
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- INTRODUCTORY NOTE
- Contents
- YARRUUN PARPUR TARNEEN
- CHAPTER I TRIBES
- CHAPTER II POPULATION
- CHAPTER III CHIEFS
- CHAPTER IV PROPERTY
- CHAPTER V CLOTHING
- CHAPTER VI HABITATIONS
- CHAPTER VII CLEANLINESS
- CHAPTER VIII DOMESTIC FURNITURE
- CHAPTER IX COOKING AND FOOD
- CHAPTER X TOOLS
- CHAPTER XI LAWS OF MARRIAGE
- CHAPTER XII CHILDREN
- CHAPTER XIII NAMES OF PERSONS
- CHAPTER XIV SUPERSTITIONS AND DISEASES
- CHAPTER XV DEATH AND BURIAL
- CHAPTER XVI AVENGING OF DEATH
- CHAPTER XVII GREAT MEETINGS
- CHAPTER XVIII AMUSEMENTS
- CHAPTER XIX WEAPONS
- CHAPTER XX ANIMALS
- CHAPTER XXI METEOROLOGY, ASTRONOMY, ETC
- CHAPTER XXII NATIVE MOUNDS
- CHAPTER XXIII ANECDOTES
- CONVEYANCE, BY PRINCIPAL CHIEFS TO JOHN BATMAN, OF 100,000 ACRES OF LAND, BETWEEN GEELONG AND QUEENSCLIFF
- VOCABULARIES.—WORDS; ANIMALS; RELATIONSHIPS; NAMES OF PLACES; GRAMMAR AND SENTENCES; NUMERALS
- NOTES
CHAPTER XXII - NATIVE MOUNDS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- INTRODUCTORY NOTE
- Contents
- YARRUUN PARPUR TARNEEN
- CHAPTER I TRIBES
- CHAPTER II POPULATION
- CHAPTER III CHIEFS
- CHAPTER IV PROPERTY
- CHAPTER V CLOTHING
- CHAPTER VI HABITATIONS
- CHAPTER VII CLEANLINESS
- CHAPTER VIII DOMESTIC FURNITURE
- CHAPTER IX COOKING AND FOOD
- CHAPTER X TOOLS
- CHAPTER XI LAWS OF MARRIAGE
- CHAPTER XII CHILDREN
- CHAPTER XIII NAMES OF PERSONS
- CHAPTER XIV SUPERSTITIONS AND DISEASES
- CHAPTER XV DEATH AND BURIAL
- CHAPTER XVI AVENGING OF DEATH
- CHAPTER XVII GREAT MEETINGS
- CHAPTER XVIII AMUSEMENTS
- CHAPTER XIX WEAPONS
- CHAPTER XX ANIMALS
- CHAPTER XXI METEOROLOGY, ASTRONOMY, ETC
- CHAPTER XXII NATIVE MOUNDS
- CHAPTER XXIII ANECDOTES
- CONVEYANCE, BY PRINCIPAL CHIEFS TO JOHN BATMAN, OF 100,000 ACRES OF LAND, BETWEEN GEELONG AND QUEENSCLIFF
- VOCABULARIES.—WORDS; ANIMALS; RELATIONSHIPS; NAMES OF PLACES; GRAMMAR AND SENTENCES; NUMERALS
- NOTES
Summary
Native mounds, so common all over the country, are called ‘pok yuu’ by the Chaa wuurong tribe; ‘po'ok,’ by the Kuurn kopan noot tribe; and ‘puulwuurn’ by the Peek whuurong tribe; and were the sites of large, permanent habitations, which formed homes for many generations. The great size of some of them, and the vast accumulation of burnt earth, charcoal, and ashes which is found in and around them, is accounted for by the long continuance of the domestic hearth, the decomposition of the building materials, and the debris arising from their frequent destruction by bush fires. They never were ovens, or original places of interment, as is generally supposed, and were only used for purposes of burial after certain events occurred while they were occupied as sites for residences—such as the death of more than one of the occupants of the dwelling at the same time, or the family becoming extinct; in which instance they were called ‘muuru kowuutuung’ by the Chaa wuurong tribe, and ‘muuruup kaakee’ by the Kuurn kopan noot tribe, meaning ‘ghostly place,’ and were never afterwards used as sites for residences, and only as places for burial. There is an idea that when two persons die at the same time on any particular spot, their deaths, if not attributed to the spell of an enemy, are caused by something unhealthy about the locality, and it is abandoned for ever.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Australian AboriginesThe Languages and Customs of Several Tribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, pp. 103 - 104Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1881