Watiwati
The Watiwati are an
Language
The "mobs" name comes from a reduplication the word for 'no' (wati), typical of indigenous names in this area.
Country
The Watiwati's lands enclosed some 2,000 square miles (5,200 km2) of territory north and south of the Murray River and Swan Hill. It reached northwards towards Moolpa, N.S.W. To the west its boundary lay at Piangil in Victoria.[1] To the east were the related Wemba-Wemba, north east the Nari-Nari, north northwest the Muthi Muthi, and to their west the Dadi Dadi.[2]
Social structure
The Watiwati were formed of several clans, one
Mythology
According to A. L. P. Cameron, the Watiwati believed that the first inhabitants of the earth, all endowed with a capacity for metamorphosis into other animal species, were called Bukumurri, who were changed into ordinary men by Thathapuli, the dreamtime creator spirit.
The Watiwatis believed that after you die, your body wanders about in a dazed state, confused by its new surroundings. Bumbling along a path, it comes to a fork, one track coveted with hindrances, being overgrown with brambles, the other offering an easier prospect. The good man's soul would choose the harder track, knowing the unencumbered route would be rife with perils. Some way on, it comes upon two women, one haggishly ugly, the other young and enticing. The old woman warns him not to be cajoled by the charms of the young woman. Further on, it encounters a chasm, brimming with flames, and the soul springs over it as the flames recede. It comes upon a rope drawn across the path by two women who endeavour to trip him up. Once this obstacle is negotiated, it arrives among the blessed, but even there the trial is not ended, as it was endure a period of probation with a special diet, and subjected to testing challenges. Lastly, it is placed at a spot where fleet emus race past, and given a spear, and told to spear one if he is to finally meet the maker. In Wati lore, shooting stars are the traces of spears thrown by souls as they try to hit the emus and, if successful, encounter their high being, Thathapuli. [5]
Alternative names
- Wathiwathi, Wattewatte, Wotti-wotti.
- Withaija
- Wohdi Wohdi
- Woani (= 'man')
- Woonyi
- Dacournditch
- Biangil (the name for Piangil).[1]
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b Tindale 1974.
- ^ Hercus 1989, p. 44.
- ^ Cameron 1903, p. 46.
- ^ Cameron 1903, pp. 46–47.
- ^ Cameron 1903, p. 47.
Sources
- "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS.
- Beveridge, Peter (1865) [First published 1861]. "A few notes on the dialects, habits, customs and mythology of the Lower Murray aborigines". Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria. 6. Melbourne: 19–74.
- Cameron, A. L. P. (22 April 1903). "Traditions and folklore of the aborigines of New South Wales". 6 (3). Science of Man: 46–48.
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(help) - Hercus, Luise (1989). "Three Linguistic Studies from Far South-Western NSW" (PDF). Aboriginal History. 13 (1): 45–62.
- ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.