AUSMAIN-008 - museum specimen
Bangerang (Pangerang)
Australia - Murray-Goulburn River, northern Victoria and southern NSW (Cummeragunja) - Southeast
Play / practical
This wooden bull-roarer, catalogued by Museums Victoria under the alternative name "wind toy," was made in 1988 by John "Sandy" Atkinson, a Bangerang Elder born in 1932 at the Cummeragunja Reserve on the New South Wales bank of the Murray River. In 1983 Atkinson was made a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his service to Aboriginal arts; he had earlier driven the creation of the Bangerang Cultural Centre at Shepparton, often called Australia's first Aboriginal "keeping place," which opened in 1982. He donated this piece to the Australian Children's Folklore Collection, where it is held as a child's wind toy rather than a ceremonial object.
Made by John 'Sandy' Atkinson in 1988 and donated by him to the Australian Children's Folklore Collection.
Museums Victoria, Bullroarer SH 990088 (Australian Children's Folklore Collection)
- Object
- Rounded engraved wooden blade with one terminal hole and white cord, 19 x 3.1 x 0.4 cm; made by Bangerang Elder John 'Sandy' Atkinson AM in 1988; Museums Victoria SH 990088 (Australian Children's Folklore Collection).
- Function
- Hand-crafted as a Bangerang play/teaching object for the children's folklore collection.
- Map confidence
- high - approximate territory centroid (mining 2026)
- Source location
- SH 990088
- Toy / secular survival