Abstract: Apart from a single brief paper created simply by DS Davidson as well as published through...

1. Shoes of invisibility and invisible shoes: Australian hunters
and gatherers and ideas on the origins of footwear.
Abstract: Apart from a single brief paper created simply by DS Davidson as well as published
throughout 1947, plus a in depth description involving bark sandals from the Tanami desert region
simply by DF Thomson in 1960, nearly all interest inside relation to Aboriginal Australian footwear
has concentrated around the emu-feather and also hairstring kadaitcha shoes as well as slippers
involving Central Australia. while footwear had been lacking among most indigenous Australians, at
least 5 different types involving indigenous footwear as well as .foot protection happen for you to be
recorded. A New revised distribution of Aboriginal footwear is actually shown here. Early records
draw attention to the use regarding footwear among the Tasmanian Aborigines and gives insights to
the possible origins of the use associated with footwear.
While traditionally footwear stood a restricted distribution on the continent, the utilization involving
no much less than 1 form intimately related together with magical killing as well as sorcery, the
particular kadaitcha shoe, generally seems to are already spreading in the late nineteenth along with
early twentieth centuries. This is mandatory here that will internal disruption caused through the
impact involving Western and also Asian societies in the nineteenth century led to an boost in
aberrant behaviour, which includes sorcery, which could account for the spread associated with this
particular sort of footwear.
**********
Generally, Australian Aborigines are generally thought to be keeping their particular hunting along
with gathering existence unshod. The Particular use associated with footwear, apart from bark
sandals, within the Western Desert region of Western Australia, and emu-feather slippers or shoes
simply by sanctioned vengeance get-togethers in Central Australia, can be typically unrecognised.
DS Davidson, summarising details concerning the use associated with footwear in Australia inside
1947, failed to end up being able to include information from your eighteenth century which
indicated the wider distribution as compared to typically considered (Davidson 1947).
Early records
The earliest records suggesting which Australian Aborigines used virtually any type of footwear had
been manufactured in 1777 on the northeastern of Tasmania (then Van Diemen's Land), simply by
surgeons Anderson as well as Samwell, members involving Cook's 2nd voyage in for you to the
Pacific. Samwell noted which 'some of these had skins secured to their feet which in turn served for
you to defend them in the stones' (Beaglehole 1967:994). Anderson wrote: 'some bits of kangaroos
skin fix'd upon their feet together with thongs as amongst a range of labourers regarding other
countries; though it cannot always be learnt whether as well as not we were holding in use as shoes
or simply to defend a quantity of sore about the feet' (Beaglehole 1967:787).
Further mention involving the Tasmanian footwear was produced in 1793 through Labillardiere
(1971:229): 'We observed one, whom walked using difficulty, and also one of whose feet ended up
being engrossed in skin'. This specific clearly signifies that the actual hide ended up being becoming
accustomed to protect a new wound. Within 1802, Baudin (1974:345) noted in the Tasmanians,
'Their drinking vessels are made from any sort of seaweed together with very broad thick leaves.

2. These types of they also use as shoes when they get sore feet'. the seaweed employed to make the
carrying vessels may become the bull kelp, Durvillaea potatorum.
In 1852, John West (1852:85) wrote: 'The tribes for the westward had been the actual finer race:
individuals through South Cape to always be able to Cape Grim had far better huts, plus they wore
moccasins upon travel'. West's informant may well happen in order to be George Augustus Robinson,
that had invested almost 10 a prolonged time attempting to effect any relaxing solution for the
conflicts among Tasmanian Aborigines as well as the colonial interlopers. Robinson himself, while
close to Waterhouse Point, Ringarooma Bay, northeastern Tasmania, noted within his diary
regarding 7 December 1830 (Plomley 1966:288, 510) which 'The dog chased a new brush kangaroo
as well as killed it, your natives getting skin regarding moccasins but leaving your carcase'. later (9
November 1831), he reviewed a classic campsite together with 'the remains involving native huts,
outdated blankets and moccasins, along with numerous additional indications of natives having
frequented these parts'.
Ethnologists considering the apparently meagre suite of products manufactured through the
Tasmanian Aborigines possess additionally failed to note the existence involving footwear. Several
could reason that the Tasmanian use involving footwear reflects the post-contact phenomenon.
However, seems like which the employment involving animal skins or even kelp for you to protect
the feet from injury and to protect injured or tender feet wasn't uncommon. There are, to my
knowledge, simply no similar early references towards the use regarding footwear, produced in
relation to be able to its mainland Aborigines. The Particular Tasmanian situation shows that the
typical use of footwear could have developed initially in the custom regarding bandaging or or else
protecting injured feet, rather than getting initially invented to become able to protect the feet via
harm.
Davidson's 1947 survey associated with footwear within Aboriginal Australia failed to refer to the
Tasmanian evidence. That is actually clearly moment for a review and revision associated with his
review of Australian Aboriginal footwear.
Davidson's types of Indigenous footwear reconsidered
Four types of footwear are generally recognised through Davidson as getting employed by Australian
Aborigines and which he limited their own distribution to the central as well as central-western
locations with the continent. three types were considered to happen to end up being able to be
regarding very limited distribution, while the fourth, the actual kadaitcha shoe, is discovered over a
new a lot wider area along with considered through Davidson as getting spread in the south-westerly
direction since very first recorded throughout Central Australia inside the final decade with the
nineteenth century.
One problem is, involving course, the actual distinction (or insufficient it) created by many observers
in between sandals and also shoes or moccasins. I propose that the term 'sandals' always be
accustomed to reference footwear having a plain as well as woven sole no upper, that have got been
bound for the foot using attached straps. 'Shoes' and 'moccasins', upon the other hand, possess each
soles along with uppers that will much more or even much less enclose the actual foot. they could
become secured baglike, by the shape of the upper alone, by simply tying using a separate cord, or
perhaps possess one as well as a lot more bands regarding material--extensions with the upper--that
hold the shoe towards the instep.
Davidson's types

3. 1. Skin sandals or perhaps shoes created from possum as well as kangaroo-rat skin worn fur aspect
down (Davidson 1947:114)
The sandals had been referred for you to as mungar, in the language with the Wanman (Warnman)
with the Rudall River area, and also wdnya by their own south-eastern neighbours of the Gibson
Desert. Davidson apparently collected this information throughout fieldwork undertaken within
Western Australia in your course of 1938-39.
While he noted in which these were worn when hunting throughout difficult terrain, both names
provided declare that the particular sandals were utilised for additional esoteric purposes. Davidson
considered which the term mungar and its cognates meant 'ghost' or even 'spirit'. The Particular
term wanya, generally, could mean 'an evil spirit' too as 'a sorcerer' as well as 'assassin', endowed
together with magical powers and bent about vengeance regarding several perceived wrongdoing.
Throughout Central Australia, such individuals are referred in order to as through the much more
familiar name, kadaitcha as well as kurdaitcha, a word which includes now entered the typical
Australian vocabulary.
It is achievable in which Davidson misinterpreted as well as misheard the term mungar. According
to Warnman speakers today, the spirit is referred to be able to as ngunu along with munga means
'night'. In another hand, the term mangun refers to the creative period--'the Dreamtime'.
The use regarding footwear fashioned from skins has also been reported inside South Australia.
Menstruating ladies of the Yaraldi, with the Lower Murray River and Lakes location involving
nineteenth century South Australia, wore slippers to travel in between a special seclusion camp used
in the course of the day as well as the place where that they slept at night. the slippers had been
created associated with fur, worn fur facet out along with gathered about with fibre, which was
furthermore employed like a tie. Your slippers had been believed to keep a woman's feet heat and
also dry and additionally to ensure a new 'normal' menstrual period, as well as obscuring the girl
tracks from the eyes of small boys (Berndt Berndt along with Stanton 1993:153). Your use of what
'worn fur aspect out' points too a new pelt instead of spun or perhaps felted fur was utilized within
the construction with the slippers.
These references, and the Tasmanian evidence referred to earlier, declare that footwear produced
from skin or the pelts regarding animals could get were built with a a lot wider distribution than
previously considered by simply Davidson.
2. Sandals 'crudely made of strips of bark tied to the foot' (Davidson 1947:114)
The first mention of this kind of sandal has been manufactured in 1898 by the explorer, David
Carnegie (1998:234), that collected one of a worn-out pair found although seeking h2o north
associated with Patience Well within the Gibson Desert and approximately 300 km east involving
Lake Disappointment. Carnegie (1998:236) discussed these sandals within the light associated with
his studying in the journals of the Horn Scientific Expedition, along with in contrast them
'Kurdaitcha' shoes. Warri, Carnegie's Aboriginal guide, remarked concerning the bark sandals,
'Blackfella put on 'em 'long hot sand'.
Davidson limited the distribution of this type of footwear into a little area in the Gibson Desert.
However, the actual Warnman, referred to end up being able to earlier, furthermore utilized bark
sandals, as well as Davidson may are already confusing the particular Warnman term mungar with
various other similar phrases associated for you to bark sandals. My personal investigations along
with Warnman speakers reveal which bark sandals are generally generically called jakapiri

4. nevertheless may also become termed mangarr, following the Rattlepod shrub (Crotalaria
cunninghamii), the actual bark of which can easily be primarily utilized to create the actual sandals.
Acacias using barks suitable regarding sandal construction tend to be called kalirrma along with
jamal, as well as these terms may end up being used for sandals created from their own respective
barks.
Davidson noted the Kija people in the southeastern Kimberley had been conscious of these sandals,
which in turn they will called pailka. Pailka (palyka as well as palkany) can end up being a
expression used from the eastern Walmajarri in addition to always be able to their neighbours to the
east, the actual Kukaja, regarding both the Crotalaria and the sandals produced from it. Synonymous
terms are yakapiri (Walmajarri) and mirrinpa as well as ngalyipi (Kukaja) (Richards Hudson
1990:305; Valiquette 1993:186). Your terms yakapiri and also ngalyipi are also names utilized for
that Crotalaria. However, some Kukaja have got indicated in my experience that palyka (sandals)
tend to be created from ngalyipi (Crotalaria). The Particular technique identify of the material an
artefact is actually made from for you to denote the actual artefact itself is really a common practice
throughout many elements of Aboriginal Australia.
[FIGURES 1-2 OMITTED]
There tend to be additional early references for the use of bark sandals involving which usually
Davidson has been possibly unaware. Pertaining To example, Mathews (1901:80) throughout
reference for the Northern Territory stated:
In Order To protect their particular feet in the sharp stones in rugged
country, or perhaps in the hot sands in the desert, the actual natives
sometimes make shoes, or perhaps sandals, from your bark of
your tea-tree, using a string tied more than the foot to keep it
on. This specific string is made in the bark of a shrub along with a
yellow flower which usually grows about the sand hills. Throughout some
districts the actual shoe itself is made with the bark of the same
tree, worked within the way regarding netting, and can be also fastened
on the foot just as stated.
In 1901, GA Keartland exhibited any set of sandals, woven in the bark regarding Crotalaria
cunninghamii, in the Victorian Naturalists Club (Anon. 1901:71). He gave the particular provenance
as north-western Australia. Keartland was obviously a person in the particular ill-fated Calvert
Scientific Exploring Expedition of 1896-97 when a couple of members, CF Wells as well as GL Jones,
were lost and perished; Keartland furthermore went around the 1897 expeditions that will ultimately
discovered their own bodies. Expedition leader LA Wells (1902:52), on the northern side of the
Excellent Sandy Desert, saw 'a peculiar-looking set of shoes made from bark' getting worn through a
vintage Aboriginal woman. two sandals collected by simply Wells from Joanna Springs inside 1897
are actually in the collections of the South Australian Museum (reg. nos. 6054 and 6055). the
sandals are usually not a pair as well as 6055 is actually described like a sandal for a child. both

5. sandals are usually recorded as getting been collected 100 miles (160 km) south regarding Joanna
Springs inside the Fantastic Sandy Desert and also consequently do not really seem to become
individuals recorded inside Wells journal.
In 1910, Swedish ethnographer Yngve Laurell collected bark sandals called mangara from Mangala
individuals from Mowla Downs Station on Geegully Creek, south-western Kimberley. Laurell, any
member of your Initial Swedish Scientific Expedition to Australia, 1910-1911, furthermore recorded
specifics of the particular manufacture in the sandals, noting that (1910:11-12, 26-7, paraphrased
translation by simply Claes Halgren 2004):
each and every is made involving a couple of strips involving bark. 1 strip is tied and
looped in regards for you to the physique associated with the producer as well as over
the large toe associated with a prolonged foot. This kind of types the initial
basis upon that another will be woven in order to create
the sole. About achievement the ends along with median section of
the creating blocks strip serve because the ties and lashing points
respectively when fixing the actual sandal to the foot.
Laurell noted that the sandals were made by both men and also women, as well as were generally
discarded right after use.
Bark sandals were sometimes known to the Nyangamarta along with Karajarri of the north-western
coast, the particular latter calling all of them manyarr (McKelson n.d.:134). HS Trotman recalled
locating bark sandals within 1897, just east involving Roy Hill in the eastern Pilbara. He described
(Smith 1966:75) 'a couple of what appeared in order to be Roman sandals created in the bark in the
Spearwood-tree, using a loop for the large toe and long grass thongs attached for the soles along
with which usually in order to lace them'. Although doubting in time in which these sandals were
involving Indigenous origin, inside a footnote Trotman (Smith 1966:75) stated that:
later I had been to learn that will these sensible foot coverings
have been produced from the natives of the location which apparently
are usually the only blacks inside Australia to possess contrived
something inside the nature of a shoe. That They called them
mongas along with utilized these people when the floor ended up being also hot for
even his or her horny feet.
The word 'mongas' used by Trotman and also Davidson's term mungar seem to be synonymous, and
there may always be several overlap within the use regarding skin and bark footwear within the
eastern Pilbara.

6. In the actual south-western Kimberley as well as on the Dampierland Peninsula, EA Worms
mentioned the employment associated with shoes (guridja as well as mangar) of leather as well as
bark to disguise the tracks of murderers (Worms 1986:54). These types of terms potentially
reference sandals rather than shoes.
In 1957, anthropologist Donald Thomson (1960:177-9) observed Pintubi men making and wearing
Crotalaria bark sandals with Lappi Lappi, a significant water point south involving Lake Hazlett
about the western margin of the Tanami Desert inside Western Australia. Thomson understood that
the Pintubi distinguished between your plant ngalyibi (Crotalaria cunninghamii) and additionally the
term balka, which in turn he perceived meant the particular sandal itself, and revealed a new most
comprehensive description with the manufacture of the sandal (Thomson 1960:179):
after stripping the bark, the sandal-maker squats on
the sand with one of his legs extended at total length in
front associated with his body. He selects any single extended strand regarding bast
fibre, or even if none regarding sufficient duration is available, he ties
on an extra strand. This kind of strand can be then looped over
the big toe with the foot which is stretched forward, and the
various other ends carried back passed round either side of the
body along with tied at the back. Tension is actually thus maintained
about the parallel strands in which usually the only with the shoe is
woven, leaving the particular maker's hands free. the finish of the
sole nearest the particular toe is actually automatically narrower compared to become able to the
one
close in order to the physique and so forms the actual heel, as the wider
end takes your ball with the foot. the loop that offers been passed
at the rear of the important toe throughout the method of manufacture
later serves as any strap for your instep, and the 2 loose
ends, untied in the body, are passed involving the toes
along with serve as lashings in order to secure the sandal, thus eliminating
the necessity of any other thongs.
It is actually obvious in which Thomson observed the identical technique regarding manufacturing
sandals that have been recorded by Laurell over 40 a long time earlier within the south Kimberley.

7. other descriptions with the manufacture and help to make use of involving Crolalaria bark sandals
happen to be provided by Gould (1969:7, 12, 26) and Lowe and Pike (1990:75).
Davidson (1947:115) suggested that will woven bark sandals stood a restricted distribution. Inside
fact, these sandals were created and employed all through the particular Fantastic Sandy as well as
Gibson Deserts aspects of Western Australia as well as inside the Tanami Desert in the Northern
Territory. This may become that the Mathews reference noted earlier, to become able to bark
sandals in the Northern Territory, alludes to the use regarding bark sandals within the latter area.
3. Rabbit-skin moccasins
Bolam in the 1st decades with the twentieth century recorded the use associated with rabbit-skin
moccasins from Ooldea at southern-central South Australia. These kind of were utilised by
Aborigines who needed to journey in porcupine-grass country. A Few species regarding porcupine
grass (Triodia sp.), additionally commonly nevertheless incorrectly called 'spinifex', possess hard
phyllodes using needle-sharp tips. Bolam (1925:77) makes the point that these shoes had been worn
inside August when Aboriginal hunters would opportunity into the nation seeking dingo pups for
pets.
Each moccasin consisted of the entire skin of the freshly killed rabbit. the foot was slipped to the
skin from the rear with the toes resting against the tied off neck. The Particular rear section
involving the skin had been pulled back over the particular heel and the skin of the trunk legs had
been tied in the ankle. the skinned-out front legs were tied collectively more than the instep.
Presumably your skin ended up being everted in order that the actual fur ended up being around the
inside, although this isn't specifically mentioned.
This can be the sole reference, in order to my knowledge, to this sort of footwear throughout
Australia. while Davidson (1947:115) questioned if the use involving animal skins on this method
was at use in Ooldea prior to the introduction in the rabbit for the area, or perhaps has been
launched from more northerly regions, it may be considered a nearby innovation potentially relying
on non-Aborigines within the latter 50 % of your nineteenth century.
4. Kadaitcha (kurdaitcha) shoes (Davidson 1947:116)
With soles created from emu feathers and also uppers associated with knitted as well as woven
twine regarding human head of hair or even animal fur, kadaitcha shoes tend to be probably the
most familiar kind of footwear employed by Aboriginal Australians. along with bone pointing, the
particular shoes represent to a lot of your negative side regarding Indigenous magical procedures
associated along with social control.
As a new class associated with footwear they ought to perhaps always be termed 'feathered shoes',
as it seems in which these were worn about occasions other than killing expeditions. Etheridge
(1895) collected accounts involving their use from a wide range of sources, noting that, based on
French, Howitt and Coward, they were worn for your purposes associated with rain-making. Coward
furthermore noted that will they were worn throughout western Queensland to conceal tracks upon
wife-stealing missions (Etheridge 1895:544, 546, 549).
In several instances, the actual shoes were stated to become in the position being produced publicly
along with seen simply by each ladies and youngsters except when getting utilized (Bates 1923:977).
Within other instances these folks were stated to be restricted, although virtually any adult male
could make them (Meggitt 1955:385). among the particular Walbiri, men belonging towards the

8. matriline of the deceased individual would increase the risk for shoes worn by using an expedition
sent out to become able to avenge the particular death of a kinsman (Meggitt 1962:325). Until the
particular mid-1970s these were an everyday craft item, produced pertaining to sale with many
centres within the central and western desert places of Australia. the manufacture involving
kadaitcha shoes with regard to sale seems to have begun just after they were first reported. Spencer
along with Gillen (1899:478) reported in which models involving kadaitcha shoes existed which were
also small for real use. Through 1928 Spencer (1928:264) could compose that:
The Actual very best feather shoes are usually produced within the southern section
of the Arunta tribe, and in the program of current years, since it has
been discovered which they use a marketable value, a
considerable quantity happen to be manufactured through the
natives as well as have, for a new while past, been obtaining there
method directly into museums and also curiosity shops; nevertheless like a general
rule, they could be distinguished by their particular size, most of
them getting as well small regarding even your foot of your native.
The soles were made from any mass regarding emu feathers, felted with every single other by simply
repeated stabbing having a wood or bone skewer (Spencer 1928:260). Throughout the majority of
the actual early descriptions, human blood was said to become your principal binding agent. Whilst
blood might have been utilized to cost the shoes along with magical power, it's likely that the felting
of the feathers, rather than the utilization regarding blood, come up with mechanical stability
needed in order to ensure a new bond involving the sole and the netted upper. Byrne (1896:65)
noted that the 'sole [was] created regarding human locks and a great quantity of intertwined emu
feathers, any certain quantity associated with human blood getting employed as a kind of cementing
material'. the Walbiri further reinforced the only by sewing it by means of using hairstring (Meggitt
1955:385), a new practice that was adopted inside the Western Desert area associated with Western
Australia.
Bates (n.d.:l) divided feathered shoes into 2 forms. The first stood a simple sole of felted emu
feathers which was tied to the foot with a size associated with fur as well as hairstring; they were
utilized in sandy country (Berndt Johnston 1942: Figure 19 provide an illustration of a set of these
easy shoes). the second form were built along with a sole developed by simply stitching fur or even
hairstring via the actual matted emu feathers to produce an even more robust shoe. The Particular
latter had netted uppers, along with has been thought to happen for you to be regarding used in
stony or rugged environments. Bates also stated the fur associated with each the particular native
marsupial cat as well as the introduced feral cat could possibly be felted to end up being able to
form soles with regard to these shoes. Inside an additional account, Bates (1923) provided any myth
from the Western Desert that will describes the actual invention of each forms of shoes and
therefore offers a cosmological rationale for their manufacture and use.
Most descriptions with the uppers just refer in their own mind becoming created associated with
hairstring mesh with a hole in which to place the actual foot. Spencer as well as Gillen (1899:477-8)
confused the issue through proclaiming that there will be a hairstring cord throughout the aperture,

9. presumably to keep the actual foot in place, but additionally illustrated a ball associated with
human-hair string 'used in order to tie the actual shoe towards the foot' (Spencer Gillen 1899:
Figure 96:4).
At Ooldea, the uppers were created involving a pair of separate materials. The Particular lower
section, attached to the sole, was involving wombat fur and additionally the upper of woven rabbit
fur (Berndt Johnston 1942:206). Upon another hand, the Walbiri stitched hairstring loops in for the
feather soles to generate soft sandals (Meggitt 1955:385). Your Wongkonguru (Wangkangurru),
situated inside Aiston's time on the north-eastern shores involving Lake Eyre between the
Warburton along with Coopers Creek in South Australia (having moved through an area northwest in
the Warburton), employed any quill netting needle in order to weave with. This kind of had been
made by stripping the majority of your vane from either side of the shaft of your medium in order to
big feather, leaving only a few centimetres at the tip. prepared human-hair string was then spun into
the remaining vane as well as the quill ended up being ready being used like a needle, each for
weaving your upper as well as attaching it to the feather sole (Home Aiston 1924:138--9).
Part with the ritual involved in preparing a person being the kadaitcha concerned dislocation of just
one or other little toe (Spencer Gillen 1899:478). Spencer and also Gillen noted which accurate
kadaitcha shoes use a hole in the upper to support the particular dislocated toe of the wearer.
However, as only 1 toe is dislocated only 1 shoe of your pair would demonstrate this type of hole.
The literature relating to kadaitcha procedures is extensive and also is certainly not likely to become
entered directly into here (see Berndt Berndt 1977:324-6; Curr 1886:148; Etheridge 1895; Kitching
1961; Spencer Gillen 1899:476-85). the term "kadaitcha' refers to revenge expeditions, that entail
sorcery as well as physical injury to ensure success. The Particular term will be in the Arrernte
(Aranda) language associated with Central Australia. Kadaitcha avengers wore your feathered shoes
to disguise their identity. The idea is often declared they were accustomed to conceal the tracks
themselves, but this is impossible in all nevertheless the stoniest country. the existence in the
blurred tracks, however, would indicate that will ritually empowered kadaitcha had been inside the
vicinity and finest left alone. Individual identity can be further concealed by the use regarding ochre
as well as feather-down ornamentation about the face and body worn by the contributors with the
kadaitcha expedition. Spencer (1928:264), however, comments with the shoes in which 'The just real
use for you to which usually apparently they may possibly be place is that involving carrying little
objects, such as bull-roarers or perhaps stone knives, used in the course of ceremonies'.
Davidson (1947:116-18) described the use associated with such footwear as limited for the southern
sections in the Northern Territory along with coming from South Australia, west associated with
Lake Eyre, extending into Western Australia; within Western Australia the technique kadaitcha shoe
ended up being limited for the Gibson Desert, extending south-east in for you to the Eastern
Goldfields region along with north-east to the northern Pilbara. The idea can be distinct that the
shoes were built with a much wider distribution than Davidson suspected. Bates (n.d.: 2) stated she
collected these people in places inside the actual Gascoyne-Murchison region in which lies south in
the Pilbara.
Sorcerers and also killers wearing feathered shoes had been also known towards the peoples north
along with east of Lake Eyre, which includes your Wangkangurru, your Diyari, Yaluyandi, Thirrari
along with Yandruwantha. The Particular shoes were known as thina nhipa ('foot clothes') through
the Thirrari along with tidna-nipa or perhaps tidna-kati through the Diyari (Hercus, pers. comm.).
Since well as becoming worn about kadaitcha raids, additionally they appear to get served as a new
possible aid to end up being able to avoid detection when surreptitiously entering hostile nation with
regard to whatever purpose, along with had been additionally worn by a few men to stay away from

10. scorching your feet around the hottest days (Horne Aiston 1924:138-9).
Among the actual Arrernte, the actual shoes are classified as interlinia inside the south as well as
intathurta towards the north. Elsewhere these people are classified as jina wipia ('foot-feather') by
the Manjiljara with the Gibson Desert, as well as multjara and also jina wipia through the southern
Western Desert peoples. Based on Davidson (1947:117), your Nyangumarta with the northern
Pilbara knew the shoes as jfno-whgu; jfno had been stated to become evil beings as well as people
whom have turned into evil beings for your purposes regarding sorcery. According to linguist Albert
Burgman (pers. comm.), jina waku will be the northern Nyangumarta term to get a kadaitcha man,
who is termed jina karrpi through the southern Nyangumarta as well as jina karrpil on their email
list of Warnman. The Particular term jina karrpi ('foot-tied' or even '-bound') along with cognates jina
arbil as well as jina karrpil, is recognised across the entire Western Desert area. The Particular term
for your introduced, non-Indigenous types of shoes along with boots throughout nearly most of the
eastern along with northern Pilbara and also Western Desert languages is jina buka, literally
'stinking feet'.
Extending northwards past the limits associated with distribution as defined through Davidson, we
discover that your shoes had been identified or believed to become section of your paraphernalia
that sorcerers could use in many Aboriginal groups besides individuals of Central Australia. For You
To the Pintupi as well as Kukaja with the Tanami and Stansmore Ranges, respectively, such shod
killers were referred to always be able to as jina karrpinyu ('foot bound') and jina karrpilpa ('foot
bound'). the Walbiri with the eastern Tanami Desert call the particular shoes wanjia-wulia (janba =
'foot').
Janba are considered to be malevolent male spirits that maliciously kill humans whenever that they
encounter them. For You To conceal their particular tracks in addition they use the actual feathered
shoes. The Particular existence involving janba spirit beings is actually acknowledged throughout
the northern arid regions of Australia, in the Northern Territory west in order to Broome and the
Dampierland Peninsula. According to Worms (1952:550), knowledge associated with janba as well as
the religious cults connected with them existed inside Broome within the early 1930s and also ended
up being appearing inside the central Kimberley in the late 1930s. Worms considered the janba cult
had spread from the desert regions east and southeast in the Kimberley, probably inside the latter
50 % of the actual nineteenth century. Various Other phenomena introduced from the desert regions
in to be able to the southern Kimberley from the identical moment included your section and
subsection methods involving social organisation as well as ceremonies, religious artefacts and also
sacred objects generally connected using the desert individuals (Worms 1952:551).
Some suggestion regarding the actual achievable original construction of the feathered shoes
emerges through Worms (1952:552) throughout his translation of your statement made with a
Kukaja informant in the Balgo region:
Djanba spears people. Blood runs out in the wound
when he withdraws the particular spear. Djanba walks all day
leaving his weeping mother by yourself inside the camp. He
opens the vein inside his arm and also lets the blood drop on
the actual soles associated with his feet. Then he plucks the particular fur of your bandicoot

11. and with the blood attaches it for the underside of
his feet. but the particular heels remain uncovered. No one can
observe his tracks.
The Pilbara spirits known as jfno, however, had been thought to cut his or her ankles to ensure that
their own shoes tend to be kept saturated together with unearthly blood, which usually ensures that
they leave zero tracks (Davidson 1947:117). Since noted earlier, there is proof the use regarding
skin or even bark sandals for any similar purpose reported for the southern Kimberley region
associated with Western Australia.
Additional forms involving footwear certainly not considered simply by Davidson
RH Mathews (1901:80) referred to the use regarding shoes created from spun fur yarn 'woven right
into a net using very small meshes'. These kinds of shoes, utilized in an unspecified location with the
Northern Territory, protected the particular feet inside rugged country. The Particular netted fur-
string shoes do not really apparently fulfil exactly the actual same function as kadaitcha shoes,
which in turn Mathews continues on to consider in his subsequent paragraph. When this actually is
the case, then these slippers or shoes represent a further kind of footwear that warrants inclusion in
any thought of Indigenous Australian footwear.
Another form of foot protection that truly needs to become considered is the use regarding plant
resins as well as saps rubbed about the feet for you to toughen them. Pertaining To example, your
Bardi of Sunday Island as well as the northern suggestion with the Dampierland Peninsula within
Western Australia crush leaves associated with muntuj (Gardenia pyriformis) along with rub the
actual sap more than the actual soles associated with their particular feet just before likely fishing
and also collecting in rocky reefs covered using coral and oysters. This kind of has been said to end
up being able to make certain that the particular feet remain difficult enough, despite prolonged
soaking, in order to withstand the actual sharp edges associated with oyster shells and coral tines
and, more importantly, the deadly spines in the stonefish (Synencaja horrida). There will be certainly
at present little knowledge in regards in order to the distribution of this unusual form of foot
protection within northern Australia.
The general paucity of information regarding Indigenous footwear inside Australia shows that a
amount of local forms could happen for you to be abandoned soon after contact. The Actual
exceptions would always be the bark sandals with the Western Deserts along with adjacent areas, as
well as the feather-soled kadaitcha shoes. The Actual use regarding the former sort associated with
footwear inside the arid regions directly into current occasions can be explained through the fact
that the particular inhabitants of these areas had been among a quantity of the final to get
immediate contact with non-Aboriginal Australians.
The continued manufacture and employ associated with kadaitcha footwear into the twentieth
century may, however, possess wider social implications.
The post-contact spread of the kadaitcha shoe
Davidson (1947:117) considered the feather-sole kadaitcha shoe had spread westwards coming from
Central Australia, to the southern arid places regarding Western Australia after which in in order to
the Pilbara and Goldfields regions inside historic times. Your use associated with feathered and
other slippers pertaining to sorcery purposes is famous now to become able to extend across most of

12. Central Australia and furthermore the entire Western Desert region in to become able to the
southern Kimberley along with north-western Pilbara regions.
Part regarding the cause behind this spread could function as the gradual depopulation of the arid
locations as Aborigines, from your late nineteenth century until very recently, abandoned his or her
desert estates as well as migrated for you to towns, missions as well as other settlements. This
particular migration had been partly initiated by method of a series of droughts which affected your
Western Deserts in the early in order to mid-twentieth century; and also partly by government
policies involving centralisation whereby Aboriginal peoples had been encouraged to go away the
particular desert for the lifetime on mission and government settlements; along with partly through
their particular desire to always be able to encounter new places along with seek previous
neighbours that had migrated earlier. 1 consequence of this time period involving migration ended
up being in which towns and also settlements on the desert fringe now contained immigrant
populations more akin to always be able to others across the perimeter regarding this locus when
compared with making use associated with their immediate hosts. The Actual desert cultural
identity, much more conservative than that of your host bodies, was to become a dominating force
within the places where it was re-established.
Australian Aboriginal societies had been undergoing huge social upheavals even prior to literally
encountering Asian and also European visitors as well as settlers. Diseases launched straight into
Arnhem Territory within the late eighteenth century had been to reduce swathes across broad
reaches with the continent, devastating many Aboriginal teams (Campbell 2002; Kimber 1988:63-8).
Within conventional Aboriginal societies such diseases had been perceived to possess just
supernatural causes. Diseases or perhaps illnesses with regard to which usually there is zero
conventional remedy had been seen being both the supernatural punishment brought about simply
by breaches associated with social along with religious rules, or perhaps the results of sorcery.
Sorcery along with assassination had been mentioned to become used in a few instances to enforce
modifications in ceremonial behaviour produced through the introduction of new types of religious
exercise (Wilson 1954:15-19).
In several areas of Australia, there's clear evidence that sorcery ended up being resorted to end up
being able to in the early make contact with phase as people sought for you to correct situations
over which that these people had no tangible control as well as which in turn these people blamed
others pertaining to creating. in South Australia, sorcery has been stated being resorted to from the
a lot more conservative while they attempted to end up being able to reassert control over other
people falling below the influence involving missions (Berndt Berndt 1951:87, 231). on the walls of
the great rock-art galleries of western Arnhem Land, the vast majority of motifs reported through
Aborigines to be related with sorcery occur inside the post-contact era and belong inside the
particular get inside touch with time period stage (Chaloupka 1993:207-13). Chaloupka considers
the actual epidemics associated with smallpox, influenza and, later, sexually transmitted diseases
along with leprosy, coupled using the dislocation regarding dispossession, as main contributors for
the improve regarding sorcery.
A feature connected with almost all the gradual removing populations via his or her homelands in
the central and western arid places regarding Australia is the extremely fact that in many cases
there is simply no strong core regarding senior males or females left in order to ensure adherence to
be able to normal rules associated with behaviour. Inside these situations it appears that a few men,
at times alone as well as in the business of 1 or perhaps a pair of others, became 'rogue'. That They
wouldn't normally hesitate for you to kill some other men whom they will caught unawares and
furthermore to usurp females wherever possible. His Or Her lives had been violent and, secure
within their own physical strength, they rampaged by means of the particular isolated family groups

13. nonetheless remaining in the desert. Numerous believed in which sorcery was the merely real
implies by simply which in turn these brigands might be brought down.
An account involving some associated with the attacks, murders as well as abductions that will
occurred within the great Sandy Desert can be graphically provided by Ngarta Jinny Bent as well as
Pat Lowe (2004). Bent witnessed these events as a girl. four men, brothers within the late 1950s or
early 1960s, committed a selection of crimes such as murder just before these people came out in
the desert. 1 of them was still alive, living a solitary existence, in the desert throughout 1982.
The spread involving kadaitcha sorcery with almost all the related utilisation associated with the
feather-soled shoes is definitely an essential reflection involving this period regarding time of
anomie. Perhaps today, amongst remoter Aboriginal communities connected with the Western
Desert, the particular threat involving sorcery, known as jina karrpil or wanya, is invoked as a
mechanism regarding social control. among many urbanised Aborigines, 'feather-foots' tend to be
perceived as murderous strangers that come secretly to victimize unsuspecting townsfolk.
Conclusion
This review demonstrates in which footwear was of great importance and wider distribution as
compared to hitherto generally considered. Any research with the literature and also investigations
through the actual years inside Australian public along with private collections provides up to now
failed to offer proof of the use of footwear inside the eastern as well as south-eastern regions of the
continent.
The use of footwear has been sporadic, however, and also dependent on a variety of factors. In some
instances, footwear appears in order to are already constructed to always be able to protect injured
feet; throughout others, it protected feet through injury. In a few arid areas, very higher
temperatures obliged walkers in order to put on sandals when crossing the particular burning sands.
Similarly, rough country normally normally avoided might want to be traversed, and footwear
produced this process easier. However, this does not appear to be true regarding almost all
locations in the continent exactly where extreme conditions regarding possibly temperature and/or
harshness of topography exist.
The technique feathered kadaitcha shoes not merely concealed the particular identity associated
with members of a raiding party but inside addition warned any which could get stumbled more than
your blurred tracks in which forward was an enemy endowed using magical also as additional
powers and also strengths.
The requirement for mobility along with portability probably precluded the everyday use associated
with robust footwear. Feet usually were difficult adequate to not need protection except within
unusual circumstances.
Another factor militated contrary to always be able to the standard use involving footwear: within
Australia, just the largest regarding kangaroos and crocodiles had hides able to producing shoes or
sandals that will final a lot more than numerous days. Throughout desert areas, large kangaroos
usually are generally not easy to kill. Some Other cultural factors, including taboos on skinning them
throughout many places, would furthermore limit the creation of leather-working skills. The Actual
use involving difficult barks, stripped from shrubs and woven in a a few minutes when required, was
obviously a far more practical answer compared to the preparation along with carrying involving
leather. Where, as in Tasmania, hides apparently happen for you to be used, our information is slight
and details scant. Recognition of the utilization associated with footwear by Tasmanians shows that

14. tips concerning the apparent paucity of their particular material possessions has to be reconsidered.
At as quickly as seems like that, apart via inside Tasmania, footwear was made along with used
across a diverse swathe of the continent, from your lower reaches with the Murray River in South
Australia north as well as northwest through the actual Central and also Western arid zones to the
eastern Pilbara along with southern Kimberley. Along With a new further examination of the records
it can become apparent that, although inside other locations of Aboriginal Australia individuals
usually went unshod, the particular knowledge and additionally the skills needed to produce
footwear were current as well as utilized as occasion demanded.
Acknowledgments
I wish by way of thanking your following people: Albert Burgman, linguist, along with Desmond
Taylor, Warnman language worker, in the Wangka Maya Pilbara Aboriginal Language Centre,
regarding helping me along with Warnman terminology for footwear. Luise Hercus generously
provided information in footwear in the Eyre Basin region. Fiona Powell and also David Kaus
supplied duplicates involving references not really easily accessible to always be able to me. Phillip
Manning provided information on Aboriginal footwear held in the collections of the South Australian
Museum. I'm indebted to become able to Claes Hallgren, Stockholm, who ably translated excerpts
from the Laurell diary for me.
To Charley Wallabayi regarding Wirrimarnu and Kiwirrkura communities, the particular late Benny
Walkatu and also Jimmy Wirili James associated with Krungal, my deep gratitude with regard to
demonstrating the making involving paylka sandals in the Excellent Sandy Desert inside the 1980s.
I am most grateful for the valuable comments as well as editorial changes suggested by 2
anonymous referees. Finally I'm as at any time grateful in order to my wife Val Hawkes on the
woman's behalf remarks about a variety of drafts with the manuscript.
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Kim Akerman
Hobart
Kim Akerman continues for you to be involved with Australian Aboriginal studies since 1967. His
history regarding employment provides included positions as anthropologist with the Aboriginal
Affairs Planning Authority, community Wellness services (both Western Australia), the actual

17. Kimberley Terrain Council and the Northern Territory Council, and curatorships inside three
Australian museums. He has also researched and also advised on a pair of successful property
claims inside the Northern Territory along with about the Miriuwung-Gadjerong Native Title case
throughout Western Australia. His writings protect subjects including health, material culture, lithic
technology, and Indigenous artwork using a give focus to ethno-archaeology. Kim may be a new part
of the actual AIATSIS research Advisory Committee since 1996.
kimakerman@tastel.net.au
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