Art. XI. — The Bora of the Kamilaroi Tribes. 

 By R. H. Mathews, 



Licensed Surveyor. 



(Communicated by Professor Baldwin Spencer). 



[Read 10th September, 189G.] 



The Bora at Tallwood.— \tl March, 1895, I heard that 

 the aborigines were mustering near Tall wood Station, on 

 the Weir River, Queensland, for the purpose of holding 

 a Bora. By corresponding with residents of the district, 

 I learnt that, owing to the very dry weather, great delays 

 arose in gathering the various tribes who intended to be 

 present. In June, fearing to put off my visit any longer, lest the 

 ceremonies should be commenced before I got there, I started for 

 the scene of the Bora. This journey was accomplished by going 

 350 miles by railway to Narrabri, and thence by stage coach 150 

 miles to Mungindi, a small town on the boundary between New 

 South Wales and Queensland. At Mungindi I obtained a horse 

 and sulky and drove an additional distance of 55 miles to the 

 aboriginal camp on the Tallwood run, making a total distance of 

 upwards of 550 miles. The only people then assembled at the 

 Bora ground were the local Tallwood tribe and the contingents 

 from Kunopia and Welltown respectively. 



After I had pitched my camp, I entered into conversation with 

 the head men, some of whom were known to me, having been 

 acquainted with them when surveying Crown lands in that part 

 of the country in 1875 and 1876. I had been kind to them in 

 those days, while listening to their legends and their songs, and 

 studying their wonderful class system* ; and when I met them 

 now I found their friendship of the greatest value to me. On 

 my showing them that I knew their Bora secrets, they received 

 me as one of the initiated, and admitted me to all their secret 

 meetings. 



* See "The Kamilaroi Class System of the Australian Aborigines," Proc. Roy. Geog. Soo. 

 Australas., Qld. Bch., x., 18-34. 



