Tiwi Pukumani on Bathurst Island, footage (1912) – W. Baldwin Spencer (?)

8:46 mins., b&w, silent

Source : This footage has been put up on YouTube by the Tiwi Land Council and is viewable here

This is remarkably early footage of a Tiwi pukumani, a funeral event conventionally held two to six months after a person’s burial during which a number of poles, as seen in the film, are erected in commemoration of the deceased.

Although this footage is not attributed on the YouTube site, there can be little doubt that it was taken by W. Baldwin Spencer since he was travelling in this region of Australia with his camera at this time, and because the wooded setting is very similar that of certain photographs that he took around this time, possibly on the same occasion.

© 2018 Paul Henley