corroboree

{{About|a meeting or ceremony of Aboriginal Australian peoples|other uses}}

Image:WR Thomas - A South Australian Corroboree, 1864.jpg]]

A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration, or of a warlike character. A word coined by the first British settlers in the Sydney area from a word in the local Dharug language, it usually includes dance, music, costume and often body decoration.

Origin and etymology

The word "corroboree" was adopted by British settlers soon after colonisation from the Dharug ("Sydney language") Aboriginal Australian word garaabara, denoting a style of dancing. It thus entered the Australian English language as a loan word.{{cite book | title=Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia | edition=Second | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J8GcDwAAQBAJ|date=2019|isbn=9781760786946|publisher=Macquarie|editor-first1=Bill|editor-last1= Arthur|editor-first2= Frances|editor-last2= Morphy |page=79,134,267| access-date=17 January 2020}}

Image:Corroborree.jpg, a ballet performance based on the corroboree]]

It is a borrowed English word that has been reborrowed to explain a practice that is different from ceremony and more widely inclusive than theatre or opera.Sweeney, D. 2008. "Masked Corroborees of the Northwest" DVD 47 min. Australia: ANU, Ph.D.

Description

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."{{cite book | title=Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland | isbn=978-0-207-14629-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVBVPgAACAAJ | access-date=17 January 2020 | last1=Petrie | first1=Tom | last2=Petrie | first2=Constance Campbell | date=1983 | publisher=Angus & Robertson }}{{Citation | title=Tom Petrie's reminiscences of early Queensland : (Dating from 1837) / recorded by his daughter [Constance Campbell Petrie] | author1=Petrie, Tom | author2=Petrie, Constance Campbell | year=1932 | publisher=Queensland Book Depot; Angus & Robertson | language=en}}First two chapters only (not including this cite), available [https://www.boolarongpress.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tom-Petrie-Reminiscences-text-sample.pdf here]. 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 initiation and other ritual practices (ceremonies).Elkin, A. P. 1938. The Australian Aborigines: how to understand them. Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson

The word is described in the Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia (2nd ed.) as "an Indigenous assembly of a festive, sacred or warlike character".

Throughout Australia the word "corroboree" embraces songs, dances, rallies and meetings of various kinds. In the past a corroboree has been inclusive of sporting events and other forms of skill display.

Another description is "Across Australia, 'corroboree' encompasses local culture, songs, dances, spiritual gatherings, and various meetings among the individual language groups or "from mob to mob".

Aboriginal Australians also engage with the Dreaming through song, dance, and sacred rituals. The deep epistemology of the Dreaming represents the belief system of Aboriginal Australians, tracing back to the time before creation when spiritual ancestors formed the world, animals, and humanity. The music and dance performed during traditional ceremonies play a crucial role in transmitting this rich cultural heritage.name="Aboriginal Immersions">{{cite web | title=Corroboree [Protocol to Corroboree and Dreaming | website=Aboriginal Immersions [Aboriginal Immersions] | url=https://www.aboriginalculturalimmersions.com.au/smoking-ceremony-aboriginal-dreaming/ancestors-protocols-corroboree-dreaming-ceremony | access-date=20 May 2025}}

History

The largest spectator event of the 19th century at the Adelaide Oval was the "Grand Corroboree", performed by around 100 Aboriginal men and women from Point MacLeay mission and Yorke Peninsula on Friday 30 May and Saturday 1 June 1885. They had been invited to Adelaide by the colonial government perform at the request of the Governor of South Australia, Sir William Robinson, to perform as part of the Queen's Birthday celebrations. After organisers expected a crowd of around 5,000, approximately 20,000 spectators (around a sixth of Adelaide's population) turned up. The crowd became rowdy and police had to clear the performance space before the event could begin.{{cite journal | title=Cross-Cultural Encounters: Aboriginal Performers and European Audiences in the Late 1800s and Early 1900s|first=Maryrose |last=Casey | journal=Double Dialogues | date=Summer 2011 |issue=14 | url=https://doubledialogues.com/article/cross-cultural-encounters-aboriginal-performers-and-european-audiences-in-the-late-1800s-and-early-1900s/ | access-date=2 August 2024}} Profits from the show were assigned to the Aboriginal people.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60620757 |title=Aboriginal corrobboree at Adelaide. |newspaper=The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil |volume=XIII |issue=194 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 June 1885 |accessdate=2 August 2024 |page=99 |via=National Library of Australia}} The corroboree was so successful that other performances were arranged at other venues. Also at this time, the first football match held between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teams in Adelaide was organised by Football and Cricketing Association secretary John Creswell, and a second followed at the oval on 2 June 1885.{{cite journal| journal=Aboriginal History| url=https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p72631/pdf/article0415.pdf| via=ANU| title= The tourist corroboree in South Australia to 1911| first= Michael|last= Parsons| date= 1997| volume= 21|pages=55–57}}

Associated later meanings

The Macquarie Dictionary (3rd ed, 1997) gives secondary meanings "any large or noisy gathering" and "a disturbance; an uproar". It also documents its use as a verb (to take part in a corroboree).{{cite book | display-editors=1|editor-last1=Delbridge |editor-first1=Arthur |editor-last2=Bernard|editor-first2=JRL| title=Macquarie dictionary: Australia's national dictionary | publisher=Macquarie Library | publication-place=North Ryde, N.S.W | year=1997 | isbn=1-876429-32-1 | oclc=223149725 | page=434}}

The Macquarie Atlas documents a 2003 sports carnival in the Northern Territory which was described by the president of the Yuendumu community council as "a modern day corroboree".{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

References

External links

[http://www.indigenousaustralia.info/ www.indigenousaustralia.info - The Travel Around Company]
[http://www.nma.gov.au/collections-search/results?QueryTerms=ballet&Limitpp=20&search=basic National Museum of Australia: Video recordings, ephemera, costumes and props for the 1954 production of Corroboree]
[http://www.corroboreesydney.com.au Corroboree Sydney]

Category:Australian Aboriginal words and phrases

Category:Dances of Australia