104 A BORA RING IN THE ALBERT VALLEY 



• diameter, looking like an immense circus ring, with walls- 

 which are now two to three feet above the surrounding 

 level, and almost uniformly five feet thick at the base. 

 In this ring trees of nine inches in diameter are growings 

 showing that it has not been used for some years past. 



Leading out of the large ring at its southern side is 

 a path, now partly overgrown \Wth grass, and varying in 

 width from 2 to 5 feet. This path is 400 yards long, and 

 is in a north and south direction. 



The path ends in a second ring, 30 feet in diameter, 

 resembling the first, but with rather less solid earthen 

 walls. So far this " kipper ring " resembles in plan alll 

 others yet visited ; but guided by Mr. Henderson and Mr. 

 B. Geissmann, of Capo di Monte, Tambourine Mountain, 

 it was seen that from the southern side of the small ring 

 the path continued for another 400 yards, where it ended 

 in a third wall of earth, this time of an oval shape. 



This oval enclosure measures 80 feet long by 30 feet 

 in its widest part. The long axis lies in the same direction 

 as the paths, almost exactly north and south. 



Mr. Thos. Petrie in his " Reminiscences of Early 

 Queensland," has given a graphic account of the Bora 

 ceremony, as practiced by the tribes in the neighbourhood 

 of Brisbane, pp. 44-57, with a plan of one of the rings on 

 p. 49. But neither in his book, nor in any other work on 

 Queensland aborigines, have I found mention of the third 

 earthen enclosure to which I have referred. 



Round the third or oval earthen rampart is a semi- 

 circular track or path, roughly shown in the plan. 

 Unfortunately in the Albert Valley to-day there are only 

 a few half-castes remaining, and from these it is difficult 

 to obtain any information as to tribal customs. 



All writers on the " kipper " initiation ceremony 

 describe the tribal fights that took place at its close ; first 

 the fights between the initiated boys, then the melee in 

 which parties of tried warriors distinguished themselves, 

 and finally the single combats between tribal champions. 

 It is the general belief in the Tambourine neighbourhood 

 that the oval enclosure was the scene of these Homeric 

 contests, and that the semi- circular track surrounding it 

 was beaten by the feet of the tribesmen of combatants 

 when cheering on the champion of their tribe. 



