The Bullroarer Atlas

HAMMOND1933-001 - historical text

South-West Australian Aboriginal people (Noongar country)

South-West Western Australia (Noongar country)

Function not recorded

Spencer’s plate of six Northern Territory sacred bullroarers.
Representative — not this record’s object. · Spencer’s plate of six Northern Territory sacred bullroarers · Public domain Image source

woondah

The woondah takes its place among the spears and throwing-sticks in Jesse Hammond's record of the Aboriginal people of Western Australia's south-west: a slat about fourteen inches long and an inch and a half wide, swung on a string for its buzzing roar. Hammond wrote from a long working life in the district, and had the implements he described drawn for the book — the woondah among them, labelled in his caption, in plain settler English, a bull-roarer.

Object
A wooden slat about 14 x 1.5 inches with one terminal cord, drawn among the implements plate of Hammond's Winjan's People (1933).
Function
Swung on a string to make a buzzing noise; no ceremonial role recorded in the caption or checked text.
Map confidence
high - Broad south-west regional anchor; Hammond attests the region, not one community.
Source location
implements plate (drawn from Hammond's descriptions)

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