{"id":"BATES1904-005","label":"Meerudi, the Peak Hill magic board","people_or_site":"Ngaiawongga (Bates's Ngaiawonga / Waianwonga); Bilbil of Ngabbaroo, Lake Mibbeean, and Wajida of Warngun and Yalladhoolgu","country_current":"Australia","historic_region":"Peak Hill magisterial district, upper Murchison–Gascoyne, Western Australia","macroregion":"Australia / Western Australia","local_name":"Meerudi; Mirudi","source_term":"Magic board (bullroarer); Bullroarer","source_language":"Ngaiawongga (Bates: Ngaiawonga, Waianwonga)","object_description":"A bullroarer, called Meerudi or Mirudi, \"magic board\", made by men. It was kept distinct from the long carved board, Yeenma or Yinma.","function_summary":"Called a magic board; its use is not recorded.","attestation_type":"lexical_attestation","source_key":"bates_peak_hill_bilbil_wajida","source_type":"linguistic_manuscript","source_url":"https://bates.org.au/text/55-001T.html","page_or_plate":"folio 55/25 (Bilbil: \"Meerudi - Magic board (bullroarer)\"; \"Yeenma long board carved with Totem Markings\"; Jewurarra); folio 54/199 (Wajida: \"Mirudi Bullroarer\"; \"Yinma Long narrow carved flat stick, pointed at both ends\")","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Peak Hill district anchor used for Bilbil in the yeenma-isogloss essay map (scripts/build-yeenma-isogloss-map.py); Lake Mibbeean/Ngabbaroo and Wajida's Warngun and Yalladhoolgu are not matched to a modern gazetteer. District-level only.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Two men of the Peak Hill country gave the bullroarer almost the same name. Bilbil of Ngabbaroo, at Lake Mibbeean, called it Meerudi, the magic board, and kept it apart from Yeenma, the long board carved with totem markings and cut from a wood he named Jewurarra. Wajida listed Mirudi among the things men made, with spearthrowers, shields and the knife for circumcision, and gave the long narrow board pointed at both ends its own name, Yinma. Bilbil also spoke of the dead. A spirit, he said, sometimes went into a spring on its own ground; his father had gone into his, and since then Bilbil could see no water there.","pull_quote":"Meerudi - Magic board (bullroarer).","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Bilbil of Ngabbaroo, in Daisy Bates's vocabulary, NLA MS 365, folio 55/25","term_gloss":"Meerudi / Mirudi: the bullroarer, \"magic board\". Yeenma / Yinma: the long carved board. Jewurarra: the wood the long boards were made from. beemarra: a spring.","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Daisy Bates, vocabulary questionnaire, Bilbil of Ngabbaroo, Lake Mibbeean, Peak Hill Magisterial District, NLA MS 365, folio 55/25 (Digital Daisy Bates)","url":"https://bates.org.au/text/55-001T.html","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20170311125540/https://bates.org.au/text/55-001T.html"},{"citation":"Daisy Bates, Wajida's Information, Waianwonga Tribe, NLA MS 365, folios 54/196–199 (Digital Daisy Bates)","url":"https://bates.org.au/text/54-196T.html","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20261013044145/https://bates.org.au/text/54-196T.html"}],"source_citations":"Daisy Bates, vocabulary questionnaire, Bilbil of Ngabbaroo, Lake Mibbeean, Peak Hill Magisterial District, NLA MS 365, folio 55/25 (Digital Daisy Bates); Daisy Bates, Wajida's Information, Waianwonga Tribe, NLA MS 365, folios 54/196–199 (Digital Daisy Bates)","source_display":"Daisy Bates, vocabulary questionnaire, Bilbil of Ngabbaroo, Lake Mibbeean, Peak Hill Magisterial District, NLA MS 365, folio 55/25 (Digital Daisy Bates); Daisy Bates, Wajida's Information, Waianwonga Tribe, NLA MS 365, folios 54/196–199 (Digital Daisy Bates)","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A bullroarer, called Meerudi or Mirudi, \"magic board\", made by men. It was kept distinct from the long carved board, Yeenma or Yinma.","function_display":"Called a magic board; its use is not recorded.","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"lexical attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"ngaiawongga bates","display_name":"Meerudi, the Peak Hill magic board","image":{"full":"assets/objects/BATES1904-005_bates_ms365_55-025.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/BATES1904-005_bates_ms365_55-025_thumb.jpg","alt":"Handwritten page of marginal notes in Daisy Bates’s papers, including an entry for the magic board or bullroarer.","credit":"Daisy Bates Papers, National Library of Australia MS 365, folio 55/25 (Digital Daisy Bates)","source_page":"https://bates.org.au/text/55-001T.html","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Bilbil's marginal notes in Daisy Bates's papers: \"Meerudi - Magic board (bullroarer)\", beside Yeenma, the long carved board.","last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"bates1904-005-ngaiawongga-bates-s-ngaiawonga-waianwonga-bilbil-of-ngabbaroo-lake-mibbeean"}