ABSTRACT
Since this book is mainly about violence it is as well to emphasize that the Momington Islanders were engaged in other activities such as hunting, working, dancing, singing, cooking, visiting one another, and getting on with the mundane aspects of life. Nevertheless, during my initial fieldwork, in 1966, fighting seemed to be the main social activity. There were fights practically every day and on some days there were several. The children screamed Bayal Bay a! as they eagerly ran to enjoy the spectacle. It seemed strange to me that there was so much fighting because the people were kind and compassionate with a rich sense of humour. They were not walking about with grim threatening looks ever ready to take offence. The physical surroundings were pleasing with sandy beaches nearby. It was a good hunting and fishing environment and usually it was not difficult for people to obtain the type of food that they relished. Men frequently caught sea turtle and dugong and people (including myself) would go down to the beach to collect their share. I never witnessed any arguments about distribution. True, people could have been better housed but they lived outside for the most part (except during the rainy season) and they liked to camp and sleep under a lean-to or behind a windbreak close to a fire. The missionaries were not oppressively authoritarian. Indeed the liberal attitude of Rev. Belcher had induced many mainlanders to move to Momington. Almost everybody spoke highly of him and they were concerned about what would happen if he and the other missionaries left. Despite all this, violence would suddenly occur and the very people who seemed kind and compassionate became dangerously aggressive and struck one another so harshly that they frequently had to receive treatment at the Mission hospital and sometimes the flying doctor had to take them to the Mount Isa hospital.
