Sahul’s Mystery Cults: Bullroarers, the Dreaming, and the Tambaran

TL;DR

• Across Australia, the bullroarer marks male initiation and speaks with an Ancestor’s voice—famously Daramulun in the southeast—inside a Dreaming ontology that fuses law, land, and ritual Howitt 1904; Stanner 2014.
• In PNG (esp. Sepik & Gulf), men’s cults use sacred flutes, bullroarers, and slit-gongs as spirit-voices; secrecy, novice deception, and staged revelation are core features Aufenanger 1970; Telban 2014; Kirsch 1991.
• J. van Baal explicitly argued an Australia–southern New Guinea historical linkage centered on the bullroarer and allied institutions (totemism, section systems)—a “common phallic” complex, not mere coincidence van Baal 1963; van der Leeden 1975.
• Mechanism: late-Pleistocene/early-Holocene Sahul connectivity and ongoing Torres Strait contacts plausibly scaffolded shared ritual grammars Sloss et al. 2018; Rowe 2007; David 2004.
• PNG traditions retaining “women once owned the flutes” myths align structurally with Australian themes of gendered secrecy and sonic sacra, even when the narrative specifics diverge Herdt 1994; Aufenanger 1970.

“The roaring of the mudthi represents the muttering of thunder, and the thunder is the voice of Daramulun.”
— A. W. Howitt, Native Tribes of South‑East Australia (1904)

From Dreaming Law to Sonic Sacra: the Australian Side#

In Australia, the bullroarer is not a prop; it’s a juridical instrument in sound. During bora/kuringal complexes it calls, forbids, and reveals—its whirring “voice” indexed to Ancestral authority (e.g., Daramulun among Yuin/Kamilaroi), with strict taboos on women and children seeing the device Howitt 1904. This fits the wider ontology Stanner called the Dreaming: a regime where ancestral action anchors country, kinship, and correct procedure—“everywhen,” not just “once upon a time” Stanner 2014.

Classic monographs (Spencer & Gillen; Howitt) document the bullroarer’s role in initiation, message-carrying, weather/“voice of thunder,” and in the disclosure of men’s knowledge to novices under penalty of death for breach—features that matter below when we look north across Torres Strait Howitt 1904.

PNG’s Tambaran/Flute Complex in Brief#

Across the Sepik and into other PNG regions, men’s houses (haus tambaran) organize secret cult life; sacred flutes, slit-gongs, and bullroarers give audible presence to ancestor/forest beings. Women and uninitiates must hide when the instruments sound; novices are initially misled about the source of the “spirit” before revelation within graded initiation Aufenanger 1970; Telban 2014. Ethnographers repeatedly note the voice-function of instruments in Sepik ritual music and their tight linkage to ancestral imagery and authority “Middle Sepik music…” 2018. For nearby Yonggom (PNG–Irian Jaya borderlands), initiation uses flutes, bullroarers, and drum voices to manage fear, secrecy, and staged disclosure Kirsch 1991, ch. 11.

Many PNG traditions also preserve myths that women once owned the flutes, later appropriated by men—a durable motif across the region’s male cults Herdt 1994.

A Comparative Snapshot#

Who Actually Argued for a Historical Link?#

Short answer: J. van Baal did, plainly. In a 1963 comparative paper, van Baal read the bullroarer complex in Australia and southern New Guinea as one phallic-centered institution and pointed beyond the instrument to broader structural affinities—totemism in Marind‑anim and Orokolo vis‑à‑vis Australian systems, and parallels between Australian section systems and southern PNG clan organization. He treats this as cultural-historical, not random convergence van Baal 1963.

A. C. van der Leeden reinforced the case a decade later, explicitly framing “significant similarities” between southeastern Arnhem Land (Nunggubuyu) and southern New Guinea (Marind‑anim), citing van Baal’s bullroarer study as emblematic of a necessary Australia–PNG comparison van der Leeden 1975 (see also the Brill reprint synopsis) van der Leeden 1975 (Brill PDF).

If you want PNG‑specific corroboration that the bullroarer itself belongs inside New Guinea men’s cults (not only the flutes), consult Francis Edgar Williams’ focused note on Papuan Gulf bullroarers and later descriptions of Sepik practice; both are explicit about the instrument’s presence and taboo regime Williams 1936; Aufenanger 1970.

Why Sahul Matters (and how the bridge didn’t vanish all at once)#

Australia and New Guinea formed the single late-Pleistocene landmass Sahul. Post‑glacial sea rise breached the Arafura Sill by ~11,700 cal BP; sea level reached ~present by ~7,700 cal BP, finishing the maritime barrier that is today’s Torres Strait Sloss et al. 2018. Palaeoecological work in Torres Strait likewise situates island formation and vegetation change in the 8,000–7,000 BP window, consistent with progressive fragmentation rather than an overnight severance Rowe 2007. Archaeology then shows continued occupation and interaction across the emerging archipelago (e.g., Badu), giving plenty of runway for ritual grammars to travel, diffuse, and stabilize on both shores David 2004.

Taken together: a credible corridor (Sahul → Torres Strait) plus homologous ritual structures and instruments → a historical hypothesis with explanatory bite. Not gospel, but more than vibes.

FAQ#

Q1. Is the bullroarer actually documented in PNG men’s cults, or is that just an analogy from Australia? A. Documented. Sepik and Papuan Gulf sources mention bullroarers alongside sacred flutes; women must hide when they sound Aufenanger 1970; Williams 1936.

Q2. Who argued the Australia–PNG link most clearly? A. J. van Baal (1963) on the bullroarer complex and broader institutional parallels; followed by A. C. van der Leeden (1975) comparing Arnhem Land and Marind-anim van Baal 1963; van der Leeden 1975.

Q3. What about the “women once owned the flutes” motif? Does Australia share it? A. It’s pervasive in PNG’s male cult mythology and ritual politics Herdt 1994. Australia broadly shares gendered secrecy and sonic sacra; specific “women-owned flutes” narratives are far stronger (and ethnographically central) in PNG.

Q4. Is “Dreaming” a useful lens for the PNG side? A. Use with care. PNG Tambaran ontologies are their own thing; the comparison works at the level of structure (ancestral law via sound, secrecy, graded initiation), not by forcing identical cosmologies Stanner 2014; Telban 2014.

Footnotes#

Sources#

• Aufenanger, Heinrich. “Myths and Beliefs from Prehistoric Times at the Lower Sepik River, New Guinea.” Asian Folklore Studies 29 (1970): 1–19.
• David, Bruno. “Badu 15 and the Papuan–Austronesian settlement of Torres Strait.” Antiquity 78 (2004): 1–14.
• Herdt, Gilbert. Guardians of the Flutes, Vol. 1: Idioms of Masculinity. University of Chicago Press, 1994.
• Howitt, A. W. The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, ch. 9 (“The Bora”). London: Macmillan, 1904.
• Kirsch, Stuart. The Yonggom of New Guinea. University of Michigan Press, 1991 (PDF).
• Rowe, C. “A palynological investigation of Holocene vegetation change in Torres Strait.” Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 251 (2007): 83–103.
• Sloss, C. R., et al. “Holocene sea-level change and coastal landscape evolution in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria.” The Holocene 28 (2018): 1411–1426.
• Stanner, W. E. H. On Aboriginal Religion (facsimile ed.). Sydney University Press, 2014.
• Telban, Borut. “The Poetics of the Flute: Fading Imagery in a Sepik Society.” Folklore 125 (2014): 145–167.
• van Baal, J. “The Cult of the Bull-Roarer in Australia and Southern New Guinea.” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 119 (1963): 201–214.
• van der Leeden, A. C. “Nunggubuyu Aboriginals and Marind-Anim: Preliminary Comparisons between Southeastern Arnhem Land and Southern New Guinea.” In Exploration in the Anthropology of Religion, 1975.
• “Middle Sepik music and musical instruments in context.” Journal de la Société des Océanistes (2018).
• Williams, F. E. “Bull-roarers in the Papuan Gulf.” Oceania 6 (1936): 331–333. (Stable item listed via JSTOR record.)