{"id":"SAMA2026-003","label":"Spinning at MacDonald Downs, 1980","people_or_site":"MacDonald Downs; photographed man and cultural affiliation unrecorded in public catalogue","country_current":"Australia","historic_region":"MacDonald Downs","macroregion":"Oceania / Sahul","local_name":"","source_term":"bullroarer","source_language":"English caption","object_description":"A 1980 action photograph of a man spinning a bullroarer.","function_summary":"Not recorded.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"tindale_aa338_14_398_macdonald_spinning","source_type":"museum_photo_archive","source_url":"https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collection/archives/provenances/series/items/aa338-14-398","page_or_plate":"exact archive item AA338/14/398; reverse-caption transcription","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"MacDonald Downs homestead/station anchor; the photograph caption does not give a finer point.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Most bullroarers reach an archive as a still blade on a tray. This one reaches it mid-swing: a photograph taken at MacDonald Downs station in Central Australia in August 1980 shows a man spinning one. A single handwritten line on the back names the scene, and the print sits among Norman Tindale's papers under the heading 'Tjurunga and Bullroarers.'","pull_quote":"Spinning bullroarer Macdonald Downs Aug 1980","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"SA Museum, Tindale AA338/14/398, reverse-caption transcription","term_gloss":"","cls":"unknown","class_label":"Function not recorded","color":"#6B7884","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"South Australian Museum, Norman Tindale AA338/14/398, 'Tjurunga and Bullroarers'","url":"https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collection/archives/provenances/series/items/aa338-14-398","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20251113144638/https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collection/archives/provenances/series/items/aa338-14-398"}],"source_citations":"South Australian Museum, Norman Tindale AA338/14/398, 'Tjurunga and Bullroarers'","source_display":"South Australian Museum, Norman Tindale AA338/14/398, 'Tjurunga and Bullroarers'","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A 1980 action photograph of a man spinning a bullroarer.","function_display":"Not recorded.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"macdonald downs","display_name":"Spinning at MacDonald Downs, 1980","image":{"full":"assets/objects/museum_harvest2/MUS2026-256_I5625_natmus_a.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/museum_harvest2/thumbs/MUS2026-256_I5625_natmus_a_thumb.jpg","alt":"The Warlpiri svingtræ I.5625 from Yuendumu: a curved brown wooden blade tooled across its face with concentric rings.","credit":"Nationalmuseet, Denmark (I.5625)","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","source_page":"https://samlinger.natmus.dk/es/object/63690 (asset/327759, asset/327760)","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"The Yuendumu svingtræ I.5625, tooled over with concentric rings","pool_id":"auto-museum_harvest2--MUS2026-256_I5625_natmus_a","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-09-03"},"slug":"sama2026-003-macdonald-downs-photographed-man-and-cultural-affiliation-unrecorded-in-publi"}