Australian
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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows two Alyawarr men from north-east of Alice Springs, 'Crook Hat’ Thompson Kemarre and Reggie 'Camphoo’ Pwerl, making spears in the traditional way. They discuss the spearmaking process as they walk through bush in search of suitable acacia trees to use and then cut trees with an axe and prepare the wood. An adze and a stone knife are used to cut out bumps and smooth the wood. The men speak in the Alyawarr language and their conversation is subtitled in English.

Educational value points

• In 2005, as seen in the clip, spearmaking knowledge among Alyawarr people encompassed all aspects of the traditional process, including identification of a suitable tree and heating the thin trunk, bending it, removing the bark and smoothing out bumps. The tree selected in the clip is most likely a mulga, an acacia tree well-suited to spearmaking because its trunk is long and straight and its wood is relatively heavy.

• The two men use stone and metal tools to make the spears and point out the efficacy of the stone tools used by earlier generations. In the clip the men use a metal axe to cut down the tree and a metal adze blade bound to a wooden handle to remove bumps. Stone knives, seen here being used for smoothing, are generally sharper and maintain their edges longer than metal knives; their major drawback is that they break more easily.

• Traditionally, knowledge is handed down through generations by older people providing explanations and examples to younger people; while this documentary relies on film to transmit knowledge of spearmaking, it still follows the traditional teaching model of older people demonstrating and explaining. In many Indigenous communities, senior men and women provide leadership in matters affecting the whole community, including education of the young.

• The repetition of phrases such as 'the same way the old people made them’ and the switch to black and white are used in the clip to emphasise the long tradition of spearmaking. The men use repetition to convey the message that their techniques are the same as those of their grandfathers’ generation. The filmmakers reinforce the men’s message by using black and white to suggest archival footage.

• The language spoken in the clip is Alyawarr, which is used by people in a large region stretching across the south-east of the Northern Territory and into western Queensland. The National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS) Report 2005 found that Alyawarr is one of 18 Indigenous languages in common use by all age groups.

• The clip is taken from Crook Hat and Camphoo (2005), a documentary produced by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) in Alice Springs. CAAMA was established in 1980 and focuses on Indigenous culture, training and employment. The group consists of a radio network (8 KIN FM), CAAMA shop, CAAMA music and CAAMA productions, and is a major shareholder in Imparja TV. CAAMA broadcasts in all the major local Indigenous languages.

This clip shows two Alyawarr men, from north-east of Alice Springs, 'Crook Hat’ Thompson Kemarre and Reggie 'Camphoo’ Pwerl, making spears in the traditional way. They discuss the spearmaking process as they walk through bush in search of suitable acacia trees to use and then cut trees with an axe and prepare the wood. An adze and a stone knife are used to cut out bumps and smooth the wood. The men speak in the Alyawarr language and their conversation is subtitled in English.
Crook Hat We are really Alyawarr, that’s our language.

(Both men look up at a tree).

Crook Hat This is a really great tree for making spears. I’ll cut this one for myself. What about one for you?

Camphoo Try that one.

Crook Hat The old people used to cut down these kind of (Acacia) trees. We’ll cut this one down and make spears.

The men have built a fire and are straightening spears in it.
Crook Hat Put it there for me. So I can straighten the spear. I want to straighten it.

Scene cuts to archival footage showing the men’s grandfathers’ generation making spears in a fire. The two men talk over the footage.
Crook Hat The old people straightened the spears (in the fire) like this. Our grandfathers’ generation. I am going to make these the same way the old people made them. This is how they used to peel the bark off.

Scene changes back to the present time, with the two men continuing to forge and compare their spears.
Crook Hat This is an adze. They used this to cut out the lumps.

Camphoo What is this like?

Crook Hat Let’s get the adze.

The men sit down and smooth off the wood with knives.
Crook Hat The old people smoothes off the wood with stone knives, like this. They scraped the wood and made it smooth. Who was that man we saw, a long time ago? It was someone from here that we saw. It was one of my relatives.