{"id":"MATHEWS1898-001","label":"Mudthinga string round the neck","people_or_site":"Williams and Gloucester River tribes (Nguttan initiation)","country_current":"Australia","historic_region":"Williams and Gloucester rivers and surrounding country, lower Hunter hinterland, New South Wales","macroregion":"Australia / Southeast","local_name":"mudthinga","source_term":"bull-roarer, mudthinga","source_language":"English","object_description":"The sacred bullroarer mudthinga, swung at the end of a string.","function_summary":"At the Nguttan, an abbreviated initiation, its hum was heard behind the novices after they had been shown carved bark sheets; two men then swung it before them, it was rubbed on their bodies, and its string was placed round each boy's neck in turn, with obligations of secrecy imposed.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"mathews1898_nguttan","source_type":"primary_ethnography","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofamep37amer","page_or_plate":"pp. 69–73 (Nguttan); p. 71 (bark dharroong, mudthinga swung, rubbed, string round necks); p. 72 (white stones of Goen of the Hairy Hands; later Keeparra or Burbung required)","map_confidence":"low_medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Regional anchor between the Williams River (Dungog) and the Gloucester River; Mathews names no event ground.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"The Nguttan was the short road into manhood on the Williams and Gloucester rivers. The men led the boys off on the pretext of a hunt or a raid, sweated them under rugs beside fires, and at night made them eat excrement and drink urine. Next day men hidden behind leafy boughs came howling like dingoes. Sheets of bark carved with the designs of a Keeparra ground were laid out, and the boys were walked past each one in silence. Then a hum rose behind them and two men stepped out swinging the mudthinga. The sacred blade was rubbed over each boy's body and its string hung round his neck in turn. That evening the old men showed them white stones, said to be the droppings of Goen of the Hairy Hands, who haunts the scrubby mountains at the head of the Williams. It was only a first step: every graduate still had to attend the next Keeparra.","pull_quote":"While doing this the string of the bull-roarer is placed round each lad's neck in rotation.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"R. H. Mathews, “Initiation Ceremonies of Australian Tribes,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 37 (1898), p. 71","term_gloss":"mudthinga: the sacred bullroarer of the Nguttan. Nguttan: an abbreviated initiation of the Williams and Gloucester River tribes. dharroong: carved sacred designs. buggan: sacred white stones. Keeparra and Burbung: the full initiation ceremonies of the region.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["initiation"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"R. H. Mathews, “Initiation Ceremonies of Australian Tribes,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 37 (1898): 54–73, appendix “The Nguttan Initiation Ceremony,” pp. 69–73","url":"https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofamep37amer"}],"source_citations":"R. H. Mathews, “Initiation Ceremonies of Australian Tribes,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 37 (1898): 54–73, appendix “The Nguttan Initiation Ceremony,” pp. 69–73","source_display":"R. H. Mathews, “Initiation Ceremonies of Australian Tribes,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 37 (1898): 54–73, appendix “The Nguttan Initiation Ceremony,” pp. 69–73","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"The sacred bullroarer mudthinga, swung at the end of a string.","function_display":"At the Nguttan, an abbreviated initiation, its hum was heard behind the novices after they had been shown carved bark sheets; two men then swung it before them, it was rubbed on their bodies, and its string was placed round each boy's neck in turn, with obligations of secrecy imposed.","confidence_display":"low to medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"williams","display_name":"Mudthinga string round the neck","image":{"full":"assets/objects/TORRES-001_haddon1912_fig235-236.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/TORRES-001_haddon1912_fig235-236_thumb.jpg","alt":"Printed plate with line drawings of five miniature bigo models: three suspended from long sticks in figure 235 and two with looped cords beside sticks in figure 236.","credit":"Haddon, Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, vol. IV (1912), figs. 235-236","license":"Public domain (published 1912)","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/reportsofcambrid04hadd","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Line drawings of miniature bigo","pool_id":"auto-TORRES-001_haddon1912_fig235-236","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"mathews1898-001-williams-and-gloucester-river-tribes-nguttan-initiation"}