Probably the most ambiguous aspect of the Aboriginal religious life is the identity and characteristics of the ‘Wrageowrapper’ or ‘evil’ spirit. Robinson initially
111 Attwood, B., 1989, The Making of the Aborigines. Sydney; Allen & Unwin, p. 150. 112 Plomley, 1987, p. 337, 344.
identified it with Lucifer in Christian theology,114 with both Wrageowrapper and Lucifer being hurled from heaven after mythic conflict with God/good spirit.115 But even he soon recognised it as more complex than this. There was an
interchangeable use of ‘devil’ for ‘evil spirit’, or a person’s ‘spirit’, as well as for the small foraging creature named by the colonists as the ‘devil’. Some of the names Robinson provides for the good and bad spirits are:
TYE.RE.NO.YER.PAN.NER god (Ben Lomond),116 PLUCK.ER.TEE.BUR.RER god (Little Swanport), and WY.ER.KAR.TEN.NER bad spirit or devil.117 Some clans said the devil lived in the fire, others said on a big hill
an eastern native calls him (1) KALE.PE.NUN.NE, (2) KAR.PEN.NOO.YOU.HEN.ER, the Cape Portland natives KORM.TEN.NER: KAR.TER.NEN.NE, and the Oyster Bay MAR.KANE.YER.LORE.PANE.NER’.118
There are human similarities in that ‘Wrageowrapper is like a black man only very big and ugly’ and was thought to carry sickness in a pouch transferring it to the rest of the tribe.119 But there were also significant differences in that he travelled like the wind, comes and watches people all night and goes before daylight.120 The Wrageowrapper was seen by some as the cause of inner pain treatable by cutting themselves with stones or shells121 or the strategic placement of the ashes of a
114 In the King James Bible (also known as Authorised Version), the translation available to
Robinson in the 1830s, the only explicit mention of ‘Lucifer’ is in the book of Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verse 12, ‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!’
115 Plomley, 1966, p. 373.
116 I will return to this clan when discussing the Bible translation at Wybalenna in Chapter Three. 117 Plomley, 1966, p. 281.
118 Ibid., p. 403. 119 Ibid., p. 141. 120 Ibid., p. 373. 121 Ibid., pp. 57, 60.
deceased relative.122 The women in the north-west sought to prevent interference from the devil by shaving their heads and keeping a narrow ring of hair as
ornament and as a charm to keep away the devil.123
The identity could also be projected onto another person to curtail or end undesirable behaviour. It seems Trugernanner used it to great effect to keep Woorraddy at some distance when she did not appreciate his interest in her.124 This projection onto people also involved white people, particularly those who used guns.125
The Wrageowrapper was represented in songs126 and dances particularly the TYREELORE or devil dance performed by the women.127 They performed it to persuade the devil to let them stop on the islands128 because they were with child by this spirit or were encouraged by this devil to sing often.129 Robinson interpreted the dance as a form of homage to the devil.130
Robinson mentions an occasion of performing divine service after which those Aboriginal people who had been with Robinson for some time interpreted the service to newly arrived Aboriginal people as being able to ‘put away the devil’. Both Aboriginal and colonial Christians repeat this phrase often in Christian sermons at Wybalenna. It is an example of the changes in theological language that were occurring.131
A noticeable shift occurred in Robinson’s interpretation of ‘devils’ after the meeting with Governor Arthur that occurred at Launceston in October 1831
122 Plomley, 1966, p. 65. 123 Ibid., p. 594. 124 Ibid., p. 83. 125 Ibid., p. 181. 126 Ibid., p. 469. 127 Ibid., p. 282. 128 Ibid., p. 249. 129 Ibid., p. 301. 130 Ibid., p. 300. 131 Ibid., p. 627.
immediately prior to leaving in search of the ‘Big River’ people. Prior to this his descriptions of the ‘devil’ or ‘devils’ are as more malevolent beings causing harm, sickness and death and who require homage through dance and song to assuage their harmful intentions.132 However, it seems that as Robinson’s role changed to rounding up the remaining Aboriginal people onto an offshore island, his
interpretation of the ‘devils’ and other religious beliefs and ritual practices of Aboriginal people also changes.
The spirit whose guidance is sought by the Aboriginal people, particularly Mannalargenna, in locating the Big River people, is now identified as a ‘devil’ sometimes with physical expressions such as heavy breathing and trembling,133 or shaking, which filled Robinson with such horror that he sought to divert
Mannalargenna from ‘this satanic delusion’.134 During these months when the inexorable steps toward their removal were underway there were an increasing number of conflicts between Robinson’s preferences and those of the Aboriginal people. Robinson expressed this in conflicting guidance from his ‘God’ and Mannalargenna’s ‘devil’.135
More than any other aspect of Aboriginal religious life the ‘devil’ is buried under layers of unidentifiable interpretations so as to make it impenetrable.
Robinson’s Christian theology governed his use of the word from the beginnings of his relationships on Bruny Island, and his political, social and economic ambitions strongly influenced him after the meeting with Governor Arthur in October 1831. Nevertheless, there are sufficient approximations of meaning to
132 Plomley, 1966, pp. 249, 281, 282, 285, 287, 300, 347, 374, 403. There are only two references
prior to the meeting with the Governor where Robinson describes the ‘devil’ telling Mannalargenna where to travel, Ibid., pp. 413, 414.
133 Ibid., p. 413. 134 Ibid., pp. 414, 488.
suggest it was a regular topic of conversation and continued to have significant meaning for Aboriginal people throughout their lives.
Fire
The polyvalent use of the word ‘devil’ also affects interpretations of some stories about fire. Aboriginal use of fire was extensive and included nightly fires around which hearth groups gathered for warmth and food. They fired the land (‘fire-stick farming’) to regenerate grasses and thereby attract grazing kangaroo. The creation of fire was linked with particular stars.136 Fire was also involved at important life events such as burning the afterbirth and, in many clans, the deceased, as
mentioned earlier. But it was also seen as a location for an ‘evil spirit’.
However, we cannot be certain that this description of ‘fire spirits’ is not in some ways an Aboriginal interpretation and adaptation of the contemporary Christian theology of the devil and the damned living in the fires of hell for eternity. Robinson himself had impressed upon the Aboriginal people the association of devil, fire and the damned in his early preaching137 and a later exchange tends to confirm this:
15 October 1830 Asked the one who spoke English whether she knew who God was; said he stopped up, pointing to the sky. Asked where the devil stopped; said in the fire, pointing to the fire.138
136 Plomley, 1966, p. 380. 137 Ibid., p. 61.
This conversation took place in English and began with explicit references to the Christian ‘God’ in the sky and Christian ‘devil’ in the fire. It is another example of the developing inter-religious dialogue that was occurring.
Ochre
Red ochre was particularly significant to some clans. The occurrence of ochre deposits within a tribe’s country bestowed significant economic and social advantages. Valued primarily for its application as an adornment and means of exchange it also had some religious significance. As an adornment it was used to colour hair and when mixed with charcoal and grease it was rubbed into wounds in the production of cicatrices on both men and women.139
Red ochre had significant symbolic potency for Aboriginal people and colonists. Aboriginal people used red ochre in hair and body colouring. Women had a particular role in acquiring it. It was traded among various clans and had limited availability. When it was unavailable Aboriginal people used
substitutes.140 Robinson was aware of its importance and went to considerable lengths to prevent its importation when he became Commandant at Wybalenna on Flinders Island.141 While Robinson was not aware of red ochre’s religious
meaning142 he was clear that it possessed significance for certain Aboriginal people.
When visiting the Toolumbunner (Mt Gog) site for the last time on 16 July 1834, the Aboriginal people showed Robinson their extensive mining activities.143 The group was on its way back to Wybalenna, having gathered the remaining
139 MacFarlane, 2008, p. 9. 140 Plomley, 1966, pp. 286, 670. 141 Plomley, 1987, p. 228. 142 Plomley, 1966, p. 501.
‘remnant’ of the west coast clans. With no ochre sites near Wybalenna the
women’s acquisitions were very valuable and demonstrate their continued practice and use of ochre in the new context.
Robinson records more intensive singing, dancing and story-telling when the Aboriginal people were acquiring ochre than he generally reported on other days.144 Ochre was also used, like charcoal, to pigment the skin after a cicatrice scarring operation145 and mixed with grease in successive layers on their bodies as protection from the cold.146 Insulation effectiveness, however, would have
depended on the amount of fat alone, not the pigment mixed with it.147
Decorating oneself with red ochre was considered the natural thing to do because as Robinson observed: ‘one of the natives on being asked why he painted himself, asked the enquiring individual, “what do you wear fine clothes for?”’148 Sagona suggests this statement indicates that ‘body decoration for pleasure’s sake applied to the Tasmanians too, or at least to this individual.’149 It is noticeable that this Aboriginal person distinguished colonists’ ‘fine clothes’ as the comparable adornment to his own ochre, and not to the clothes worn everyday. Perhaps this reflected the observation that the colonists wore ‘fine clothes’ on special
occasions, public/civic ceremonies, Sunday church services, etc., rather than as ‘decoration for pleasure’s sake.’ The conversation about ‘fine clothes’ occurred after the funerals of Robert Macauley and Eumarrah on 26th March 1832 so the
144 Sagona, A., (ed), 1994, ‘The Quest for Red Gold’, in Sagona, A., Bruising the Red Earth.
Melbourne; Melbourne University Press, p. 22.
145 Plomley, 1966, p. 283. 146 Plomley, 1987, p. 246. 147 Sagona, 1994, p. 23. 148 Plomley, 1966, p. 594. 149 Sagona, 1994, p. 26.
context for ‘fine clothes’ was not ‘just for pleasure’, but was associated with an end of life funeral ceremony.150
The occasional references to the variant experience of those Aboriginal people who had not been initiated into the pre-colonial religious world are worth noting. Tom, one of the ‘civilised’ Aboriginal people, believed he had no devils, though Robinson disagreed.151 Not only was there variation in mythologies among Aboriginal people from different clans but among the emerging generation who had not known life apart from interaction with colonists. This variation is discussed in the next chapter when considering the range of responses to the Christian faith presented to a wide range of Aboriginal people.