SPEAR-THROWERS
Principle of construction—How held—Some of the common types
described—Other uses.
To assist in the projection of a spear, the aboriginal has invented a
simple apparatus, which is commonly referred to as a spear-thrower or
wommera. In principle it is just a straight piece of wood with a haft
at one end and a small hook at the other. In practice the hand seizes
the haft, the hook is inserted into the small pit at the bottom of the
spear, and the shaft is laid along the thrower and held there with two of
the fingers of the hand, which is clasping the haft. In this position,
the arm is placed well back, the point of the spear steadied or made to
vibrate, and, when the native has taken careful aim, the arm is forcibly
shot forwards. The missile flies through space, towards its target, but
the thrower is retained by the hand.
One of the simplest types was made by the tribes living along the shores
of the Great Australian Bight. It consists of a flat piece of wood,
about three feet long, roughly fluted lengthwise and slightly sloped
off at either extremity. At one end a mass of resin forms a handle, in
which, moreover, a quartzite or flint scraper is embedded. At the other
end a wooden peg is affixed with resin against the flat surface of the
stick. Both surfaces of the implement are flat or slightly convex; at
Esperance Bay they are rather nicely polished, the wood selected being
a dark-coloured acacia. Towards the east, however, as for instance at
Streaky Bay, the inner side, i.e. the one bearing the hook or peg,
becomes concave and the outer side convex. On Eyre Peninsula, the old
Parnkalla tribe made the spear-thrower shorter but wider, and its
section was distinctly concave.
Northwards, through the territories of the Kukata, Arrabonna,
Wongapitcha, Aluridja, Arunndta, and Cooper Creek tribes, the shape
becomes leaf-shaped and generally of concave section, with a well-shaped
haft and broad flint scraper; the peg is attached with resin and sinew.
Within this same area, another type is less frequently met with, which
is of similar shape, but flat; it is really used more for show purposes,
and for that reason is usually decorated with engraved circles and lines,
which during some of the ceremonies are further embellished with ochre
and coloured down.
The last-named is the prevalent type, which extends westwards as an
elongate form through the Murchison district right through to the
Warburton River, where it is again broader. In both the areas mentioned,
the inner surface of the spear-thrower is deeply incised with series
of parallel, angular bands made up of transverse notches. In the south
of Western Australia, the shape remains the same, but the incised
ornamentation disappears.
Yet another variety comes from the old Narrinyerri tribe and from the
lower reaches of the River Murray, where it was known as “_taralje_.”
It is a small, flat, spatulate form, elongated at both ends, the lower
(and longer) prolongation making the handle, the upper carrying a point
of bone or tooth deeply embedded in resin. The inner side, against which
the spear is laid, is flat, the outer surface being convex. The handle is
circular in section and is rounded off at the bottom to a blunt point.
The convex side is occasionally decorated with a number of pinholes,
arranged in a rudely symmetrical pattern.
All through the northern districts of the Northern Territory and
the Northern Kimberleys, the principal type is a long light-wood
blade, tapering slightly from the handle end to the point and having
comparatively flat or slightly convex sides. A handle is shaped by
rounding off the ends and cutting away some of the wood symmetrically on
each side, a few inches down. A clumsy-looking peg is attached to one of
the flat surfaces at the opposite, narrower end with beeswax. The peg is
made big on account of the instrument being exclusively used to propel
the reed-spears, which are naturally hollow, and consequently have a
large opening or pit at the bottom end. This type of thrower is nearly
always decorated in an elaborate way with ochre. When used, the thrower
and spear are held by the right hand in such a way that the shaft of
the latter passes, and is held, between the thumb and index finger, the
remaining fingers holding the handle of the thrower. Vide Plate XIV, 2.
A spear-thrower used exclusively for projecting the small variety of
reed-spear is known to the Larrekiya, Wogait, Wordaman, Berringin, and
a few other coastal tribes of the Northern Territory. It consists of a
rod of hard wood, four feet or so in length, tapering a little towards
either end. A lump of resin is attached to one end, and, whilst warm
and plastic, is moulded into a blunt point, which fits into the hole at
the bottom of the spear. At about five inches from the opposite end, a
rim of resin is fixed, and from it a layer, decreasing in thickness,
is plastered around the stick to near the extremity. When using this
thrower, the hand is placed above the resin-rim, and the shaft of the
spear is held by the thumb against the top of the middle finger, without
the aid of the index finger. In addition to this, its principal function,
the thrower is often used for making fire, the native twirling its lower
point against another piece of wood.
A variety of the above type is found in the Gulf of Carpentaria country,
on the MacArthur River, which has a tassel of human hair-string tied with
vegetable fibre immediately below the rim of resin around the handle.
One of the most remarkable of all spear-throwers is made by the
Larrekiya, and other Northern Territory tribes, consisting of a long,
leaf-shaped, and very thin, flexible blade, flat on one side and slightly
convex on the other. The peg is pear-shaped, and is fixed with vegetable
string and beeswax. The handle is thick and cone-shaped, and covered
with a thin layer of resin or wax. It is ornamented with rows of small
pits, which are pricked into the mass while warm with the point of a fish
bone or sharpened stick. The instrument is so thin and fragile that only
experienced men dare handle it. At times the blade is curved like a sabre.
In addition to serving as a projecting apparatus, most of the hard-wood
spear-throwers with sharp edges are used for producing fire by the
rubbing or sawing process; those of concave section also take the place
of a small cooleman, in which ochre, down, blood, and other materials are
stored during the “making up” period of a ceremony.
Any of the flat types of spear-thrower may be used for making fire by
the “sawing process.” The edge of the implement is rubbed briskly across
a split piece of soft wood until the red-hot powder produced by the
friction kindles some dry grass which was previously packed into the
cleft. The spark is then fanned into a flame, as previously referred to
(page 111).