Fragmentation of the Northern Territory Yanyuwa community by the cattle industry and the wider effects of European contact have resulted in women taking a greater role in public song performance, according to a University of Queensland researcher.
Associate lecturer with the University's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit Elizabeth Mackinlay has recorded and translated around 70 songs performed by the Yanyuwa people at Borroloola in the north east Northern Territory, 80kms inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria.
She focused her study on the performance of public songs in the a-nguyulnguyul genre. Public, non-sacred songs are those written about feelings and thoughts at the present time rather than in the Dreaming, Ms Mackinlay said.
'The a-nguyulnguyul genre concerns songs in a funny, tricky or clever vein designed to provoke an emotional response in performers and listeners,' she said.
'The songs move people to laughter or tears and recall past experiences. Some were written pre-white settlement while others have been written quite recently.
'Song themes include the first time the author saw a grader creating a new road in the area or when ?welfare' took some children away.
'Others recall the landscape and activities of the Yanyuwa people's original home on the coast across from the Sir Edward Pellew islands before they were moved inland by the authorities.'
Ms Mackinlay found women were the main performers and keepers of public songs in the community today and attributed this to the break-up of the community by government authorities in the 1950s to feed the labour needs of the then-booming cattle industry and the long-lasting effects of the assimilation policy in the region.
'Men were sent to be jackaroos while women worked as station domestics. The women were able to maintain their traditional links to the land and care of the children while the men were more isolated and mobile,' Ms Mackinlay said.
'While men were still composing songs during the cattle industry era, generally they were those men thought to be too old for this type of work who remained at Borroloola or on the islands.
'The women were able to maintain more continuity with the performance of these public songs and so when the community came together again, the men had lost their traditional role in this area. However, men retained their prominent role in the performance of ceremonial songs concerning the Dreaming.'
Ms Mackinlay said the songs were mainly sung by around six senior women to the accompaniment of boomerang clap sticks. Each song lasted around 90 seconds with some participants dancing to the music.
She said the songs were also an important way for women to express feelings about gender interactions within the community.
'The songs often mediate in times of gender conflict. For example, one song deals with a woman's anguish on finding her partner has left her for another woman,' she said.
'These women are using music and kinship as a sustaining ideal in a time of rapid social change. Music is extremely important for Aboriginal people in general.'
As part of the experiential component of the course she teaches at the University, Women, Music and Dance in Indigenous Australia, several Borroloola women recently performed songs for students, she said.
'The women told the students their culture was strong and alive. Their relationship with the country is very strong and they wanted to challenge misconceptions about the way indigenous people live in Australia,' she said.
Ms Mackinlay recently submitted her PhD in music with the University of Adelaide. Her study complements the work of University of Queensland anthropologist and Yanyuwa linguist Dr John Bradley and Australian National University geographer and oral historian Dr Richard Baker in the Borroloola region.
She said she wanted to thank members of the Yanyuwa community at Borroloola, in particular Eileen, Nancy and Dinny McDinny, Dinah Norman, Isaac and Annie Isaac, Thelma Douglas, Jemima Miller and Ami Friday for their assistance.
For more information, contact Ms Mackinlay (telephone 07 3365 6712).
