Dear Sandrine

You are most welcome to use this image. Although, the content of the site has now moved to:

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/images/ebay/ebay-bullroarer0010.jpg

Permissions statement can be found at:

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0310.html

Good luck with your show.

Kind Regards
Simon Pockley

Kind Regards
Simon Pockley

Dear Peter

I'm not sure where you are but I think his papers (what's left of them) are now in the Mitchel Library in Sydney. I guess you've seen my digital surrogate of the notebook found with his body:

http://www.acmi.net.au/FOD/FOD0682.html

If you are interested in Lasseter, I suggest you seek out the book, Hell's Airport, The Key to Lasseter's Gold Reef, by Errol Coote (Peterman Press, 1934)

Dear Lauren

Its very hard to roll it all up into a nutshell. Most of the texts are very long and very complicated. The fact is that there were as many different cosmologies or beliefs as there were totemic groups. So, when you say aboriginal religion, there really wasn't one single set of beliefs. To amke it even harder there is considerable disagreement between witnesses of traditional culture. I could point you to a book link written by Baldwin Spence in 1914:

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD1003.html

[quote]...In regard to sacred objects there is considerable difference amongst the tribes. The churinga may be said to be distinctive of the Arunta and Kaitish, and to dwindle in importance as we pass northward until, amongst the coastal tribes, they are used only during initiation. On Melville and Bathurst I could find no trace of them. The most interesting new sacred objects that I came across were those called Muraian amongst the Kakadu, to which reference has already been made. There are no Nurtunjas nor Waningas nor ground drawings, that figure so largely in the southern part of the Territory, but, through all tribes on the mainland, the belief is universal amongst the women and children that the sound made by the bull-roarer is the voice of a great spirit which comes to take the youth away during the initiation ceremony. In no case amongst these northern tribes did I find any indication of sacred rock drawings such as we meet with in the Arunta and Kaitish. This absence may be associated with that of any such spots as the Ertnatulunga, where churinga are stored and close by which the sacred drawings of the Arunta are typically found....[end quote]

See also;

CHAPTER III

INITIATION CEREMONIES 88

CHAPTER IV

TOTEMIC SYSTEMS AND TOTEM GROUPS 177

CHAPTER V

SACRED STICKS, BULL-ROARERS, AND CEREMONIAL OBJECTS 210

CHAPTER VI

BURIAL AND MOURNING CEREMONIES 228

CHAPTER VII

MAGIC AND MEDICINE 257

CHAPTER VIII

BELIEFS IN REGARD TO THE ORIGIN OF CHILDREN 263

but I suspect this might have too much information for you. There really needs to be some kind of summary.

Dear Bethe

Knowing that I needed space for reflection, I took your message and article out of the city (Melbourne) to a small hut on a spur next to the river at a place called Apollo Bay. Other than Tasmania, it's about as far south as you can go - wild, wet and windy. I had to walk in, it was so muddy. After unloading the tonne of broken concrete I'd taken down for a track, lighting the stove for cooking and the later luxury of a hot shower in the wind, I settled down with a whiskey to read like some creature with a hoarded bone.

What drives the Flight of Ducks is the delight I take in encounters with interesting people such as yourself. You have reminded me what fun it is to ask interesting questions. I just wish I had something to offer you in return. I know so little about the matters you raise.

I would encourage you to try to find time for your father's letters and for your grandfather's journals. Some people argue that we shouldn't hold on to the past but like death itself, I've found these attentions to be very instructive. After my father's death (1990) my first instinct (like yours) was to put his central Australian papers into some kind of order - for the family. The more I worked on them the more it became a kind of primal journey of the son around the father. Especially when I began to compare the various versions of the journal to find that many of the stories I'd grown up with - were imaginary. I guess it's as much a study of how extrapolation and elaboration shape our memories or how we, unreconciled to the untidiness of unresolved movement, look for patterns and shapes to fit into a narrative structure that completes itself. The explorer's/traveller's journal is a fascinating form:

[http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0259.html]

As it turned out, I lost all my annotations (3 years work) to a corrupted hard drive. Seeking a less ephemeral space to work, the web seemed appropriate not just because it could layer ideas using hypertext but because it seemed like a more durable place to return to when the need arose. At the time (1995) I had no idea that other people would engage with the material and sometimes even share their thoughts. Ironically, while the quest for durability provided me a doctorate and a temporary layer of paid work, it also made me comfortable enough to be distracted from what had taken me there in the first place. Although it's financially painful to find myself out of work, it's a gift that I'm hoping will put me back on a more sustainable and fulfilling path.

A week ago I went for an interview for Associate Prof. job and behaved quite badly. This threw me into a turmoil of self-doubt for days, until I realised that I had correctly sensed that it was yet another dysfunctional environment. One of those jobs where one had to go out a raise enough money to support the whole department, one's own salary and then support whatever research they deemed acceptable. But perhaps I'm just turning a stuff-up into some form of narrative to assuage my failure. In trying to imagine your location, I've pictured a large weatherboard house that I want to be in some natural Annie Dillard-like place but keeps reverting to a suburban street. Idle thoughts because I've no real notion of Maine at all.

The breadth of your thinking is an inspiration.

I had no idea that the bullroarer was so pervasive. I'd be very interested to read your play and am intrigued by the concept of infrasonic generators. My wife told me about a healing technique where the very low frequencies of a didgeridoo was used on a group. When you mention, 'the reaction by Aboriginal conservators regarding pictures of the deceased and sacred places' I should make it clear that I've actually never encountered any Aboriginal people with concerns about the Flight of Ducks. The few problems that have arisen have been due to non-aboriginal people considering themselves as the custodians of a romanticized notion of traditional Aboriginal culture. In many respects the process of cultural reconstruction has created a generaL form of pan-aboriginal culture with loose fitting values often used to serve individual interests. The history and complexity of some of these difficulties is explored in the paper that you found - 'Blinding the Duck': http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0781.html. But it's kind of you to say that I was 'honoring the sacred body of earth'. I would say that I found myself hardening against the less earthly politics of control by championing pluralist values. At one time this created considerable ill feeling and I felt like a pariah. The University deleted my research papers from their server, my Australian examiners dropped out and I was forced to be examined at MIT and UCLA (after a year - a blessing).

When you mention Egyptian and Greek linguistic parallels I'm reminded how closely related Greek red and black figure vases are to northern Australian Aboriginal motifs - similar to the obvious relationship between the designs of the Canadian Haida and the Maoris.

Back in 1988 and unhappy with the direction of our lives, I sold up our house in the country N.S.W. and took my wife and children to live in poverty in central Italy. The children used to finish school at lunchtime so we'd have lunch and then go off exploring. Inevitably we'd find our way in old churches. I was struck by the similarity between the ever-present variety of maze designs and those found on churinga and bullroarers. I was fascinated by the notion that there could be a physiological aspect to tracing the path of the maze - that it represented a form of key to a higher consciousness. I can't quite remember the connection but I somehow linked this up with Icarus and the metaphor of flight. Your mention of the sky cube is intriguing. I've seen various references to your work on alignments and assume that the sky cube is related. Your article makes me wonder about the Minotaur at its heart. But other than the connection you've made in your article with Taurus, what is the origin of the term bullroarer? I'm not sure that bulls actually roar in that way. Do you think there a relationship between the circular path of the swung bullroarer and the circular maze motif?

When you mention the 'rainbow serpent' I light up. While I do not doubt your linguistic correspondence, my pet theory is that the rainbow serpent is a metaphor for erosion - on a massive scale. I have no idea just how localized the story of the rainbow serpent was - do you? I'm probably pig ignorant and wrong but it seems to me that anyone with open eyes can see that Australia has suffered a form of environmental degradation that puts the impact of hard-footed animals in the shade. My understanding is that the pollen counts show a relatively stable (mainly ice age) floral regime until stone tools appear. To put it simply, there is a layer of ash followed by massive erosion, desertification and the growth of fire tolerant species. Strehlow referred to evidence of a richer 'more advanced' aboriginal culture. Maybe I've just taken on the speculation found at the heart of the Flight of Ducks in the duck flying away song: http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0089.html.

As an aside, you may not have found the area of The Flight of Ducks where my father became aware of impending blindness and taught himself ancient Greek with the intention of learning the Iliad off by heart. His attempt to sing it from the top of the Olgas back to where he'd approached as a 20 year old seems an entirely appropriate action: http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0694.html#Olgas

If we were sitting together over a glass of wine I'd relate another layered family story about Ptolomy's (Lighthouse at Pharos) wife and the value of daughters.

As for making bullroarers, my understanding (probably from Baldwin Spencer) is that the finer carving was usually done with the incisor tooth of a possum or other small marsupial. Would you be able to tell me more about how you make them? Do you use a lathe? What woods do you use? The string problem?

In his book, Aranda Traditions, Strehlow writes that the sound of the bullroarer could be recognized as belonging to a particular (male) person. He also writes (by way of illustrating the danger of making generalizations) about a practice in the Western groups of using acacia wood for small bullroarers bearing the marking of an infant's totem that were wrapped up in hair string and bark used to increase the child's growth and protect it from sickness by being kept close.

I'm really very interested in the infrasonics work. One of my research interests that has grown from my work with metadata standards [http://dublincore.org/groups/type/ ] and that I'm trying to find an appropriate vehicle to explore, is direct access to the brain using aural metadata.

It occurs to me that I might be able to assist you by recording the sounds the genuine central Australian bullroarers that my father collected in 1933. I've noticed that some of the churinga and bullroarers for sale on ebay are probably reproductions. It might spark an interesting bit of research. What do you think?

I'll also see if I can get at Neville Fletcher's papers:

Fletcher, N.H., Tarnopolsky, A.Z. and Lai, J.C.S., Rotational Aerophones J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 111, 1189-1196 (2002).

Fletcher, N.H. A.Z. Tarnopolsky, J. Lai Australian Aboriginal Musical Instruments - The Bullroarer Acoustics 2002, Adelaide, . (2002) 186-189

The following (from an annoying web site) is taken from one of them: -----The slat rotates under the influence of aerodynamic forces and generates a pulsating sound with a frequency typically around 80Hz. Since the quasi-static aerodynamic forces and torques on the slat balance out over a single period of its revolution, the aerodynamic torque driving its rotation depends upon the rate of rotation itself. There is one rotation-inducing torque term that is linear in slat rotation speed, and also a drag term proportional to the square of the rotation speed, These lead to a threshold rotation rate that must be exceeded to begin the process, and then to an upper limit to the rotation rate. The steady angular rotation rate f of a rectangular slat of width W swung through the air on a string of length L with rotation frequency F can be shown to be approximately f = 1.1 LF/ W - 5 , where f and F are in rotations per second. Each rotation of the slat creates an oscillating flow dipole and, from considerations of symmetry, the dipole oscillation frequency, and thus the radiated sound frequency, is 2f. The radiated acoustic power P is approximately P = 3 (p/c3) H2V6 where H is the length of the slat, p is the density of air, c is the speed of sound in air, and V=2pLF is the speed of the slat through the air. From these two equations we see that wide slats produce sound of lower frequency but that the radiated power is independent of slat width. Sound frequency is, however, proportional to airspeed and thus to arm rotation rate, and the radiated power is a strong function of this arm rate. For typical conditions, the radiated power is a few milliwatts for an arm rotation rate of 120 r.p.m., which is about as fast as can normally be achieved. Sound radiation is nearly omnidirectional.

Because the output power is a strong function of airspeed V, and the arm rotation is normally faster on the down-sweep than on the up, the sound pulsates with a frequency typically between 1 and 2Hz. There is an additional slower pulsation with a period of several seconds that derives from the fact that the slat rotation gradually twists the cord, providing a contrary torque which eventually stops the rotation and re-launches it in the opposite sense. ---------------

For now, I'll sign off, although you've prompted many other thoughts. I just wish I had more to offer you by way of insights or intelligence. Thank you so much for sending the article. I normally incorporate these kinds of conversations into the Flight of Ducks. Have you any objection to this? Would I also be able to include your bullroarer article?

Dear Cyril

I'd be very interested in the FT article for some insights into mainstream thinking. In October last year I had the pleasure of visiting Seattle and staying for a week in a bed and breakfast. More often than not our breakfast conversation strayed to discussions about the adventure in Iraq. In this tiny sample I was struck by the difference in opinion between (ordinary) Americans over 40 and those I'd loosely classify as young and hip. The former expressed dismay - even sadness at the incompatibility of U.S.A. actions with international citizenship and the latter, a fierce sense of the rightness of these same actions - a duty to 'rid the world of tyrants'.

The Howard Government in Australia prides itself on leveraging U.S.A. trade concessions from a minimal military commitment. I can't speak for others but I think many people here are quietly concerned about the cost of this association to our international credibility and relations with other nations.

My first thought is that this is all a long way from a tribal encounter in 1933 but then I remember that when called upon to sing these 20 year olds resorted to God Save the King...(plus ca change...)[http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0038.html]

I look forward to hearing from you again if you have time.

Dear Cyril

Many thanks for your considerate request. The photograph shows senior Aboriginal tribesmen (Arrente) with some newly initiated boys. It was taken by my father in 1933 near Haasts Bluff in central Australia.

You will find a fair use statement at:

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0310.html

Beyond my immediate interests, please be aware that there are exacting protocols (in Australia) concerning the use of Aboriginal images which can be quite difficult to follow if you try to adhere to the details rather than the spirit of fairness and cultural sensitivity.

http://www.cdu.edu.au/library/protocol.html

More particularly, I would draw your attention to the context in which the image was created. When my father took this photo he was only 20 yet he and his companions recognised that they were intruders in other people's lands. They respected the values of their hosts and took great care not to cause any offence or disturbance.

I'm not going to comment on your political motives, except to say that from an Australian perspective, the U.S.A. would appear to be its own worst enemy when it comes to its foreign policy and its lack of cultural sensitivity. The mindless fundamentalism of George Bush and Osama bin Laden appear to be interchangeable. It seems ironic that a civilisation that can manage the complexity of sending a successful probe through the rings of Saturn has difficulty comprehending that a hierarchically structured tribal community in Iraq has little or no need of the democratic values currently being exposed for comment in the U.S.A.

However, you have been polite enough to ask. For this I thank you. Please read the protocols and feel free to use the image in whatever way you consider is appropriate.

Dear Bethe

Many thanks for taking the time to send me this article and your previous message. I hasten to respond by way of acknowledgement but apologise that it will take me at least a few days to respond properly. What you have sent is fascinating and thought provoking - on many levels.

I feel privileged. Thank you.

Dear Bethe

Sorry no second message. Yep - hotmail probably rejected the attachments.

Look forward to hearing from you when time permits.

Dear Bethe

Many thanks for your kind message. It would help me understand more about where you are coming from if you could elaborate on the relationship between the bullroarer and the philosopher's stone - when you have time.

Meantime, I thought this question might interest you (as much as it interested me):

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD1033.html#Shanks#1

If my age matters to you - I was born in September 1949. I think I stopped developing at about 17 although that inner voice that I speak to myself with seems to have resisted any change and has always been the same.

I hope this finds you well and happy.

Dear Bethe

The Flight of Ducks is many things but it is not a commercial space. For a description of what I think it is, see: http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0292.html

I'm interested in the nature of your interest in bullroarers. You may have noticed that my father collected a few in 1933 . See: http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0559.html

I used to swing these around when I was young and regret that I broke one. Generally they were made of mulga which is very hard and quite heavy but I've made a few out of eucalyptus hardwood (messmate and stringybark) for my own children. For the last few years I've been monitoring their sale on e-bay. You might pick up a few ideas from those that are listed:

See http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD1036.html

What are you looking for?

Dear Eden

Thank you for your very professional and considerate request. You certainly have my permission to use photographs from the Flight of Ducks in your project. You will find a fair use statement at:

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0310.html

Please be aware that there are exacting protocols concerning the use of Aboriginal images which can be quite difficult to follow if you try to adhere to the details rather than the spirit of fair use.

http://www.cdu.edu.au/library/protocol.html

Always a small world. I was a student of Nicholas Parson's father, Phillip Parsons when I studied drama at th University of N.S.W. - many years ago. He was an inspirational teacher.

Best wishes and good luck with your project it sounds very interesting.

What school are you attending?

Dear Michele

I'm happy to help in any way I can but I'm not sure what you are asking me to do...I don't know how to contact Graig San Roque but I do remember some exchanges back in 2001 about the SugarMan project. I've heard nothing more.

Dear Gary

Most of the photographs in the Flight of Ducks were taken by my father in 1933. However, as the years pass, the number of photographs people send me (that are included) are growing. I spent considerable time and a lot of petrol getting permission from descendants but as you'll see it's not as simple as that.

Wonderful

Gary, you may have noticed that I had manipulated a Spencer photo (Fig 1) in the essay I sent you. Some years ago the Cantrills stirred up a hornets nest of problems by screening some of Baldwin Spencer's films. I'm not sure that any have had public exposure since.

I'm looking forward to meeting you at your exhibtion.

Hi Gary

The State Library of Victoria has most of the original photographs. There was a woman there who was their custodian but I've forgotten her name. You are probably aware of the protocols associated with using images depicting aboriginal people. It can be a long process:

See http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0781.html

As far as I know, the photographs are out of copyright so it is really up to you about how you should proceed.

I'm sure if you rang the State Library switchboard they could put you on to the right person to speak to for advice. If you have trouble I can find a contact for you.

BTW would you send me an invitation to your exhibition. I'm fascinated by of Ludwig Leichhardt and was enthralled by Voss when I first read as a teenager, many years ago.

Henry

Sorry, but at this stage I'm simply keeping a record of the sales that occur. However, I am thinking of selling a few churinga soon to pay for some more acquisitions. I'll let you know if/when this occurs.

Henry

I need to know exactly what screen of the 'Flight of Ducks' that you are referring to. The screen number is at the bottom of the screen in brackets or you can look at the metadata. Screen number 1035 http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD1035.html is a record of sales of ceremonial objects at e-bay.

Thanks Gil

At the core of the Flight of Ducks is my father's 1933 description of a 'duck song'

http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD0089.html

sung by the Ngalia in a language they had lost. I wondered whether you'd heard any such songs - not Mucky Duck.

Dear Gil

The Flight of Ducks has been available on-line since 1995. For the last six years it has attracted more than a million individual viewers per year. The site is a much an evolving documentary as it is an on-going conversation and an experiment in long-term access and I have no plans to stop.

What do you mean by 'looking into our local evidence of Aboriginal life for forty five years'?

Have you come across any duck songs?

Dear Gil

May I suggest that you change the text size in your browser. To do this you press 'view' and look for the text size button. Let me know if this doesn't work. The Flight of Ducks is a very large site (over 1039 screens) so if you could let me know what area you are interested in I can point you to the most accessible screens.

Hi Sarah

Sorry to say that I am not a buyer. However, I keep a fairly close watch on the trade in Aboriginal artefacts on e-bay [see: http://www.duckdigital.net/FOD/FOD1035.html] and I would suggest that you could expect somewhere between US$50-US$150 each for the spears. Given their provenance I would suggest that your best bet would be to offer them as a collection on e-bay and if that doesn't work try to sell them individually. I'll post your message as the Flight of Ducks gets a fair number of visitors. If you had any photos of your uncle in Cape York it would help the sale. Good luck with it.

Dear Michael

Many thanks for your kind words. Feel free to use whatever images you'd like. As a poet, I guess you noticed the sonnets included in the Flight of Ducks and maybe the small looping hypertext poem I wrote a few summers ago when at my real home in the Warrumbungles.

Would it be OK with you to include the poems you've sent or can I link to a site with them?