Wurrwurrwuy - Garanhan (Macassan Beach) stone pictures
A Yolŋu record of Macassan traders
Wurrwurrwuy is the Yolŋu name of the area near Garanhan where there is a unique cluster of stone arrangements behind the rock-shelf. The area covered by these ‘stone pictures’ is approximately 70 metres by 80 metres. The outline pictures provide a window into the trade between the Yolŋu of northeastern Arnhem Land and Indonesians that had existed for several centuries until 1907 when South Australia, which administered the Northern Territory at the time, began using aggressive measures to collect customs duty. The Indonesians, mostly from Macassar in Sulawesi, came annually for trepang (dharripa, beche-de-mer or sea cucumber), turtle shell, and pearl shell to sell to Chinese traders. They sailed in their tri-masted praus on the northwest monsoon winds, and returned on the southeast trade winds. The Macassans acknowledged the Yolŋu as owners of the land and the marine resources, and relations between Yolŋu and Macassans were generally business-like and often cordial. Matthew Flinders, on his circumnavigation of Australia, encountered a fleet of Macassans near Cape Wilburforce in 1803 and spoke with Pobasso, the captain. Pobasso told him that two or three Yolŋu sailed each year with the fleet to Macassar and that some had remained there.
The stone pictures were probably constructed by Yolŋu elders toward the end of the nineteenth century, and in the 1960s clan leaders Mungurrawuy Yunupingu and Mawalan Marika told Campbell Macknight that the arrangements had been made by older members of their families so that future generations of Yolŋu would know the history of the Macassan visits. Mungurrawuy’s father had actually been to Macassar. The photographs indicate that as of 1967 Yolŋu kept the site clear of woody weeds and the stones free of obstruction.
Campbell Macknight, an archaeologist, and Bill Gray, then of the Social Welfare Branch, Northern Territory Administration, photographed the stone pictures and recorded Mungurrawuy’s and Mawalan’s explanations of their meaning and use in 1967. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies published the photographs and text in 1969. Professor Macknight kindly provided Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation with copies of the original photographs for use in rehabilitating the site and restoring the stone arrangements.
The arrangements can conveniently be viewed in four clusters (I – IV); Cluster I is nearest the beginning of the walking trail. The first part of the walking trail follows a trail that Macknight and Gray say was originally made by buffalo, which by 1967 had already damaged some of the pictures.
The stone pictures were probably constructed by Yolŋu elders toward the end of the nineteenth century, and in the 1960s clan leaders Mungurrawuy Yunupingu and Mawalan Marika told Campbell Macknight that the arrangements had been made by older members of their families so that future generations of Yolŋu would know the history of the Macassan visits. Mungurrawuy’s father had actually been to Macassar. The photographs indicate that as of 1967 Yolŋu kept the site clear of woody weeds and the stones free of obstruction.
Campbell Macknight, an archaeologist, and Bill Gray, then of the Social Welfare Branch, Northern Territory Administration, photographed the stone pictures and recorded Mungurrawuy’s and Mawalan’s explanations of their meaning and use in 1967. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies published the photographs and text in 1969. Professor Macknight kindly provided Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation with copies of the original photographs for use in rehabilitating the site and restoring the stone arrangements.
The arrangements can conveniently be viewed in four clusters (I – IV); Cluster I is nearest the beginning of the walking trail. The first part of the walking trail follows a trail that Macknight and Gray say was originally made by buffalo, which by 1967 had already damaged some of the pictures.
The arrangements
Cluster l - a prau
The large picture is a prau. Photographs taken in 1967 showed that it was then excellently preserved and made the present restoration possible – only the line of large stones in the middle clearly remained when restoration was undertaken in 1999. The parts of the prau that Mungurrawuy identfied with terms from the Macassarese were the deck, captain’s quarters, rudder, cabins for the crew, accommodation for the captain, the galley, fireplace, food store, tank, and bowsprit (Mcknight and Gray no.12).
The smaller picture approximately four metres northeast of the large prau was a Macassan house with eight rooms, carefully made with stones of a uniform size (Mcknight and Gray no.15). |
Cluster ll - two praus
The arrangements in this cluster were carefully executed in fairly small stones, and the major features have interior lines as well as an outline. The largest (Mcknight and Gray no.26) is a complex picture of a prau. Mungurrawuy identified the cabins for the crew, the galley and store, mast, and sail, using terms derived from Macassarese. To the left of this large prau and slightly farther west, is a smaller but complex picture of a prau carefully made with stones of two distinct sizes (Mcknight and Gray no.25).
Between the larger and smaller praus is part of an oval, probably part of a canoe (Mcknight and Gray no. 24). On the left-hand side of the trail at this point is the picture of a house used by a leader (or leaders) of the Macassans (Mcknight and Gray no. 23). |
Cluster lll - fireplaces & fish traps
The circular arrangement on the left-hand side of the trail (to the east) represents a fish trap (Mcknight and Gray no.33). It is the only picture in the main part of the site that represents an object of Yolŋu culture. This type of fish trap has been constructed at several locations in northeastern Arnhem Land. Mungurrawuy identified this fish trap as dawurr’yun, originally made by Djuldjul, a man of the Galpu clan who lived in the Wessel Islands. The three identified arrangements on the right-hand side of the trail (west of the trail) are lines of stones representing stone fireplaces with places for iron cauldrons for use in boiling the trepang (Mcknight and Gray nos. 35, 36 and 37).
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Cluster lV - trepanging site
The pictures in this cluster may be seen as a representation of the main features of a Macassan trepanging site, with boats (mainly canoes) and various constructions. From identifications and explanations provided by Mungurrawuy and Mawalan, Macknight and Gray interpret the site in the following way: A prau and a canoe are riding at anchor or drawn up on the shore. Other canoes are out gathering trepang. Behind the beach there are two lines of stone fireplaces with a stack of firewood nearby, while further back is a smokehouse or trepang store and a hut for the man in charge.
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Macknight, C. C. and W. J. Gray, Aboriginal Stone Pictures in Eastern Arnhem Land. Canberra: Australia Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1970.
