n6 Spencer, Kitchen Middens and Native Ovens, [vj'^xxx'v 



by the drifting sand. Whether the body had been deliberately 

 buried or whether the native had chanced to die on the spot 

 and his body had been left on the surface, it is impossible to 

 say ; but there was at least no evidence of definite burial, and 

 the bones lay on the surface amongst the remnants of the 

 shell-fish, on which he had probably been feeding. This is, 

 so far as I know, the only record of remains of an aboriginal 

 in the coastal kitchen middens, but in the interior of Victoria 

 human skeletons are not infrequently found buried in what 

 are usually described as " native ovens," " mirnyong heaps," 

 or " mirnyongs." These have been referred to by Brough 

 Smyth,* who says : — " They occur, so far as I am aware, only 

 in the eastern and south-eastern parts of Australia, where the 

 soil is less absorbent and the climate wetter, and in some parts 

 colder than the sandy Territory of Western Australia. . . 

 They are found in the valleys of rivers and creeks, on the 

 margins of lakes and lagoons, just inside the ' points of timber ' 

 or portions of forest which project into the plains, on rising 

 grounds in the plains, near the seashore, and in every locality 

 where fish, game, or food of any description is to be found. 

 The positions of the mirnyongs have been carefully selected, 

 so that, as far as possible, the occupants may obtain an 

 extensive view of the surrounding country, while they them- 

 selves are screened from any passer-by." 



There is some considerable discrepancy in the accounts of 

 these mounds, ovens, or mirnyongs, under all of which names 

 they have been indiscriminately described, but it is possible 

 that the names as used, for example, by various writers in 

 Brough Smyth's work are applied to two different structures 

 by different workers. One is led to suspect that this may be 

 so partly because they seem to be roughly divided into two 

 series by their shape, and partly because of the nature of their 

 composition and contents. Those of the one set are more or 

 less elongate or oval in shape. Of these Brough Smyth | 

 says : — " There are numerous old mirm-yong heaps on the 

 banks of the River Plenty, on the Darebin Creek, and the Merri 

 Creek, near Melbourne. . . They are in general of an oval 

 shape, about one hundred feet in length and about forty feet 

 in breadth, and rising to a height of twelve feet or more. 

 They are composed of burnt clay, a little soil, quantities of 

 charcoal and ashes, burnt and unburnt bones, and stones. 

 They enclose numerous fragments of black basalt, chips of 

 greenstone, in some places whole and broken tomahawks, and 

 in more than one have been found human skeletons, as if they 



* Brough Smyth, "Aborigines of Victoria," vol. i., pp. xxxvi. and 238; 



vol. ii., p. 233. 

 f Op. cit., vol. i., p. 239. 



