14 
on a gum tree in the Gulf Country.* * * * One thing is self-evident, such carvings possessed a dual if not a 
triple significance. We have already seen the employment of them to indicate an interment, presumably 
acting the part of a tombstone, for it is believed by some that the figures on a tree in each case 
correspond to those on the inner side of deceased’s ’possum rug, the mombarai, or “ drawing,” which 
Fraser thinks was distinctive in each family, or a peculiar modification of the tribal mombarai. t So far 
as I can gather, such devices invariably indicated the last resting-place of a male. Mr. E. M. Curr 
statesj that the Breeaba Tribe, at the head-waters of the Burdekin River, North Queensland, employed 
marked trees to commemorate a battle. He figures a tree from the banks of the Diamantina, barked and 
marked by a series of close, irregularly superimposed notches, like those made by a black when climbing 
a tree. These, however, can hardly be compared to carvings. 
According to Mr. J. Henderson, Dr. John Fraser, Mr. A. W. Howitt, and Mr. Macdonald 
previously mentioned, Bora Grounds are also embellished with carved trees. The first-named describes§ 
the approach to one of these initiation places at Wellington as through “a long, straight, avenue of 
trees, extending for about a mile, and these were carved on each side with various devices 
At the lower extremity of this, a narrow pathway turned off towards the left, and soon terminated in 
a circle.” Mr. Henderson further remarks that the fact of the use of this place for Bora purposes was 
communicated to him by the then head-man of the tribe. Dr. Fraser says|| that the Gringai Tribe, one 
of the northern N. S. Welsh tribes, clear two circular enclosures, one within the other, for their Bora, and 
that the trees growing around the smaller circle are carved “ with curious emblematical devices and figures,’ 
whilst Mr. Macdonald informs us that on the Bora ground of the Page and Isis River natives, as many 
as a hundred and twenty marked trees occur round aboutA Confirmation is further afforded by Mr. W. O. 
Hodgkinson, who saw a Bora ground on the Macleay River with “ trees minutely tatooed, and carved to 
such a considerable altitude that he could not help feeling astonished at the labour bestowed on the work.”** * * §§ 
If, as previously stated, according to current report, the designs on the trees be the same as those on 
the ’possum rugs, the transfer of them to the trees surrounding a grave must have had some important and 
lasting meaning to the survivors. The figures on the rug may have indicated some degree of ownership,— 
a crest, coat of arms or monogram, as it were— and in such a case the reproduction on the trees surrounding 
a grave may be looked upon as an identification of the deceased. Henderson speaks of the tree carvings as 
symbols. “ A symbol is afterwards carved upon the nearest tree, which seems to indicate the particular 
tribe to which the individual may have belonged.”ff Or had they a deeper esoteric meaning, one only 
known to the learned men of the tribe! Smyth states}! that the figures on the inner sides of the ’possum 
rugs “ were the same as those on their weapons, namely, the herring-bone, chevron, and saltier.” How 
easily these same devices can be traced, in a general way, both on the carved trees and some of the wooden 
weapons, is amply shown by many of the excellent figures given in Smyth’s work. This painstaking author, 
in briefly dealing, too briefly in fact, with this interesting subject, says§§: “ The natives of the Murray and 
the Darling, and those in other parts adjacent, carved on the trees near the tombs of deceased warriors 
strange figures having meanings no doubt intelligible to all the tribes in the vast area watered by these 
rivers.” By the Kamilaroi|||| they were regarded as “ memorials ” of the dead. 
It is much to be regretted that before the last remnant of this fast disappearing race has passed 
away, a translation, or at any rate an explanation of these matters, cannot be obtained. 
I give a note on the references to Oxley and Sturt:— 
Oxley .—“ Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales,” 1820. 
Coloured plate at p. 138. 
* Journ. Overland Exped., Moreton Bay to Port Essington, 1847, p. 356. 
t Journ. R. Hoc. N. S. Wales for 1882 [IS83], xvi, p. 201. 
+ The Australian Race, 1886, ii, p. 433. 
S Ohs. Colonies of N. S. Wales and V. 1). Land, 1832, p. 145, pi. 3. 
Journ. R. Soc. N. S. Wales for 1882 [1883], xvi, p. 205. 
IT Journ. Anthrop. Inst. Gt. Brit, and Ireland, 1S78, vii, p. 256. 
** Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, 1878, I, p. 292. 
+t Obs. Colonies of N. S. Wales and V. D. Land, 1S32, p. 149. 
Aborigines of Victoria, 1878, I, p. 288. 
§§ Aborigines of Victoria, 1878, I, p. 286. The italics are mine, 
i i T. Hotiery, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. Gt. Brit, and Ireland, 1878, vii, p. 254. 
