The Bullroarer Atlas

PEABODY2026-002 - museum specimen

Drysdale River, Kimberley

Western Australia - Kimberley - Drysdale River

Restricted

An Aboriginal Australian bullroarer of dark, mottled wood with a lightly incised surface, tapering to points at both ends - a Stockholm museum...
Representative image. An Aboriginal Australian bullroarer of dark, mottled wood with a lightly incised surface, tapering to points at both ends - a Stockholm museum specimen shown in place of the restricted piece from the Kimberley's Drysdale River that this page describes. Museum of Ethnography (SMVK), Stockholm CC BY

Source term: bullroarer

A long carved wooden bullroarer from the Drysdale River in the north Kimberley, now at the Peabody. The image is withheld; the record preserves the river locality, Mrs. Walter Badenach's 1924 ownership link, and a grooved rectangular design, but no named makers or rite.

Bullroarer, carved wood, ovate, flat, perforated, grooved concentric rectangles

Peabody Museum, object 25-46-70/D2431, inventory description
Object
Carved wooden ovate flat bullroarer, perforated, with grooved concentric rectangles; 73.3 x 7.9 x 1 cm.
Function
Image withheld by the museum; specific use otherwise not recorded.
Map confidence
medium - Representative Drysdale River / Drysdale River National Park anchor; public gazetteer/Wikipedia gives the park coordinate, while the Peabody object record names Drysdale River, Kimberley, not an exact findspot.
Source location
object 25-46-70/D2431

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