XXVI Congreso Internacional de Americanistas

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canoe is known to have supplanted lhe sew n bark canoe along the coast oi
North Australia mostly in the last hundred years and during this time
it has also diffusec\ over 600 miles westlvard into the area vvhere rafts
previol1 sly prevailed to reach the Prillce Regent River in 1917. Since
then it has continl1ed to move southwestward and at the present time
seems to be in va(\ ing the K ing SOl1nd region.
In the Cape York
Peninsula ol1trigger canoes also are kno\\'n to have been moving con;,-­
tanty soutlllvard along the easte rn coast to replace sewn bar\.;
canoes and, although \Ve clo not ha ve clateel reeorels to show a similar
southward movement of sewn bar\.;: canoes, such an inference is Sl1 g­
gesteel on elistribl1tional gl·ounds. To the south we find the more simple
ti ed-bark canoes along thé coast ot ~ew South Wa:es, ancl beyond them,
in Victoria, eastern South A ustrali,l, the Murray Valley and DarJing
Basin, the most simple plain bark canee, l11élU e fr0111 él curveu piece oi
bark. Furthermore, to carry the progression une step furtber rafts
appear on the Lowe r I\"lurray River, lhe westem outpost of the simple
bark canoes, anu r ~lfts wers also lypical oi Tasmania, also peripherally
locatec\ in respect to the simple bark canoe. Although une Tasmanian
craft, that consisting aL three bunc\les oE reeds lashed together, is uSl1ally
spoken of as a canoe, it is such in shape only ,lne! shoulcl be co nsiclered
as special type of cra ft. It :\\'as neither a dry era ft nor one that"',l'
suitec\ to more than short journeys on the rivers ancl bays..
Takillg' al! kno\Vn factors into consicleration, il ",ou'cl seem like:y that
there has been a continuous 11l0vement of wale,craft clown the eastern
coast of Australia, each type of craft being slightly more complex than
its predecessor, each being eagerl)' aclop['ec\ by the aborigines of each
loca: region. The distributions a re cOllsistent ancl the known directions
oE c\iífusion of several types of craft otTer the logical conc1usion that
Australian \vatercraft have been becuming gradually more and more
complex cluring the pasl several hllnc\rec\ years, and that the AlIstralians
are not only willing but anxious to acquire more ac\vancecl types.
Conversel)'
it would seem that a few hund red years ago these various types
o f craf t \-ve re e i ther 1l0t prese n t, or restrictecl to much more locaJizec\
c\islributio!1s than those kno",n in historic times. Althollgh we can give
no date for the original appearance of the sewn ba rk canoe there are
reasons for believing that it may have cleve!oped in the Cape York
Peninsula from a cruder bark canoe as the indirect result of the introcluction
o f Melanesian maritime activities.
S ince it is gene rally supposed
that the Melanesians have occupiec\ the sOlllh eastern coast of Hew Guinea
in relatively recent times, the iniluences which possibl)' contributed
to the clevelopment of the sewn bark canoe may have come not earlier
than several hunc\red years ago.
In aclcli tion it should be pointecl out that the sewn bark canoes o f
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