One of the very earliest works on Australia, that of Collins, describes parts of the ceremonies practised by the natives of Port Jackson. Since that time travellers, missionaries, and residents in the Australian bush have become aware of and reported the existence of certain ceremonies—the “making of young men” as the practice has come to be called. Fragmentary accounts are to be found in works describing Australia and its inhabitants, but so far as I am aware no one has attempted to give any authentic, detailed description of the ceremonies themselves, from the observation of an eye-witness accustomed to scientific methods of investigation, until I published an account of the Kuringal and Jeraeil ceremonies in 1884.

It is perhaps worth recording here that I discovered the bull-roarer in the Kurnai tribe, and was, I think, the first to draw attention to the important part it plays in the ceremonies of Australian tribes. I had been for some time obtaining particulars from my friends among the Kurnai as to their ceremonies at which boys were made into men. I had been able to piece together a good deal, which I now know related to the part of the ceremonies in which women take part, and which might lawfully be told to any one. I once happened to meet Turlburn, whom I have before mentioned, on the plains between Sale and Rosedale, and stopped to have a talk.