iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

[Peter Lister]

flyangler18 wrote:

I don't know if it was the 'forced assimilation' that really proved the catalyst for the migration of the didjeridu out of the NT. I think it was the building of roads and other infrastructure that made Aboriginal groups more mobile at greater distances, allowing for the sharing of traditions and pieces of material culture. According to some of the literature, there was a tradition of didjeridu in FNQ with some vintage instruments in collections, but there is nothing that remains of what that tradition entailed. Long since extinct, unfortunately. It seems that the revival of the didjeridu in Queensland was at the hand of government agencies encouraging Queensland artists to paint instrument with Arnhem Land motifs sometime in the 1970s. Jason

Hi all,

there is good anecdotal evidence in a variety of biographies of Aboriginal people that state quite clearly that people also chose to move to missions to be with other relatives or to gain employment or training - either practical skills such as carpentry or for religious instruction. With such movement people also took possessions such as didjes (and other cultural items - songs, stories, regalia etc) and I am of the understanding this is how the instrument got over to Mornington Island in the 1940's. There are (or were a few years back) Mornington Islanders who recall the two men who brought the first didjes too the island - I make mention of this on my old 'manikay' pages in fact.

I imagine this sort of situation existed right across the Top End and so as people moved, so did the didj. Interesting how it never got across to the Tiwi though despite them having close connections to the mainland folk around Darwin...

Peter.

[ididjaustralia]

Good point Bita.

With the Tiwi, it is unusual indeed why they never had the didjeridu. Instruments were sometimes observed there, however, though it has been suggested that these came from the mainland and were brought by Paddy Cahill's men who helped him with his buffalo hunting adventures.

The Tiwi are quite different to the mainlanders in terms of cultural practice, another thing I find fascinating. Their language, customs, social organisation, ceremonies all seem very different to Arnhem Land equivalents.

Guan

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