TEXT 161. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NUMBULWAR MISSION (1952)

Ma:di

161.1

Long ago, back in those days, (when we were) in the bush. My people, we who stayed (there), I was in charge of them. We went along, I got them up and made them go (from Nunggubuyu country). We stayed (for a while) at Groote Eylandt. Things were all right, we were working (at the mission at Angurugu).

Note: Other Nunggubuyu agreed that Ma:di was the driving force in the Nunggubuyu community during this period (before 1952), though he was still in his thirties.

161.2

Then there was a fight (between us Nunggubuyu and the Anindhilyagwa-speaking natives of Groote). We had a dispute, then they (all of us) threw spears, there was a spear fight. "How about it?" (I said to the other Nunggubuyu). I took them back (to the mainland) and we stayed in the bush.

161.3

We go for tobacco. We went (for tobacco) to Roper River Mission (now Ngukurr settlement). Again we worked there, but again after a while we got into a fight. They had a spearfight, we had a spearfight. Again we came back (to our country). Along here (around Numbulwar Mission) we ate dugong and sea turtles. After that, over there at the place Wurindi, we ate terrestrial game animals (birds, kangaroos and wallabies, etc.), various kinds of them. After they we went away.

161.4

We went along, then (we stayed at) Groote Eylandt (again). Then there was a real fight, we had a (big) fight, spearing each other. One group threw spears from one side, and they (other group) were on this side. (I.e. the two opposing parties lined up opposite one another and threw spears.)

161.5

I was not aware of this. I had gone down to the water and was chopping out the seat of a dugout canoe (from a piece of wood). I had not heard the voices (of the fighters). Somebody ran and shouted down this way (to me), "There is a spear fight going on! Dick Harris wants you (to come)!" They said that to me. I went.

Note: Dick Harris (spelling approximate) was one of the whites on the mission staff.

161.6

He, the father of Wurajuju, and another man got into an argument first. Then they--Ngagiya, and this man Rex, and the one who died at Nguludji, they got into a little canoe and started paddling that way.

* The two starred items are alternative necronymic expressions (ways to refer to deceased persons without using their personal names). The first, literally the dual form of the personal name Wurajuju', in effect means 'that person related to Wurajuju', here (as commonly) meaning the father of the named individual. The second expression refers to the deceased by mentioning the place where he died; this general necronym type is traditional although in this particular form we find creole lha 'to, at' in a curious compound.

161.7

They went along (in the canoe). I went along nearby. They paddled. He (Harris) loaded bullets ('eyes') into the twenty-two with him and shot at them, bang! They did that. It (bullet) hit here (in the water short of the canoe). They did that, they capsized the canoe. One of them hit the saltwater.

Note: Harris was not shooting to kill or injure the fighters, rather to force them to stop the fight, but this was not clear to the men in the canoe or other spectators at the time.

161.8

Then some man over here yelled "hey!" at Harris, and I also yelled "hey!" at him. As for him (the other man who yelled), he was whatchamacallit, Gamarambuji. (He) yelled first (then I did). (He yelled at me,) "Come here!" I paddled that way. Then he and I shouted at him (Harris) to stop (shooting). We had a big argument with him.

161.9

Then I leapt (at Harris) and took that whatchamacallit, that rifle (twenty-two) from him. I was trying to break it (the rifle) and almost did, but I could not quite do it.

Notes: In line 3 of this segment we have an interesting usage of the past potential verb form ('I would break it off'); here lha:lhag in context means 'almost', and the expression as a whole is best translated into English by means of 'to try'. The last verb ('I failed') is an interesting compound, literally something like 'to step on one's own chest' = 'to fail'.

161.10

(I said,) "I am going to take them (my people) away today." And I took them away (from Groote) that same day. We stayed on the beach (on the mainland). That was finished, we came from there (from Groote).

161.11

We went along, and stopped here. We ate it (i.e. dugong). Then from here we went--I mean, I stopped there. I spoke. When I went back there (briefly, to Groote), I spoke (about setting up a distinct mission for the Nunggubuyu).

161.12

I spoke then about the (future) mission. This mission standing here at Numbulwar. I spoke about it (i.e. pleaded to have it built). The bishop arrived and I grabbed him (and pleaded with him). I kept talking about it. Mr. Montgomery arrived.

161.13

I kept speaking (pleading). (He said to me,) "How about Bickerton (Island)?" I said, "No! It's too small." I kept speaking. (He suggested) my country (i.e. Murungun clan territory around Cape Barrow). (I said,) "No! The water supply is bad, (just a lot of) muddy water." I kept speaking. (He said,) "(How about) the place Dharari." "All right, Dharari."

161.14

It (mission) was there at Dharari. This mission here (at Numbulwar), this one here, was going to be at that place Dharari. (However,) after that we came (i.e. we just kept going) down around here. The words (a message) were waiting for me.

161.15

Chris (an Aboriginal woman at Roper River, now Ngukurr). The message was there (with her) first (i.e. before I arrived). Then I went along here (on the coast by Numbulwar) and went there to the old mission (i.e. the former site of Roper R. Mission).

161.16

Then (Chris said,) "Your mission (i .e. building materials for mission, etc.) is ready. Take it!" All of these things I took. (She said,) "Your mission is ready, here is your shed and your kitchen." Chris said that. "Well, how about it?"

161.17

I got them (people) ready. I got them, whatchamacallit, the schoolchildren. I put them in the school (at Roper R.). (Someone said to me,) "How about it? (i.e. How about taking the children for a walkabout or hike)" Then I took them on a walkabout (hike) to the places Mission Cross, Gulara, Nyawilbar, and Nalumbulumbu.

161.18

We went there (with) the children. Roger, that makes two of us. Yiriwulwuldi, three of us. We went walkabout. Then I went back and stopped there to work, at Kangaroo Island (island in Roper River). I took them (people). We worked (cutting down) timber. What a lot of work! At Kangaroo Island.

Note: The expression of conjunction in the first two lines here is typical of the system used when one referent is first (or second) person pronoun.

161.19

We worked. We transported it (wood). We walked along, we worked, we returned, we went along. I can't tell you how much of a load it was! We went along, transporting it, (working) with both hands and both feet. We transported that load.

161.20

We transported it (load of timber) to Roper R. There I, myself, sawed it up. Later I waited for it (boat), the Rana. Oops: I mean the Cora (name of boat). Finally it, the Cora, arrived.

161.21

Then I took our rations and took them (people) walkabout. (The rations we earned) from our working. It (Cora) returned. There at Wadangaja Creek we stayed, I stayed there.

161.22

They shouted to me. I went along behind it (Cora), and there I marked it (place). I marked out the mission area (where the missionaries lived and where the communal buildings were), and the people area (residential area for Aboriginals). I established (laid down) that.

Note: Numbulwar is still basically laid out as it was originally established in 1952. Communal buildings (now including the church, school, supermarket, and hospital) separate the Aboriginal residential area from the residences of the whites (chiefly mission staff).

161.23

After that I went back along here. Over there, the workboat was ready, and the Arigin (name of boat). I loaded it (boat), with food. The workboat, with food. We went along (to) here.

Note: 'I put it in' in line 4 of this segment is used here to mean 'I loaded it' and is intended to correct the form given just before that, which involves the English verb load.

161.24

Then we met up with Dick Harris (Groote Eylandt missionary) here, over here in the west. (He was in) the Bish (n. of boat). We met with him. I worked (building) the airstrip.

Note: Bish and some other boat names are spelled as best I can spell them from Ma:di's pronunciation but may be misspelled.

161.25

None of the Aboriginal people helped me (with the work). (I.e. there were some Nunggubuyu still living in the bush away from the mission who came in after the hard clearing work was done.) We had no truck, no bulldozer, no pick-axe, no hoe, no axes--just wooden sticks. We dug, we broke up the ground, we jabbed at it (stone). We cut it up with sticks, we raised the stone.

Note: This deals mainly with the hard work of clearing off the track at the airstrip. I do not know the word here transcribed medik; apparently it is a brand-name or the like.

161.26

(We had) nothing strong (i.e. powerful equipment). They did not send that. (After) it (mission) was finished, this (equipment) arrived, this kind of thing. There was none (before). We finished the airstrip, the whatchamacallit. We finished the rocks and the timber (for the first houses).

161.27

Then the Cora (boat) arrived. It unloaded its cargo here, over there (on the beach). We put it (cargo) down. We sawed it (the timber), we cut it up. At the place Wumajbar (billabong near Numbulwar) we sawed it up, there was a sawmill. At the place Lhayin we cut it up, we stayed up there.

161.28

Then he arrived there, Mr. Hughes arrived there, he reached us. We worked for a while. After that we returned, we cut up (wood) there at Abarlhu.

Note: This is Earl Hughes, for many years a mission chaplain at Numbulwar and author of a Nunggubuyu dictionary.

161.29

We went to the airstrip and cut up a big heap of timber. We made an engine (generator) and a windmill where they worked, where we cut up (the timber).

161.30

(More Aboriginals) arrived from up there in the north. We did some more clearing work. One by one they came, from Roper R., the Limmen Bight River, from Yurubanji.

161.31

Aboriginal people who had been living in the bush (away from settlements) came and joined us here; they heard about it. Others had already finished this work, it was all finished, we had finished it.

161.32

Those people came (to Numbulwar) and stopped there after the others had done all the work, when there was no more work, when it was all done. Children, young men, and grown-ups who are all working men now. Some (children) were too young (for heavy work), they were still in school (so they did not work).

161.33

And they worked a little there. If they had done that (helped us with the heavy work), these houses would have been nice and big. We argued. We started having serious aches (fatigue) in our two shoulders, here and here. It was severe ('ready'). Due to all that lumber carrying; our carrying it on our backs and shoulders, the stones; from our cutting down the cypress trees (for timber) and carrying them through (list of place names) in the bush.

161.34

Ama:jiya (place), we slept there, and at Aniruburang. In the bush we slept and worked. We hunted for it (cypress) and chopped it down, timber. From the north, Yirrkala and Na:rgala, the Balamumu people. arrived, lots of them. They helped us work. That is all. Finish.

161.35

Whatchamacallit, the man Mujiji, will tell (this) in English, he will tell it to him (Heath). I am here delivering it (story) only in Nunggubuyu, my words, I told it, I put my words in (the tape recorder). As for him, Mujiji (who worked as interpreter for Heath), he will deliver it in English. The hole (i.e. the tape recorder) will open (will be turned on), and he (Mujiji) will tell the one who will write it down (Heath), this man.