YANYUWA CANOE MAKING

YANYUWA CANOE MAKING

R.M. BAKER

BAKER,

R.M. 1988. Yanyuwa canoe making. Rec. S. Aust. Mus. 22(2): 173-188.

This paper describes the construction of a dugout canoe near Borroloola in the Northern Territory in 1987. The history ofcanoe making and use in thearea is alsodocumented using written and oral records. Thetaping of information about objects collected by

Museums

has often been neglected. This paper illustrates the value ofcollecting such oral accounts both in

documentingtheprocessofmanufactureandin revealingthewiderculturalcontext ofthat object.

When

such information isignored, there is thedanger of viewing the collected object out of

its social and historical context.

R.M. Baker, DepartmentofGeography, Universityol Adelaide,

GPO

Box498, Adelaide,South Australia 5001. Manuscript received 1 July 1988.

Canoe Construction

construction of a

dugout canoe which had

been In 1987, as partofresearch

on

^the contact history

commissioned

bythe Australian National Maritime ofthe

Yanyuwa who

livein the Borroloolaareaof

Museum

in Sydney.This articlepresentsa descrip- the Northern Territory (Fig. 1), I

documented

the tion of this construction along with

background

toBurke town

r

^\

Kalwanyijr*

FIGURE

^1. Borroloola area and surrounding region.

information

on

the history

of Yanyuwa canoe making

ajid use.'

The canoe was

constructed by

Annie

karrakayn, her

husband

Isaac

Walayungkuma and

Ida Nin- anga. Karrakayn is approximately 55 years in ago,

Walayungkuma

65

and Ninanga 70

(see fig 2).

Ninanga

_had previously

made

a

dugout canoe

which

was

purchased by the

Museum

ofAustralia in 19S6. Isaac

Walayungkuma

is an experienced canoe

maker who worked on

canoes

when

rlieywere

still constructed Ept use in the area

He

has also

made

a

number

_{of canoes} to sell as artefacts.

A

smallcanoe which

he-made

ispar! ofthecollection ofthe

Museum and An

Galleries

of

the Northern Territory.

Annie

Karrakayn

had

not

worked on a

canoebefore, but likethe others she has

an

intimate

knowledge

ol

dugout

canoes gained

from

yearsof experience using them.

She

recalls, for instance, literally growing

up

in one:

'When Tinr had

that big boat, thatcanoe,

we

used to stick in (hat

canoe

, , . big

mob

ot kid, right up',

Walayungkuma and

Karrakayn usually live

on

their oufstation Wardawardala,

which

is about 30

km

from Borroloola.

Ninganga

oncelived in this area. put since being

widowed

usually lives in Borroloola.

Ninganga and

Karrakayn are

Yanyuwa

speakers

and Walayungkuma

isa

Gaiawa

speaker.

All three spent

much

oftheir younger days living

on

or near the Sir

Edward

Pelfew Islandswhich are located at the

mouth

of the

McAnhur

River All ihree used

dugout

canoesregularly to

move from

island to island or to visit the mainland.

Canoes

intheareawereusually

made

by a

gioup

of people bul it is

new

for

women

to help in this process, as

Annie

Karrakayn notes:

Someone was

helping

one

another,

two

orthreeor four . . . but

man

used to

work

before*not

woman, woman

used to

go

hunting for fbod\

A good

descriptionof

how

canoe

making was

a

communal

affair

comes

from

Tim Rabjwurlma:

*Wc

doublebank/ two

fella first

timecuthim, two fella

man,

^riejn two leliasit

down,

another

two

fella now, tong lime you know'.

On

another occasion alter a particularly tiring, day's

work Annie

Kairakayn also exclaimed: 'just

men

[usedto

make

canoes],that's llrsttimelady,

mc and

her, that's the ^first rime For us,

and

I'm sick ofthis too. . . yeah! Because 1

know women

didn't work, only

man

^1.

The

selection olasuitabletree took fourexhaust- ing days of searching alone¹ the

McAnhur

River

The main

selection criteria were size, straightness

and

a lack of branches

and

holesinthe bark. Great attention

was

also paid tochecking whether there wen-anyholesheneaththebark estendinginto the

tiunk.

The canoe was made

froma largepaper-bark

lice- Melaleuca argenfeu*

known

in

Yanyuwa

as Hinjirri which

was

felled

on

the

banks

of the

McAr

thur River aboui 10

km upstream

of Borro-

loola

There

are

two

Ct©6 species in the area

which

aresuitable for

canoe

construction, thisMelaleuca

and

the 'Leichhardt pine',

Nauclea

orientalis;boih are

common

along freshwater streams in the aieu.

LocalAboriginal people havedifferingopinions

on

the relative virtuesof

making

canoes fromthese

two

trees.These conflictingviews arebased

on

the fact that while the Ix-ichhardt pine is definitely easier to work, the

much

harder Melaleuca

makes

a canoe

which

is considerably longer tasting.

The

advantages of Leichhardt pines ate discussed by lorn Watnbarirri: 'Leichhardttree , , . easier tocut him*

and

by

Tim Rakuwurlma.

'Leichhardt trer

more

soft,

good

one, you finishquick\ Because of the

number

of canoes that have been

made

in the area in the past from Leichhardt pines, there are not any large trees of this species left. Therefore

when

the

canoe makers

were asked to

make

a

*proper big sea going canoe*a Melaleuca was the only choice possible.

The

smaller Leichhardts are only suitable for 'kid canoes'.

The Yanyuwa

used to construct small canoes

known

as 3-dtibarl for children to use:

A number of

people havetold

me how

aschildrenihcyweregivencanoes'fortraining'

The

spot wherethetree

was

felled

and

the

canoe

wasconslructed iscloseroa lagooncalled Kalwanyr

(Fig. _I)which alsohasthe

European name

of

Goose Lagoon. At

this spot in the late dry season, the

McAnhur

Riveris reduced to atrickle

and

thetidal reacheso\' the river arc

some

10

km downstream

in the dry season the river from Kalwanyi to the tidalreachesconsistsofa scriesof freshwaterbilla-

bongsseparatedbyacombination ofstonybars

and

sandy banks.

At

thistime o( year a

canoe

cannot be paddled

downstream

In earlier times canoes were usually

made

up-

si

ream on

the

McArthur

Riverin the latedry season

and

then

moved downstream when

the river levels rose afterthefirst wet season rains.Thissometimes involved using ropes to pull canoes acrossshallow bars.

As

Eileen

Manankurramara

rccatls: 'They heen put

him

cross _stick

and

pull

him

^{. . .}pushthai canoe right

up

long big river'. UsualJyhowever, the local rainmakeris said tohave provided rain at the appropriate time toenablethe

canoe

tobefloated

all the

way down

the river.

Tim

describes

how one

year he

had

to

go downstream

toBorroloolatotell the rainmakertodelay (herainasthecanoe makers

had

not quite finished the canoe.

He

retails the following exchange between the rainmakei

and

himself.

Tim

Rakuwurlma: 'Don*!

make

rain ye*'.

Billy Houktr. 'Rightyoufinish hirnuf>, allrightpoint back . .whenyoufinished ihaicanoe.mUright- . .

Ill '•end him Claud fur you, riouclwaier.'

In keeping with

Yanyuwa

tradition the

canoe *

called 'Rta-Kaiwanyimara', which can be translated