i**$ra e ' J Massula. Mure Puintint/s on 1-lut Nock 67 



Ii lias been said that the messengers sent to distant groups were 

 in the habit of painting strokes on their amis \\ ith red oehre. 

 Each stroke represented a dav, and each day one of the .strokes 

 would be rubbed off. The messenger was thus able to tell in 

 exactly how maiiv days' time this particular group was expected 

 at a certain localit). Would the strikes painted on the ledge of 

 this shelter serve a similar purpose"' Again, the headman of each 

 section would know, or be expected to know, where each group 

 comprising his section could be found. The natives knew just 

 how many days' march any particular waterhole or food gathering 

 place was from a given spot. Four strokes could mean a four da\s" 

 journey, which again would have meant a certain localit)" four 

 davs away. Could they have been a very primitive system nj 

 writing a message, of informing a possible me-senger just where 

 they were to be found ? 



< )nly the discovery of more 1 such painted shelters, enabling 

 comparisons to lie made, will perhaps .solve the riddle. < >nee again 

 I appeal to members of the Field Naturalists Clubs to report to 

 the Xatioual Museum any such discoveries, no matter how trivial 

 thev may seem. 



AN ABORIGINAL BURIAL MOUND 



liv A. A, IjRlwtox 



About two miles north of Sunburv, in the valley (if Jackson's 

 Creek, there are the remains of a large aboriginal burial mound. 

 This is situated on the property known as Kmu Hottom, the 

 original selection of George Fvans, who came over from Tasmania 

 in the first voyage of Fawkner's ship. Incidentally, he built the first 

 building in Melbourne — a sod hut to keep the stores dry. In 1S36 

 he settled on Jackson's Creek and built a homestead, now the 

 oldest inhabited house in Victoria. In 1 920 the property passed 

 into the possession of Mr. Webb, the present owner. He has 

 maintained as far as possible everything that Evans had built. 



Some years after moving in, Mr. Webb had occasion to repair 

 the private road. Hetween this road and Jackson's Creek there is 

 a big alluvial flat composed chiefly of waterworn gravel and soil, 

 and on this and overlooking the creek is the circular mound, ninety 

 feet in diameter and five feet six inches in average height. Knowing 

 that much of it was suitable for road making Mr. Webb instructed 

 his men to cart the same to the road. This they did, but when 

 working into the centre of the mound they encountered many old 

 and decomposed human bones and ashes, unfit for road repairs. 



( )n being informed, Mr. Webb hurried across the flat and saw a 

 strange sight. Evidently many bodies had been partially burnt and 

 then heaped together on the original surface. Over these a laver 

 of well puddled wet clay, four to five inches thick, had be( n 



