![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/WR_Thomas_-_A_South_Australian_Corroboree%2C_1864.jpg/310px-WR_Thomas_-_A_South_Australian_Corroboree%2C_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
[edit]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.[1]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Corroborree.jpg/170px-Corroborree.jpg)
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.[2]
Description
[edit]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."[3][4][5] 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).[6]
The word is described in the Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia: Second Edition as "an Indigenous assembly of a festive, sacred or warlike character".[1]
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.[2]
Another description is "a gathering of Aboriginal Australians interacting with the Dreaming through song and dance", which may be a sacred ceremony or ritual, or different types of meetings or celebrations, which differ "from mob to mob".[7]
Associated later meanings
[edit]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).[8]
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]
See also
[edit]- Corroboree 2000, a reconciliation event in Sydney
- Corroboree, a poem by Max Fatchen[9]
- Luau
- Pow wow
- Wangga - traditional music and ceremony of north-western Australia
References
[edit]- ^ a b Arthur, Bill; Morphy, Frances, eds. (2019). "Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia". Google Books (Second ed.). Macquarie. p. 79,134,267. ISBN 9781760786946. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- ^ a b Sweeney, D. 2008. "Masked Corroborees of the Northwest" DVD 47 min. Australia: ANU, Ph.D.
- ^ "Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland". Google Books. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- ^ Petrie, Tom; Petrie, Constance Campbell (1932), Tom Petrie's reminiscences of early Queensland : (Dating from 1837) / recorded by his daughter [Constance Campbell Petrie], Queensland Book Depot ; Angus & Robertson
- ^ First two chapters only (not including this cite), available here.
- ^ Elkin, A. P. 1938. The Australian Aborigines: how to understand them. Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson
- ^ "Corroboree [ceremonies explained]". Aboriginal Incursions. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- ^ Delbridge, Arthur; et al., eds. (1997). Macquarie dictionary: Australia's national dictionary. North Ryde, N.S.W: Macquarie Library. p. 434. ISBN 1-876429-32-1. OCLC 223149725.
- ^ "Corroboree". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.