Skills & methods
String, twine and rope
karra · ngurran · kuralbi · warrur · ngunyin · biyal · murnil · kajal
Karra is 'rope, cord, string'[1]. Kuku Yalanji people made string from the inner bark of figs and other trees, from grasses and palm fibre, and from wallaby-tail sinew. It became fishing lines, nets, dilly bags, turtle-harpoon ropes and the bindings on axes and spears[2][3]. Across North Queensland, bark twine was made the same way: the fibre was stripped, washed or soaked, dried, split fine with the nails, then rolled on the outer thigh into a strong two-ply twine[4]. String is the starting point for nets, fishing lines and dilly bags.
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
String-making is one of the best-recorded crafts of the country around the Hann. About 1900 Roth watched it on the Morehead and Musgrave rivers, which run like the Hann to Princess Charlotte Bay: hair twine spun on a spindle rolled along the thigh, palm, fig and bark twines, and the dilly-bags and fishing nets made from them[4]. Nothing in the record is from the Hann itself; these are the nearest districts, labelled as such.
Fibres used here
Roth's plant list names, for the rivers around Princess Charlotte Bay[4]:
- Macaranga bark twine 'for dilly-bags, on the Musgrave';
- fig twine (Ficus fasciculata) for dilly-bags on the Morehead;
- Barringtonia racemosa for women's apron-belts on the Musgrave;
- pandanus leaf, split for armlets and plait-work on the Musgrave and the Morehead;
- the young leaf of the cabbage palm Livistona, split and rolled 'for fish-nets and dilly-bags, Princess Charlotte Bay and North generally'.
The big hand-nets of the hinterland were woven from Acacia latifolia or Livistona twine, and at Princess Charlotte Bay the fishing line was Livistona twine too[8].
What it made here
- Dilly-bags in all four of Roth's meshes: the 'simple loop' on the Morehead and Musgrave; the 'loop and twist' at Laura and on the Musgrave; the 'hour-glass' on the Morehead and Musgrave; and the European-looking 'netting-stitch' on the Musgrave and Morehead[4]. See dilly bags.
- Fishing nets: 'hour-glass' nets at Laura and on the Morehead and Musgrave, and 'the folding-purse fishing-nets of Princess Charlotte Bay'[4]. The oval-frame hand-net was 'borne along in the water more or less vertically, and worked by two boys, their friends in front acting as "beaters"'[8]. See nets.
- Necklaces: on the Morehead and Musgrave, plait-work 'is practised by females only in the making of necklaces'[4].
- Medicine: the hair twine of the Morehead and Musgrave 'is employed here solely for tying on or over the affected parts in case of sickness: e.g., headache, stomach-ache, etc.'[4].
- Trade: Bloomfield people received fishing nets from the Koko-Warra of the Laura River district[2], the Kuku Warra country next to the Hann[9].
Hair twine on the Morehead and Musgrave (Roth, about 1900)
Roth's account, step by step[4]:
- The spindle is 'about 8 in. long': a piece of grass-stem or the like for a handle, with a hook tied to its tip by a short 'spindle-string'.
- The hair, 'cut off short', is not prepared beyond being kept dry; it is teased out and held as a bundle in the left palm. The spinner, 'usually but not invariably a woman', squats.
- Start by twisting a pinch of hair, drawn out from the bundle but not off it, onto the end of the spindle-string.
- Spin: the right hand rolls the spindle handle backwards along the outer side of the lower thigh while the left thumb rolls the hair forwards, so the twist tightens. The bundle 'acts as "feeder"' as the strand grows; wind each length onto the spindle.
- Make a second strand the same way on a second spindle.
- Ply them: tie the two ends together, loop the join round a stick planted in the ground, walk backwards unwinding both, then squat and roll the two strands together on the thigh. The finished twine has 'great elasticity' and 'a very rugged appearance'.
On country today
The upper Hann is the Possum People's country and the middle and lower Hann are Thaypan country, under native title determinations of November 2023; Laura is Kuku Warra country[10][11][9]. Native title holders may gather fibre for personal, domestic and non-commercial communal needs without the licences others need[12]. Anyone else should ask the Traditional Owners before cutting bark or leaves.
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
On the Western Yalanji side, Roth recorded fishing nets at Maytown and Palmerville on the Palmer[4], and Edward Palmer recorded hibiscus and grass twines from the Mitchell River[4].
Fibres here
Edward Palmer's notes from the Mitchell River (the reach is not stated) record bark of Hibiscus panduriformis 'twisted into twine, and into bags for carrying roots, game', and fibre peeled from the underside of Panicum trachyrachis leaves and 'twisted up at once into twine'[4]. Within 30 km of Karma Waters the Atlas of Living Australia holds records of cluster fig (Ficus racemosa) and two other figs, two kurrajongs (Brachychiton), the native hibiscus H. meraukensis and the mat-rush Lomandra multiflora, but none of Sterculia[13]. Which of these Western Yalanji people used for string is not recorded in our sources.
Nets here
Roth found fishing nets in the 'hour-glass' mesh at Laura, and at Maytown and Palmerville on the Palmer River[4], in the Maytown and Palmer River country of the Western Yalanji[14].
On country today
At Karma Waters, see the place guide for whom to ask.
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.
Most of what is known about Kuku Yalanji string comes from the Bloomfield River, from Roth's notes and Anderson's study, and is set out above[3][2].
On country today
By the late 1970s, Bloomfield men bound spear prongs with commercial string and used European rope on turtle harpoons[2].
Everywhere
Names
Karra is 'rope, cord, string', and ngurran is 'rope, also dilly bag made from rope'[1]. The dictionary also names the raw materials. Kuralbi is a tree whose bark 'was used to make rope. Two long strands were twisted together and used for turtle rope. It was very strong.' Warrur is 'tree bark which can be used as vine', used for fishnets. Ngunyin means a dilly bag and also 'the tree bark used to make into strips and weave fishing nets and dilly bags'. Biyal is 'gristle, sinew, string', especially wallaby tail sinew. The working verbs are murnil 'twist, stir', kajal 'to tie' and kuna-bungal 'to join something to something'[1].
Roth's Bloomfield notes, in his older English-based spelling, name two fig fibres used for the men's bags, warur and tchul-bal[3]. Warur is the dictionary's warrur. Tchul-bal might be julbal, which the dictionary lists only as a tree with 'a small edible green apple'[1]; that match is unconfirmed.
The dictionary's 'wild peasun' for kuralbi is probably 'wild peanut'. The kurrajong Sterculia quadrifida is also called peanut tree or native peanut, and its seeds are edible[5]. Anderson recorded that Bloomfield turtle rope was made from the 'smashed and twisted bark' of Sterculia quadrifida or of beach hibiscus[2].
Description
Roth sorted North Queensland cordage by where it came from. There were animal products, such as human and possum hair and kangaroo-tail tendon. There were whole stems or leaves, such as grasses, palm-leaf fibre and split cane. And there was bark: mostly the inner bark of the trunk, sometimes of the roots, from which 'most of the aboriginal fibre-twines are manufactured'[4]. Some binding needed no twisting at all. Strips of tea-tree (paperbark) bark were 'used everywhere for binding'[4].
Fresh twine varied in colour, red from some barks and white from others, and it could be dyed. On the Bloomfield, string for certain dilly bags was dyed with the roots of blood-root, Haemodorum coccineum[3][4].
Materials and where they grow
- Fig bark (warrur, ngunyin): the Bloomfield men's bags were made of fig-fibre twine[3][2]. Elsewhere Roth recorded twine from the dried inner bark of fig roots and a white fig twine 'made in the dry'[4].
- Kurrajong or peanut tree (Sterculia quadrifida, probably kuralbi): freshwater fishing lines and turtle rope at Bloomfield[2], and the big kangaroo nets at Atherton[4]. It grows in monsoon forest, vine thickets and drier, seasonal rainforest up to about 500 m[5].
- Beach hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus): saltwater fishing lines[2]. It grows on beaches and the banks of tidal streams, and its twig bark is 'strong and fibrous when stripped'[6].
- Black palm: fibre strands pulled from the leaf bases, for sieve-bags[4].
- Grasses: dilly-bag grasses (see dilly bags), and grass ropes for climbing to high bee nests[2].
- Lawyer cane: split for bags and traps in the Cairns district[4].
- Sinew and hair: wallaby-tail sinew for binding[1][2], and human hair twine for string games[2].
Uses
- Fishing lines. On the coast, lines were 'smashed, twisted and twined' beach-hibiscus bark. In creeks and waterholes they were Sterculia bark, with hooks made from lawyer-cane thorns[2].
- Nets. Warrur nets 'were dragged through the water in the dry season when the water goes down'[1].
- Bags. The men's ngunyin was netted from fig twine and could stretch big enough to carry a small wallaby[2].
- Turtle rope. Kuralbi rope tied the harpoon point to the hunter's canoe[1][2] (see sea turtle).
- Binding. Stone axe heads were tied to a lawyer-cane handle 'by bark fibre or wallaby sinew' and gummed with beeswax and resin. Spear barbs and prongs were bound with wallaby sinew and resin[2] (see spears). Roth describes the tail tendon being pulled from a freshly killed kangaroo, dried and carried, then moistened in the lips before use[4].
- Climbing. Grass ropes were made to climb to high honey nests[2].
- Play and trade. Adults and children played string games with fibre and hair twines. Bloomfield people took red ochre, white clay and grass-tree spears to the Koko-Warra of the Laura River district and received, among other things, fishing nets ('string dilly-bags')[2].
How two-ply bark twine was made
No step-by-step Bloomfield account survives. This is Roth's general North Queensland method, recorded with several fibre plants[4]. Anderson's Bloomfield lines were made from 'smashed' bark, so pounding the bark first was part of the local method[2].
- Strip the bark from a smooth young switch or sapling.
- Separate the fibre. With some plants the strip is snapped sharply at an angle so the inner fibre comes away from the coloured outer skin, which is thrown away.
- Clean or soften it. Depending on the plant: rinse the shreds for a few minutes 'to make milk come out' (the water turns cloudy); or soak the inner bark all morning; or chew green strips for two or three minutes.
- Dry the fibre in the sun.
- Split it with the nails to the fineness wanted, into shreds 20–25 cm long or more.
- Roll a shred forwards on the outer thigh with the open right hand, sitting in a squat. This tightens and evens it into a strand.
- Fold the strand in two. Hold the bend between the left thumb and forefinger.
- Roll both halves under firm pressure, once slowly forwards, then once sharply backwards, without lifting the hand. This twists the two halves together, leaving a small kink.
- Clear the kink by hooking the right forefinger into it and pulling firmly outwards. Move the left hand along and repeat.
- Add a new shred by rolling its end forwards onto the old one, and carry on. 'All fibre-twines are thus made of two plies.'
Thicker rope is made the same way from longer, heavier strands, as with kuralbi turtle rope, 'two long strands... twisted together'[1]. For joints, Roth found the granny knot 'extremely common' and never saw a reef knot[4].
Safety
Know your tree before you strip or chew its bark. The dictionary warns that the bark and sap of jinjay, the poison nut tree, are poisonous, and that the sap of miyil is used to blind fish[1]. Take strips from one side of a tree only, because bark stripped right round the trunk kills it.
On Country today
Native title holders' gathering for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs is protected from licence and permit requirements by section 211 of the Native Title Act 1993[7]. Anyone else should ask the Traditional Owners, and the landholder, before cutting bark. Each place below says whose country it is.
Language
Wukurril means 'weave' as well as 'follow'. Waba is 'thigh, hip', the body part on which twine is rolled. Dama-murnil, 'twirl a fire drill', is built on murnil 'twist' (see firestick)[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 (turtle harpoon rope); fishing (lines); gathering (honey, axe hafting); spear binding; string games; trade; 'Bloomfield since 1873' archive.org/details/RecordsSouthAus29Sout
- Roth, W. E. (1904). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 7: Domestic implements, arts, and manufactures. Brisbane: Government Printer. — Sect. 19 'Stains, dyes'; sect. 54 Bloomfield River dilly-bags (fig twines warur, tchul-bal) archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Roth, W. E. (1901). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 1: String, and other forms of strand: basketry-, woven bag-, and net-work. Brisbane: Government Printer. — Sects. 1–9: animal and vegetable string, plant list ('Ficus', 'Hibiscus', 'Panicum trachyrachis', 'Sterculia quadrifida'), manufacture of fibre-twine, knots, colouring; sect. 22 hour-glass nets; sect. 2 human-hair twine (Morehead and Musgrave rivers); sect. 11 plait-work; sects. 20–23 meshes by district archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (RFK8), Sterculia quadrifida. CSIRO / Lucidcentral. apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/sterculia_quadrifida.htm
- Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (RFK8), Hibiscus tiliaceus. CSIRO / Lucidcentral. apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/hibiscus_tiliaceus.htm
- 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/
- Roth, W. E. (1901). North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 3: Food — its search, capture, and preparation. Brisbane: Government Printer. — Fish-hooks and lines of Princess Charlotte Bay; oval-frame hand-nets (Morehead, Musgrave, Normanby, Laura, Palmer and the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay) archive.org/details/northqueensland00landgoog
- Ross on behalf of the Cape York United #1 Claim Group v State of Queensland (No 19) (Kuku Warra determination) [2023] FCA 1314 (Federal Court of Australia, 2 November 2023). www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca1314
- 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
- Atlas of Living Australia. Occurrence records within 30 km of the Karma Waters homestead (16.618° S, 144.605° E) for the genera Lomandra, Ficus, Brachychiton, Hibiscus, Sterculia and Cycas, queried 6 October 2026. biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=genus:Lomandra&lat=-16.6179&lon=144.6047&radius=30
- Brady on behalf of the Western Yalanji People #4 v State of Queensland [2013] FCA 958 (Federal Court of Australia, 24 September 2013). www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2013/2013fca0958
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