Hicks Sticks, Didgeridoo Origins and Entitlements

Introduction: I have attempted to write on the topic of the origins of didgeridoo many times, yet this web page remained blank for years. It is a difficult topic. I can not speak as an "expert" with ultimate knowledge on this subject. One problem is determining fact from fiction. Another is trying to separate origin issues from the issues of cultural entitlements to didgeridoo. I can't discuss one without the other. All I can do is write based on my personal perspective and personal life experience, which is inherently subjective. Beware, this is a bit opinionated and philosophical, and also pokes both at aboriginal culture's diversity (non-agreement) on the subject and at our culture's appropriative nature.

Didgeridoo origins

Didgeridoo is generally perceived to be an instrument of Australian Aboriginal origin. However, didgeridoo apparently was not traditionally used by �Aboriginal culture� as a whole. Australian �Aboriginal culture� was not a single culture, but comprised of an incredibly wide range of different tribal groups with very different customs, practices and cultural diversity. As such, many aspects of Aboriginal life were not pan-Australian phenomenon, but unique to certain tribal groups. Likewise with didge, some Aboriginal people had it and some did not.

This subject of who had it and ancestral entitlements to didgeridoo is a bit of a quagmire, and a point of contention for some. There are a myriad of pretty fantastic claims stated as fact by many sources that are completely unsupported by actual anthropological/archaeological evidence. Things are also complicated by all kinds of claims by different aboriginal people.

Aboriginal culture itself is estimated to be 20,000-40,000 years old (even older by some estimates), and Aboriginal people relate origin stories about didgeridoo related to their ancestral creation stories, so there is a notion that didgeridoo is as old as Aboriginal culture itself. However, there is no factual evidence that didgeridoo was in use until around 1000-2000 years ago. Ancient rock art dating from that time indicates the use of didgeridoo in the Arnhem Land area of The Northern Territories of Australia. It is generally accepted based on hard evidence and the ancestral stories of the people from this region that Arnhem Land is the center of traditional didgeridoo use.

The ancestral stories give certain people specific connections and entitlement to didgeridoo. These entitlements can be tribe and clan specific and intertwined with totemic elements/entitlements in their ancestral/ceremonial/spiritual heritage. In some cases the didgeridoo is part of their very identity, and its use is in some ways governed by aboriginal law.

Though some didgeridoos are somewhat generic within their cultures, some are used by specific clans for specific ceremony. Some ceremonial elements and responsibilities are shared between different clans, some are proprietary. People of one clan have many ancestral/familial lines that connect them to other clans. Thus, often, a didgeridoo player of one clan will play didge in another clan�s ceremony that he is related to. Other aspects of the use of didgeridoo can be so specific they are proprietary in the same way as other entitlements like the use of clan specific art, song, ceremony and sacra. Inappropriate use of another�s song, ceremony etc. is against aboriginal law.

Interestingly, in the Arnhem Land area, clan stories interrelate with other clans and even other tribal/cultural groups with different languages. The ancestral lore which connects people together with their environment and each other also connects them in certain ways across different language and cultural groups through the use of didgeridoo. As an example, this is evident in the Djungarriny story of the Galpu people, which connects Galpu to other specific tribal groups many hunderds of miles away, but excludes those geographically in between.

Also of note is that not all tribal groups from the Arnhem Land and surrounding areas traditionally used didgeridoo, and it was well known between tribal groups of the area who had the ancestral connections with didge and who didn�t. I have talked with numerous aboriginal people in Arnhem Land who have said "Oh we don't have didge, but that other mob does" and vice versa. Again, some had it, some didn't.

Things get uncertain regarding the traditional use of didge tradition outside of the Arnhem Land area. It really is unknown how the use of didgeridoo potentially migrated, bloomed and/or died out in other areas before antropological documentation of aboriginal culture. It is known that after the invasion the use of didgeridoo spread among Aboriginal people outside of areas of traditional use.

When the early anthropologists recorded aboriginal �history� across Australia it was evident that didge was used by aboriginal people in Arnhem Land, the surrounding area west into the Northern most part of Western Australia and East around the Gulf of Carpentaria, and that it spread outward from Arnhem Land. There are potentially other areas where the antropologists did not discover or record the use of didgeridoo.

Since the invasion and western culture starting to document aboriginal history, aboriginal people in other far away areas of Australia have begun to use didgeridoo and even claim ancestral entitlement to didge. This is a point of contention for some of the traditional owners from the Arnhem Land area who consider didge part of their traditional heritage and identity. Though generally willing to share it, they consider it disrespectful when not recognized for their ownership of didgeridoo.

These days, didge is used by a wide range of aboriginal people for a wide range of traditional and new forms of ceremony, for contemporary musical personal self expression having nothing to do with its actual origin and tradition, and simply to make a buck, whether busking or selling didges. Some Aboriginal people don't really know their ancestry in the first place, due to the disruptive effects of the invading culture, stolen generation and being cut off from their homelands, families and traditions. Some of these folks use didge in their own way to reclaim a connection to their Aboriginal heritage. They are in effect creating their own new tradition since their actual tradition is no longer intact nor accesible. Some want to deny any aspect of didge possibly not belonging to all Aboriginal people, they want their entitlment regardless of their actual ancestry. The result is, outside of areas of well defined historical use, Aboriginal opinion is just about as varied as could be imagined.

In terms of the Aboriginal outlook on non-aboriginal use of didge, likewise, opinions are varied. Some encourage others to learn to play the aboriginal way and even participate in ceremony. Some say only to play your own style, not aboriginal style. Some accept the use of didge by women, some don't. Others condemn the use of didgeridoo altogether by non-Aboriginal people.

Regardless, the use of didgeridoo has spread globally for every purpose imaginable. For the most part from what I have seen, non-aboriginal use of didgeridoo has little to no connection to its actual origin except that the didgeridoo itself is simply a hollow log or tube which makes a droning sound that can be used for many purposes musical, meditative, healing, ceremonial etc..

It is an interesting and common phenomenon that non-Aboriginal people with no actual connection to the traditional aboriginal owners of didgeridoo often want to claim some kind of heartfelt connection through didge to Aboriginal culture. This can be real at certain levels and a wonderful thing, but most often is rooted in fantasy, not reality. I have experienced this on a certain level myself. It was the didgeridoo that led me to this relationship with Yolngu in the first place, and it turns out it does provide a deep connection with them, but not as first expected. Spending time with Yolngu initially was mind blowing and disorienting and the experience really dismantled my pre-conceptions. What didgeridoo is to them turned out to be very different than expected, and nothing like what "western" didge communities and enthusiasts, and my own mind led me to believe.

As such, I believe that the only way to become connected in a significant way to didgeridoo's real aboriginal origins is to be with the traditional owners, not just for a song and dance and cursory look, but to develop long term personal relationships in order to learn enough to understand how important and intrinsic didgeridoo is in their existence, and how pretentious and appropriative the western approach to other cultures can be. What I found is that their connection is theirs, ours is ours in our own way. There can be overlap and deep sharing, but there is also goodness in respecting boundaries and embracing differences and diversity.

In short, in terms of origins, if you don't have it in your own ancestry, you don't own it, so respect those that do, and enjoy it in your own way with your own meaning.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

For more background information please refer to the links page.