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| − | '''Marn Grook''' (also spelt ''marngrook'') is an [[Australian Aborigine|Australian Aboriginal]] ball game, which is claimed to have had an influence on the modern game of [[Australian rules football]], most notably in the spectacular jumping and [[Mark (Australian football)|high marking]] exhibited by the players of both games. | + | A '''bullroarer''' or '''turndun''' is an ancient ritual musical instrument and means of communicating over extended distances. |
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| − | Marn Grook, literally meaning "Game ball", was a traditional game played at gatherings and celebrations of up to 50 players by the [[Djabwurrung]] and [[Jardwadjali]] people of western [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]].
| + | It consists of a longish piece of [[rope|cord]] fixed to an [[oval]] piece of wood or other suitable material which usually is thicker in the center, and sharpish at the edges. |
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| − | == Eye-witness accounts ==
| + | The cord is given a slight initial twist, and the roarer is then waved in a large circle in a horizontal plane. The [[aerodynamics]] of the roarer will keep it spinning about its axis even after the initial twist has unwound. The cord winds fully first in one direction and then the other. |
| − | [[Robert Brough-Smyth]], in an [[1878]] book ''The Aborigines of Victoria'', quoted Richard Thomas, a [[Protector of Aborigines]] in Victoria, who stated that in about [[1841]] he had witnessed Aborigines playing the game.
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| − | :''The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of [[possum]] skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. The tallest men have the best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise.''
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| − | In 1889, the anthropologist A.W. Howitt wrote that the game was played between large groups on a [[totemic]] basis — the white [[cockatoo]]s versus the black cockatoos, for example, which accorded with their [[Australian Aboriginal kinship|skin system]]. Acclaim and recognition went to the players who could leap or kick the highest. Howitt wrote:
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| − | :''This game of ball-playing was also practised among the [[Kurnai]], the [[Wolgal]], the [[Wotjoballuk]] as well as by the [[Woiworung]], and was probably known to most tribes of south-eastern Australia. The Kurnai made the ball from the [[scrotum]] of an "old man [[kangaroo]]", the Woiworung made it of tightly rolled up pieces of opossum skin. It was called by them "mangurt". In this tribe the two [[Australian Aboriginal kinship|exogamous divisions]], Bunjil and Waa, played on opposite sides. The Wotjoballuk also played this game, with Krokitch on one side and Gamutch on the other. The mangurt was sent as a token of friendship from one to another.<ref>AW Howitt, "Notes on Australian Message Sticks and Messengers", ''Journal of the Anthropological Institute'', London, 1889, p 2, note 4.</ref>
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| − | [[Tom Wills]], who drew up the rules of Australian rules football in [[1858]]-59, was raised in Victoria's western districts and is said to have played with local Aboriginal children.{{fact}} He recalled watching a game in which they kicked a [[possum]] skin about the size of an orange, stuffed with charcoal.{{citation needed}} | + | It makes a characteristic roaring [[vibrato]] [[sound]] with notable modification from both [[Doppler effect]] and the changing speed of the roarer at different parts of its circuit. |
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| − | == Marn Grook and the football term "mark" ==
| + | By modifying the expansiveness of its circuit and the speed given it, the modulation of the sound can be controlled, making the coding of information possible. The low frequency component of the sound travels extremely long distances, especially on the wind. |
| − | Some claim that the origin of the Australian rules term "[[Mark (Australian football)|mark]]", meaning a clean, [[fair catch]] of a kicked ball, followed by a [[free kick]], is derived from the Aboriginal word "''mumarki''" used in ''Marn Grook'', and meaning "to catch".<ref>http://www.footystamps.com/ot_early_history.htm</ref><ref>http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngrook.html</ref> However, many believe that this is a [[false etymology]] and that the term instead came from the practice — in old and/or extinct [[football|British football codes]] — of a player who had caught the ball ''marking'' the ground with a foot, to show where the catch had been taken, and calling "mark" to be awarded a free kick. The term mark has been used in modern football codes since the 1830s, notably in [[rugby football]] and early [[Association football]] (soccer). It is still used in [[rugby union]], in reference to a fair catch by a player who calls "mark" when catching a ball inside their team's [[22 metre line]].
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| − | == The "Marngrook Trophy" ==
| + | This instrument has been used by numerous early and traditional cultures in both the [[Northern Hemisphere|northern]] and [[southern hemisphere]]s but in the popular consciousness it is perhaps best known for its use by [[Australian Aborigine]]s (it is from one of their languages that the name ''turndun'' comes). |
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| − | In [[2002]], in a game at [[Stadium Australia]], the [[Sydney Swans]] and [[Essendon Football Club]] began to compete for the '''''Marngrook Trophy''''', awarded after home-and-away matches each year between the two teams in the [[Australian Football League]]. However, the games are played under normal rules of the AFL, rather than anything approaching Marn Grook.
| + | Bullroarers are still considered to be sacred/secret by some Aboriginal tribes and are not allowed to be shown to women, children, non-initiated men or outsiders. They are used in men's initiation ceremonies and the sound they produced is considered to represent the sound of the [[Rainbow Serpent]]. |
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| − | ==References==
| + | The bullroarer is sometimes used as a means of demonstrating the [[Doppler effect]], by using sound. As the instrument travels round, its sound goes up or down according to its speed, and distance from the hearer. |
| − | <div class="references-small"><references /></div>
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| − | == External links ==
| + | [[Category:Whirling aerophones]] |
| − | * [http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngrook.html AboriginalFootball.com, "Marn Grook"]
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| − | [[Category:Australian Aboriginal culture]] | + | [[de:Schwirrholz]] |
| − | [[Category:Australian rules football]] | + | [[fr:Rhombe (instrument)]] |
| − | [[Category:Sport in Australia]] | + | [[nl:Snorrebot]] |
| − | [[Category:Traditional football]]
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A bullroarer or turndun is an ancient ritual musical instrument and means of communicating over extended distances.
It consists of a longish piece of cord fixed to an oval piece of wood or other suitable material which usually is thicker in the center, and sharpish at the edges.
The cord is given a slight initial twist, and the roarer is then waved in a large circle in a horizontal plane. The aerodynamics of the roarer will keep it spinning about its axis even after the initial twist has unwound. The cord winds fully first in one direction and then the other.
It makes a characteristic roaring vibrato sound with notable modification from both Doppler effect and the changing speed of the roarer at different parts of its circuit.
By modifying the expansiveness of its circuit and the speed given it, the modulation of the sound can be controlled, making the coding of information possible. The low frequency component of the sound travels extremely long distances, especially on the wind.
This instrument has been used by numerous early and traditional cultures in both the northern and southern hemispheres but in the popular consciousness it is perhaps best known for its use by Australian Aborigines (it is from one of their languages that the name turndun comes).
Bullroarers are still considered to be sacred/secret by some Aboriginal tribes and are not allowed to be shown to women, children, non-initiated men or outsiders. They are used in men's initiation ceremonies and the sound they produced is considered to represent the sound of the Rainbow Serpent.
The bullroarer is sometimes used as a means of demonstrating the Doppler effect, by using sound. As the instrument travels round, its sound goes up or down according to its speed, and distance from the hearer.
de:Schwirrholz
fr:Rhombe (instrument)
nl:Snorrebot
