise it was hard enough to stun a man. The throwing now became very rapid, Coppy trying to get into close quarters to grip his man, but the other was too wary and managed to get in with two or tinco blows before the bout was over. He had drawn blood from Coppy, but was himself unscratched. Several other encounters then took place. In one of these, both being strapping, able men, they were very vindictive and closed very quickly and immediately used their knives with terrible effect, for they were soon streaming with blood. One had a deep gash extending across the back and the other a deep flesh wound in the thigh, with a severe cut across the left fore arm. They both required attendance and had tho wounds daubed over with ashes and roughly bound up with some old rags of dresses or shirts torn into strips. Sandy, the hero of the day before, executed a sort of pas de seûl by stepping forth and challenging any one on the opposite side to tread on his shadow, for coat he had none. No one cared to accept it so Sandy had the ground to himself, and having a barong, an instrument shaped something like a boomerang, but with a long handle, he made an attack on an imaginary enemy, going through a good many capers, attack and defence, running like an emu and bounding like a wallaby, winding up by giving the coup de grace to his immaginary antagonist by driving his sharp pointed barong twice into the soft ground, as if he lay prostrate before him. “King Tommy,” he did not claim the royal title in those days but was known as plain Tommy or Tarrawan, came out next and thrashed his antagonist in double quick time, and the latter seemed to be glad to get away and hide his diminished head. Swelled head would, however, better describe his condition, for in an hour afterwards he had a lump on the side of his skull as big as a man's fist. An amusing part of the day's proceedings was a melee among the gins armed with their yam sticks. These were not used for thrusting, but striking only, and as in boxing, everything was delivered above the belt, the blows being warded by the stick held with outstretched arms. A good deal of this seemed little more than play, but a casual hit now and then brought out some real fighting and hard knocks. The tongues of these combatant were used quite as much as their other weapons. The day was well spun out by the proceedings, and the fighting was wound up in the evening with a grand corroboree, in which both sides joined. Next day a groat hunt took place in the bush, and hundreds of paddy melons were captured, and after that the tribes dispersed, after arranging for the next gathering.
The wounded soon recovered, with the exception of Nero, in whom inflammation set in, resulting in death in about eight days after he was wounded. A doctor who was resident in Grafton at the time proffered to extract the spear head, but his friends would not permit the operation, saying that immediate death would be the result. The doctor thought otherwise, as he did not believe the lungs were touched. He was buried within the now boundary of Grafton, and the unconscious ploughman yearly turns the furrow over the unmarked grave of the only victim of that fight. His death, I am disposed to think, was infinitely preferable to that of many of his tribe, who became addicted to drinking habits, and have been the victims of more horrible deaths.”

“During the first month of our stay an engagement took place between the Yardiagans and the united tribes of the Goomkodeens and Ambiangans. The result was fatal to the allied tribes, the whole of the Ambiagans were killed and of the Goomkoddens only seven men survived, and they were compelled to join the conquering Yardiagans so that now (1868) there are only four tribes at the northern extremity of Cape York peninsula. ”

“The Goodang tribe returning from turtling at Mt Adolphus Islands the same day, the whole party adjourned to Albany Island, opposite the settlement, for a grand corroboree. The Korrarega lad, Wallee, who was to remain with me, was allowed to accompany them, as his friends were to depart the next day. We heard, in Somerset, the yelling and shouting of the singers and dancers during the early part of the night, and about two o'clock A. M. were roused by loud cries near the house, of 'Genetcha Yardaigan Yardaigan'. Seizing our arms, Ralph and myself ran to the beach, where we were met by Teepotti and three others who had swum over from the island. They informed us that they had been attacked while asleep, by a party of Yardiagans and some of their number speared. Rousing the Revd F. Jagg and a marine, his servant, we crossed over to the island and found to our dismay that ten of them had been speared. We first saw poor Howie lying dead, near the edge of the water; he had been struck by four spears, one of them passing through his body. Three of my little scholars were amongst the victims; one, a promising young girl of about fourteen years of age, was speared through the heart; another, a little maid of four years, had her temples beaten in with a throwing stick. It appeared that the Yardiagans had surprised them, killed and wounded as many as they were able, and then made off with two women, two canoes, and the spoil of the camp. We recovered the canoes in the course of the day.”

“One of those now somewhat rare events, an aboriginal fight, took place recently on the Grafton Common, were there was an assemblage of the remnants of the aboriginal tribes from Nymboida as far as Lawrence. After the pitched battle, the usual number of single fights were indulged in: the casualties were not very serious, and were confined to a couple of wounds by boomerangs.”

“Recently, however, messenger-musterers have brought word that native women in the “north-west” have been shown the sacred life, including the initiation of young men. The call has gone out for natives of Western Central Australia to form a huge 'womala' (soldier group), and move across to the north-west to extract revenge. This has definite appeal to the natives and they acknowledge the responsibility. There is also a ready parallel when some fifty years ago, a group in the Mt Davies, Mt Gosse, Mt Samuel area was rounded up and burned at Jalkada for similar infringements of the sacred life.”

“They [the Gudang] ha every reason to be afraid, as they had earlier retaliated against the “Yadagana” and killed 10 of them.”

“After this, when all had for some time been quiet and still, sitting quite hush[ed] in the grass, we were not a little surprised to hear a great tumult which proceeded from some who sat farther back among the trees. At first the noise was simply that of men's voices wrangling with most barbarous dissonance and savage agitation, but now the clashing of spears and strokes of lances against the target was distinctly heard. Looking that way, therefore, we saw several of them engaged in warm combat, darting at each other with true savage fierceness. All now ran and seized their weapons which, by the way, must have been deposited in the grass, as till now they kept them out of our sight, and a scene of great noise and confusion ensued on all sides.
The women, who hitherto had all been huddled together a little way from our boats' station, came running down with every appearance of terror. Some stayed behind, anxiously looking out from between the trees as if to observe the event and wait the decision, and the children everywhere were clinging to them and squalling pitiably. Whast those females meant who thus precipitously came down to us I am at a loss to conclude, but they seemed to supplicate our assistance.
The battle continued long and was now and then interrupted with noisy expostulations, in the midst of which the contending parties would, however, frequently launch a spear at each other with all the rage of madmen. They are dextrous to a degree in the use of the target and during the affray, which lasted an hour, I did not see one of them completely disabled, though frequently forced to quit the field. I mean not by this to say there was no execution done, but the thickness of the trees greatly impeded our view. Four of our people affirmed that they saw one man carried off the field with a lance fast in his side. It is hard indeed to suppose but that during so long a contest some must be wounded, and in fact we see few of these people anywhere, or of any age, but have many scars and marks of weapons on their bodies.
'Tis odd that the warriors in question would frequently all at once desist from the attack and talk together as though nothing at all had happened, and some of the multitude would come down and gaze at us just as before. The women were less discomposed, and many of the men, though a part of their corps were still warmly as engaged as ever, came down to the shore to discourse with us in the usual way, and apparently regardless of what was going on among the rest.”

“There has been a violent battle between the natives of Botany Bay and this place [Port Jackson] in which many were wounded on both sides. The subject of the dispute was one of the natives of Botany Bay having mentioned the name of a person deceased belonging to this clan. For so trifling a cause do men murder each other, but is it not the same in Europe.”

“In the afternoon a lot of Mundoo blacks went and had a fight with waddies with the Lake Albert blacks. It was on account of some insulting expressions which the latter had uttered, and this was the way of settling the difficulty. Some of them got some ugly blows. One came to me afterwards with a frightful gash in his hand from the blow of a sharp edged Kanake. His hand was split.”

“A fight took place over by Lovegrove's between the Lake Albert and Point Malcolm tribes on one side, and the Murray tribe on the other. I hear Captain Jack got speared at the late fight through the hand and Merriman in the forehead.”

“The blacks had another fight today about threequarters of a mile from the station. It is all on account of Bailpoolare Solomon having ill-treated his wife Tungkummitte and she refuses, and her friends refuse to let her return to him. There were to my knowledge 6 speared today. Wasa was the worst. He was speared badly in the knee. There is a great deal of ill feeling between the Mundoo and Lake Albert blacks on this quarrel. It is not merely a superstition war but one of real enmity.”

“Heard today that there had been a grievous fight at Teringi. The Encounter Bay and Mundoo blacks were beaten. They say that 10 Mundoo blacks were speared and four on this side. (Afterwards heard that 16 Mundoos were speared, one of them fatally, by Tungerol.) It appears to have been a very ceremonial fight. First there were certain who played to make their own men laugh and then this provoked the Mundoo and the fight began and the Mundoos and Encounter bay blacks were beaten, then the same was done with the Lake Albert tribe, and they also were beaten. It appears that when a person has had the Kulduke given for him, he often goes away from the ngiangiampe or person he is to be estranged from, but in case of a ceremonial battle, he is obliged to go with his tribe. I am more convinced of the fact that these fights are to appease the dead.”

“In November [1949] [TGH or Ted] Strehlow announced that he was going to show a film in the meeting house, and we were all keyed up in anticipation, because it was a clour film about [Albert] Namitjira, shot by the anthropologist [CP] Mountford. On the night, being privileged white kids, we got to be seated in the front row. The film started off well, as we were shown scenery that most of us knew, and then people many of whom we also knew. However, suddenly with no warning, the film abruptly changed to a scene of a dramatic Haasts Bluff secret-sacred ceremony. This was totally forbidden for women and children to see! (...)
The next day the Elders called a meeting with Albrecht and Strehlow, emphasizing that this incident could result in trouble for the locals. There had been several Haasts Bluff locals in the audience on the previous evening, and they would soon let their relatives know about this sacrilegious event. The Elders stressed that a similar event in the past had resulted in the death of several Aranda transgressors. (...)
'The situation is serious' my Aboriginal mates told me, 'the Red Ochre Men have got to know about this sacrilege, and they are hell-bent on punishing us locals.' I knew full well that the Red Ochre Men were feared throughout Central Australia, because they were the ultimate lawmen in regard to Aboriginal religious matters - the Aboriginal fundamentalists. When it came to serious breaches of traditional Aboriginal law they immediately took it upon themselves to see that justice was done, and in this case there had been a very serious breach of their law because a lot of women and children had witnessed one of their secret-sacred ceremonies. Everyone knew thay without question this infringement could be punishable with death.
The local Hermannsburg people considered that this condemnation was unjustified. They argued that none of them were aware of the contents of the film, and that the women and children had been evacuated as soon as possible while the offending scenes were being shown. However, the Red Ochre Men, who came from Haasts Bluff and Areyonga, were not interested in any excuses and determined that justice must be carried out. So they formed a war party and approached the Mission from the west.
At the Mission we children followed proceedings with great interest. All the able-bodied men were in battle training and were preparing weapons in readiness for the major confrontation that was about to occur. Eventually the day arrived and the last great battle between the tribes raged, several kilometres distant from the settlement. (...) I couldn't wait to go and find out what had happened. 'Did we win?' I questioned my Aboriginal mate. 'No worries,' he replied, 'us Aranda can beat that other mob every time. We killed lots of them.' (One must remember that 'kill' has a broad meaning in Aboriginal English, similar to its use in sporting contexts). So the last big battle between the Western Aranda and their neighbours took place quite near the Mission, and as far as I know not a single missionary or other white adult was aware that it had happened.”

“There were large camps of aboriginals at different spots about Ipswich, and Mr. Watson well remembers several extensive fights, especially those that took place on the present site of the Queen's Park, when several hundred blacks fought so wildly ' that, many deaths resulted, and wounded blacks could be seen all over the locality. On the other side of the river at One Mile, there was also a blacks' camp, and frequently fights occurred there between the different tribes.”

“About 200 yards from the first camping-place, two groups of strange natives, chiefly men, were assembled with throwing-sticks in their hands and bundles of spears. While passing them they moved along in twos and threes towards the Evans Bay party, the men of which advanced to meet them. The women and children began to make off, but a few remained as spectators on the sands, it being then low water. A great deal of violent gesticulation and shouting took place, the parties became more and more excited, and took up their position in two scattered lines facing each other, extending from the margin of the beach to a little way in the bush, and about twenty-five yards apart. Paida, too, partook of the excitement and could refrain no longer from joining in the fight; he dropped my haversack and bounded away at full speed to his camping-place, where he received his spears from little Purom his son, and quickly made his appearance upon the scene of action.

The two parties were pretty equally matched--about fifteen men in each. The noise now became deafening; shouts of defiance, insulting expressions, and every kind of abusive epithet were bandied about, and the women and children in the bush kept up a wailing cry all the while rising and falling in cadence. The pantomimic movements were of various descriptions; besides the singular quivering motion given to the thighs placed wide apart (common to all the Australian dances) they frequently invited each other to throw at them, turning the body half round and exposing the breech, or dropping on one knee or hand as if to offer a fair mark. At length a spear was thrown and returned, followed by many others, and the fighting became general, with an occasional pause.

The precision with which the spears were thrown was not less remarkable than the dexterity which with they were avoided. In nearly every case the person thrown at would, apparently, have been struck had he stood still, but, his keenness of sight enabled him to escape by springing aside as required, variously inclining the body, or sometimes merely lifting up a leg to allow the spear to pass by, and had two been thrown at one person at the same moment he could scarcely have escaped, but this I observed was never attempted, as it would have been in war, here each individual appeared to have a particular opponent. I had a capital view of the whole of the proceedings, being seated about fifty yards behind and slightly on the flank of one of the two contending parties. One spear thrown higher than usual passed within five yards of me, but this I was satisfied was the result of accident, as I had seen it come from Paida's party. Soon afterwards I observed a man at the right extreme of the line next me, who had been dodging round a large scaevola bush for some time back, make a sudden dart at one of the opposite party and chop him down the shoulder with an iron tomahawk. The wounded man fell, and instantly a yell of triumph denoted that the whole matter was at an end.

Paida rejoined me five minutes afterwards, apparently much refreshed by this little excitement, and accompanied me on my walk, still he would not explain the cause of the fight. The wounded man had his arm tied up by one of our people who landed soon afterwards, and, although the cut was both large and deep, he soon recovered.”

“About the year 1850 a big battle took place just behind where the old brick mill on Morley's Creek now stands. One morning we were awakened at daylight by the piteous begging of a blackfellow to be let into our house. My husband gave him entry, and then he let a number of others in. They told us that the Lachlan tribe had swooped down on them in the night and had massacred som eof the Gundagai tribe. The last blackfellow to come in had a long spear sticking in his stomach – and really, I wasn't sorry, as he was a cheeky, dangerous man. Next morning we went to see what the damage was and found two Blacks, Matogee and Mecky dead, while a large number were wounded. A number of gins were speared. One of them, Kitiz [?] escaped by swimming Morley's Creek carrying her [illisible]. The marauding band also speared dogs and did other damage. They took away with them the legs of the dead blackfellows, cutting the limbs of at the thigh. They also carried away the dead's kidney fat.”

“OLD WARWICK DAYS AN ABORIGINAL BATTLE (By "Yerrilee.")

In the latter part of the year 1853 a memorable gathering of the aboriginal tribes, comprising the McIntyre Brook, Fassifern, and Bluchers (Canning Downs), took place on Canning Downs, the combined camp being up the ridge nearly opposite the gate leading to the "Old Farm," now the site of Mr. Counsell's residence. The number was about 700, and everything went well, in fact boomed, for several weeks, during which time they had a great feast, followed by a grand corroboree. It was after these two events that the fight took place.
The few favoured whites noticed that matters were not as harmonious amongst the natives as hitherto, and were not surprised when one of the Bluchers told Billy Chadburn that a fight was to take place on the slope of the ridge now forming that part of East Warwick facing down to the Condamine, where Murphy's bridge used to be. The opposing parties were the Bluchers and Fassiferns combined against the McIntyre Brook tribe. The few who were in the confidence of the Muellers included Billy Chadburn, Hughie Conroy, George and Tom Hall. After several days of expectation during which time there was an unusual stir amongst the blacks, such as painting and athletic exercise, including spear and boomerang throwing, and the dexterous use of the helimous (shield), which were invariably made of currajong, the Blucherite again told Billy Chadburn that hostilities were to begin that afternoon. Presently it was noticed that the fighting party marched out of the camp bodily with the gins and picaninnies belonging to the McIntyre Brook tribe. The latter got well back to where Messrs. F. A. Devine and Claude Newcombe now live. The males formed into line facing each other, man for man as far as possible
Fighting commenced by throwing spears and boomerangs, and, gradually closing in towards each other, they finally got to holts, using their knives on the back, legs, and arms, inflicting ghastly cuts from the buttocks up to the shoulder blades. The spectators saw no actual deaths, among the contestants, although the fight lasted nearly two hours. It was never known what casualties occurred among the McIntyre Brook lot, but it was with the greatest difficulty that the Canning Downs tribe got Napoleon back to the slip rails leading to "The Farm," where they built a camp for him, and plugged up the cuts with wet clay and ashes. Other wounded amongst the Bluchers and Fassiferns included the original "Boney," better, known on "Big Boney," and "Old McCarty." Napoleon was kept supplied with the best food from the Canning Downs kitchen, and in three weeks time was on his feet again, and made a complete recovery. It is interesting to know that three of the spectators are still alive and well, viz., George and Tom Hall and Hughie Conroy, of Esk, but poor Billy Chadburn was drowned in the Condamine during a flood. I cannot name a solitary aboriginal as being alive; they have long gone to the place where they would "jump up whitefellow." The Canning Downs tribe were always friendly towards the whites, and comprised some of the finest specimens of humanity that it was possible to find.”