People w ho have b ee n m ade 'clever' c a n rem ove foreign objects from th e body of a sorcery victim, or by o th er m e an s a tte m p t to rem ove th e effects of sorcery. T his is still being done today. In 1989 a B ilin a ra m a n show ed me a piece of bone, sh a rp e n e d a t ea ch end, w hich h e said h a d been rem oved from h is sto m ach by an Aboriginal 'doctor'.
W here so rc e ry h a s b e e n in itia te d via ro c k p a in tin g or tree carving, th e sorcery process m ay be stopped by som eone going to th e site a n d 'w a sh in g o u t' th e im age. M any of th e so rce ry p a in tin g s a t Seale Gorge have b ee n w ash e d o u t th ro u g h being s m e a re d w ith w h a t a p p e a r s to b e a m u d s lu rry . T h is n e u tra lisa tio n does n o t have to be done by a 'clever' perso n or by th e in stig ato r of th e sorcery.
A lthough I have n o t seen th e creation or n e u tra lisin g of sorcery- m otivated rock p ain tin g s, in 1986 I w itn e ssed th e discovery and s u b s e q u e n t rem oval of a h u m a n figure carved into th e b a rk of a boab tree (see Figure 110). This p a rtic u la r tree is a B lack-headed Python D ream ing - one of the D ream ings especially noted for its potency in sorcery.
W hen th e carving w as first noticed by th e A borigines th ey were u n s u r e of its origin. In th e ir opinion, it could have b een m ade eith e r by a n u n k n o w n Aboriginal for sorcery p u rp o se s or by a n un k n o w n E u ro p ean who w as 'ju st m ucking about'. The only way to resolve th is u n c e rta in ty w as to w ait an d see if anyone w as sick, or b ecam e sick, w ho h a d also in som e w ay in sp ired th e h a tre d of som eone w ith a c c e ss to th is D ream ing. C o nsequently, n o th in g
w as done a b o u t the picture a t th a t time. However, several m onths la ter my inform ants told me th a t a W arlpiri m an who h ad 'ru n off w ith th e wife of a n old N g arin m an m a n from Y arralin h ad su b seq u en tly suffered a long illness.
A ccording to m y in fo rm a n ts, th e fa th e r of th e W arlpiri m an suggested th a t th e re ’m ight be draw ing la bottle tree'. T here w as also a n altern ativ e suggestion th a t th e draw ing m ight have been th e cau se of th e d ea th of a m iddle-aged N garinm an m an who had died in d istre ssin g c irc u m sta n c e s a t Y arralin in 1985. I believe th a t th e W arlpiri m a n w as eventually determ ined to be th e victim of th is sorcery draw ing although this w as n o t m ade totally clear. In an y case, I w as again p rese n t, in S ep tem b er 1986, w hen the carved figure w as n e u tra lise d . This w as accom plished by Alan Young, one of th e m en who h ad originally discovered th e picture, an d who is a trad itio n al owner of th e site. Alan first scraped away th e carved im age w ith a tyre lever, an d th e n ru b b ed th e dam aged b a rk w ith kangaroo fat (Plate 119). D uring th e en tire process he spoke to th e D ream ing, telling it to 'let th a t m a n go now, it's finished'.
S u ch atte m p ts are n o t always successful, an d if th e sorcery victim does die, sorcery m ay in tu r n be u sed to achieve retribution. This form of so rcery does n o t involve a rt. To avenge sorcery d ea th s, articles of clothing or o th er p erso n al effects of th e dead p erso n m ay be se t on fire a n d placed in holes in th e rocks a t c e rtain S nake D ream ing places. One well know n place w here th is ca n be done is a site on th e tra c k of J u r n ta k a l, th e D e a th A dder D ream ing. W hen th e b u rn in g clothes are deposited th e D ream ing is sa id to th e n rise from th e hole in th e form of sm oke a n d to travel u nerringly to th e killer to deliver fatal retrib u tio n .
T im e
Up to a point, V ictoria River Aboriginal people's concepts of tim e ca n be roughly co rrelated w ith E u ro p e a n n o tio n s of p re h isto ry a n d h isto ry . The g re a te s t cong ru en ce is found in th e id ea of h isto ry . A borigines w ho lived an d w orked on com pany-ow ned
cattle sta tio n s (in p artic u lar, Wave Hill an d V ictoria River Downs) conceptualise h isto ry as a series of consecutive events or periods, m ark ed by specific types of social rela tio n sh ip s. They rem em ber th e places w here th e ir a n c esto rs were sh o t, the n am es of all the s ta tio n m a n a g e rs, th e shocking w orking conditions, th e strike, an d so on, an d th e re is a very close agreem ent betw een E uropean d o c u m e n ta tio n a n d A boriginal rem e m b ra n ce . In c o n tra s t, th e A boriginal co n c ep t of th e tim e b efore h isto ry is fu n d am e n tally different from th e 'p re h isto ry ' of E u ro p e a n th in k in g , a lth o u g h th e re are som e su p e rficial sim ila rities. E u ro p e a n c o n c ep ts of tim e n e e d n o e x p la n a tio n h e re . H ow ever, u n d e r s ta n d in g Aboriginal concepts of tim e is crucial to a n u n d e rsta n d in g of how A borigines u n d e r s ta n d w h a t E u ro p e a n s call 'ro ck a rt'. T hese
concepts are outlined below.