I was lucky/fortunate enough to spend a few days while in Oz with Australia's leading Bushcraft and Survival expert Bob Cooper
, Bob trains the Public and special forces with the skills needed to survive in the arid conditions of the out back, and has also developed the F18 fighter pilots and Special forces survival kits.
Being in this type of terrain is a daunting experience,
Hot, Dry, baron and harsh and living amongst the native flora is a plethora of potentially deadly snakes spiders(red back shown below),
scorpions, and in the billabongs catfish, not to mention crocks and in the waters of the coastline sharks and jellyfish, BUT saying this a fascinating place to learn bushcraft and survival. I traveled just outside of Perth where Bob runs a Marsupial Reserve which amongst other things houses Kangaroos
, Possums and Bandicoots and in just a couple of days its surprising how much more at home you can feel in 40deg heat and some days fairly high humidity. One thing I was shown which I thought you may like to see was the Abo hand drill which the Arabana people call a makka-tira, the upright piece is called the wapuppa kupa the child stick, and the lower one which they believe contains the fire is called the wapuppa aluka the mother stick, or some times its known as makka aluka the fire mother. They use the fire stick as little as they can as it burns valuable calories and the women carry lighted fire sticks from camp to camp. They use the makka-tira hand drill set by holding the upright between their palms and spinning the spindle by rubbing in a downward motion applying pressure into the hearth stick which is firmly held by their feet, this is some times performed by two men as they don't believe in making life difficult for themselves and their bushcraft is a complete group effort. The material widely used for this procedure is the Balga
or grass tree a tough hardy plant with a multitude of survival/bushcraft uses the material comes from the flowering stem which protrudes spear like from the top of the plant, when its first produced this stem can be chopped up and steeped in hot water as it exudes a sugary sap to make a good energy drink,As the flower dries and dies it becomes hard and woody and ideal for making the hand fire drill
heres a picture with a pound coin along side to give you an idea on size
The method i was shown was to hold the hearth benieth the foot in a kneeling position as you would in the bow drill method, firstly rubbing it into the earth to create a stable position for it and then putting a leaf under the already formed notch for the coal to form on
then holding the spindle at the top end between your palms you spin the spindle by using a rubbing action moving your hands down the spindle with a downward pressure (TOP TIP! first before using the hand drill you "chalk" it(as you would a snooker cue) in some already charred/burnt wood,theres plenty in the out back trust me, some groups place a couple of grains of sand into the hole in the hearth to increase friction)
when the spindle starts to wobble at the top move one hand back to the top grip the top and bring the other to meet it and continue the process, this builds the punky powder and due to the heat caused by friction ignites it forming the coal,a couple of wafts with the hand is all that is needed to get the coal smoldering nicely before transferal to the tinder bundle (a soft down which comes from the base of a native fern and dry grass was used here)
and then its blown gently to a flame, another way the Aborigines do this is to hold it in the hand and swing the bundle till ignition,
I was surprised at how well this material and method created a coal, ive got some crack willow wands drying out at the moment of the same dimentions to try out,it drys soft and light so who knows,you could even try different tip materials with a 10mm dowel as the shaft,willow or crack willow will probably be perfect for the hearth, something to try out in the winter months while im missing the Auzzi summer eh
( just out of interest its more difficult once the material is exposed to our mankey damp climate :roll: )
, Bob trains the Public and special forces with the skills needed to survive in the arid conditions of the out back, and has also developed the F18 fighter pilots and Special forces survival kits.
Being in this type of terrain is a daunting experience,
Hot, Dry, baron and harsh and living amongst the native flora is a plethora of potentially deadly snakes spiders(red back shown below),
scorpions, and in the billabongs catfish, not to mention crocks and in the waters of the coastline sharks and jellyfish, BUT saying this a fascinating place to learn bushcraft and survival. I traveled just outside of Perth where Bob runs a Marsupial Reserve which amongst other things houses Kangaroos
, Possums and Bandicoots and in just a couple of days its surprising how much more at home you can feel in 40deg heat and some days fairly high humidity. One thing I was shown which I thought you may like to see was the Abo hand drill which the Arabana people call a makka-tira, the upright piece is called the wapuppa kupa the child stick, and the lower one which they believe contains the fire is called the wapuppa aluka the mother stick, or some times its known as makka aluka the fire mother. They use the fire stick as little as they can as it burns valuable calories and the women carry lighted fire sticks from camp to camp. They use the makka-tira hand drill set by holding the upright between their palms and spinning the spindle by rubbing in a downward motion applying pressure into the hearth stick which is firmly held by their feet, this is some times performed by two men as they don't believe in making life difficult for themselves and their bushcraft is a complete group effort. The material widely used for this procedure is the Balga
or grass tree a tough hardy plant with a multitude of survival/bushcraft uses the material comes from the flowering stem which protrudes spear like from the top of the plant, when its first produced this stem can be chopped up and steeped in hot water as it exudes a sugary sap to make a good energy drink,As the flower dries and dies it becomes hard and woody and ideal for making the hand fire drill
heres a picture with a pound coin along side to give you an idea on size
The method i was shown was to hold the hearth benieth the foot in a kneeling position as you would in the bow drill method, firstly rubbing it into the earth to create a stable position for it and then putting a leaf under the already formed notch for the coal to form on
then holding the spindle at the top end between your palms you spin the spindle by using a rubbing action moving your hands down the spindle with a downward pressure (TOP TIP! first before using the hand drill you "chalk" it(as you would a snooker cue) in some already charred/burnt wood,theres plenty in the out back trust me, some groups place a couple of grains of sand into the hole in the hearth to increase friction)
when the spindle starts to wobble at the top move one hand back to the top grip the top and bring the other to meet it and continue the process, this builds the punky powder and due to the heat caused by friction ignites it forming the coal,a couple of wafts with the hand is all that is needed to get the coal smoldering nicely before transferal to the tinder bundle (a soft down which comes from the base of a native fern and dry grass was used here)
and then its blown gently to a flame, another way the Aborigines do this is to hold it in the hand and swing the bundle till ignition,
I was surprised at how well this material and method created a coal, ive got some crack willow wands drying out at the moment of the same dimentions to try out,it drys soft and light so who knows,you could even try different tip materials with a 10mm dowel as the shaft,willow or crack willow will probably be perfect for the hearth, something to try out in the winter months while im missing the Auzzi summer eh
( just out of interest its more difficult once the material is exposed to our mankey damp climate :roll: )
):
Doc 
