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Description: | Three carved bones, known as 'inmadhalgu', which were used in a ceremony which noted the ownership of some permanent waters, Boogara and Ming'a. The bones and the waters belonged to a species of rock kangaroo, the Kan'yala. The bones represent a man, a young man and a woman, the last probably being the shortest and broadest bone. The two male bones, which are phallic emblems, are called 'Kanyalla nambu', the female is 'namu'. The bones would have been shown at ceremonies and korroborees of the Mang-gunja wonga who owned these permanent waters.
"The Aboriginal people of Australia had a totemic system of social organisation. Although they belonged to tribal groups they also belonged to totemic groups. These originated from beliefs about a group of original beings, 'the Dreamtime Heroes', who possessed both human and animal characteristics. A human group and an animal group each traced its descent from one of them. So the totemic group had a relationship with the animal group, and each group had totemic rituals, enacted on a regular basis, to ensure the survival of both. These are three carved bones, known as 'inmadhalgu', which were used in a ceremony which noted the ownership some permanent waters, Boogara and Ming'a. The bones and the waters belonged to a species of rock kangaroo, the Kan'yala. The bones represent a man, a young man and a woman, the last probably being the shortest and broadest bone. The two male bones, which are phallic emblems are are called 'Kanyalla nambu', the female is 'namu'. The bones would have been shown at ceremonies and korroborees of the Mang-gunja wonga who owned these permanent waters. The bones were donated, in about 1920, to Daisy Bates, a collector of Aboriginal material, by Yalli yalla who was one of the very few survivors of the group who owned the waters. He was glad to be rid of them, being afraid of their power."
Author: Feilden,Rosemary Date: 2000 Purpose: WS2001
Field collector: Bates, Miss Daisy | License: | http://www.abdn.ac.uk/historic/Copyright_terms_conditions.shtml | Publisher: | ABDUA University of Aberdeen, Marischal Museum | Rights holder: | 47718 | Temporal: | 1850-1922 | Source: | University of Aberdeen | Creator: | Aboriginal Australian | Identifier: | http://calms.abdn.ac.uk/Geology/dserve.e... | Go to resource |
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