38 . A NATIVE BURIAL GROUND 



Some writers also refer to the custom of placing a 

 dead body in an upright position in a hollow tree. As 

 far as I can see this was only done in cases of emer- 

 gency, when there was no time to burn the body at 

 once ; but they were certainly subsequently burnt. 



And now a very curious question arises : Did the 

 Aborigines dispose of their deceased on the spot where 

 death took place, or did they carry them to certain 

 places habitually used for the purpose of cremation? It 

 is pretty safe to assume that death mostly took place 

 on the camping ground ; some may have died while 

 travelling, while others may have been killed at odd 

 places in their internecine wars. 



It is very strange to find that not a single one of all 

 observers noticed whether the Aborigines had regular 

 burial grounds or not. The only reference I can find is 

 Braim (4), who states : " Whenever they approached 

 places where any of their countrymen had been de- 

 posited, they would on all future occasions avoid com- 

 ing near such spots, and would rather go miles round 

 than pass close to them." The same authority states 

 that " other tribes, again, when it was not convenient to 

 carry off the dead body to some place of interment 

 would put it into some hollow tree." 



These two statements would imply (a) that there was 

 a regular burial ground, (b) that the dead body was 

 carried to it. Now, we know that the names of the de- 

 ceased were never mentioned ag'ain by their relatives — 

 in fact, thy seem to have had a superstitious fear of the 

 spirits of their departed, and from this fact alone we 

 may conclude that the dead were not indiscriminately 

 buried. It is hardly probable that if anyone died at a 

 regular camping ground they disposed of the dead body 

 then and there in the way described by Peron and 

 others. It is more probable that there existed certain 

 areas, well known and to be avoided, where the remains 

 of the dead were deposited. The question, however, is,. 

 Do such burial grounds exist? As already stated, no 

 author but Braim mentions a burial "Tound : but if thev 



( i) Braiim. Tlio.-^. H.. History of New South Wales from its 

 •settlenreiTt to the year 1844. 1 1., p. 267. London. 1846. (I quote 

 from Ling Roth, p. 62.) 



