iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

Hi,

Just discovered the existence of the "Emu Caller" : a termite-hollowed little log (~30cm) that apparently imitates an emu sound when slapped with the palm of the hand.
It creates a sort of guttural sound, a bit like the African "Udu" drum (air compression drum, without any skin) that sounds like an emu and bring the curious later out of its nest, allowing the Aborigines to fetch its eggs safely.

Any more info on this perticular object ?
Was it traditionnally used throughout all Australia or specific to certain regions/tribes ?
Is it still in use ?
Any-one knows a story refering to the Emu-Caller ?
What would be (one of) its Aboriginal name(s) ?

Some picts :

There were such things as emu callers, used only in certain areas but not sure what tribes etc. The pics you have are of tourist objects though, call them didgeridoo off-cuts if you like

If you read Basedow or one of the early ethnographic tomes, there should be a mention of emu callers.

Guan

Yes, of course these emu-callers shown on the picts are for tourists : they have the same pseudo-Aboriginal paintings on them as on tourist-didjes.
But I could not find trad' ones on Google-Image
It was only to depict the objet.

"Didjeridu off-cuts"... yes that's exactly what I thought.
Well, they're from the same termite-hollowed-eucas, same kind of objects.
I wonder if, like the Didj, they have different shapes in different tribes ?

I have a couple of real ones, will get pics for you. These things are also called emu decoys, Moyle also mentions them in some of her writings. I'm not sure how they are supposed to be sounded though, whether they are end-blown instruments like didgeridoos or whether, like you said, they are sounded by slapping a hand on one end. I doubt there are any sound recordings done in the field of it actually being played. I've read they can be used to attract emus in order to hunt/eat them.

Guan

Typing "emu decoy" on google, I found this page.
This looks far more tradish


Both methods (striking & blowing) seemed to be in use.
Interresting...

Ahaw,

From what I'd read in a couple of places, I 'd assumed emu callers were just tourist artifacts and didn't actually exist as real aboriginal tools. So thanks for this.

Trying to understand how these callers are actually used, I looked up emu calls and found this on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuXcd-ptNG8

I also looked up dimensions of emu callers and created a quick version out of good old PVC pipe, and tried making sounds both by striking and by experimenting with a variety of "blowing" techniques. While striking is louder, blowing using labial or glottal stops seems to produce a sound more like the female in the video.

When struck, this "instrument" behaves like the African "Udu" drum : using air-compression to create a sound.
But with a much smaller air-chamber.
I guess if there is a bigger and a smaller end, one should strike on the bigger one to minimise the air-flow stream.

In fact... striking one end of a Didjeridu should sound a lot better than one of these tiny sticks !
Of course, carrying a big Didj when emu-hunting may be a handicap

Guan... still waiting for your picts

My examples are not as good as the museum specimen, mine are more "transition" period. I'll take pics in a couple of days, a bit caught up with other things at the moment.

Guan