part0042

S parky had many useful talents. A gangly 20-year-old with a mop of tousled brown hair and horn-rimmed glasses, he was skilled in Morse code, shorthand and typing as well as in handling all types of radios and electronic instruments. For the first week after their arrival in Darwin, busily completing written reports for head office, Jamie and Jacko were greatly assisted by Sparky’s proficiency in dictation and handling the ancient typewriter that adorned the Hotel Darwin office of the CIS.

They contacted Johnny Cook at MI6 in London and Major Harold Hardcastle, the police chief in Cairo, to inform them of the capture of Matt MacAulay and the German agent. During the same week, they gave detailed statements concerning the prisoners to the local police, who also interviewed Cassie Cox and Nancy Martin after their arrival in Darwin the same week.

They met up with Dan Morrow, the ginger-haired OSS operative, a couple more times, and true to his word, he shouted them all another dinner, being careful to avoid the Knickerbocker and not to insult any locals with a tip. He told them he would follow the case against Karl Haas carefully and if the German was lucky enough to be given a light sentence, Dan would have him extradited to the United States. They all agreed that the most likely sentence, however, would be hanging for murder.

During the second week, they began making plans for the trip down to Tennant Creek. Jacko said it was important to get there within the next six days, as there would be a full moon and that was when the corroboree would take place.

“It’s even better if we can get there a couple of days early so you can meet some of the tribal elders and my big mobs of cousins in advance,” said Jacko to Jamie.

“Aye you! Them plenty savvy goodpella,” said Sarah. “Big mobs.”

So it was that with the jeep loaded up with their swags and gear, more of Monique’s letters in Jacko’s bag and of course, full waterbags hanging from the bullbar, they set off three days later at piccaninny light on the long journey to Tennant Creek. Jamie was driving the first leg from Darwin to Katherine with Jacko in the passenger seat, and Sarah was in the back seat surrounded by their gear.

Reaching Katherine by 10 am, they bought sandwiches from Fred Knott to eat on the way and topped up the petrol tank. Fred was in the mood for a good yarn; however, they managed to break away at 10.30 and continued down the Bitumen with Jacko driving.

At 2 pm, they arrived at the turnoff to Daly Waters and were greeted enthusiastically by Bill Pearce at the pub.

“Did you get those scoundrels into Fanny Bay safely?” he asked.

“No problem at all,” answered Jamie. “I don’t think you’ll ever see them around here again.”

“Bloody good show!” said Bill. “I hope they hang ’em. What can I get you folks?”

“I think we’ll each have a lemon squash, and I’ll top the jeep up with petrol,” said Jamie. “We’re off down the Bitumen to the Tennant.”

“I’ll get Caroline to fix the drinks for you and if you drive your jeep around to the pump I’ll top you up with fuel,” said Bill. “What’s happening down in Tennant Creek?”

“We’ve been invited to a real Warramunga corroboree,” said Jamie.

“Good for you! I’ve heard the Warramunga corroboree is famous for its fiery display. The other Territory tribes reckon Halley’s Comet originated in Tennant Creek,” said Bill. “Isn’t that right, Jacko?”

“That’s what they say,” agreed Jacko. “The fire display that accompanies the corroboree can certainly create a glow that can be seen for miles around.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see this,” said Jamie.

“You likem big mobs,” said Sarah with a smile.

After refuelling the jeep, they finished their drinks and amid goodbyes and good wishes, they headed off down the Bitumen again with Jamie now driving. An hour and a half later, they crossed the causeway at Newcastle Waters and shortly after passed through the small town of Elliott.

“About three hours to go, Cap,” said Jacko. “Should get there about 7 o’clock this evening. We can have something to eat in town and swag out somewhere out of town. Tennant’s not the biggest town in the world so there’s plenty of space.”

“Sounds good,” said Jamie, “I’ll drive for another hour and then you can take over, Jacko.”

“No worries, Cap,” said Jacko, “I’ll take over at Renner Springs. You’ll be able to see it from a distance by the number of birds flying around the springs.”

By the time they reached Renner Springs, they were well into the plains of the western Barkly Tablelands. Its scattered trees and grasses typical of the vast cattle country extended east all the way to the Queensland border.

Jacko took over the driving and after another hour, they passed a large rock formation known as Churchill’s head as it vaguely resembled the English wartime PM. After a while the countryside changed to red semi-desert with spinifex, ant hills and scattered mulga and mallee trees. A little over two hours after leaving Renner Springs, with Sarah becoming excited in the back of the jeep, they passed the turnoff to Queensland and reached the township of Tennant Creek. As they slowly motored through the centre of town, Jacko pointed to some people walking around in the late afternoon sun.

“You see those fellas waving their arms around, Cap?” he said. “That’s known as the ‘Tennant Creek salute’. You’ll soon find out the flies around here are thick and friendly. It’s better when the sun goes down.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a few new friends already,” said Jamie, brushing some flies away. “Where should we go first?”

“We’ll go to the police station,” said Jacko. “One of our cousins is sure to be there and we can find out what’s going on.”

With the sun setting in the west, they all walked into the Tennant Creek police station through a swarm of flies and spoke to the police constable behind the front desk. He directed them to another room where an Aboriginal police officer jumped to his feet and gave Sarah a hug and then warmly greeted Jacko and Jamie.

“This is my uncle Sammy,” Jacko said to Jamie. Then he explained to Sammy that Jamie and he had been colleagues during the war, and that with Sarah’s help, they had run the criminals to ground.

“That very good. Orready heard from Lucy,” said Sammy. “Corroboree in two days at Debil Marbles. You invited. Your cousin, Long Lionel, go ahead.”

“Karlu karlu, gutpela place fo corroboree,” said Sarah.

“Is that far from here?” asked Jamie.

“About an hour’s drive,” said Jacko.

“You swag somewhere round here tonight,” said Sammy, “I come with you tomorrow. We leave sometime about ten.”

“No worries, Sammy,” said Jacko. “See you in the morning.”

As night fell, Jamie noted that the flies considerably thinned out. Jacko told him that he and Sarah were going to see his mother and Sarah would stay with her. He would meet Jamie at the Goldfields Hotel in an hour. In the morning, they would meet Sarah at the police station when they picked up Sammy. After topping up the jeep with petrol at the local garage, Jamie went to the Goldfields Hotel and had a cold beer and a meal with Jacko. Then they drove a few miles out of town to swag down for the night under some trees.

The following morning, the hot sun beat down early from a cloudless sky. A slight breeze whipped up bulldust, creating a red haze around them as they drove south towards the Devil’s Marbles near where the corroboree would be held. In a little over an hour, the large, round, pink granite boulders came into view looking exactly as if some monstrous giant had dropped a large set of marbles on the ground on both sides of the road. They turned left off the Bitumen onto a bush track and after a few hundred yards, stopped where a large group of Aboriginal men and women were piling up an enormous wall of spinifex and mallee about 100 yards long and 10 feet or more high.

They alighted from the vehicle as several elderly men walked over to meet them, and Jacko told Jamie they were some of the Warramunga elders. They greeted Jacko enthusiastically and paid particular attention to Sarah, whose wide smile reflected the praise they were giving her. Jacko told Jamie that the stories about the capture of the kidnappers of Suzie and Lucy had been well and truly told and embellished and would be included as part of the corroboree. Sarah took Jamie by the hand and led him over to the elders so that he could shake their hands in turn. He noted they had an almost masonic method of shaking hands, tucking one finger inside the handshake so that it touched their own palm. One of the elders spoke to Jacko who nodded and then told Jamie that this elder wanted to know if Jamie was a good shot with a rifle.

“He wants to challenge you to a shooting competition,” said Jacko with a twinkle in his eye. “He reckons he can hit a target straighter with his spear than you can with a rifle. You should accept the challenge.”

Jamie agreed and getting the .303 Lee-Enfield from the jeep, he brought it over and showed it to the elder who in turn showed him his spear.

“The heads of the Warramunga spears are heavy sharp quartzite, unlike the lancewood spears of other tribes,” said Jacko. “They can throw them a long way quite accurately.”

“Okay, I’m ready,” said Jamie, loading the .303. “What do we shoot at?”

The elder picked up a large piece of bark and laid it on the ground about 10 yards from a huge round boulder. Beckoning a puzzled Jamie to follow him, he walked around the other side of the boulder and with a whip action, threw the spear over the boulder. When they went back to inspect the target, the spear was embedded in the bark close to the centre. The elder indicated that Jamie should try, to which he laughed, unloaded the rifle and conceded defeat, much to the amusement of the blacks watching.

“I didn’t tell you before but that’s actually my grandfather,” said Jacko, joining the laughter. “It’s his favourite trick. I haven’t seen him do it for years but he’s still good at it.”

“That’s fantastic!” said Jamie. “I think I know where you inherited your sense of direction for those blind rifle shots of yours. Can you throw a spear like that?”

“I’ll give it a try,” said Jacko, taking off his shirt and hat and extracting the spear from the bark. Copying his grandfather, he threw the spear over the boulder and managed to hit the bark slightly off-centre, to much applause from the onlookers. He then suggested Jamie try. Jamie immediately took off his shirt, which caused some comment from the onlookers and before he could get the spear, they gathered around to look at his skin.

“They’re fascinated by your war wounds, Cap,” said Jacko with a chuckle. “Some of them were wondering whether they were initiation scars from your tribe.”

At Jamie’s insistence, Jacko explained that they were war wounds and they seemed impressed by that.

Jamie tried three times to throw the spear over the boulder but the closest he came to the bark target was about six feet from the edge. After Jacko handed out a large bag of tobacco, cartons of cigarettes and packets of tea, everyone sat down under a stand of trees. They boiled water in an old four-gallon drum with a wire handle and spent the next couple of hours drinking tea and smoking. Except for the constant irritation of the flies, Jamie felt he was at peace with the world and amongst friends.

As the sun set the next evening, the huge granite balls changed from pink to glowing shades of red. Jamie and Jacko sat on a rock ledge with a good view of the flat area in front of the spinifex wall where the corroboree was about to take place.

With the light of the full moon in the eastern sky mingling with the last vestiges of the sunset, they could see some of the participants getting ready painting themselves with red and yellow ochre and tying tree branches and large feathers to their knees and heads. Jacko was explaining the meanings behind the corroboree to Jamie.

“The Warramunga corroboree has nothing to do with fighting or inter-tribal war as with some other tribes,” he said. “This corroboree is a celebration by song and dance and you’ll soon see why the Warramunga are known as the song people. The corroboree honours Wollunqua, a giant mythical water-snake who came out from deep down in the earth and lives in the darkness of the skies. Wollunqua laid the eggs which became Yappakoolinya or the Devil’s Marbles and he is the father of all snakes and master of all men. The corroboree also honours the living things that help the tribe survive, so you’ll see dancers and singers dressed as emus, kangaroos, goannas and birds.”

As he finished speaking, the sound of bones and sticks setting up a beat was joined by the pulsing drone of didgeridoos. To the side, some women were clicking pebbles together with a sound like tinkling castanets and into this throbbing cadence many different voices sang out from the dark in a type of rhythmical oratorio which had Jamie spellbound. He noticed several tall figures moving around in the dark and the next moment, a flame was lit and the spinifex wall started burning with bright flames and throwing sparks into the air like huge roman candles in a fireworks display.

In the bright light, Jamie could see that several of the men wore extremely tall top hats depicting themselves as emus, kangaroos or other animals. Others wore helmets with cockatoo and other birds’ feathers, all swaying to the tantalising rhythm of the percussion and song. Amazing colours glistened in the light reflected from the moving bodies as the magnificent pyrotechnical display in the background continued.

“The songs are telling stories of things that happened long ago and what will happen in the future,” said Jacko. “The future is generally optimistic. In a short while they will also want to involve you.”

“Involve me! Why would they do that?” asked Jamie, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry, Cap. It’s an honour and it won’t hurt much,” said Jacko. “When they come for you, just go. You’ll be happy.”

For the next half hour, the rhythms and song went through subtle changes and the wall of flame showed little sign of dying. When the flames did eventually start to die down, flames leapt up behind the original wall of fire from another wall behind it with the same spectacular intensity as the first fire display.

“These fellas certainly know how to put on a show,” said Jamie in admiration.

“It hasn’t finished yet,” said Jacko. “They can sing all night, these fellas.”

“Not even Madame Badia could put on a show like this. This would be a hit at the Palladium in London,” said Jamie. “Of course they’d probably burn the theatre down.”

“Yeah, I reckon,” agreed Jacko with a chuckle.

After a short while, three of the performers with tall top hats in the form of emu necks and heads walked over to Jamie and one touched him on the shoulder.

“These are all elders,” said Jacko. “They want you to go with them. Don’t worry, I’ll come with you to tell you what’s going on.”

Jamie was led over to a small boulder beside the flat ground where the dancing and singing were taking place. They gestured to him to sit down. He was immediately surrounded by the swaying, singing crowd.

“They want to initiate you as a true friend of the Warramunga,” said Jamie. “It might hurt a little but not much. It’s rare but a true honour by them.”

“Okay, tell them to go ahead,” said Jamie warily.

“First you must take off your shirt,” said Jacko. “Best not to make any noise.”

After taking off his shirt, one of the elders showed him a sliver of quartzite fractured with razor sharp edges. In a fast movement, he inflicted two small cuts on Jamie’s chest about two inches above each nipple and then quickly rubbed some white ash into the wounds. To Jamie it felt like the stings of mosquitoes and he deliberately kept his face expressionless, which seemed to greatly please the swaying figures around him as they increased the energy of their dance routine.

“You are now accepted as a brother of the Warramunga,” said Jacko. “Your totem is the emu, which is good as it means you’ll always be able to run fast with a long stride. Those scratches on your chest will always be there because of the ash but don’t scratch them, at least not for a day or two. Any Warramunga will always recognise those marks on your chest in the future.”

“So that’s it? It wasn’t so bad, not as bad as shrapnel,” said Jamie. “What do I do now?”

“I suggest you get up and dance around like the others. That’ll please them,” said Jacko. “You can even wrap your shirt around your head, if you like, but they know you don’t know the singing words, so don’t attempt to sing.”

“I always knew I was going to be a great dancer one day,” said Jamie, getting into the rhythm.

Just then, to add to the theatre of the moment, there was a re-enactment of the capture of the kidnappers as six men with faces whitened with ash pulled three girls, one with a whitened face, into the centre and pretended to hit them. Jacko whispered to Jamie to follow him and they both pointed at the white-faced men, which was a sign for Sammy and the tall Long Lionel dressed in their police uniforms to attack the kidnap actors until two of them lay prone on the ground and the rest kneeled cowering before Jamie, Jacko and the police. The three girls performed a dance of joy.

The actors then all ran out into the dark and the dancing and singing resumed with the background of fire beginning to lessen.

“This has been amazing and very imaginative,” said Jamie. “How long will it go on for?”

“It’ll all be over in about an hour, when the fire dies,” said Jacko.

The following morning, Jamie awoke with the rising sun and the beginning of the assault by the spinifex flies. Jacko already had a billy boiling and asked Jamie if he’d like a cup of tea.

“Bloody oath. That’d be good,” said Jamie, looking around. “Where is everyone?”

“Sarah, Sammy and Long Lionel are close by and we’ll be giving them a lift back to Tennant Creek,” said Jacko. “All the rest have gone walkabout, Cap.”

The drive back to Tennant Creek was uneventful and when they dropped Sarah and the two policemen outside the police station, Sarah gave Jacko a hug, trying not to cry. Then, standing on her tiptoes, she kissed Jamie on the cheek.

“You bigfella Warramunga now,” she said with a big smile. “You now brother belonga me. Lookoutim Jacko plis. Me likem you big mobs.”

“I like you too, Sarah,” said Jamie. “You are my favourite sister.”

She squealed with delight and waved enthusiastically as the jeep set off. On the long drive back to Darwin, Jamie observed that it wouldn’t be long before the wet season. Getting no reaction, he glanced over at Jacko whose eyes were dreamy and he had a perpetual smile on his face.