SONGS FROM NORTH QUEENSLAND - ALICE M MOYLE COMPANION BOOKLET FOR A COMPACT DISC

Companion Booklet for a Compact Disc

                Alice M Moyle

       Songs from
         North
       Queensland

 Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Circled dots indicate places where the recordings were made in North Queensland
by Alice Moyle.

First published in 1977
by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies

This booklet represents a reprint of the 1977 version and is available as a free
PDF from the AIATSIS website at www.aiatsis.gov.au/asp/cddvd.html. Note that
this is a reproduction of the original booklet and the quality of some of the images
and music notations is not the same as the original.

Aboriginal Studies Press and AIATSIS gratefully acknowledges the financial
assistance of Dr Carolyn OAM and Mr Peter Lowry OAM with digitising this
booklet.

ISBN 9781922059307

© Moyle, 1977

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in
writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a
maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be
photocopied by any educational institution for its education purposes provided that
the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration
notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

Introduction

The samples presented here have been selected from field collections of tape recordings made in
1966. They have been brought together on this recording to demonstrate the special features of
Aboriginal music in North Queensland and more particularly in western parts of the Cape York
Peninsula.
   To refer to Aboriginal music in Australia is to refer to vocal music. Throughout the continent,
traditional Aboriginal music consists of songs either unaccompanied, or accompanied by sound
instruments. As a general rule the instruments are simply constructed and made of wood. They
are sounded separately only by way of demonstration, or for ritual purposes. The instrumental
sounds that can be heard separately on this disc were produced on request. They are of brief
duration (see small bamboo whistle, Track 13).
   To date, considerable attention has been given to the songs of Aboriginal people living in the
north of the Northern Territory, especially in north-eastern parts of Arnhem Land. The aim
of this recording is to demonstrate some of the lesser-known musical characteristics of songs
belonging to Aboriginal people who live on the opposite shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
   The collections were recorded on settlements at Weipa (currently known as Napranum),
Aurukun, Kowanyama (formerly Mitchell River Mission) and at Wrotham Park. Also included
are brief selections from recordings made on Mornington Island (1966) in the south-east of the
Gulf (see map).
   The collections from Cape York, North Queensland, together with others obtained from
Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt, Kimberley districts north of Western Australia, and
Yuendumu in the north-central desert region, result from a musical survey made by the writer
during her visits to over thirty localities in northern Australia between 1959 and 1969. Analyses
of representative song items collected during this period, including song items on this recording,
can be found in Northern Australia Music (Moyle, 1974a).
   A glance at the map of Australia will show the proximity of the northern tip of Cape York
to islands in the Torres Strait and to New Guinea. Contact between Aboriginal peoples on the
mainland and the Islanders to the immediate north has been maintained by canoe over a long
period of time. Writers have drawn attention to cultural and other links between Torres Strait
Islanders and mainland Aboriginal peoples of both north-western and north-eastern Cape York
(see, especially, contributors to the Torres Strait Symposium, Walker 1974). Thomson (1933)
remarked on similarities between the ‘hero cult’ ceremonies in Cape York and those reported
by members of the Cambridge anthropological expedition to the Torres Strait in 1898 (Haddon
1904). The wearing of dance masks, of ‘dresses’ made of blackened strips of bark and the use
of the skin drum to accompany their chants or ‘sings’ are some of the features which have
distinguished Cape York initiation ceremonies from ceremonies performed by other Australian
Aboriginal people. ‘The “drum”,’ wrote Thomson, ‘is of special interest for it is not found elsewhere
in Australia and may be regarded as a distinctly characteristic element of the Papuan culture of
Torres Straits and New Guinea’ (1933:467).

                                                                                                    3

Songs from North Queensland                                                                     Moyle

   Myths in which songs and dances are attributed to the first ancestral beings, or cult ‘heroes’,
are common among Australian Aboriginal people. The following account from the myth of
S ivri, the Seagull, includes the making of the skin drum. It was told to Ursula McConnel, an
anthropologist who worked among Aborigines in western Cape York, by a man from the Batavia
River region:
        made a drum out of pandanus tree wood, with a hollow stem, and another out of
        messmate wood, so as to make both soft and loud sounds. He put goanna skin over the
        ends of the drums and beat them. He himself beat the drum with his hands and sang. He
        made many songs. The dance was called kwá:rá:. When S ivri went to Maubiyag Island
        he took this dance with him and showed it to the Maubiyag people. The Maubiyag people
        now have a dance, Kwoiyam’s dance, which resembles S ivri’s dance, in that both are
        seagull dances (1957:24).

Little contact had been made with the people of the Holroyd River region before McConnel’s first
visit there in 1927. At that time she found that ‘the people pursued their customary life oblivious
of an outside world. The monthly steamer, on its journey down the Gulf to Normanton, was
regarded as a corpse in the course of cremation — inspiring, appropriately enough, a funeral
dirge’ (1957:xiii). Dates of the establishment of some of the isolated settlements in western parts
of Cape York are as follows: Weipa, 1898; Aurukun, 1904; Kowanyama (Mitchell River), 1905;
Mornington Island, 1910. Wrotham Park, the first cattle station in the district, was established
in 1873.
   Most of the songs on this recording were sung at the collector’s request. Some of the elderly
singers admitted to having little knowledge (‘the old folks didn’t tell us’); others sang songs that
belonged to neighbouring groups as well as to their own.
   The pulwaiya, leading figures of local myths or ‘stories’, and their auwa, or final resting
places, form the basis of numerous songs sung by these older people. Like the ‘clan’ songs of
east Arnhem Land, the ‘story’ songs of west Cape York are constant reminders of the countries
or territories to which members of patrilineal groups belong. Traditionally, these groups came
together for ceremonies connected with initiation. Some of the dances and acts they performed
would have been generally known; others were prepared by individual groups for reciprocal
display. The learning of dances, and of current dance songs, is still regarded as an important
part of a young man’s training for adulthood.
   Treated with less seriousness than the ‘story’ songs, are the more widely distributed ‘Shake-
a-Leg’ songs, performed by male singers young and old (see Tracks 2 and 9); also the songs
composed and danced ‘in the island way’. The latter, performed chiefly by the younger men and
women of the community, were accompanied either by skin drum and seed rattles or by guitars
and ukuleles (cf. Track 20).
   ‘Story’ songs on this recording are usually narrow ranging, often ‘horizontal’, in their pitch
contours. In this respect they differ from Aboriginal singing in western Arnhem Land, for
instance, the latter consisting mainly of steep descents in pitch. Many North Queensland items
are divided into short ‘sections’ of only a few seconds each. Terminating most of these sections
are sequences of calls and other vocal sounds which the singers contribute themselves (usually
in muted fashion). When dancing takes place these calls are contributed much more loudly by
both singers and assistant hand-clappers.1
   Unlike the ‘story’ songs and ‘island-way’ songs, the latter often reminiscent of Christian hymn
singing, north-eastern songs show affinity to Aboriginal singing styles nearer to the centre
of Australia. Many of these have been recorded on Mornington Island sung by Lardil people
(cf. Aboriginal Sound Instruments 1978, Track 8). A clear distinction however, is to be made
between Mornington and Bentinck Island songs, samples of the latter having also been recorded

1.   See the films Dances at Aurukun (1962) and Five Aboriginal dances from Cape York (1966).

4

Moyle                                                                                   Songs from North Queensland

on Mornington Island, in 1966.2 Songs by the Gayardilt, the people from Bentinck Island, are
sung in a constricted vocal manner and are quite unique in effect (cf. Track 7 of the present disc
and below).
   Wooden trumpet (didjeridu) blowing is a fairly recent musical innovation on Mornington
Island. Its adoption there within the past twenty to thirty years, from Arnhem Land further
west, is confirmed by the Lardil people themselves. At the turn of the last century, both Roth
(1902:23) and Le Souëf (1894:27) reported the sounding by Aboriginal people of a hollowed
branch, or ‘yiki-yiki’, but there is no evidence in Queensland — as there is in Arnhem Land — of
a continuous musical tradition in which didjeridu accompaniment has been an integral part of
song performance.3
   Singers contributing to songs on this recording belong to a number of different groups. The
name of each language or dialect has been noted in each case and is to be found below, following
the specified vocal component, e.g. one male voice (Wikngatara). There may be more than one
name for the same language, e.g. Kokomindjen, Yiryoront. One language written below was
called Wikmont by the Wikmungkan and Wikupurr by the Wikngatara.4
   It is not unusual for Cape York singers to admit that they know neither the meaning of the
words they sing, nor the language from which the words come. This is only one of many problems
connected with the writing down — and translation into English — of Aboriginal song words.
Song syllables for some of the items on this recording have been written below in phonetics.
These written forms are aural representations of the sung (not spoken) utterances and are not
to be taken as final, and, no doubt, professional linguists will want to rewrite them in their own
way.
   Several of the recordings reproduced here were made indoors and mainly to avoid interruption
and distraction to the singers. Attempts to eliminate the sounds of passing trucks, settlement
generators, poultry yards and noisy crows, were not always successful.
   Recording equipment consisted of a Nagra III and a Beyer 100 microphone.

2. Bentinck Island people now live on Mornington Island (see Tindale 1961–64:300).
3. For recorded didjeridu-accompanied singing in Arnhem Land see CDs 1–4, Songs from the Northern Territory (1964)
   and Aboriginal Sound Instruments (1978).
4. Prefixes ‘Wik’ and ‘Koko’ (‘Gugu’) stand for ‘speech’ or ‘talk’. The line of division between language names bearing
   these prefixes is somewhere in the vicinity of Edward River, ‘Wik’ to the north and ‘Koko’ to the south and east.

                                                                                                                      5

Notes on the recordings

Above the annotation for each track on this recording is the name of the place and circumstances
of the recording, followed by the sound components, i.e. the type of vocal and accompanying
instrumental sounds. In brackets, after the specified vocal component, is the language of the
singer. It does not necessarily follow that the song words are in the singer’s own language.
   With only a few exceptions (e.g. Track 20), instruments are sounded by the singers themselves.
Names of singers are given below in the recording catalogue details.

Track 1 a–d
Welten songs and calls
a. Plains Wallaby and Dog (1’02”); b. Little Wallaby (1’03”); c. Big Wallaby (54”);
d. Calls, etc. (57”).
Kowanyama — outside, during an enactment of the ‘Speared man’ story.
One male voice (Kokomindjen); paired sticks; calls by male group.
On this track are extracts from a field recording made during a performance or enactment, which
took place in the bush some distance from Kowanyama settlement. Aboriginal participants
referred to the act in English as the ‘Speared man’. A similar act had taken place in public some
weeks before, performed by the same group of men at Cairns, some 300 kilometres to the north-
east. On each occasion the audience consisted mainly of non-Aboriginal residents and visitors.
   The calls, shouts, etc., which accompany the act are a feature of many mainland — as distinct
from ‘island way’ — dances performed in Cape York.5 The same series of calls occurred again
at Kowanyama later that same day, during the dancing and mime which took place before a
mixed audience of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal men and women on the sports ground at the
settlement.
   The production of high-pitched, piercing sounds as heard here, requires considerable skill.
Local Aboriginal people refer in English to these calls as ‘singing out’ or ‘hollering’. On this
particular occasion there were two main callers: the leader and his understudy. Towards the end
of the act some hoarseness can be heard in one of the voices.
   Terminal sounds bring to a conclusion various sections of the performance. These sounds
divide the first two song items into three sections each. The third item is shorter and has only
one section.
   The ‘Speared man’ act consists of a search for a missing man and his subsequent discovery. He
is found propped up by two sticks, one in each hand, his body riddled with spears (cf. McConnel
1935: facing page 92).

5.   Similar calls are to be heard in the film, Dances at Aurukun (1962; AIATSIS No. FCO169_1–44).

6

Moyle                                                                                   Songs from North Queensland

   The act was described as ‘play’, an English word adopted by many Aboriginal people to denote
dancing and mime. The more general term ‘corroboree’ is not as frequently heard in Cape York
as in the Northern Territory.
   The ‘Speared man’ was said to be ‘only for the play men’ that is, only for male participants
who, because of their ritual knowledge and social status, are able to take part. Such status was
acquired in former times by passing through each stage of the initiatory process. The performance
recorded at Kowanyama was not part of an initiation ceremony, but rather a restoration — or
revival — of selected features, and for the entertainment of visitors to the settlement.
   In order to record each stage of the proceedings it was necessary to track for some distance
through the scrub behind the actors, a group of painted men representing hunters carrying
spears. The singing (see below) took place only at the beginning of the act and was punctuated
by calls from the actors, who at this stage remained stationary (see Track l a–c). Then followed
the search through the bush, the men emitting rapid, staccato-like sounds (‘a ‘a ‘a ‘a) as they
moved about. Softer calls by the leader created a feeling of suspense. This was soon dispelled
and loud cries of excitement, followed by further calls, announced the discovery of the missing
man (see Track 1 d).
   The three songs (see Track l a–c), also called ‘Old painting’ (Ol’pai’t’n),6 are in the Kokomindjen
or Yiryoront language. The lone singer accompanies himself by beating two sticks together. He
explained later that these should have been boomerang clapsticks (i.e. a pair of curved wooden
blades). The singer said that the songs he contributed during the ‘Speared man’ ‘play’ were
welten songs associated with his own clan territory Tutya.
   One pitch is maintained throughout each item with little perceptible variation (see music
notation of first item, Notation 1). Between items the level of pitch rises; after the first,
approximately half a tone, after the second, approximately a tone. (When Minyalk sang these
same songs in the camp a few days later, the pitch of the first item was half a tone lower than
that of either of the other two.)

Track 2
‘Shake-a-Leg’: Spear fight (1’07”)
Kowanyama — outside, at the conclusion of a series of dances and mimed acts.
One male voice (Kundjen); paired sticks; hand clapping; drum; calls and shouts by male dancers.
‘Shake-a-Leg’ is an Aboriginal dance form, widely practised in North Queensland. In 1966,
recordings of ‘Shake-a-Leg’ songs were made in Weipa (Napranum), in north-west of Cape York
Peninsula, further south at Wrotham Park and on Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Male dancers stand in a circle. Each dancer enters the ring by turn, jumping and bounding
about with quivering limbs, to the accompaniment of rough, expiratory sounds. Towards the end
of each individual performance, there is a marked increase in tempo. Shouts and calls conclude
each dance.
   At Kowanyama it was claimed that ‘Shake-a-Leg’ songs belonged to Kundjen-speaking people.
On Mornington Island ‘Shake-a-Leg’ dances, or warrma, were said to have come from Normanton,
south of the Gulf, in Queensland. At Borroloola, south of the Gulf in the Northern Territory,
‘Shake-a-Leg’ dances, there called malgari, were also attributed to people at Normanton. Rising
melodic thirds, perceptibly closer to ‘minor’ than to ‘major’, characterise the often indefinite
pitches of ‘Shake-a-Leg’ songs (Notation 2).

6.   A term now used to signify older ceremonial songs associated with events at which painted dancers took part.

                                                                                                                    7

Songs from North Queensland                                                                  Moyle

Track 3
Three fish poisoning songs
a. Brolga (43”); b. Geese (18”); c. Fish Hawk (47”).
Kowanyama — outside.
One male voice (Kokobera); hand clapping.
In former times these songs would have been sung during a fish poisoning rite. Leaves of a
poison plant were thrown into the water to stupefy the fish and to make them float. It was said
that the poison made the water ‘smell like fish’. The Kokobera singer learned these songs from
his father and classed them as ‘Old painting’ songs (cf. Track 1 above). Other items recorded in
the same series (but not reproduced here) included Pelican, Lily roots, Flying fox, Seagull, and
‘Saying goodbye’.
   The three items in this track were briefly interpreted as follows: a. Brolga flies in different
directions; b. Geese hatching eggs; c. Fish Hawk laughs as he flies around. The singer said that
he sang one item in the wrong order and that Geese should have come after, not before, Fish
Hawk.
   It was explained that these songs would have been passed, as part of the performance, from
one singer to another, and that passing occurred after two quick claps and a cry of tyalo, or
tyelam, signalling ‘here it is!’ or ‘your turn to sing, now!’.
   Sectional divisions are made in two of these items, each with the following durations: a. 13”,
14”, 14”; c. 13”, 13”, 18”.
   Although the range of pitch is not wide, it contrasts with the ‘horizontal’ welten songs (cf.
Track 1). Descending intervals predominate. There is a marked rise in pitch at the end of the
Fish Hawk item.

Tracks 4–5
Women’s songs
Track 4: Lullaby — 2 items (35”, 30”).
Track 5: a. Delivery song (35”), b. Birth song (36”).
Mornington Island — outside.
Two female (with male) voices (Lardil); unaccompanied.
Many Aboriginal women’s songs are sung as charms, among which love magic songs are probably
the most numerous. The ‘lullaby’ or lagalan in Track 4 is a charm to induce sleep. In Track 5 the
delivery song (mangarawayi) is sung so that the infant will ‘hurry up and get born’. The birth
song (dulgiatha) is a charm to make the child grow.
   The songs were recorded in the presence of Lardil men, one of whom encouraged the women
to sing and who may be heard joining in the singing in Track 5.
   The longer durations of these items, and their repeated sequences of syllables, are
characteristics which suggest a closer musical affinity with desert songs further south than
with songs on Cape York Peninsula.
   Unlike the lullaby and delivery songs, which are intoned throughout, the birth song is less
restricted in pitch, encompassing a range of approximately a ‘sixth’.

Track 6
Mortuary songs: Djawala (excerpts from two sections of a ceremonial series)
a. 5 items (44”, 33”, 18”, 30”, 25”); b. 2 items — sending the spirit away (27”, 18”).
Mornington Island — outside.
Group of male voices (Lardil); paired sticks; hand clapping; large stick beaten on ground.

8

Moyle                                                                                     Songs from North Queensland

These extracts are from a ceremonial series called Djawala, a word which occurs in the first song
item. Djawala songs are sung after burial. Their function is to bring out the spirit (ninggi) and to
send it on its way eastwards to the home of the dead. Different stages of the rite were described
as follows: ‘After dark, a few men visit the burial place and sing. They kick the ground to get the
spirit moving. They return to camp and sing the Djawala series. Some women dance. Others
sing with the men, hitting the ground with bundles of bark.’ In the second section in this track
the male voices are accompanied by the sound of a large stick (murrguni) beaten on the ground.
It is believed that this helps to bring the spirit out from the body. At the conclusion the men call
out ‘Nundine wa: ninggi’ (‘Go away spirit! Don’t come back!’).
   Like those of the Lardil women in Track 5, the Djawala songs consist of items of relatively
long duration and of repeated strings of syllables.
   The concluding items are sung in two parts, a third apart (Notation 3).

Track 7
Waterspout (1’21”)
Mornington Island (Singer from Bentinck Island) — indoors.
One male voice (Gayardilt); unaccompanied.
Waterspout is a fishing song performed without dancing.7 It belongs to the singer and his clan
(doloro).8 The waterspout which gave rise to the song was named Tanthaman, meaning ‘raft’ for,
in shape, it resembled a particular type of raft, or ‘swimmer’ traditionally used by Aboriginal
people in this region. In the song a comparison is drawn between the waterspout and the spray
caused by groups of women splashing in the water. When fishing in this part of the Gulf of
Carpentaria, it is customary for women to splash the water while men hold the nets. The tense,
constricted manner in which Waterspout is sung is characteristic of song performances by
Gayardilt men. Although their vocal manner is comparable to that of some Groote Eylandt
and north-east Arnhem Land singers, Gayardilt men do not ornament their songs with a
glottal ‘shake’, or tremor, as do Warnindilyaugwa men.9 Durations of sectional divisions in the
Waterspout song, as performed by the singer in this track, are 10”, 7”, 6”, 8”, 7”, 7”, 7”, 6”, 12”.
After each sectional break, words in the previous section are repeated, a form of text-overlap
which seems to compensate for the discontinuity in the singing (see Moyle 1974b:29).
   This style of singing, with its frequent breaks and intakes of breath bears no resemblance to
styles of desert singing in which the same string of syllables is repeated continuously for as long
as the singer’s breath will last.
   The pitch range of the Waterspout song does not exceed a ‘third’ (Notation 4).

Track 8
‘Crying’ song (1’35”)
Wrotham Park — indoors.
One female voice (Okundjain); unaccompanied.
The name given by the singer to this excerpt was amud’ndora. It was referred to in English as
‘praying’, ‘crying’ and ‘sorry for dead body’. The squawking of crows has penetrated the small
enclosure in which the recordings were made.
   The performer was an elderly woman, one of only two resident at Wrotham Park who were
able to sing in this way. Formalised ‘crying’ of this kind is in contrast to the low-pitched wailing

7.  Dancing by Bentinck Islanders is not accompanied by singing (see Plate 1).
8.  See Tindale 1961–64. (In this article, the author’s spelling of the language, referred to in these notes as Gayardilt,
   is Kaiadilt).
9. Cf. Groote Eylandt Songs on CD 4 in the series Songs from the Northern Territory.

                                                                                                                         9

Songs from North Queensland                                                                  Moyle

of Arnhem Land women heard at times of death and mourning. In this track the voice descends
in pitch over a range of an octave or more in a series of embellished and apparently wordless
glides.
   Durations of the sectional divisions are 5”, 5”, 5”, 7”, 4”, 10”, 9”, 6”, 10”, 8”, 8”, 10”.

Track 9
‘Shake-a-Leg’ songs
a. Dunbar Load (46”); b. Fish Hawk (20”); c. Manager (53”); d. Kwinggin (36”).
Wrotham Park — indoors.
One male voice (Wulgulu); tapping on a tobacco tin.
The items in this track are sung by an elderly man who belonged to a territory north of the
Mitchell River. His song repertoire consisted almost entirely of ‘Shake-a-Leg’ (umanthudjan)
songs, many of which were attributed to Aboriginal men employed on neighbouring cattle
stations. Dunbar Load refers to a loaded vehicle on its way to Dunbar station; Fish Hawk,
known throughout Cape York, may have some earlier ceremonial associations; Manager, as the
singer says repeatedly, belongs to Laura, a small settlement some 180 kilometres to the north-
east; Kwinggin (Quinkan) was described as a spirit (‘devil’) who ‘came back’. If seen, it was said,
Kwinggin quickly retreats behind a tree.
   During a dance performance which took place in the camp one evening, the singer beat
his own accompaniments on a large empty tin, one woman thumped a bundle on the ground
(traditionally it would have been made of bark) and several men danced (cf. Track 2).
   Other ‘Shake-a-Leg’ songs known to this same singer included Branding Calf (with shouts
of Baa! Baa!), Policeman (‘Constable lock’em in’), Fish Line, Gambula Station, Pigeon and
Piwi. Although many of the words in these songs are English words, they are not immediately
recognisable as such, e.g. minidja, menidji, wulfela menidji (manager, manager, old fellow,
manager). The shouted dialogue is clear enough: Where’s the bullock? ‘Nother side of creek!
‘Ooray! Ooray! Goodbye!, etc. The final vocal sounds in the Manager song parallel the calls and
grunt-like terminations which characterise many of the ‘story’ songs further north in Cape York.
   The Kwinggin dance was notably subdued. There was no shouted dialogue. Sections of

     
some of these ‘Shake-a-Leg’ songs are also terminated with a repeated percussive pattern
(he ). Most of the sectional durations, as in the Spear Fight song in Track 2, are longer than
average: a. 19”; b. 15”; c. 17”, 4”, 5”; d. 22”, 14”.

Track10
Three Wanam songs
a. Ironwood (23”);10 b. Big Eel (23”); c. Shark (24”).
Aurukun — indoors.
One male voice (Wikupurr); hand clapping (c).
Wanam is the name of a series of songs and dances belonging to a territory south of the Kendall
River (see map). The songs might also be classed as ‘increase’ or subsistence songs for it is
believed that, through their performance, supplies of spears, fish, etc., will be maintained.
   The region between the Kendall and Holroyd Rivers marks the northern-most boundary of
Aboriginal groups using boomerang clapsticks in song accompaniment. Normally, boomerang
clapsticks would have been used in accompaniment to these Wanam songs (cf. Track 1). The
singer did not have a pair with him at the time of recording.

10. Ironwood is used for making fishing spears.

10

Moyle                                                                           Songs from North Queensland

        PLATE 1: Pre-initiation dance demonstrated by a Gayardilt man (Bentinck Island).
        Traditionally this dance was performed without music (i.e. singing), and just before a young
        boy was ‘grabbed’ or taken away for initiation. Photograph by Alice Moyle, Mornington Island,
        1966.

   A smooth legato style of singing characterises items in this track. Descending (nasal)
terminations, followed by two handclaps, are heard in other dance songs recorded at Aurukun.11
Sectional durations are as follows: a. 14”, 12”; b. 13”, 9”; c. 13”, 11”.

11. See the film Dances at Aurukun: Freshwater Shark Dance (No.8).

                                                                                                         11

Songs from North Queensland                                                                                 Moyle

Track 11
Wanam song
Little Mullet (43”).
Aurukun — indoors.
One male voice (Wiknantjara); hand clapping.
The song in this track also belongs to the series called Wanam (cf. Track 10). Compared with
the previous items Little Mullet is sung at a lively tempo. The singer here is an older man than
the previous singer and he belongs to another language group. At the commencement of the
song, the melodic range widens to a ‘third’ then as in the previous Wanam songs, narrows to an
alternation between two tones. Sounds such as tauw! and nghr! are heard at the conclusion of
each of the three sections, the durations of which are 15”, 9”, 13”.

Track 12
Antjelam song
Shooting Star (1’04”).
Aurukun — indoors.
One male voice (Wikupurr); hand clapping.
The singer is also a practised performer of Wanam songs (cf. Track 10). The song belongs to a
series called Antjelam, which is said to consist of dancing ‘different from Wanam’.
  To the people in this region a shooting star is connected with the death of a relative. This
song, which is part of the Turtle man story, was interpreted as ‘Turtle saw the shooting star and
was frightened’.
  There are four sections, the third being the longest (13”, 13”, 16”, 12”). The two pitches
employed in this song are approximately half a tone apart.

Track 13
Wintjinam items
a. Night Owl (1’03”); b. Possum (47”); c. Wintjinam whistle (10”).
Aurukun — outside.
One male voice (Wikngatara);12 hand clapping.
In former times, among coastal groups north of the Kendall River, two stages of initiation
were observed, the first known as Utjanam, or Morpela, the second as Wintjinam. Dances were
associated with each stage. During the first stage, the young initiates learned to swing the bull-
roarer; during the second, they were shown a number of ceremonial dances and enactments
for the first time. According to information obtained at Aurukun in 1966, only two Wintjinam
dances have songs to accompany them: Night Owl and Possum. The remainder are accompanied
only by shouts and calls.13
   As the owl sings at night, the Night Owl song is sung at night time. The sleeping initiates are
wakened — and kept awake — in order to watch the presentation and learn the song. Possum is
sung while several actors, simulating possums, climb a tree.

12. Only one singer is heard in each song, though two men contribute to this track. Both men make the sounds which
    terminate the sections of the first song.
13. In the film Dances at Aurukun, the following dances are accompanied only by calls, etc.: Utjanam — Flying fox
    (no. 7); Wintjinam — Bone fish (no. 3).

12

Moyle                                                                                Songs from North Queensland

        PLATE 2: A Linngiti man blows the Wintjinam whistle (the whistle, a piece of bamboo, was
        cut especially for this demonstration). Photograph by W. Johnstone, Weipa [Napranum], 1966.

   The whistle heard in this track was made from a short piece of bamboo for the purpose of
recording (see Plate 2). It was used in earlier times as a signal during the initiation period:
blown twice14 to warn of the approach of women (initiates were not permitted to see women
during the period of their seclusion); blown three times to announce the arrival of another group
of initiates.

Track 14
a. Cross Shark (1’17”); b. Sugar Bag or Wild Honey (1’18”).
Aurukun — indoors.
One male voice (Wikngatara); hand clapping.

14. Across the top of the opening at one end. The same whistle (recorded by E.C. Butler, Weipa [Napranum], 1966) is
    also on the CD Aboriginal Sound Instruments, Track 14.

                                                                                                                 13

Songs from North Queensland                                                                           Moyle

  The singer contributing to this track is heard here announcing the titles of his songs, giving
the name of Shark, or Cross Shark, first in his own language, Wikngatara, then in Wikmungkan.
There is some hesitation at the commencement of the recording. The singer was waiting for his
companion to start the hand clapping accompaniment (see Plate 3).
  The song refers to a story about a freshwater shark who tried to enter a lagoon but was held off
by an alligator (crocodile), allegedly the song maker. After making several attempts, Shark gives
up the struggle and descends into his final resting place (auwa) under the ground (Notation 5).
  The melodic character of the Wild Honey song differs markedly from the preceding Cross
Shark song. Its pitch range of a sixth marks it off from numerous other songs of the region,
where the vocal range rarely exceeds intervals of less than half that size.
  Wild Honey is a dance song. It was said to belong to the singer and to the ‘Holroyd River
people’. The owner was unable to identify the language of the song words (Notation 6).

Track 15
Women’s Wu-ungka (54”)
Aurukun — indoors.
Two female voices (Wikngatara); unaccompanied.

Wu-ungka songs15 are sung only by women and are associated with death and mourning. The
sample presented here belongs to a Shark story (Elyapin) of the people from Kirke and Yoinka
Rivers, south of the Archer River. According to the story, the Kirke River was flooded and, in
attempting to cross it, two girls were drowned. They were then turned into sharks.
  The refrain sounds (pub-wa:) which terminate the sectional divisions in this low-pitched song
were said to represent the final gasps of the drowning girls.

PLATE 3: Two Wikngatara singers demonstrate hand clapping as used in accompaniment to
their singing (Track 14). Photograph by Alice Moyle, Aurukun, 1966.

15. Dancing in accompaniment to Wu-ungka songs can be seen in the film Dances at Aurukun (No. 271).

14

Moyle                                                                                 Songs from North Queensland

Track 16
White Crane (1’35”)
Aurukun — indoors.
One male voice (Wundawinda); hand clapping.
The singer of White Crane came from a west coastal region north of Aurukun on Cape York
Peninsula. At Aurukun he was the chief performer of songs from this northerly region, including
one called Sa:ra, a mythical being believed to have travelled southwards through territories
bordering on the north-west coast.16
   Narrow in range, White Crane consists of an initial descent followed by a prolonged
alternation between the two lowest tones. Each of the four sectional divisions (12”, 1 7”, 17”, 16”)
are terminated by a sequence of contrasting sounds: short, trilled descents, a relatively high-
pitched sustained call, followed by a series of short calls.
   The song words were interpreted in English as ‘White Crane goes out to hunt for fish’.

Track 17
Engwe songs
a. Barramundi (41”); b. Yam (42”).
Weipa — indoors.
One male voice (Mpalitjan); a. tapping on table, b. hand clapping.
The singer of the songs in this track was over 80 years of age at the time of recording (1966).
The recordings were made inside his house and in the presence of several Aboriginal men and
women. He asserted that Engwe songs would be called Apledj, or Bora in languages other than
his own.17
  After the Barramundi (fish) song, with its interruptive calls between each section (7”, 7”, 6”),
the old man is to be heard talking about Yam,18 a similar type of song with sectional divisions
and calls (7”, 5”, 6”).
  It was said that these two items belong to the Rainbow story.

Track 18
a. Innikan (30”); b. Oyurlu: Emu (30”); c. Kwara (10”).
Weipa — outside.
One male voice (Linngiti); a. and b. unaccompanied.
Associated with the first song, Innikan (meeting place), is a dance with spears. The song words
were interpreted briefly by the singer as ‘meet me there’.
  Oyurlu (Oyurr or Yul) dances were described as being like S ivri dances (see below) and
belonging to the ‘old generation’. The Emu dance is connected with the story of the Emu and the
Brolga bird or ‘Native Companion’: Emu steals all but two of Brolga’s brood after losing her own
chicks. In the song, the terminal calls ‘tu ‘tu ‘tu represent Emu calling to the stolen chicks. The
song words were interpreted in English by the singer: ‘Who has seen my footmarks?’
  According to the Wikmungkan myth, S ivri the seagull’ made the first drums in western Cape
York, covered them with goanna skin and used them to accompany dance songs called kwara,
such as the third item in this track. The singer did not know the meaning of the words in the
recorded kwara song.

16. Sa:ra is the first dance in the film Dances at Aurukun.
17. At Aurukun Apledj dances, to which many different groups of dancers contributed, followed dances associated with
    the first two stages of initiation, Utjanam and Wintjinam (see Track 13).
18. The singer says: ‘‘Nother one, too. ‘Nother one sing. Me sing’em another one, Yam — the way he dance-a [in the]
    bush. He no look-a [look at] woman.’

                                                                                                                  15

Songs from North Queensland                                                                   Moyle

  In contrast to many of the samples in previous tracks on this recording, the three songs on
Track 18 encompass an octave and more.
  The third kwara song bears little resemblance to Australian Aboriginal songs recorded in
other parts of the continent. Closer similarities are to be found in songs recorded in coastal
regions west and north of New Guinea (see Moyle 1968–69:7;Notation 7).

Track 19
Dinghy, or Boat on Batavia River (1 ‘43”)
Weipa — outside (during dancing).
Group of male voices (Mamngayt, Mbiywom, Linngiti, etc.); drum; seed rattles; tin beaten with
two sticks.
Listeners to this track will notice that the singing voices grow louder as the group approaches
the microphone.
   The singers hold seed rattles (segments of the match box bean strung together) in their hands,
shaking them as they move. Unlike Aboriginal singers in other parts of Australia, singers of
Cape York songs in the ‘island style’ dance while they sing.
   One man, who holds a single-headed skin drum under one arm (cf. Plate 4), walks beside
the dancers, singing with them and beating the drum with the palm of his hand. A hollow log
or upturned canoe beaten with two sticks, one in each hand, would have been used in the days
before tin cans became available.
   The whistling heard in this track is by young girls who announce their presence in the
audience in this way to members of the male dancing group.
   The song refers to two men rowing a dinghy, pulling hard against the south-east wind. As in
other island style songs voices divide here into parts, mainly into harmonic ‘thirds’ and ‘fourths’.
   The song owner, a Mamngayt speaker, adapted his own words to this tune which is from
Mabuiag Island in the Torres Strait (Notation 8).19

Track 20
a. Sunset (‘Sun goes down’): in Kundjen (59”); b. Sunset (‘Sun goes down’): in Kokomindjen (54”);
c. ‘DC 3’ (Aeroplane) (53”).
Kowanyama — outside.
Group of male voices (Kokomindjen, Kundjen); guitars; ukuleles; seed rattles.
Although used at the present time to accompany dance songs in the island style, the guitars and
ukuleles heard in this track are not indigenous to Australia or to islands in Torres Strait.
   Tunes of the kind heard here are continually being added to the song repertoire by Aboriginal
men and women, and sung to words in their own languages. Music prototypes, with similar
admixtures of island and European musical elements, probably entered Cape York via Thursday
Island where many different groups of people congregate.
   Songs of this type refer to cyclones, bushfires, airlines, aircraft, etc. In many places in Cape
York today, where the traditional songs of earlier generations are no longer heard by young
people, songs such as the items in this track may represent the only oral literature they can call
their own.
   ‘Sun goes down’ was composed with words in Kundjen and Kokomindjen languages by a
Kundjen speaker at Kowanyama, and one of the singers in the recorded performance transferred
it to this recording.

19. This item is also reproduced on the disc, Aboriginal Sound Instruments (Moyle 1978).

16

Moyle                                                                           Songs from North Queensland

        PLATE 4: Young man demonstrates the method of holding and sounding the single-headed
        skin drum. (In place of a lizard skin, the head of this instrument is made from a rubber tyre
        tube.) Photograph by Alice Moyle, Aurukun, 1966.

                                                                                                         17

Songs from North Queensland                                                                          Moyle

Acknowledgements
Without the kind co-operation of the Aboriginal people whom the writer met during her fieldwork
in North Queensland in 1966, it would not have been possible to record and preserve music of
the kind presented here.
   Grateful acknowledgements are also made to various members of staff at the settlements
visited, and to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies for financial assistance during
the period of the writer’s Research Fellowship in the Department of Music, Monash University,
Victoria, where most of the work on Songs from North Queensland was carried out.

References
Bibliography
Haddon, A.C. (ed.) 1904, Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, vol. 5,
  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Le Souëf, D. 1894, ‘A trip to North Queensland’, The Victorian Naturalist, 11(1):3–31.
McConnel, U.H. 1935, ‘Myths of the Wikmunkan and Wiknatara tribes’, Oceania, 6(l):[66]–93.
—— 1957, Myths of the Mungkan, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
Moyle, A.M. 1968–69, ‘Aboriginal music on Cape York’, Musicology III (Journal of the Musicological Society
  of Australia):3–20.
—— 1974a, North Australian music: a taxonomic approach to the study of Aboriginal song Performances,
  unpublished PhD thesis, Monash University.
—— 1974b, ‘Pitch and loudness ambits in some North Australian songs’, Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology
  (University of California, Los Angeles), 2(1):16–30.
Roth, W.E. 1902, Games, sports and amusements, North Queensland Ethnography Bulletin No. 4,
  Government Printer, Brisbane.
Thomson, D.F. 1933, ‘The hero cult, initiation and totemism on Cape York’, Journal of the Royal
  Anthropological Institute, 63:453–537.
Tindale, N.B. 1961–64, Some population changes among the Kaiadilt people of Bentinck Island, Queensland,
  Records of the South Australian Museum, 14:297–336.
Walker, D. (ed.) 1974, Bridge and Barrier: The natural and cultural history of Torres Strait, 2nd ed.,
  Publication BG/3, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra.

Discography
Songs from the Northern Territory 1964 Recorded and edited by Alice M. Moyle. Originally five LP discs
  with Companion Booklet (1974, 2nd ed.). Both cassette and CD versions have been issued. Australian
  Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra. [Originally Australian Institute of
  Aboriginal Studies].
Aboriginal Sound Instruments 1978 Recorded and edited by Alice M. Moyle. Originally one LP disc and
  Companion Booklet. Both cassette and CD versions have been issued. Australian Institute of Aboriginal
  and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra. [Originally Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies].

Films
Dances at Aurukun 1962, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, AIATSIS
   No. FC0169_1–44.
Five Aboriginal Dances from Cape York 1966, Australian Commonwealth Film Unit with the co-operation
   of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, AIATSIS No. FC00671_1.

18

Moyle                                                                        Songs from North Queensland

Recording catalogue details of source tapes
held by AIATSIS
NOTE: The tracks refer to the AIATSIS Archive tape numbers and the individual song items.
All are part of AIATSIS Collection MOYLE_A08, except for LA4746 on Track 13 c., which is from
MOYLE_A17.

Track 1      (LA2602a, 0:00ff, 1–5) Singer: Archie Minyalk (Kokomindjen).
Track 2      (LA2602a, 20:15, 13) Singer: Little Tommy (Kundjen).
Track 3      (LA2603a, 43:10ff, 1–3) (LA2603a, 44:37ff, 5–7.) Singer: Mark Pinanam (Kokobera).
Track 4      (LA2602a, 0:18ff, 1–2) Singer: Hilda and Wurumbulbul (Lardil).
Track 5 a.   (LA2606a, 2:22, 3) Singers: Hilda and Wurumbulbul (with Lindsay Roughsey)
             (Lardil).
Track 5 b.   (LA2606a, 6:00, 6) Singers: Hilda and Wurumbulbul (with Lindsay Roughsey)
             (Lardil).
Track 6 a.   (LA2605a, 0:00ff, 1–5) Leading singers: Lindsay Roughsey, Sandy (Lardil).
Track 6 b.   (LA2605a, 6:38ff, 11–12) Leading singers: Lindsay Roughsey, Sandy (Lardil).
Track 7      (LA2605b, 37:50, 2) Singer: Darwin (Gayardilt).
Track 8      (LA2601a, 53:06, 6) Singer: Nancy Drumduff (Okundjain).
Track 9      (LA2600a, 17:40ff, 1–2) (LA2600a, 21:30, 8. AM116A:VIII) (LA2600a, 41:08ff, 24–
             25a) (LA2601a, 36:00, 6ab) Singer: Peter Flying Fox (Wulgulu).
Track 10     (LA2596b, 29:55, 3. (LA2596b, 30:35, 4) (LA2596b, 31:00, 5) Singer: Paddy Yintuma
             (Wikupurr).
Track 11     (LA2596b, 19:45, 1) Singer: Sam Karyuka (Wiknantjara).
Track 12     (LA2596b, 34:10, 9) Singer: Paddy Yintuma (Wikupurr).
Track 13 a.  (LA2596a, 28:38, 3) Singers: Jack Spear, Jack Walmbeng (Wikngatara).
Track 13 b.  (LA2596a, 30:00, 4) Singer: Jack Spear (Wikngatara).
Track 13 c.  (LA4746, 2:15ff) Bamboo whistle: Sam Kilndan (Linngiti).
Track 14 a.  (LA2596b, 54:00, 1) Singer: Jack Walmbeng (Wikngatara).
Track 14 b.  (LA2597b, 28:03, 1) Singer: Jack Walmbeng (Wikngatara).
Track 15     (LA2598a, ll:40ff, 8–9) Singers: Utekn, Yuimuk (Wikngatara).
Track 16     (LA2596b, 14:10, 2) Singer: Angus Kowengka (Wundawinda).
Track 17 a.  (LA2598b, 0:00, 1) Singer: David Weipa (Mpalitjan).
Track 17 b.  (LA2598b, 0:55, 2) Singer: David Weipa (Mpalitjan).
Track 18 a.  (LA2598b, 37:50, 2) Singer: Sam Kilndan (Linngiti).
Track 18 b.  (LA2598b, 42:15, 4) Singer: Sam Kilndan (Linngiti).
Track 18 c.  (LA4746, 8:20, 2) Singer: Sam Kilndan (Linngiti).
Track 19     (LA2598b, 58:00, 7) Singers: Weipa dancing group.
Track 20      (LA2602a, 22:00ff, 1, 3) Singers: Kokomindjen and Kundjen men.
a. and b.
Track 20 c. (LA2602a, 28:02, 6.) Singers: Kokomindjen and Kundjen men.

Please note that the references to side and track refers to the original vinyl discs. These have now
been digitised. The following table shows the corresponding CD tracks and the text numbers.
 CD track    Notation no.    Original vinyl disc side   Title of notation
                             and band
 1.a         1.              Side 1, Band 1a            Plains Wallaby and Dog
 2.          2.              Side 1, Band 2             Shake-a-Leg : Spear Fight
 6.          3.              Side 1, Band 6             Mortuary songs: Djawala
 7.          4.              Side 1, Band 7             Waterspout
 14.a        5.              Side 2, Band 5a            Cross Shark
 14.b        6.              Side 2, Band 5b            ‘Sugar Bag’ or ‘Wild Honey’
 18.         7.              Side 2, Band 9c            Kwara
 19.         8.              Side 2, Band 10            Dinghy, or Boat on Batavia River
                                                                                                      19

Music notations

Symbols and abbreviations
Pitch
In the following notations the aim has been to choose symbols to represent pitches in their
relation to A4 = 440 cps. In some cases — to avoid the use of leger lines, accidentals and other
notational devices — there have been pitch transpositions and, inevitably, simplifications. The
notations were made (aurally) from tape dubbings of the original field tapes.

                   Encased symbols descending in pitch. These represent an inventory of
                   the pitches used in the notation. Modifications are added (e.g. upward and
                   downward arrows). The inventory appears only once and is not reproduced at
                   the beginning of each stave as in the case of a ‘key signature’. The selection
                   of pitch symbols has not been made with a view to presenting this music as
                   conforming to the theoretical demands of ‘key’.

                   (a) Upward and (b) downward pointing arrows signify pitches heard as (a)
                   sharper and (b) flatter (by less than a semi-tone) than the pitch represented in
                   the notation.

                   Gliding between two notated tones; after and before one notated tone.

                   A sound of indefinite pitch.

Tempo
                   Tempo expressed in terms of a metronome figure.

                   Modification of the notated tempo. The sign corresponds to meno mosso.

        Bar lines The placement of bar lines is, as a rule, after the ‘longs’ (i.e. the longer tones
                  — or substituted ‘rests’ — which occur at the ends of syllable strings). Shorter
                  lines are placed after ‘longs’ which occur as part of the syllable string. As used
                  in these notations, bar lines do not imply accentuation.

20

Moyle                                                                    Songs from North Queensland

Syllable strings
① ② ③ etc. Encircled figures placed above the stave give the number of each succeeding string
               of syllables in a song item.

Melodic divisions
I I1 I2 etc.   Melodic divisions (sections) (Moyle 1974:198).

Abbreviations
bcl     paired boomerang clapsticks
dr      skin drum
hcl     handclapping
m.      single male voice
mgp     group of male voices
sr      seed rattles
sts     paired sticks
st/g    stick beaten on ground
sts/t   two sticks beaten on a tin (in place of a hollow log or canoe)
V       intake of breath by the singer (breathtake)
d.c.    dancers’ calls, etc. (music Notation 1)
∫:      hissing sounds made by dancers

Key to phonetic symbols
        accent (e.g. |e)
        nasalised sound (e.g. ã)
        in path
        a in ark
        a in hat
        o in boy
        o in top
        é in bébé
        e in get
        e in pear
        e in father
        i in bit
        ee in bee
        u in but
        u in put
        u in boot
        j in judge
        y in yellow
        trilled r
        r with a single flap of the tongue
        r in tram — with tongue turned back (retroflex)
        n in barn (retroflex)
        d (retroflex)
        ng m sing
        th in this
        prolongation of the sound (e.g. u:)
        guttural sound (music Notation 6)

                                                                                                  21

Song words (selected items)

Track 1
Welten songs:
     a. Plains Wallaby and Dog

                  20

       Interpretation: The dog catches (‘drags’) the wallaby.20

     b. Little Wallaby

       Interpretation: Big mob coming and swinging around.

     c. Male (big) Wallaby

Track 2
‘Shake-a-Leg’: Spear fight21

                           21

20. Syllable additions and omissions occur in the singing of these words (see Notation 1).
21. In spoken form these words would be represented as: elkoy elkoy (ng)alkaraley (personal communication from
    Dr Bruce Sommer).

22

Moyle                                  Songs from North Queensland

Track 6
a. Mortuary songs:22

          (last two lines repeated)

          (last two lines repeated)

          (last lines repeated)

(iv)      ditto

b. (Sending the spirit away)

(ii)    ditto

22. Sung as          the first time.

                                                                23

Songs from North Queensland                                                                  Moyle

Track 7
Waterspout
Section 1

     Interpretation: The waterspout is like a mob of women.

Section 2

     Interpretation: The spray of the waterspout. ‘See smoke go that way, all the women behind.’

Section 3

     Interpretation: The waterspout makes a hole in the deep water.

Section 4

     Interpretation: The waterspout is going west.

Section 5

     Interpretation: The spray of the waterspout.

Section 6

     Interpretation: All the women falling down now (cf. Section 1).

Section 7

24

Moyle                                                                   Songs from North Queensland

Section 8

  Interpretation: The old man waterspout can’t stay: ‘You move, old man!’

Section 9

  Interpretation: Look at the woman. He (waterspout) get up again.

Track 9
‘Shake-a-Leg’ songs
a. Dunbar load

  Interpretation: Taking a load to Dunbar (Station). The song belongs to Charlie Tree, the
  singer’s brother. It is based on two non-Aboriginal words, ‘Dunbar’ and ‘load’.

b. Fish hawk

                                             23

  23

c. Manager

  Old fellow manager — (mari) is ‘person’.

d. Kwinggin

  Interpretation: Kwinggin (devil) stands behind a tree.           was interpreted as ‘low-down’,
  i.e. Kwinggin (the spirit or ghost) comes from below the ground.

23. This song belongs to Jimmy Koolatah.

                                                                                                 25

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