Tools & things made
Sinew (biyal)
biyal is 'gristle, sinew, string, blood vessel (especially wallaby tail sinew)': the long tendons that run the length of a wallaby or kangaroo tail, pulled out at the kill and used as the strongest fine binding on country[1]. At Bloomfield the stingray barbs and the prongs of the fishing spear 'were held in place by wallaby sinew and resins'; the stone axe head was 'secured there by bark fibre or wallaby sinew and a gum mixture'; the peg of the ironwood woomera at Cape Bedford, the Endeavour and the Bloomfield was 'tied with tendon, etc., on to two holes drilled into the blade' and covered with cement; and men wore 'wallaby sinew or plaited hair belts' in which they carried their axes[2][3]. Sinew is an inland product: the coast took it in by trade, Cape Bedford importing 'kangaroo-tail sinew' along with bark troughs and quartz-tipped spears, and the kangaroo country that supplied it is the open woodland inland, where the agile wallaby, the wallaroo and the antilopine kangaroo run[4][5][6][7].
Hann River Cape York
Possum People's country on the upper river and Thaypan (Kuku Thaypan) country downstream: stringybark and bloodwood woodland and a spring-fed sandy river that runs north-east from the Great Dividing Range, past the Peninsula Developmental Road, into Rinyirru (Lakefield) and the North Kennedy. Not Kuku Yalanji country: the Kuku Yalanji words on this page are the dictionary's, not the Hann's own languages. Place guide
The kangaroos and wallabies that give sinew are the common game of the Hann country: the Atlas of Living Australia holds 99 agile wallaby records among 141 kangaroo-family records around the middle Hann[13], and on Rinyirru 'agile wallabies are abundant'[14]. On 'the rivers flowing into' Princess Charlotte Bay, Roth found fish-hook barbs bound on with kangaroo-tail tendon[9].
Where the sinew comes from here
The Atlas holds 141 records of the kangaroo family from a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann, Laura and western Rinyirru, 1975–2026: agile wallaby 99, eastern grey kangaroo 18, spectacled hare-wallaby 13, common wallaroo 4, antilopine kangaroo 3, northern nailtail wallaby 3 and Cape York rock-wallaby 1[13]. Kuku Thaypan Elders name boxwood country as hunting ground for 'Nyeh rabi male and Nyeh myra female agile wallabies and Nyeh kombalon grey and red kangaroo'[15]. The Court recorded a Possum man's evidence of 'hunting pigs, kangaroos, goanna, porcupine, and plain turkeys' on the upper Hann, and a Thaypan man said 'We get wallaby'[16][17]. See wallabies and kangaroos.
How people used it here
Princess Charlotte Bay and its rivers, c. 1900. 'At Princess Charlotte Bay, and along the rivers flowing into it, the hook (KWA terwa, KRA tarubal) consists of a tapering pencil of hard wood, usually Erythrophleum Laboucherii, to the attenuated extremity of which is attached, at a very acute angle, a pointed slip of bone. The particular bone utilised is that obtained from the emu, native-companion, or kangaroo: its material of attachment is kangaroo-tail tendon, and Grevillea gum-cement'[9]. E. laboucherii is the old name of the ironwood; terwa is the Koko-warra word and tarubal the Koko-rarmul word for the hook. See hooks and lines.
Nothing else about sinew is published for the Hann itself.
On country today
The upper Hann is the Possum People's country and the middle and lower Hann are Thaypan country, both determined on 2 November 2023, with rights to hunt and to take the natural resources of the area[16][17]. Hunting for personal, domestic and non-commercial communal needs needs no licence for native title holders[18].
Upper Mitchell Western Yalanji
Western Yalanji country west of the Great Dividing Range: dry open woodland cut by the sandy, paperbark-lined upper Mitchell River, around Karma Waters and Mount Carbine. Place guide
The upper Mitchell is kangaroo country: the animals that give sinew live on its woodland and river flats[5].
Where the sinew comes from here
The sinew here comes from the kangaroos of the open woodland and the river flats: the agile wallaby, the common wallaroo of the rocky ridges and the antilopine kangaroo of the tropical savanna are all on the upper Mitchell[5][6][7].
On country today
The Western Yalanji determinations recognise the right to hunt on this country[19].
Eastern coast Eastern Kuku Yalanji
Eastern Kuku Yalanji country: rainforest, beaches, mangroves, reef and the short steep rivers from the Daintree to the Bloomfield and the Annan.
On the Bloomfield, wallaby sinew held the barbs and prongs of fishing spears and the stone heads of axes, always under gum[2]. The rainforest coast had fewer kangaroos, and Cape Bedford, to the north, bought kangaroo-tail sinew in[4].
What it held here
Spears. At Bloomfield 'the stingray barbs and the multiple-prongs were held in place by wallaby sinew and resins made from Canarium australasicum, E. chlorostachys or grasstree Xanthorrhoea johnsonii'[2]. Axes. 'The celts were tied onto a handle made of a portion of large lawyer cane and secured there by bark fibre or wallaby sinew and a gum mixture of beeswax mixed with resin from Canarium australasicum'[2].
Everywhere
Names
biyal: 'gristle, sinew, string, blood vessel (especially wallaby tail sinew)'[1]. Roth's Koko-yimidir grammar has the same word, bejal 'tendon, sinew', and shows how far it reached into speech: m.-beyal, 'sinew' of the eye, 'to stare at, give close attention to', and b.-beyal, 'sinew' of the nose, 'determined, mean, selfish'[8]. The animals: kadar 'plains wallaby', bimbarrbay 'scrub wallaby', darrba 'grass wallaby', julmbanu and mayarriji the grey kangaroos, nyarrkali 'black kangaroo'[1]. The other bindings: karra 'rope, cord, string' and the fibre strings; the gums that go over the sinew[1].
What it is and what it held
A kangaroo's tail is driven by long tendons that run from the rump to the tip; dried, they are a hard, fine, very strong cord that can be split into threads, and that is what biyal is[1]. Roth saw Pennefather River hunters pull the tail tendons out first thing after a kill, before the animal was gutted[9].
Woomeras. 'At Cape Bedford, on the Endeavour and Bloomfield Rivers, and at Butcher's Hill, the iron-wood spear-thrower has a comparatively long blade, even width throughout, and a short peg with a slight nick. The peg ... is neither flattened nor drilled, but tied with tendon, etc., on to two holes drilled into the blade, the cement covering the back of the peg'; the Koko-minni of the middle Palmer fixed theirs 'by tendon passing through two holes' with Grevillea cement over the ligature[3]. Hooks. At Princess Charlotte Bay the bone points of fish-hooks were bound on with kangaroo-tail tendon[9]. Belts. Idriess 'describes wallaby sinew or plaited hair belts which were worn by men and in which they carried their stone axes'[2]. Cloaks. The possum cloaks of the south were sewn with kangaroo sinew passed through holes pierced with a bone[10].
Trade. Cape Bedford exported iron tomahawks, iron digging-sticks, nautilus and melo shell and dilly-bags, and 'in return, they obtain forehead-bands, kangaroo-tail sinew, kangaroo bones (of a certain kind to be specially used for making bone awls), quartz-tipped spears, bark troughs, and a rough kind of fixed grind-stone': the inland's goods, from the kangaroo plains behind the coast[4].
Sinew and the other bindings
- Sinew (biyal): fine, hard, very strong; for the joint that takes the shock, the barb, the peg, the axe head; always sealed under gum[2][3].
- Bark-fibre twine: the general cord for nets, bags and lashings; also used on axe heads[2].
- Lawyer-cane strip: the sewing of bark canoes and the lashing of outriggers[4][2].
- Hair string: belts and ornaments[2].
- Gum alone holds nothing under shock; sinew alone loosens when wet. Together they are the joint[3].
Signs
- Under the cement on an old spear, woomera or axe: the fine wraps of tendon through the drilled holes[3].
- A tail skinned along its length at a kill site, the tendons drawn[9].
- Kangaroo sign on the sandy flats: the three-toed tracks and tail-drag on the sand, the grazed grass of the agile wallaby mobs at dusk[5].
Where the sinew comes from
From the kangaroos of the open woodland and the river flats: the agile wallaby, the common wallaroo of the rocky ridges and the antilopine kangaroo of the tropical savanna[5][6][7]. The rainforest coast had fewer, which is why Cape Bedford bought kangaroo-tail sinew from inland[4]. See wallabies and kangaroos for the animals and the hunt.
The joint
Sinew sits at the point where the toolkit meets force: it ties the stone to the axe handle that fells the canoe tree, the barb to the spear that takes the stingray, the peg to the woomera that throws it, and the bone to the hook; over it goes the gum that keeps it dry[2][3][9]. The animal that gives it is the one the wallaby drives with fire were for, and so sinew came in with the dry-season meat[2].
Seasons
The wallaby drives and the branch camps were dry-season work, so the tail tendons were drawn and dried in the dry and the spears and axes rebound then[2]. See the year on country.
Uses
- Binding stingray barbs and prongs on fishing spears, under resin[2].
- Securing the stone axe head in its lawyer-cane haft, with beeswax and resin[2].
- Tying the woomera peg through two drilled holes, under ironwood or Grevillea cement[3].
- Binding bone points on fish-hooks (Princess Charlotte Bay)[9].
- Men's belts, with plaited hair, to carry the axe[2].
- Sewing skin cloaks in the south[10].
- A trade good from the inland to the coast[4].
Taking and using sinew
From Roth and Anderson[9][2][3]:
- At the kill, first thing, before gutting, skin the tail along its length and draw out the long tendons; Roth's Pennefather hunters did this before anything else[9].
- Dry them in the shade until hard; they keep[1].
- To bind, split off a thread as fine as the job needs, wet it, and wrap it tight: through the two drilled holes of a woomera blade and round the peg; round the shaft and the barb of a spear; round the cane haft and the stone of an axe[3][2].
- Seal it with hot gum, ironwood resin for choice, Grevillea 'preferable when obtainable, as it lasts better', or beeswax and brown-cedar resin for the axe, covering the binding but leaving the back of the peg free[3][2].
- Re-do it when the gum cracks; a tool is rebound many times in its life[2].
Safety
- Kangaroos and wallabies are protected wildlife in Queensland; hunting them on native title country for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs is the right preserved by section 211 of the Native Title Act 1993[11][12].
- Dry sinew fully before storing; wet tendon spoils.
- Hot gum burns; see beeswax and gums.
On Country today
By the late 1970s wire had replaced the wooden spear points and the bindings had gone over to twine, car-battery tar and Araldite, but the word is in the dictionary with its exact meaning, the wallabies are on the flats, and a tail's tendons still bind a spear the old way[2][1].
Language
biyal 'gristle, sinew, string, blood vessel (especially wallaby tail sinew)'; karra 'rope, cord, string'; kadar 'plains wallaby'; bimbarrbay 'scrub wallaby'; darrba 'grass wallaby'; julmbanu, mayarriji grey kangaroos; nyarrkali 'black kangaroo'; balur 'spear thrower'; kalka 'fishing spear'[1].
References
- Hershberger, H. D. & Hershberger, R. (1982). Kuku-Yalanji Dictionary. Work Papers of SIL-AAB, Series B, Volume 7. With Toby Bloomfield, Roy Friday, Billy Roberts, Hector and Doris Sykes, Joe Walker and others. www.sil.org/resources/archives/18038
- Anderson, C. (1996). Traditional material culture of the Kuku-Yalanji of Bloomfield River, North Queensland. Records of the South Australian Museum 29(1): 63–83. Based on fieldwork at Wujal Wujal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. — Hunting (spears, spear-throwers, harpoons); fishing (stupefacients); manufacturing (gums and resins); post-contact bush component archive.org/details/RecordsSouthAus29Sout
- Roth, W. E. (1909). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 13: Fighting weapons. Records of the Australian Museum 7(4). — Sects. 10–11 spear-throwers (middle Palmer; Cape Bedford, Endeavour and Bloomfield rivers, Butcher's Hill) archive.org/details/biostor-52873
- Roth, W. E. (1910). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 14: Transport and Trade. Records of the Australian Museum 8(1). — Sects. 14–15, dug-out canoes from the Flinders Group to Cape Grafton archive.org/details/biostor-52863
- Threatened Species Recovery Hub (NESP). Arid Zone Monitoring species profile: Agile wallaby, Notamacropus agilis. www.nespthreatenedspecies.edu.au/media/ls3jimz1/azm_species-profile_agile-wallaby_v2.pdf
- Wikipedia. Common wallaroo. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_wallaroo
- Wikipedia. Antilopine kangaroo (antilopine wallaroo). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antilopine_kangaroo
- Roth, W. E. (1901). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 2: The structure of the Koko-Yimidir language. Brisbane: Government Printer. — Vocabulary, 'mu-rong-al' archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Roth, W. E. (1901). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 3: Food — its search, capture, and preparation. Brisbane: Government Printer. Bloomfield River information from the Hislops. — Sect. 6 'Cooking'; plant list ('Castanospermum australe', 'Dioscorea sativa', 'Elettaria Scottiana', 'Nymphaea') archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Roth, W. E. (1910). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 15: Decoration, deformation, and clothing. Records of the Australian Museum 8(1). — Sect. 56, bark blankets (Atherton) archive.org/details/biostor-52864
- Queensland Government. Living with wildlife: Kangaroos and wallabies. www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/animals/living-with/kangaroos
- Australian Law Reform Commission. Review of the Native Title Act 1993 (DP 82), ch. 8: Relevant provisions in the Native Title Act (s 211). www.alrc.gov.au/publication/review-of-the-native-title-act-1993-dp-82/8-the-nature-and-content-of-native-title/relevant-provisions-in-the-native-title-act/
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records of the kangaroo family Macropodidae (141 records, 1975–2026: agile wallaby Notamacropus agilis 99, eastern grey kangaroo Macropus giganteus 18, spectacled hare-wallaby Lagorchestes conspicillatus 13, common wallaroo Osphranter robustus 4, antilopine kangaroo O. antilopinus 3, northern nailtail wallaby Onychogalea unguifera 3, Cape York rock-wallaby Petrogale coenensis 1) in a box of about 90 × 85 km around the middle Hann River, Laura and western Rinyirru (lat −15.6 to −14.8, long 143.5 to 144.3), queried 28 October 2026. biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=family%3AMacropodidae&fq=decimalLatitude%3A%5B-15.6%20TO%20-14.8%5D&fq=decimalLongitude%3A%5B143.5%20TO%20144.3%5D
- Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. Nature, culture and history: Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL) (web page, last updated 1 July 2024; accessed 28 October 2026). parks.qld.gov.au/parks/rinyirru-lakefield/about/culture
- Standley, P.-M. (2019). The importance of campfires to effective conservation. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Records the fire and country knowledge of Kuku Thaypan Elders Dr Tommy George and Dr George Musgrave. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64274/
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 21) (Possum determination) [2023] FCA 1316 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). — Determination area (upper Hann and Kennedy rivers); prescribed body corporate; affidavit evidence on hunting and fishing www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1316
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 20) (Thaypan determination) [2023] FCA 1315 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). — Determination area and waters; prescribed body corporate (Awu-Laya Indigenous Corporation); affidavit evidence on hunting www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1315
- Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), section 211: preservation of certain native title rights and interests (hunting, fishing and gathering for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs). www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04665/latest/text
- Western Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation & CRC for Developing Northern Australia (2020). Western Yalanji Land Use and Economic Diversification Plan. CC BY 4.0. — Native Title Determinations 1–4 (pp. 13–18); ‘Fire Management and Carbon Farming’ (pp. 32–33); ‘Pastoralists’ crcna.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/westernyalanjilanduseplan_nov2020.pdf
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