Material culture of the North Wellesley Islands
By: Paul Memmott
Series: Research Report series / Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, the University of Queensland -- 8; Research report series (University of Queensland. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit) -- v. 8.
Publisher: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, University of Queensland
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Brisbane
Language: eng
Number of pages: 136
ISBN-13: 9781864999624
Subjects: Lardil (Australian people); Material culture; Social life and customs; Habitation - Camps; Housing - Shelters - Bark; Language - Vocabulary - Animal names; Fishing; Food - Preparation - Cooking; Environment - Land management - Fire; Weapons; Costume and clothing; Dance; Ceremonies - Initiation; Body - Decoration; Death - Mortuary customs; Material culture - String and rope making; Technology - Wood; Hunting - Dugong; Lardil people (G38) (Qld SE54-01); Lardil language (G38) (Qld SE54-01)
Description: Provides an ethnographic description of the material culture traditionally employed by the Aboriginal people of the North Wellesley Islands in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-99) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: The climate and land systems of the North Wellesley Islands; title: Social and territorial organisation; title: Ethnographic data sources; title: Subsistence activities: marine habitats, tidal flats and mudflats, sand-based land systems, interior land systems, freshwater sources; title: Settlement and shelter: cold weather camps, wet weather camps, mosquito camps, shade structures, shelter forms used during transitional seasonal conditions, the role of shelters as artefacts; title: Manufacture and use of fire; title: Food preparation: cooking methods, type of cooking methods, types of cooking ovens; title: Travel, transport and communication: carrying vessels, watercraft, message sticks and emblems; title: Fighting and duelling: fighting weapons; title: Public dancing: dance apparel, the public dance event, special dance props and installations; title: Square-up rituals: gift square-up, mortuary square-up, initiation square-up; title: Initiation ceremonies; title: Increase rituals and story places; title: Love magic; title: Sorcery and power objects; title: Curing sickness; title: Death and mortuary practices; title: Clothing, ornamentation and body decoration; title: Toys, games and training; title: Curation of artefacts and resources; title: Attitude to personal possession of artefacts; title: Manufacturing technologies: strings and net technology; bark technology; stone technology; timber technology; title: Trade with mainland groups; title: Cultural change during mission times (1914-1978), change in the technology of dugong hunting; title: Conclusion; title: Appendices: 1. Aboriginal artefacts commonly used by Lardil people, 1900; 2. Plant species collected on Mornington and Sydney Islands, 1976; 3. Some Mornington Island reptiles; 4. Local names of some fish and birds at Mornington Island (in Aboriginal English and Lardil); 5. Local names of some birds at Mornington Island; 6. Some land fauna of Mornington Island; 7. Some Mornington Island fauna from freshwater and marine habitats; 8. Some shell species from Mornington Island.