waddy
{{Short description|Aboriginal Australian hardwood club}}
{{other uses}}
{{use Australian English|date=January 2020}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
File:Arrernte Keulen EthnM.jpg]]
File:Aboriginal man with spear, woomera (spear-thrower) and waddy, South Australia. ca. 1876.jpg, c. 1876]]
A waddy, nulla-nulla, leangle or boondi is an Aboriginal Australian hardwood club or hunting stick for use as a weapon or as a throwing stick for hunting animals. Waddy comes from the Darug people of Port Jackson, Sydney.Peters, Pam, The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide, Cambridge University Press, 1995, {{ISBN|0-521-43401-7}} Boondi is the Wiradjuri word for this implement.{{cite web |title=Land of the Wiradjuri: Traditional Wiradjuri Culture |url=https://visitlockhartshire.com.au/f.ashx/Traditional-Wiradjuri-Culture.pdf |website=Lockhart Shire Council |page=23 |author=Paul Greenwood |access-date=22 May 2021 |archive-date=1 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401012729/https://visitlockhartshire.com.au/f.ashx/Traditional-Wiradjuri-Culture.pdf |url-status=dead }} Leangle is a Djadjawurrung word for a club with a hooked striking head.{{cite web |title=Club. Dja Dja Wurrung. Ben Nevis, Central, Victoria, Australia. pre 1860 |url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/205775 |website=Museums Victoria Collections}}
Description and use
A waddy is a heavy pointed club constructed of carved hardwood timber; it was a traditional weapon developed by Aboriginal people in Australia.{{cite book |last=Pardoe |first=Colin |title=Violence and Warfare Among Hunter Gathers, M.A. Allen & T.L Jones Ed. |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |pages=117–118}}
Waddies were used in hand-to-hand combat and were capable of splitting a shield. They could also kill or stun a prey. They could be used as projectiles or to make fire and make ochre. The waddies were sometimes used to punish those who broke Aboriginal law.
Construction
The waddy was made by both men and women and could be painted or left unpainted. Its construction varied from tribe to tribe, but it was generally about one metre in length and sometimes had a stone head attached with spinifex resin and at least one string. It was made from where a branch met the tree or from a young tree that was pulled up with its roots from the ground.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}
Alternative spellings
Waddy has also been spelled as wadi, wady, and waddie. The spelling stabilised around the mid-nineteenth century, partly to help distinguish it from the Arabic - Lebanese word {{lang|ar-Latn|wadi}}, a dry water course. Nulla-nulla has been recorded with the following variations: nullah-nullah, nilla-nilla and nolla-nolla.{{cite book |last=Ransome |first=W. S. |date=1988 |title=The Australian National Dictionary: A Dictionary of Australianisms on Historical Principles |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-554736-5 }}
Gallery
File:Waddy Oc1986,02.55.jpg
File:Aboriginal man carrying a shield and waddy, South Australia, ca. 1875.jpg|
File:Aboriginal man carrying a shield, waddy and boomerang, South Australia, ca. 1875.jpg|
File:Aboriginal couple wearing kangaroo cloaks. The man is posed with a shield and a spear, while the woman is holding a sword club (ca. 1880).jpg|
File:Aboriginal man carrying a spear and waddy, South Australia, ca. 1875.jpg|
File:Aboriginal man carrying shield, spear, woomera (spear-thrower) and waddy, South Australia, ca. 1890.jpg|
References
External links
{{Wiktionary|waddy|nulla nulla}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20020306004636/http://www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au/ida/link_d2_nullah.html Nullah nullah]
{{Indigenous Australians}}
Category:Australian Aboriginal bushcraft
Category:Australian Aboriginal words and phrases