No. HAMMOND1933-001
South-West Australian woondah
South-West Western Australia (Noongar country)
Play / practical
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 narrow slat, 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.
Particulars
- 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 to make a buzzing noise; among the Bibbulmun of the south-west, Daisy Bates wrote, children whirled bullroarers in play.
Source
J. E. Hammond, Winjan's People: the story of the South-West Australian Aborigines (Perth: Imperial Printing Co., 1933), implements plate: 'WOONDAH (OR "BULL-ROARER") WHICH WAS SWUNG ON A STRING TO MAKE A BUZZING NOISE (ABOUT 14 X 1 1/2 IN.)'