Cape York Peninsula

Our cover shows masked dancers of the sivirri cult on Cape York, cover image Walkabout, July 1969. "Hero cults, cults of masked dancers of Papuan affinity, infiltrated Cape York Peninsula and established a foothold on both eastern and western seaboards. The cover photograph shows masked dancers in colour associated with the culture hero, Sivirri, in the Tjundjundji Tribe of the Lower Batavia River, western Cape York. In the foreground is the Trenna, the scared initiation ground, and in the background the Mbaga, the enclosure for the initiates." Copyright Collection of the Centre for the Government of Queensland