io Spencer, What is Nardoo. [vIl'xxx'v. 



Many scores of times I have watched the natives of various 

 tribes, from the Urabunna, in the south, on the west side of 

 Lake Eyre, right across the continent to the Kakadu, on the 

 Alligator River, in the Northern Territory, grinding and 

 pounding the various seeds that they use for food. In addition 

 to grass seeds, they use those of various species of Acacia, 

 "shelling" them when they are fresh and green, just as we 

 "shell" peas, and eating them in large quantities, either raw 

 or after warming them in hot ashes. When dry and hard they 

 are pounded and made into cakes, to which the name nardoo 

 is certainly not applied in the Urabunna or the Arunta tribes 

 — the latter inhabiting the country from the Macumba River 

 to the south of Charlotte Waters and away to the north of 

 the Macdonnell Ranges in the centre. In regard to these two 

 tribes I am speaking after having made careful investigations, 

 and, as I know from Dr. Howitt, the same is, or was when he 

 knew them well, equally true of the Dieri and Yantruwanta 

 tribes of the Lake Eyre district. On the other hand, it is 

 important to note that, as indicated later, the natives have a 

 special name for each form of plant food. In the far north, 

 for example, cakes are made from the seeds of the water-lily, 

 but the name nardoo is never applied to them ; they are called 

 either " worki " or " porijilili " by the Kakadu natives. 



Mr. Lees writes, in regard to his experiences, that on one 

 occasion when returning from " a western exploration trip 

 in the neighbourhood of Giles's ' ever-flowing Ferdinand ' 

 . . . we faced the return journey of six days with barely 

 sufficient stores to last two days. On the second day we struck 

 water, and, notwithstanding the commissariat shortage, we had 

 to spell the camels for a day. During this time our camp black 

 (a Macumba River native) collected a supply of leguminous 

 seed, from which we made nardoo." Again, in regard to his 

 experiences near Charlotte Waters, Mr. Lees writes : — " On 

 one such expedition I was accompanied by Mr. Gillen, and we 

 have partaken of leguminous nardoo in aboriginal restaurants, 

 where at that time English was unspoken and the white man 

 little known." One cannot help thinking that the term 

 nardoo was mistakenly applied by the white man in all good 

 faith to the leguminous cakes, or, if by the natives, simply 

 because they knew that nardoo was a name well known to 

 the former. 



I have spent very many months with my late friend and 

 colleague, Mr. Gillen, working amongst the aboriginals. Over 

 many a camp-fire between Lake Eyre, in the south, and Borro- 

 loola, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, we have discussed most 

 things connected with the natives, but he never suggested and 

 we never found any evidence to show that the word nardoo 



