I'age Sixteen 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
July 1, 1948. 
ABORIGINAL-MARKED TREES IN 
SOUTHERN DISTRICTS 
By E. F. BOEHM 
In many places in the southern portions 
of South Australia there may be found trees, 
especially Red Gums ( Eucalyptus camaldulen- 
sis) along rivers and large creeks, that bear 
marks on their trunks which were made by 
Aborigines, in some instances, prior to Euro- 
pean settlement. Most of these trees were 
shelters as can be seen from the shape of 
the burnt cavity on one side of the base of the 
thick trunk. The late Dr. H. Basedow (“ Aus- 
tralian Aboriginal 102, Adelaide, 1929) im- 
plied that the cavities all resulted from bush- 
fires. However, my grandfather, the late C. 
G. Boehm, who was able to make observa- 
tions on, and converse with parties of Ngaia- 
wang people passing through Light’s Pass, 
near Nuriootpa, S.A., on their way to Ade- 
laide to receive blankets, during the 1870’s, 
informed me that when camping at night the 
natives generally made their fires against the 
trunks of large Red Gums and slept around 
them. As the result of many such fires, lie 
said, a sheltered cavity was produced in due 
course, and the natives used these particular 
trees for shelter on rough or wet nights, and 
occasionally during the day-time. 
Some large Red Gums have an elongate- 
oval scar on the trunk, commencing a short 
distance from the ground. The large scars on 
the bark represent bark-canoes, of which 
there were two main kinds; the larger one 
being 15-20 ft. in length, the smaller vessel 
being 7^-12 ft. long. R. M. Berndt (“Man- 
kind” 3 [1]: 17-28; 1941) has described how 
the Jaralde people made bark-canoes in the 
vicinity of the present town of Murray Bridge, 
and he illustrated trees from which sheets of 
bark were removed prior to European occupa- 
tion. At Morgan, S.A., the Ngaiawang people 
removed sheets of bark with the aid of chisel- 
pointed sticks about 3J ft. in length. The 
late Mr. Gus Thamm informed me that he had 
never known the local natives to use or possess 
a stone axe-head, and from the paucity of 
edge-ground axes along the Murray River in 
this State one may conclude that they were 
only rarely acquired by trade, and constituted 
only a minor element of the late Murundian 
culture. 
Scars less than 5 ft. long represent spear- 
shields, food trays, and fire-trays, such as 
were employed in connection with flares when 
spear-fishing on the Murray River at night. 
There is no record of any kind of carved 
symbolical, or sacred, tree in the southern 
districts. 
Some large trees bear notches which were 
made by Aborigines to enable them to climb 
the thick trunk to secure oppossums or birds. 
The clearing of land for agricultural pur- 
poses undoubtedly resulted in the destruction 
of very many aboriginal -marked trees, while 
bushfires and decay further reduced the num- 
ber. 
:o:- 
REWARD 
1 HEREBY APPOINT SIR DOUGLAS 
MAWSON and PROFESSOR J. B. CLELAND 
as Trustees to hold in trust a fund of One 
hundred pounds (£100) from which the afore- 
said Trustees may pay all or part to any 
person or persons who discover in South Aus- 
tralia fossil remains of rare or unknown 
marsupials, reptiles, or birds in Pleiostocene, 
Pliocene, Miocene, or earlier geological de- 
posits ON CONDITION that the specimen or 
specimens are presented to the South Austra- 
lian Museum. The amount of the reward if 
any to be paid to the discoverer shall be left 
to the discretion of the aforesaid Trustees 
PROVIDED THAT the amount of the sum 
paid be approved by the Director of the 
South Australian Museum. 
If one of the aforesaid Trustees shall de- 
cline to act or shall die the remaining Trustee 
shall have power to nominate a Trustee to 
fill the vacancy PROVIDED such nomination 
is approved by the Director of the South Aus- 
tralian Museum. 
(SIGNED) W. BURDETT. 
26 / 1 / 39 . 
WITNESS: 
(SIGNED) HERBERT M. HALE. 
26 / 1 / 39 . 
