Aboriginal Tribes of Australia. Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits and Proper Names.

Abstract

pursuit of knowledge of the aborigines. Perhaps we are more indebted to M athew s th an we realize, for even those versed in A ustralian literature m ay not have noticed how often his work was absorbed into the writings of A. R. Brown, one of his detractors, in such a m anner as to obscure the fact th a t he was quoting rath er th an reporting prim ary data.O ne of the earlier records of the m ethod of obtaining native m aps from aborigines, using crayons or pencils and sheets of paper, is given by Daisy M. Bates (1913:74). She describes in some detail results of such gatherings from a W adjari tribesm an. U nfortunately, her m aps have not been traced, but her d ata plotted on a large scaled m ap gives a p attern com parable with th at obtained by conventional inquiries in later years. M y own use of the technique, together with draw ings on cerem onial m atters, was independently initiated, in com pany with R obert H. Pulleine, am ong the Iliau ra in 1930, at M acdonald Downs in the N orthern T erritory. T he m ethod was subsequently m uch used by later-com ing m embers of the Expeditions of the U niversity of A delaide.T h e photographic plates are in two series, num bered separately. T h e photographs in color are given in the text as color plate 1 and the black and white reproductions as simply plate 1, and so on. These illustrations have been chosen for the specific purpose of describing the A ustralian tribal situation. M ost of them are referred to in the m ain text; the others app ear as illustrating aspects dealt with in the C atalog of Tribes. It was not considered desirable to place them strictly in the order of their appearance in the text but rath er to group them so th at they would tell their own story. Since this book deals with the ethnographic present in a rapidly changing society, it has been considered desirable to indicate the year, and where relevant the m onth, the photograph was taken.T h e color photographs, with some obvious exceptions, are intended to illustrate some of the ecological settings in which the people of individual tribes live. Such features are best illustrated in color. Most of the photographs used were taken by myself. I am indebted to J. C. LeSouef for access to the drawings of Pangerang aborigines shown in color plates 43-46 and for other inform ation. E. J . S tuart kindly offered the use of his photograph of Sunday Island raft users, plate 3, an d I am indebted to Professor H ans Petri for the use of the photograph of the pearl shell ornam ent shown as plate 73. B. H. S tinnear perm itted the use of two photographs taken on the A. T. W ells Geological Expedition during 1957 at M adaleiri in W estern A ustralia.O n the technical side of the production of this work, I am particularly indebted to the editor, Shirley L. W arren, and for help at all stages from Jam es K ubeck and A lain H enon. Professor W alter G oldschm idt initiated the idea of the publication of the work by the University of C alifornia Press at a tim e when I was a m em ber of the staff of the U nive...

Kurangara in Queensland?: A Critique of Duncan‐Kemp's Account

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