What Australia Owes the Strehlows

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Man walks through these forests of symbols.—Baudelaire

Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines (1988) has becomefamous for the way in which Chatwin wasable to communicate to a popular audi-

ence the richness of the Aboriginal song cyclesor Dreaming tracks that criss-cross vast regionsof Central Australia. Chatwin had read T.G.H.Strehlow’sSongs of Central Australia (1971),greatlyadmiring the idiosyncratic nature of Strehlow’swork. ItwasStrehlow’sdepthof scholarshipcom-bined with his comparison of Aranda song withother literary traditions across the globe thatattracted Chatwin—and which also incensed theanthropologicalcommunity.

Songs of Central Australia is a genuine master-piece ofAustralianprose—one thathashadmoreimpact on our literary culture than on Australiananthropologicalthought.Thismaybeduetothefactthat T.G.H. Strehlow was influenced by the workof his father Carl Strehlow, which itself grew outofEuropean literary traditions.InherrecentbookThe Aranda’s Pepa: An Introduction to Carl Strehlow’s Masterpiece Die Aranda-und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien, Anna Kenny argues that CarlStrehlow was unique in early Australian anthro-pology in that he drew on the theories of cultureand language that developed during the period ofGermanRomanticism.Thismadehimandhissonanomalies in the Anglo-Australian anthropologi-calestablishment.ItmayalsoexplainwhyT.G.H.Strehlow’s work, and particularly Songs of Central Australia,hashad suchapronounced influenceonAustralian literary culture. The virtue of Kenny’s

study is that we can now understand the originsof theStrehlows’ distinctive approach in the liter-ary sensibilities of nineteenth-century Germany.Further,theinfluenceofthattraditionontheworkofT.G.H.Strehlowmayhelptoclarifytheattrac-tionhisworkhasheldforfictionwritersandpoetsinAustralia.

In Aranda Traditions (1947) T.G.H. Strehlowrecounts a Northern Aranda song cycle about acreative being, Ulamba, who after a deep slum-ber beneath the earth, awoke and began his trav-els across the primordial landscape of the CentralDesert. What lingers during these travels is adesiretoareturntohisplaceoforigin,toagainbeabsorbed into theearthoutofwhichheoriginallyarose. Strehlow quotes two lines fromhis transla-tionoftheoriginalArandacycle:

Highintheheavensshinestheafternoonsun:Hisheartisfilledwithyearningtoturnhome.

What is significant is that the places—bethey springs, waterholes or caves—out of whichthe ancestral beings arose, and which after theirwearying journeys across the landscape they againre-entered as they descended back into the earth,became the sacred ceremonial sites of CentralDesert religious practice. These are the celebrateddreamingsitesassociatedwithAboriginalritual.AsGertrudeLevyarguedinherfamouscross-culturalstudyofcaveartandsymbolism,The Gate of Horn(1948), Aboriginal religious systems are resonantwiththoseoftheMediterranean.Forexample,thecavesofancientGreeceandRomewereportals tothe underworld of dreams and the realm of thedead fromwhere reincarnatedspiritsemerged intotheupperworld.Giventhissymbolicresonanceofcavesandtheunderworld,andthecorrespondencebetween subterranean realms and the unconsciousmind, it is little wonder that Freud chose as theepitaph for The Interpretation of Dreams a linefrom Virgil’s Aeneid about Aeneas’s descent to the

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WhatAustraliaOwestheStrehlows

The Aranda’s Pepa: An introduction to Carl Strehlow’s Masterpiece Die Aranda-und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien (1907–1920)byAnnaKennyANUPress,2013,310pages,$28

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underworldthroughthecaveofCumae:“IfIcan’tbendthoseabove,I’llstirthelowerregions.”

In Aranda traditions, the landscape featuressurrounding these sacred sites are also thought tobe traces of the ancestor and his journeys, physi-cal embodiments or objectifications of a once liv-ingbody; for example ahillmaybe the ancestor’sbodywhereherestedduringhistravelsthroughthatpartof country.Theplaces fromwhich theances-tors emerged from the earth are also believed tobeplacesoffecunditywherespiritchildrencreatedbytheancestormayvivifythefoetusinawoman’swombas shewalks throughcountry. In this senseherchildbecomesalivingembodimentofthecrea-tive ancestor who is thought to be slumbering invariousfeaturesofthelandscape.

This is a way of thinking that is difficult forEuropean Australians to grasp. This sense of analien religious world was even more pronouncedwhenStrehlowwroteAranda Traditionsinthe1940s.Oneofhismainobjectivesinwritingthebookwastohighlightthefallaciesevidentinearlieraccountsof Aboriginal culture that had been responsiblefor exacerbating as opposed to diminishing suchincomprehension.

Having been raised at the HermannsburgMission,aLutheransettlementaboutahun-

dredkilometreswestofAliceSprings,andhavingspoken Aranda as one of his mother tongues as achild,T.G.H.Strehlowwasperfectlypoisedtocri-tiqueearlieranthropologistswhoreliedonaccountsgiven to them by Aranda men for whom Englishwasasecondlanguage.Strehlowwasabletonotatethe songs in Aranda, grasp their full emotionalresonance,andthentranslatetheseaestheticquali-ties into equivalent forms of English expression.Strehlow’s greater proficiency in Aranda languageandlinguisticsmeanthewasabletounderstandandinterpretArandacultureinawaythathadnotbeenachievedpreviously.For example,whendiscussingthe complexities involved in translating the abovecouplet,heexplainsthecomplexnatureofArandaverb formation, and how a sophisticated metricaland grammatical system differentiated ceremonialsongcyclesfromeverydayArandaspeech:

“Eraritjaritjaka”isanarchaicpoeticterm,meaning“fulloflongingforsomethingthathasbeenlost”,or“filledwithlongingtoreturnhome”.“Albutjika”isaninfinitivemeaning“togohome”,“toturnhomeward”.Thetranslation“Hisheartisfilledwithlongingtoturnhome”triestoexpresstheforceofthearchaicpoeticterm“eraritjaritjaka”…Theoriginalrhythmoftheverse—whichisveryeffectivewhenitis

beingchantedmournfully—naturallydefiesalleffortstorecapture.

The caves from which ancestral beings arethoughttohaveemergedfromtheearth,andwherethe spirit children created by those beings awaittheirincarnationashumans,arealsooftenthestor-ageplacesof sacredobjectsused inceremony.Butagain thoseobjects, the famouswoodenboardsorstonesreferredtoastjurungas,arealsoembodimentsofthecreativeancestorinthesamewaythatfeaturesof the landscape, animals andhumansare.This isthecomplexideaStrehlowwastryingtoconvey:thecreativebeings,thetracestheyleftaslandscapefea-tures during their travels, the animal species theycreated,thespiritchildrentheydepositedinvarioussacredsitesandthehumanbeingswhowerecreatedfromthosespiritchildren,areallconsubstantial,allofoneandthesamesubstance.Theattractionandemotionalpoweroftraditionalceremonyresultfromthis sense of identity between the actor or dancerand the ancestral being he or she is portraying.However, to call it a portrayal is probably inaccu-rate;thedanceractuallybecomestheancestorwhocreatedthemandwhotheyareaphysicalandlivingembodimentof.AsStrehlowwritesoftheArandasenseofidentitywithancestralbeings:

Thewholecountrysideishisliving,age-oldfamilytree.Thestoryofhisowntotemicancestoristothenativetheaccountofhisowndoingsatthebeginningoftime,atthedimdawnoflife,whentheworldasheknowsitnowwasbeingshapedandmouldedbyall-powerfulhands…[He]clingstohisnativesoilwitheveryfibreofhisbeing.Hewillalwaysspeakofhisownbirthplacewithloveandreverence.Today,tearswillcomeintohiseyeswhenhementionsanancestralhomesitewhichhasbeen,sometimesunwittingly,desecratedbythewhiteusurpersofhisterritory.

Strehlow follows these comments with a perti-nentremarklinkingthehumanexperienceofcoun-try and community and that portrayed in myth:“Loveofhome,longingforhome,thesearedomi-nating motives which constantly re-appear also inthemythsofthetotemicancestors.”Aboriginalartandceremonyrepresentacomplexand interwovensystem,wheresacredobjects,thenaturalworldandhumanbeingsareallsymbolicembodimentsofthespiritualpotencyoftotemicancestors.Thissenseofsymbolic resonance establishes a sense of identity,symbiosisandaffinitybetweendisparateentities.ItisforthisreasonIsuspectthattheemotionallong-ingsoftotemicancestors,whenexpressedaspartof

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a ceremonial dramatisation, evoke similar feelingsfromperformers and spectators.They recognise intheactionsoftheancestorstheirowninnernature.ThevirtueofStrehlow’sworkisthathewasabletohumanisetheseartformsanddemonstratehowtheyexpressedtherichesofArandaemotionallife.

T.G.H.Strehlowwasreactingagainstthereign-ingparadigminanthropologywhichhadgrown

out of social Darwinism. Sir James Frazer, authorThe Golden Bough, that massive compilation of lit-eratureonfertilityritesthatformedthemythopoeicsubstrata of T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land”,hadsoughttointerpretreligioninDarwinianterms.Theevolutionfromaprimitivestateoftechnologicaldevelopmenttoamorecomplexone,fromspearsandstonetoolstoVictoriansteampower,wasthoughttobeparalleledbysimilaradvancesinculture and mental evolution. ForFrazer the “magical practices” offertility rites represented a primi-tive form of culture out of whichChristianity developed. The fertil-ityritesofAboriginalcultureweresimilarlyconsideredtobeanexam-pleofsuchaprimitiveculturalform.By studying such evolutionarilyprimitive cultural practices Frazerbelieved science could learn aboutthe earliest stages of human evo-lution. Baldwin Spencer, who co-authoredwithFrancisGillenoneofthe pioneering texts of Australiananthropology, The Native Tribes of Central Australia (1899), acceptedFrazer’s schemata and interpretedAranda culture as evidence of anearlier stage of human evolution.Heassumedlackoftechnologicaldevelopmentwasaccompaniedbyprimitiveformsofcultural,artisticandintellectualdevelopment.

Being on the lowest rung of the evolution-ary ladder, it was inconceivable that Aranda songand ceremony could have aesthetic qualities rival-lingthoseoftheNordicsagasorShakespeare.YetT.G.H.Strehlow,withhisadvancedlanguageskillsand ability to feel and experience Aranda culturefromwithin,andhisabilitytoshareintheoldmen’semotional responses to thesongstheysharedwithhim, felt such songsmatched inpathosand sensi-bility any of the world’s other forms of literary oraestheticexpression. InAranda Traditions wegetasenseofadeeperandricherportrayaloftheinward-ness ofAranda religious experience thanhadpre-viously been expressed by Australian writers. Thebook is consequently a seminal text in Australian

anthropologyforitsignalsashiftfromthestudyofAboriginalpeopleasobjectsofscientificinteresttosubjectsof theirownuniquekindof religious andaestheticexperience.

T.G.H. Strehlow also criticised Spencer forassumingtheArandawereaculturallyhomogenousgroup. For The Native Tribes of Central Australia SpencercollecteddatafromdifferentgroupsintheAranda languageblockand thencompiledacom-positepicturewhichelidedthediversityofcustomandpracticeintheregion,diversitywhichheseemedunaware of. T.G.H. Strehlow criticised Spenceron this point, highlighting the diversity of beliefamong the different Aranda groups. For example,indiscussingacaciabushesthatarefoundoutsideasacredcaveintheWesternMacDonnellRangeshediscusseshowthewoodofsuchtreesisthoughtto

embody the potency of the ances-torwhoisthoughttobeslumberingdeep within the cave. Sometimesthewoodfromthesetreeswasusedtofashionsmallbull-roarerswhichwouldbewrappedupinhair-stringandplacedinthesmallwoodenves-selsmotherscarriedtheirinfantsin.These small carved objects wouldbearthemarkingsoftheinfantboy’stotemicancestor,andtheirpresenceinthevessel,itwasbelieved,wouldincreasethegrowthofthechildandkeepitsafefromsickness.

There is a complex cosmol-ogy and understanding of humanontogenygoingonhere.Thesmallbark bull-roarers are considered tobe,likethechild,physicalembodi-mentsofacreativeancestor.Asthechildisbornandbeginstogrowhe

is essentially being separated or dissociated fromtheoriginoffertilityandpowerwhichgaverisetohis own existence, powerwhich laydormant deepwithinthecavewheretheancestorstilllayslumber-ing.Byplacingthesmallbull-roarersinthechild’scarrying vessel the link with that creative poweris maintained. Later in life he will maintain thatconnection through dance and song, which againawaken the ancestral beings slumbering in sacredsitessuchascavesorsprings—andwhichalsoIsus-pectawakenandrenewpeople’ssenseofemotionalaffinitywiththosesites.

T.G.H. Strehlow, however, had another rea-son forquoting this custom.His father,Carl,hadmentionedthepracticeofplacingsuchitemsalong-sidechildren in theircarryingvesselsamongst theWesternArandainDie Aranda-und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien. Spencer had been told that

“Aranda Traditions” is a seminal text

in Australian anthropology, for it signals a shift from the study of

Aboriginal people as objects of scientific interest to subjects

of their own unique kind of religious and aesthetic experience.

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such a practice would have been thought sacrile-gious andon thatbasishe attackedCarlStrehlowforproposingwhathe thought tobe an absurdity.However,CarlwastalkingaboutacustompractisedbytheWesternAranda.Spencerhadheard—quiterightly—that the Northern Aranda would havefoundsuchapracticeabhorrent.Butfromthispieceof information he generalised to the Aranda peo-pleasawholeandthereforeassumedCarlStrehlowmust have been mistaken. In fact Carl was onlydescribingthecustomofaspecificsub-groupoftheAranda.AswithhissocialDarwinistschemata,inthiscaseSpencerhadagaintriedtofitfactstothe-ory,asopposedtocollectingdatainamoresystem-atic and objective manner that would foregroundcultural specificityanddifference.UnlikeSpencer,Carl Strehlow and his son were well aware of theculturaldiversitywithintheArandalanguageblock.

In The Aranda’s Pepa Kennyquotes the relevantpassages from thisdebate.Thepoint ofhighlight-ingT.G.H.Strehlow’sdefenceofhisfatheragainstSpencer’s criticisms is for Kenny to emphasise thesense of indebtedness that T.G.H. Strehlow owedtohisfather’searlywork.Itwasfromhim,shesug-gests,thatheacquiredhisacuityinlinguisticanaly-sisandhisabilitytorespectthediversitythatexistsamongtheAranda.

CarlStrehlowservedtheArandapeopleasamis-sionary from 1894 to 1922 at Hermannsburg.

His masterpiece, Die Aranda-und Loritja-Stämme in Zentral-Australien, was only ever published inGerman and has remained unduly neglected, par-ticularly inAustralia, for over a century.Kenny ispartofateamheadedbyANU’sProfessorNicolasPeterson which is undertaking a research projecttitled “Rescuing Carl Strehlow’s Indigenous cul-turalheritagelegacy:TheneglectedGermantradi-tionofArandicethnography”.

Overthelastfortyyearstheworkofmissionarieshasbeentaintedandneglected,oftenunderthemis-takenassumptionthattheywereifnotinstruments,then accomplices, of cultural genocide. Further,at the turn of last century the British-Australiananthropologicalestablishment,headedbySirJamesFrazer in Britain and Baldwin Spencer locally,malignedanddenigratedtheworkofCarlStrehlowbecause he was a missionary. The assumption wasthatbypreachingChristianityhewascontaminat-ingthe“natives”withanti-scientificnonsense;andbeing a Christian himself most of what he wrote,it was argued, would be unscientific in any case.Muchofthisseemstobehavebeenoutrightpreju-dice fuelled by professional jealousy for what CarlStrehlowpossessedandwhatSpencer lacked: inti-mateunderstandingofthelanguageandcultureof

theArandapeopleacquiredfromdecadesoflivingandworkingwiththem.

JohnStrehlow,CarlStrehlow’sgrandson,madethese claims in The Tale of Frieda Keysser: Frieda Keysser and Carl Strehlow: An Historical Biography (2010). In thismammothbook theamountofpri-mary sources that John Strehlow marshals makesacompellingcasethathisgrandfatherwasunfairlymaligned and his work denigrated by Spencer sothathisowntheorieswouldnotbeundermined.

John Strehlow’s broader polemical intent thathis grandfather was neglected by the anthropo-logicalprofessiondoesholdwhenconsideredinanAustralian-British context. But as Kenny demon-strates,thisdefinitelywasnotthecaseinEurope.

For example, when Frazer, based on his corre-spondence with and professional association withSpencer,publishedhis rejectionofCarlStrehlow’swork, both Marcel Mauss and Emile Durkheimwrote in L’Annee sociologique in 1913 that Frazer’spositionwasunjustified.MarcelMausswentontopraise Carl Strehlow’s magnum opus in terms thatreflectitssignificancemoreaccuratelythanthecri-tiquesofferedbySpencerandFrazer.Kennynotes:

PossiblythetruenatureofStrehlow’sworkwasmostevocativelyrenderedbyMarcelMausswhenheremarkedthatthevolumesrepresentedaformofanArandaRigVeda.ThisancientcollectionofHinduhymnalchantsisalsooneoftheearlierrecordsofIndo-Europeanlanguageandtherebyaphilologicaltreasure.PerhapsthesamemightbesaidofCarlStrehlow’sworkonmythscollectedinArandaandLoritjalanguageaswellofhisson’slaterwork.

What makes The Aranda’s Pepa an importantcontribution to the current reassessment of

theroleofmissionariesinAustralianfrontierhistoryandinthehistoryofanthropologyisKenny’sanalysisofletterswrittenbetweenCarlStrehlowandBaronvonLeonhardi,aresearcherbasedinGermanywhocollaboratedwithCarl andeditedhismasterpiece.VonLeonhardihadreadallofthemajoranthropo-logicaltheoristsofthetimeandwaswellawareofthedebatesbetweenEdwardTylor,JamesLangandJamesFrazerthatwereoccurringinBritain.Manyoftheissuesbeingdiscussedmadereferencetothework of Spencer, work which Carl, with his moreintimate knowledge of Aranda language and cul-ture,hadexpressedreservationsabout.Carl,inhisremoteoutpost,wasnotabletokeepfullyabreastofthese developments. Yet by formulating questionsin a way that would elicit appropriate responsesfromtheoldArandamen,vonLeonhardiwasabletoguideCarl, fromtheothersideoftheworld, in

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developing an empirically-basedmethodology thatwouldsolvesomeofthemajorissuesbeingdebatedatthetimeinBritainandEurope.

Von Leonhardi was sceptical of the socialDarwinistapproachadoptedbyFrazerandSpencer.HenoticedthatCarl’sviewscontradictedmanyofSpencer’s views—but because of Spencer’s institu-tional clout and the fact that Carl was writing inGerman many of these problems were either notknown about or were overlooked. Von Leonhardiabhorredtheoreticalassumptionsdetermininghowfactsareinterpreted,afaulthefeltSpencerhadsuc-cumbedtoinThe Native Tribes of Central Australia.Hewasinterestedinrigorouscollectionofdataandthefine-grainedanalysisofculture.

Carl, inordertorespondtothequeries in Von Leonhardi’s letters,questioned not only the Arandarepeatedly about the same issues,but alsohisownprevious assump-tions.Theresultwasawonderfullydetailedlinguisticanalysisofavastbody of Aranda myth and songthatpaidattentiontothespecifici-tiesofculturalsingularity—aworkthat represents a deeply informedappreciation of Aranda religiouslife,aestheticexperienceand intel-lectual achievement. As Kennywrites,so“absorbingwasthistask,and illuminating, that less than ayearbeforehediedStrehlowconfidentlyrepudiatedany suggestion that the Aranda’s modest technol-ogymightreflectalimitedintellectuallife:‘Never,’Strehlowsaid.”

KennytracestheoriginsoftheideasthatinformedCarlStrehlow’sworktoGermanRomanticism

andparticularly the theoriesof language andcul-ture developed by Johann Gottfried von Herder(1744–1803). Herder was an influential writer oftheperiodwhoisalsorememberedtodayforbeingfriendswithandhavingsignificantinfluenceontheintellectual growth of the young Goethe. Herderemphasisedtheparticularityoflanguagetoculturaldistinctiveness,establishingatraditioninGermanthoughtthatwouldfinditselfopposedtothesche-maticthinkingofsocialDarwinism,whichrankedculturesaccordingtotherungtheyoccupiedontheevolutionaryladderofprogresstowardscivilisation.

Herderwasacentralfigureinthedevelopmentof European Romanticism. In opposing the overtrationalism of the Enlightenment, Herder soughttheoriginsoffolkcultureandpoetryinthedeeperemotional substrataof the self.Through the indi-rect influence of these ideas on Carl Strehlow we

canunderstandinwhatwayshisapproachwasdif-ferent from that of the Anglo-Celtic tradition inAustraliananthropology.CarlStrehlow’sworkandhisapproachtoculturehadfirmrootsinEuropeanliterary Romanticism—something that may alsohelpusunderstandtheimportanceoftheStrehlowlegacy to Australian literary and cultural life. Aswell as his influence on European Romanticismmoregenerally,Herder’sworkalsohadasignificantimpact on the Grimm brothers, who pursued hisnotion that the soul of a peoplewas embodied intheirlanguage,folkloreandmyth.

CarlStrehloworganisedhiscollectionofArandamaterialintothesamecategoriesofmyth,folklore

andfairytalesinwhichtheGrimmbrothers organised their Europeanmaterial.Althoughthesecategoriesrepresentanattempt tofitArandamaterial into aEuropean frameofreference,theapproachdidprovideCarl Strehlow with a system withwhich he could organise the vastamount of data he was collecting.During this period systematisedmethodologiesforthecollectionofethnographic field data had yet tobeformulated,sointhissenseCarlwasusing all thatwas available tohimatthetime.AndhisapproachhadvirtuesoverthatoftheBritish-Australian Darwinians; the songs

andmythshecollectedwerepresentedasanexpres-sionoftherichnessofArandaculturalexperienceasopposedtoevidenceofevolutionarybackwardness.Thisfocusonmythandsongasculturalexpressionwastoformthebasisoftheworkofbothfatherandson,afocusthatdifferentiatesitfromthemajorityofanthropologicalworkinAustralia.

AsaLutheranmissionaryStrehlowwastaughtto follow the demotic edict of Luther of preach-inginthevernacular—whichinAustraliarequiredintensive language study and translation of scrip-ture into Aboriginal languages before the actualprocessofpreachingcouldbeproperly conducted.This required a great deal of intellectual effortand commitment, for which Carl had been suffi-ciently prepared at the Neuendettelsau seminaryinGermany,wherehewasanexcellentstudentofLatinandGreek.

WithhisdeeperunderstandingofthelanguageCarl was able to correct the over-simplificationsevident in the less linguistically astute work ofSpencer andGillen.For example, inThe Northern Tribes of Central Australia,SpencerandGillenhadinterpreted the Aranda word alcheringa as “dreamtimes”.CarlrespondedthattheArandadidnotuse

The songs and myths he collected were presented as

an expression of the richness of Aranda

cultural experience as opposed to evidence

of evolutionary backwardness.

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thistermtorefertoaspecificperiodinthepast.Hisconsequentinvestigationsrepresentedanextremelyagilegrammatical analysisof thevarious formsofsemantic transformation that the Aranda appliedto the word altjira, which as a noun was used todescribetotemicancestors.

Carlrealisedthataltjiraareconnectedtoamoth-er’s conception place and the associated dreamingstories—which may be sites such as the caves orspringsreferredtoabove.Further,thisnounhasaverbform;withtheadditionoframa,whichmeans“tosee”,wegettheverbaltjiererama,whichmeans“to see god”.Carl emphasised that this verb formrefers to “a totem god which the native believesto have seen in a dream”. Carl was establishing aconnectionbetweendream-lifeandreligiousexpe-rience of the kind we find in Greek and Romanantiquity. The parallel also extends to the notionthatthegodsthatvisithumansindreamsresideincavesandinhiddenrealmsbeneaththeearth.Thislinguistic insight into the Aranda worldview wasoneofmany inwhichCarlwas able to enter intoandunderstandacultureprofoundlydifferentfromhisown.Whatisremarkableisthatsuchcross-cul-turalunderstandingwasoccurringatatimewhenEuropeanAustralianshadlittlesenseofthe innerlivedexperienceofAboriginalpeople.

ItwasthecombinationoftheLutheranempha-sis on the vernacular and German Romanticism’sfocusonlanguageandculturaldistinctivenessthatdifferentiated Strehlow’s work from the British-AustralianDarwinians.AcorrelateofCarl’srejec-tion of the Darwinian model, which argued thatevolutionarilyinferiorracesaredoomedtobecomeextinct,wasabeliefintheAranda’sabilitytoadaptand survive in the changing conditions broughtabout by colonisation. He was virtually alonein adopting this position in the nineteenth cen-tury—butforhimitwasanaturalconsequenceofhis belief in the humanity and intelligence of theArandathemselves.

Kenny’sbookisanattempttorevisethecanonofAustraliananthropologybygivingCarlStrehlowhis rightful place after over a century of neglect.Herviewsonthisissuearepertinent:

ThesingularityofCarlStrehlow’sworkisunderlinednotmerelybythecontrastitpresentstoSpencer’sandGillen’stextsbutalsobythecontrastthattheworkonAboriginalmythoftheStrehlows,fatherandson,presentstotherestofAustraliananthropology.SavefortheworkofRoheim,alsoatHermannsburgshortlyafterCarlStrehlow’stime,thereisnothingintheAustralianliteraturequiteliketheirearlyattemptstospecifyanindigenousontology.

T.G.H. Strehlow was marginalised by theanthropological community during his lifetime,and although he did receive support from somequarters, an emphasis on language and song wasnot immediately amenable to the models thatbecameorthodoxparadigmsintheacademyinthetwentiethcentury.Carlsufferedaworsefateforthereasonsoutlinedabove.

However,despitethisneglect,theinfluenceandimportance of T.G.H. Strehlow’s Songs of Central Australiahasbeensignificant.Inthefuture,Isus-pectitsimportanceinAustralianwritingwillgrowasotherworksfadefromourcanonofproseaboutAboriginal culture. The Aranda’s Pepa reminds usof the indebtedness thatSongs of Central Australiaowestotheworkofitsauthor’sfather.

Goingbackand lookingatCarl’sworkafresh,andnowthat thehistorical forces thatshapedhisworkhavebeenexplicated,wecanseethedegreetowhichtheGermantraditionsoflanguageandcul-ture thatgrewoutofGermanRomanticismindi-rectly shaped Songs of Central Australia. This factalsoprovidessuggestionsastowhyitsapproachanditsfocusonthesubjectivityofArandaaestheticsisbeyondthepurviewofmoreobjectivistapproachesin anthropology that emphasise social structure,kinshiportechnology.TheGermantraditionsthatbothfatherandsoninherited,Isuggest,mayhavemadethemmoresensitivetotherichnessandsig-nificanceof language as an expressionof people’sexperience,oftheirinnernature.

Given this inheritance it isnot surprising thatthe work of T.G.H. Strehlow has had such

influence on Australian writers and poets. Fromthe1930sonwardsStrehlowbecameanimportantinfluenceon the Jindyworobakpoets,who lookedtoAboriginalmythandsonginordertoindigenisetheirverse.

InhisConditional Culture(1938)RexIngamells,thefounderoftheJindyworobakmovement,statedthat T.G.H. Strehlow’s writings “certainly provethe fertility of the aboriginal mind in imagina-tion and poetry”. As Barry Hill has highlightedinhisbiography,Broken Song: T.G.H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession,IngamellsandStrehlowoftenmetandcorrespondedtodiscussthedevelopmentofan“indigenouspoetictradition”.RolandRobinson,one of the best of the Jindyworobak poets, wrotein his autobiography The Shift of Sands (1976) ofthefriendshipandthesupportStrehlowgavehim.Strehlow wrote the foreword for Robinson’s col-lectionofAboriginalmyths The Feathered Serpent(1956).

ItisnotsurprisingthereforethatSongs of Central Australiaendswiththefollowingprediction:

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ItismybeliefthatwhenthestrongweboffutureAustralianversecomestobewritten,probablysomeofitsstrandswillbefoundtobepoeticthreadsspunontheStoneAgespindlesofCentralAustralia.

Barry Hill extended the impulse of theJindyworobak aesthetic of “ joining together”Aboriginal and European literary traditions inhis sequence of love poems The Inland Sea (2001).In Songlines Chatwin pays homage to T.G.H.Strehlow’s work, being particularly appreciativeof the depth of cross-cultural analysis in Songs of Central Australia. Reflecting on the idiosyncraticandmelancholicdimensionsofStrehlow’swork,hedescribesitasanoeuvreof“greatandlonelybooks”.

Themostsignificant legacyof theGermantra-dition that found its expression intheworkofbothfatherandsonisinthepoetryandproseofLesMurray.In his essay “The Human-HairThread”, in which Murray detailsthe influence of T.G.H. Strehlowonhisownwork,wegetthesensethathewouldnothavebecomethepoethe iswithout the influenceofAboriginal song upon on his owncreative development. As well asthe Anglo-Celtic dimensions ofMurray’s oeuvre, it may be theconstant resonances of Aboriginalpoetry and song that give his work the sense ofbeingfirmlygroundedinadistinctivelyAustralianecologicalandsocialcontext.

In his lecture “Defence of Poetry”, deliveredin 1998 at the Poetry International Festival inRotterdam,MurraymadewhatmaybesomeofthemostinsightfulcommentsofferedaboutAboriginalculture by a European Australian. In echoingStrehlow,MurraywritesthatAboriginallawin“itsrichness, its psychological depth and the dream-likeshockingnessofitsstories…isamatchforthemythologiesofGreeceorRomeoranyotherancientculture”.Toquotefurtherfromthelecture:

ThecontinentonwhichIlivewasruledbypoetryfortensofthousandsofyears,andImeanitwasruledopenlyandovertlybypoetry.OnlysinceEuropeansettlementin1788hasitbeensubstantiallyruledbyprose.ThesacredlawwhichstillgovernsthelivesoftraditionalAboriginesiscarriedbyavastmapofsong-poetryattachedtoinnumerablemythicsites.Eachgroup“sings”thetractofcountryitoccupies,justaseachinitiatedpersonsingstheceremonialsongsoftheholyplacesforwhich

heorsheisresponsiblewithinthatterritory.Apersonmayunselfconsciouslysay“Thatmountainismymother:itisherancestorandmine;itisthebodyofourancestor,andthestorywesingandenactthereisherbody.Weareherbody,too,andthesongsareherbody,andtheceremoniesareherbody.”ThatistheAboriginalLaw.

Murrayisevokingthesymbolicresonanceinher-entintheAboriginalviewoftheworld:ecologicalfeatures,humanbeingsandsacredobjectsaresym-bolic embodiments of totemic ancestors. Further,thepotencyofsuchancestralpoweristhoughttobehidden fromeverydayview, from the sensoryfieldofwakingconsciousness,onlytobemademanifestindreamandritual.Thissenseofa“splitcosmos”,

accordingtoFredMyersinPintupi Country, Pintupi Self, is expressedforthePintupipeopleinthewordstjukurrpa and yuti. Yuti meanssomethingwhichisseenorvisible;whereastjukurrpa,whichtranslatesas “dreaming”, usually connotessomething which is hidden andonlymademanifestindreamorinritual. It also denotes the hidden-nessoftheancestors;theyarehid-denincavesandbeneaththeearth,justasdream-lifeishiddenbeneaththesurfaceofwakingconsciousness.

Thefactthatcavesarethoughttobetheplaceswhere ancestral beings remainhidden,where theydepartfromtheprofaneworldandentertheunder-groundworldoftheireternalslumber,parallelssim-ilarnotionsfromtheMediterranean.InThe Aeneid,it was the Cumaen cave through which Aeneasdescendedtotheunderworld,therealmwherethespiritsofthedeadexistandfromwherebothrein-carnated spirits, and also dreams, emerge into theupperworld. It isnot surprising that the symbolicembodimentsoftheancestraldead—thesacredtju-rungasofArandatradition—areoftenhousedinthecavesfromwhichspiritchildrenemergetoembodythemselvesinhumanform.Inbothtraditionscavesaretherealmofthedeadandtherealmfromwhichnewlifeemerges.Itistherealmofgodsandtotemicbeings—which in Aranda traditions, according toCarl Strehlow’s translation of altjiererama, are notonlyembodied inritualperformancebutalsoseenindreams.

Aboriginalreligionmaybethoughtofasasym-bolicsysteminwhichobjectsintheouterworld

bear theprojectionsofhuman inner life.Carl andhis sondecoded this symbolic system,making the

Aboriginal religion may be thought of

as a symbolic system in which objects in

the outer world bear the projections of human inner life.

QuadrantJune2015 53


inner world of Aranda religious experience acces-sibletoEuropeanAustralians.Itisdoubtfulthatwewouldhavebeenabletocometosuchanapprecia-tionofthetraditionsthathaveenrichedoursenseoflivingamongstAustraliannature—itsrivers,moun-tains,floraandfauna—ifitweren’tfortheassiduousresearchesundertakenbyCarlandhisson.

Whatweandourliterarytraditionsmakeoftherich contribution Aboriginal peoples have made,andwillcontinuetomake,toournationalculturallifeisyettobeseen.OftenAboriginalpeopletalkofsharingtheirdreamingstories—whichtodaytheyfrequently do through visual art—in terms of the

bestowalofagift.Thereisnodoubtthisisthemostadequate andconcise expressionofwhat suchcul-turalexchangeentails.

The consequent enrichment of the conscious-ness ofEuropean Australians is a process I envis-agewillcontinueintothefuture—thetextsofbothStrehlows, father and son, providing some of themosteruditeworkswehavetofacilitatethisprocessofexchangeandenrichment.

Gary Clark lives in Adelaide. He discussed John Strehlow’s book The Tale of Frieda Keysser in the April 2014 issue.

St Josephine

JosephineMargaretBakhitakidnappedbyslavetraderstornfromfamilyinDarfurandrobbedofchildhoodatsevensoldresoldfivetimesinmarketsofElObeidandKhartoumnamedBakhitabycaptors—Arabicforlucky—(sheeventuallyforgotherbirthname).Scarifiedandtattooedwithrazor,salt,whiteflour,114patternscutintobreasts,bellyandarms.ForciblyconvertedtoIslam.

BoughtbyanItalianConsul,akindman.BroughttoItalyandChrist,entrustedtotheCanossianSisters,trainedinthecatechumenateinVenice,receivedcommunionfromCardinalSarto,thefuturePopePiusX.Her mind on God, her heart in Africa,shewasknownasmadre moretta,blackmother.ShenamedGodthe Master,whiledyingwhispered,please loosen these chains … they are heavy,herfinalwords—Our lady! Our lady!

CanonizedbyPopeJohnPaulII,theonlySudanesesaint,patronofevangelicalreconciliation.

Joe Dolce

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