{"id":"MATHEWS1906-001","label":"Gurē: bullroarers on the vengeance tree","people_or_site":"Peoples of the upper Murray and Mitta Mitta rivers (Gurē told by a Mitta Mitta River man)","country_current":"Australia","historic_region":"North-east Victoria: upper Murray, Mitta Mitta, Ovens, upper Goulburn and Yarra rivers","macroregion":"Australia / Southeast","local_name":"Gurē (the revenge expedition)","source_term":"bullroarers","source_language":"English (translated from German)","object_description":"Bullroarers used by touch: rubbed, with quartz crystals and human fat, over signs cut into the bark of a living tree. Form, material and local name not recorded.","function_summary":"Sorcery on a Gurē revenge expedition: at every camp the leading sorcerers rubbed the newly carved tree with bullroarers, quartz and human fat so that the hunted man would stay at his camp until his pursuers arrived; after the attack the party danced round the last tree and spat to drive the magic out.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"mathews1906_gure_revenge","source_type":"primary_ethnography","source_url":"https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p99461/html/ch08s04.html","page_or_plate":"Culture in Translation ch. 8, section \"Gurē or Revenge Expedition\" (paragraphs beginning \"Every man of the contingent\", \"When the marking of the tree is finished\" and \"Then the attackers retreat\")","map_confidence":"low","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Mitta Mitta township on the Mitta Mitta River, home river of the man who described the Gurē; the custom is reported across the upper Murray, Ovens, upper Goulburn and Yarra districts. Not a camp or tree site.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"A death left unavenged, the peoples of the upper Murray and Mitta Mitta held, set a soul wandering to trouble its relatives. So a Gurē, a revenge party, went out against the killer's people. At every night camp the men chose a smooth-barked gum or grey box and cut zigzags and ovals into it, standing on one another's shoulders to reach higher, every man taking a hand so that no one could warn the quarry. As they worked, the leading sorcerers rubbed the signs with bullroarers, quartz crystals and human fat. The men danced round the tree singing, and the spell was meant to hold the hunted man at his own camp until they came for him. A fresh tree was marked each morning. After the attack the party went back to the last tree, danced round it again and spat, to drive the magic out before they went home.","pull_quote":"some of the prime sorcerers rubbed the signs with bullroarers, quartz crystals and human fat to enhance the effectiveness of the procedure.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"R. H. Mathews, \"Gurē or Revenge Expedition\" (1906), trans. Christine Winter, in Culture in Translation (2007), ch. 8","term_gloss":"Gurē: the revenge expedition sent to avenge a killing. Ngulubul: the men's secret meeting place where it was planned.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"R. H. Mathews, \"Gurē or Revenge Expedition,\" in \"Remarks on the Natives of Australia\" (1906), trans. Christine Winter, in Martin Thomas (ed.), Culture in Translation: The Anthropological Legacy of R. H. Mathews (ANU E Press, 2007), ch. 8","url":"https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p99461/html/ch08s04.html"}],"source_citations":"R. H. Mathews, \"Gurē or Revenge Expedition,\" in \"Remarks on the Natives of Australia\" (1906), trans. Christine Winter, in Martin Thomas (ed.), Culture in Translation: The Anthropological Legacy of R. H. Mathews (ANU E Press, 2007), ch. 8","source_display":"R. H. Mathews, \"Gurē or Revenge Expedition,\" in \"Remarks on the Natives of Australia\" (1906), trans. Christine Winter, in Martin Thomas (ed.), Culture in Translation: The Anthropological Legacy of R. H. Mathews (ANU E Press, 2007), ch. 8","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Bullroarers used by touch: rubbed, with quartz crystals and human fat, over signs cut into the bark of a living tree. Form, material and local name not recorded.","function_display":"Sorcery on a Gurē revenge expedition: at every camp the leading sorcerers rubbed the newly carved tree with bullroarers, quartz and human fat so that the hunted man would stay at his camp until his pursuers arrived; after the attack the party danced round the last tree and spat to drive the magic out.","confidence_display":"low","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"peoples upper","display_name":"Gurē: bullroarers on the vengeance tree","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/wmmissed_5.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest/thumbs/wmmissed_5_thumb.jpg","alt":"Australian bullroarer incised with an interlocking wave pattern.","credit":"Wereldmuseum / NMVW (acc. TM-2670-1050)","license":"CC-BY-SA","source_page":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/86475","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Australian bullroarer incised with an interlocking wave pattern","pool_id":"auto-museum_harvest--wmmissed_5","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"mathews1906-001-peoples-of-the-upper-murray-and-mitta-mitta-rivers-gure-told-by-a-mitta-mi"}