The Bullroarer Atlas

PARKER1905-001 - ethnographic attestation

Euahlayi (Yuwaalaraay)

Australia - Narran River - north-western New South Wales

Restricted

R. H. Mathews' 1896 drawings from a Burbung ground on Bulgeraga Creek, among the Euahlayi's neighbours on the Macquarie-Barwon side — the same...
Representative image. R. H. Mathews' 1896 drawings from a Burbung ground on Bulgeraga Creek, among the Euahlayi's neighbours on the Macquarie-Barwon side — the same initiation complex Parker knew as the Boorah. Fig. 38 is the great dhuramoolan board on its long cord; fig. 39, gripped in a hand, is the small handled moonibear. No Euahlayi board itself has been photographed. R. H. Mathews, "The Būrbŭng of the Wiradthuri Tribes," Journal of the Anthropological Institute 25 (1896), plate XXVI, figs. 38-39 Public domain Image source

Gayandi / Gurraymi English

Gayandi: men's name for the Boorah spirit; Gurraymi: women's name for the same spirit. Parker also uses Gayandi for its bullroarer voice.

Among the Euahlayi, the hidden roar of the Boorah was Gayandi in men's speech and Gurraymi in women's: a spirit-voice heard from the scrub as old men whirled concealed boards. Only after a man's fifth Boorah were the boards openly shown - oval pieces of wood pointed at both ends, tied to a string and swung round - while the initiates were still taught that the voice itself lived in the wood.

the sound of the Gayandi, as the men call the Gurraymi, or bull roarer.

K. Langloh Parker, The Euahlayi Tribe (1905), p. 63; AIATSIS PDF scan p. 101.
Object
Oval wooden boards pointed at both ends, fastened to a string and swung round.
Function
Hidden Boorah spirit-voice; whirled to announce and summon the Boorah; revealed to men after the fifth initiation.
Map confidence
medium - Angledool / Narran River regional anchor; Parker locates the Euahlayi in Narran country, not a performance site. Weetalibah water-hole is unresolved.
Source location
printed pp. 62-63, 74, 81; PDF scan pp. 98, 101, 112, 121; glossary p. 192

View source Open this point on the interactive map