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Bora is an initiation ceremony of the Aboriginal people of Eastern Australia.The word "bora" also refers to the site on which the initiation is performed. At such a site, boys, having reached puberty, achieve the status of men.
A shield which had not lost a battle was thought to be inherently powerful and was a prized possession. Shields were made from wood or bark and usually had carved markings or painted designs. They could also be used in ceremonies such as in corroborees. [18] Aboriginal shields come in two main types: broad shields, and parrying shields.
A corroboree is a ceremonial meeting for Australian Aboriginal people, interacting with the Dreaming and accompanied by song and dance. They differ from group to group, and may be sacred and private. [8] An ilma is both a public ceremony or performance of the Bardi people, and the hand-held objects used in these ceremonies.
Another group of sites may have been where initiation ceremonies were held, to celebrate and facilitate the transition of a young boy into manhood. In other parts of Australia , we know that an initiation ceremony often involves a ceremonial path from childhood into manhood, and so the lines of steps, or mundoes, may indicate initiation sites.
Aboriginal people have no power to object to such approvals, which allows corporations to disturb or destroy sites across wide areas. One example is the 148 square kilometres (57 sq mi) of Ngalia land in the Goldfields which contains seven sacred sites, and an area which includes 40 Banjima sites in the Djadjiling Range in the Pilbara.
The Jarowair maintained an important ceremonial site, near the present-day township of Gowrie Junction, north of Toowoomba and 50 km from the Bunya Mountains. It was on one of the major routes employed by many Aboriginal tribes to the south and southeast to participate in the triennial bunya nut feast.
In 1837, explorer and Queensland grazier Tom Petrie wrote: "Their bodies painted in different ways, and they wore various adornments, which were not used every day." [3] [4] [5] In 1938, clergyman and anthropologist Adolphus Elkin wrote of a public pan-Aboriginal dancing "tradition of individual gifts, skill, and ownership" as distinct from the customary practices of appropriate elders guiding ...
The term "Aborigine" was coined by white settlers in Australia in the 1830s from ab origine, a Latin phrase meaning "from the very beginning". [2] [3]Until the 1980s, the sole legal and administrative criterion for inclusion in this category was race, classified according to visible physical characteristics or known ancestors.