The Bullroarer Atlas

MUS2026-329 - museum specimen

Five serpent tracks on an ochred miniature

Central Australia

Restricted

Spencer & Gillen Fig. 20: wooden churinga or sacred sticks of the Urabunna.
Representative — not this record’s object. · Spencer & Gillen Fig. 20: wooden churinga or sacred sticks of the Urabunna · Public domain Image source

Source term: Bullroarer

Five serpent tracks cross both faces of a blade only 16.5 centimetres long, with rows of dots pressed between their lobes. Whirled in initiation, its roar was the presiding ancestor's voice and a warning to women not to approach. In Central Australia, Spencer and Gillen found that such markings were read as country: shown one churinga, its owner walked them through it mark by mark - a man, his tracks as he wandered about the country, the banks of a creek, the crossing tracks of two men, the spot where he was killed.

Object
Red-ochred wooden bullroarer, 165 x 21 x 3 mm, engraved on both faces with five serpent tracks and parallel rows of dots.
Function
Sounded in initiation as the presiding ancestor's voice; its roar warned women not to approach.
Source
musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac 71.1935.53.12; object ID(s) 331402; 16,5 x 2,1 x 0,3 cm, 10 g
Source location
71.1935.53.12
Source confidence
medium Very broad Australian anchor; the exact community and place are unrecorded.

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