ISOBEL WHITE

WHITE,

I.

M

^{1988.Fighting in}an AboriginalCommunity.Rev.S. Aust. Mas.11 (I): 49-51 .

Thisbriefpaperdescribes fightingatYalata,anaboriginalcommunityinthefarsouth-westofSouth Australiaandcomparesthisfavourablywiththeuncontrolledaggressionandviolenceinwesternsociety.

1.M.White,DepartmentofAnthropology.Research School ofPacificStudies,AustralianNationalUni- versity,

GPO

Box 4, Canberra,

ACT

2601. Manuscript received 7 April 1986. Revised manuscript received 15October 1987.

Everynewspapertodaycarriesreportsof deathsand grave injuries caused by terrorism, violence and ag- gression,coveringawholerangeofbrutality,fromthe bashing of harmless old

women,

to

bombing

ofbuild- ings,tofull-scalewar.Thesereports

come

fromthe so- calledcivilisedworldofEurope,theMiddleEastand theAmericas.

Moreover

a rashof violence hasbroken outonthe sports field,even inAustralia. All thishas

made me

reconsiderthe instances of aggression and violence I witnessed in a remote Aboriginal

comm-

unitynearlytwenty yearsago.Thisshocked

me

atthe limebut

more

recentlyI have

come

totheconclusion that theAboriginal angerand antagonismIwitnessed were mild

compared

with what is in the

news

today, thatthe

amount

of bodilyinjury

was

strictlycontrolled and that afteran episode ofviolence,aggression

was

quiescent for

some

time. Consciously or uncon- sciously Aborigineshad soorderedtheiroutbreaks of aggression and violence that death and injury were controlledandminimised. Thisisunlikewhat happens

in the western world where perpetratorsofviolence, even intime ofso-called peace, takelittleaccount of the

amount

of deathand injurytheycause, orwhether

theirvictimsare thoseresponsibleforthe originalcon-

flict.

YalataisanAboriginal

community

situatedinmal-

lee,western myalland melaleuca scrubonthe coastal stripbetween the headoftheGreat Australian Bight and the Nullarbor Plain in the far west of South Australia.

The

ⁱnhabitantsareWesternDesertpeople

who

first

came

southtothenewlyconstructedrailwayline inthe

1920s and 1930s.

Most

congregated duringthe 1930s and 1940s around the United Aboriginal Mission (U.A.M.)atOoldea and were inducedto

move

even further south in the early 1950s to Yalata Lutheran Mission after the

U.A.M.

withdrew quite suddenly fromOoldea (White 1985:222-223).

They

werepre- ventedfromreturning to their

own

territoryduringthe periodof nuclear

weapons

experimentsat Maralinga and

Woomera

(Brady 1987).

The new

Yalata Abor-

iginal Reserve

was

outside their

own

territory and

when

I visited

them

theystill feltdisplacedand land-

less(White1985:226);buttheyhad

become

economi- cally dependent on European-Australian's (White

1985:217-219).

At the

same

time they maintained their language (PitjantjatjaraandotherWesternDesertdialects)and

much

of their traditional culture, including

some

of theirceremoniallife.

Boys

wereinitiated,though1

was

toldthattheritualswereabbreviated, forexample,the periodofseclusiononlylastedafewweeks.Whilethe initiation ceremonies still included the bestowalofa daughter by the circumciser, the promise

was

not always fulfilled, leadingto

some

ofthe fighting des- cribed below.

A

rain

ceremony

was performed each year (White ^1979). For

my

benefit the

women

per- formeda

number

oftheirsecretceremonieswithgreat enthusiasm (White 1975: 132-133)buttheywerenot teaching these tothegirls in theold

manner

and they admitted they did not perform them in

my

absence.

When

1 lastpaid avisittoYalatain 1981

my

^friends

told

me

thattheir lastperformance

was

theone ¹

saw

in 1973.

The

descriptionsoffighting inthispaperarebased on

my

experience during fieldwork at intervals be- tween ¹

969

and ¹973, eachvisitlastingbetweenthree

weeks

and

two

months.

I

am

notconsidering herethe killings thatoccurred

in this

community

following breaches of the laws against sacrilege. I

know

little ofthe events behind such deaths,which fall intoquite a differentcategory from theopenbrawling

whose

origin normallylay in disputesovermarriages, betrothalsand adultery,en- tirely secular matters. T.G.H. Strehlow (1970:

112-

122) while describing punishment involving

many

deaths in Central Australia for sacrilege of various kinds,emphasisesthatthesewerequite differentfrom personalquarrels arisingfromsuch mattersas marital disputes.Thesepersonalquarrels

would

besettledby thepersons involvedwiththehelpoftheir kin.

Though some

bodily injuriesweretoleratedkillingshouldnot occur, exceptthat the

Aranda

punishment

was

death for incestbetweena

man

andhismother-in-lawandfor theseduction ofthewife ofan importantritual leader.

Before I first pitched

my

tent in the *big camp'.

50

i

M

WHITI*

about I5

km

^Irornthemission headquarters*thewhite missionstaffatYalatawarned

me

that 'theAborigines were always brawling* and that ^I

would

find these brawls* noisy and alarming. ^I admit I

was

at first Itiwhtened

when

loudquarrelling broke outa

week

or two later But I soon found thatI

was

not indie least

threatenedand dial I might as wellobserve whai

was

happening. At^thisand laterincidentsI notedparticu- larlythatthese conflicts lolloweda fairlyregular pal tern and thai noise far outran action. Injuries weie limitedand seldom seriousand

when

oneorotherof theprotagonists

was

hurt the fightingnormallyceased

atonce, thoughthere might he

some

incidentalquar

relsand injuries in other purls olthecamp.Similarly tnditfse peripheralquarrels actu>ustoppedassoonas any injuryoccurred. Unfortunately

some

ofthe-rules wentbytheboardifdiecontestantsweredrunk, sothai serious sometimesfatal,injury resulted,though(did no!witnesssuch anevent.

Moreover when

rJicfcwere drunkenpeoplelibouitheremightbedangerinvolved k>non-pattieipauts.Care

was

alwaystakentokeepout ofthe

way

of suchirresponsible individuals

On

one suckoccasiondieadult

wotnen

of

*my

family\

melu

ding myself, picked

up

toddlersandbabiesinorderto be readytoevacuatethefamily campsite.

Theseevents

seemed

to

me

equivalentto a weekly

visit to the movies or to a sporting fixture in our society,andcertainly lessdangcrou>than

some

sport- tug eventshavebecome.Juslas Hie

amount

of alcohol available, increasesthe.dangeral football and dicker matches, sodie danger increased withdie

amount

ol alcohol available in the camp,

where

there were no police presenttoattempt control and perhaps to be

•nmeinetargci ofallspectators

Toan

outsiderlifein Cie

camp

atanAboriginalsettlement

may seem

radtei dull forthe inhabitants and these fightscertainly li-

vened

up

die dailyroundandwerea mattertotexcited discussion

hn many

daysafterwards

Tliestandard older of events

was

as follows: loud shoutingwoiddbe heardfrom onepartnfthe

campand

roostofdieinhabitantswouldtushtothescene assup porters of the contestants or as observers. Visually those supporters

who

fell themselves involvedinthe dispute

would

take oft their clothes,themain combat- antshavingalready

done

so.Forexample,

w

licitan old cotipk near rue heard die raised voices of their daughter and son-in-law they immediately hurried towardsUiecontesttakingoil theirdolliesand throw

mg

litem aside astheyran, Ilach adult

man

wouldpick

up

his spearsandspearthrowerinhislefthand andhis fighting

boomerang

ⁱⁿhtsright,

mute

as agestureof strengthandalertnessthan withanyintent tousethem immediately.

It

seems

there wererulesaboutthechoice ofweap- on*.

Sometimes

the protagonists would have spears amispearthrowers orperhaps knives but

when

¹ wit- nessed a quarrel between

two

brothers(same father.

dilierenL moUiers) they had no

weapons

ai all but

merelywrestled.

Where

spears,or^knives, wereused, skill

was

neededso thai the

wound

was in the fleshy

pan

ofthethighanddid notcause too

much

bleeding.

Forsuch aninjury

men

didnotalways

go

tothemission nurse.

They

were proud of their scars, which would have been lessobvious itskilfully stitched.

The

^only

wound

ofthis kind Iactually

saw

atclosequarters^(I dfOYCtheinjured

woman

tothemission lortreatment)

was

in the thijjb ofthe daughter mentioned above, indictedwithaknifeby herdisappointed lover

when

he realised she

was

returning toher

much

older hus- band.Her

wound was

deep andpainful but notdanger ous.Thisparticulardisputebrokeoutintoviolenceor near violence at intervals over several days.

Some

hours after this knifing, there-

was

another hour of shoutingand abusebetweentheloverand

members

ol the

woman's

kinanilaftines.

Then

the

iHgmQl'

^ofthe

camp moved

inoil

him

withtacit

weapons

aithe read}

(as ^Idescribe later) bul insteadofobeying them and ceasing tothreaten violence he produced a rifle and threatenedthem

By now

^it

was

very lateat night and

all retiredtotheir

own

camps, butin themorning the tableswereturnedonthe

young man when two

police-

men

arrived from

Ccduna

andarrested him.I

was

told that the

camp

leaders had taken Ihe unusual step of asking the mission supctintcndcni to send tot the police, becausethe

young man

^hadbehavedip a

way

theycould notcounter,inproducingarille.Nlurvnver this

was

not thefirst time hehad seduceda

woman

_of

their

community:

ayearbefore he liadctoped witha

much

younger unmarried girl

and

had

managed

to travel

on

atraintoKalgoorliewithher,before hermate kin caught up with them and

managed

tobring her back,

The

aboveaccount represents an unusualseries.if

eventsand ^I

now

returntothe

more

normalprocesses ofa

camp

light.

When

fightingfirst broke out it

was

interestingtoobserve rhc behaviour ofthe children.

Clearly they

knew

theymustnotjoininthe ringof

oh

servers, eitherbecause ofinstruction fromtheirpar- ents, orbecausetheyweretoofrightenedby Ihenoise ofquarrelling.(

am

notsureatwhatage diey couldjoin

in. ^Ionly

knew

that

when

^I observedthese scenesall

children between the ages of about five and fifteen

immediately gadiered in small groupsand retired to the outerperiphery ofthe

camp

where they lit their

own

smallfiresandstayeduntilthenoiseandshouting died down. In the meantime, ^as 1 have already de- scribed, the Adult

women

stayed closeby babiesand toddlers,readytopick

them

upifiheyfeltthen*might be danger.

Margaret Bain,

who

has lived for

many

yearswith Pitjantjatjara speakingcommunities, toid

me

thatby carryingachild,a

man

^{or a}

woman

signalledthaihe or she

was

notinvolvedinthe.quarrel.Ihavenever heard of achild being injured inthesebrawls,certainlynot byintention,andnotbyaccidentbecauseof measures taken bv hotnadults andchildren.

Whilethe originalcontestantswereshoutingateach other and preparing for action, subsidiary quarrels wouldbedisinterredsothatitsoonsoundedasthough everyone

was

shouting loudly. This

made

the dogs bark and howl frantically and the noise

was

quite deafening. (1

made

a tape-recording ofone suchepi- sode.)

The

originaldispute waslikely toconcern, im- mediately or marginally, a proportion ofthe inhabi- tants. Here is an example: the two brothers

who

wrestled togetherwerefightingovera

woman. Mean-

whiletheirold blind father

was

beggingthemtodesist, claimingit

was

notproperforbrothertofight brother.

The

olderofthetwobrothershadbeendeprived ofhis

promisedwife

some

yearsbeforebecausethegirl was supported by hermotherinher preferenceforanother man. (For this the mother had been speared by the disappointed

young

man.)

Now

the mother of the youngerbrother resurrected the disputeandloudlyac- cused the mother of the girl of causing the present fight, because her son

would

not

now

have been fightinghisbrotherabouta

woman

ifthatgirlhad been giventoherproperhusband inthefirstplace.I

knew

boththesetwoolder

women

well;theyhadcooperated

in the performanceof

women's

ceremonies and Ihad notsuspectedthattheolddispute

was

stillanissue be- tweenthem.

The main

fight was the pretext for

many

other old conflictstobe revivedandforolddisagreementstobe airedvery loudly.There

was

evena resurgenceofri-

valry between thetwo dominant groups inthecamp, the Pitjantjatjara and the Yankunljatjara, normally almostindistinguishableaftertwoor threegenerations ofliving together and intermarrying;

now

each ac- cusedthe otherofhorrible customs. Anotherreason forfurther quarrelstobreak outinvariouspartsofthe

camp was

that

some

oftheshouting consisted of sexual boastingby oneofthemen,

whom

Ihadrecognisedas alocal

Don

Juan.Sincetheseboastingswerelikely to involve married

women

withinhearing, several

new

quarrels would break out between these and their husbands, orbetweenthehusbands andthe boaster. In theend it

seemed

that half the people wereshouting abuseattheotherhalf,atthetops oftheirvoices.

This

would

go onforanhourortwo,bywhichtime there

would

beasmall

number

ofminorinjuries.

One

or other ofthe original protagonistsmighthave been hurtsothat thatparticularfight

would

haveceased.But by

now

everyone would be tired and mothers

would

complain that their children should be allowed to sleep. Eventuallytheseniormen,the 'big

men'

ofthe community,

would

intervene.Each in turnwouldput

brushwood

on his fire so that it

would

send flames severalfeetinto theairandhewouldstandin frontof

itforall to see.

He

would firstproclaimon the rights and wrongs ofthe main quarrel.

He would

then say somethingtotheeffect thatthe

young men

must stop fightingnow,they had hadtheirchancetosettletheir disturbances,theyhad causedalotof noiseanddistur-

bance but

now

everyone had had enough and it

was

timetostop. Inturn severaloftheseolder

men would

repeat thisperformance. With their

weapons

in their

handsthey would then

move

ina circleagainstthose

still fighting, thus showing the

power

ofthe leaders against the younger men. Quickly the noise

would

cease,people returnedtotheir

own camps

and soonall

would

beasleep.

In themorningtheremightbeafewwithheadaches orinpainfrominjury, but there

would

bepeaceinthe

camp

and the contestants from the previous night

would seem

tohaveresolvedtheirquarrels.Certainly

all the furore had had a cathartic effect. It had been salutarytohave hadallthedissensionoutin theopen andforoncetotellone'sneighboursexactlywhat one thought of them.All theevilremarks andaccusations

seemed

tohave beenforgotten,thoughthey mightbe apretextfor alaterconflict.Aggression

was

limitedto afewhoursat intervalsof

some

weeks. Occasionally,

inthemiddleofthe night, the silencewouldbebroken bya

man

voicinghisgrievancesandshoutingabuseat

some

otherperson.

The

restofthetimein

my

observa- tion theseWestern Desert peoplebehaved in aquiet, restrainedanddignified manner.Conversationswere carried on in low voices and shouting

was

seldom heard.

Even

againstmisbehavingchildrenvoiceswere not raised.

The

chief noise in the

camp was

ofdogs barkingrather than of

human

voices.

References

BRADY,

M.1987. Leaving the spinifex; the impact of rations,missionsandthe atomictestson theSouthern Pijantjatjara.Ret.S. Aust. Mus.20: 35-45.

STREHLOW,

T.G.H.1970.Geography andthetotemicland scapeinCentral Australia.InR,M.Bemdt(Ed.).'Austra- lianAboriginal Anthropology'.Pp.92-140.University of WesternAustralia Press,Perth.

WHITE,

l.M. 1975.Sexualconquest and submission inthe mythsofCentral Australia./nL.R.Hiatt(Ed.).'Australian Aboriginal Mythology',Pp.123-142.AustralianInstitute ofAboriginalStudies,Canberra.

WHITE,

l.M. 1979.RainceremonyatYalata.Canberra Anthropology2,No.2: 94-103.

WHITE,

l.M. 1985. Mangkatina:

woman

ofthedesert.I.

White, D. Barwick

&

^B. Meehan(Eds.). 'Fightersand Singers', Pp.2J5-226. Allen

&

Unwin,Sydney.

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