grass screen called boomermart
Eleanor Crosby
Dear All,
I found this description of a kind of screen called a
boomermart. Can't find any further information. Any assistance
is very welcome. (any other name? any group affiliation? )
The idea seems to be in line with such strategies as bunches of
greenery disguising a canoe carrying a duck hunter, being one way
of getting up close.
Scrub
or
brush-turkeys (wagun, Alectura lathami) were hunted. ‘The boomermart is a device
they frequently use
to catch birds. It is a sort of screen made of grasses and
branches, which the
natives hold in one hand, and walking behind it, he cautiously
approaches his
prey, and then with a loop of grass held in his other hand
manages to steal a
quiet march on the unsuspecting bird, and thus entrap it in
the meshes of the
grass-loop or net. The
wild turkey is
most easily caught by this means, as its natural curiosity
lends it to
investigate every brush or stick or the appearance of one, on
all occasions
when danger does not appear imminent’ (Morrison 1888: 32).
Morrison WF (1888) The Aldine Centennial History of New South Wales, Aldine Publishing Company, Sydney.
Thanks
Eleanor
PS. Haven't yet tried
scrambled scrub turkey eggs. Pascoe relates that eggs can be
nestled in ashes, the tops knocked off and the contents
stirred with a stick until cooked. (Pasco, Dark emu, p 46)