The Bullroarer Atlas

BROWN1913-001 - primary ethnography

Kariyarra (Kariera) banangari bullroarers

Australia - Pilbara coast around Port Hedland - Oceania - Sahul

Sacred / spirit

Berlin VI 10488, a human-hair-corded bullroarer from the Upper Murchison.
Representative — not this record’s object. · Berlin VI 10488, a human-hair-corded bullroarer from the Upper Murchison · Public domain Image source

banangari English

Source term: bullroarer

banangari: Kariyarra name recorded by Brown for the bullroarer; no literal lexical gloss recovered

At the close of a Kariyarra initiation on Western Australia's Pilbara coast, the boy received not one banangari but two: a large bullroarer worn at the front of his belt and a smaller one fastened behind his head. Brown's field account adds a striking local exception to the usual Australian secrecy rule: Kariyarra women were permitted to see the bullroarer.

Two bullroarers (banangari) were given to him, a large one and a small.

Brown 1913:168
Object
Two bullroarers, one large and one small; no object dimensions, cord, or figure supplied.
Function
Given during initiation; the larger was worn at the front of the belt and the smaller in the rear headband. Kariera women were explicitly permitted to see the bullroarer.
Map confidence
medium - Port Hedland regional anchor within Brown's Kariera coastal territory; not a performance site.
Source location
Page references

printed p. 168; PDF p. 27

View source Open this point on the interactive map