Sir Baldwin Spencer documented the didgeridoo’s crucial function in the ceremonies of the Northern Territory.  Spencer also listed the sacred names “jiboulu” for the everyday trumpet and its ritual counterpart, “Purakakka.”

Spencer, in his analysis of recordings, referred to the work of Roth, who documented the term “yiki-yiki” for a long wooden trumpet used in areas of Cape York Peninsula.

From Central Australia, Spencer and Gillen described the “ilpirra” (or “ulpirra”), a shorter, rudimentary tube used in love-magic ceremonies, which they distinguished as a “rudimentary trumpet” that was sung through to intensify the voice rather than played with vibrating lips.

The evidence suggests that while the instrument was widespread in Arnhem Land, its presence elsewhere was more sporadic. The theory proposed in that analysis is that the instrument, or the idea of it, likely “entered the continent here from the north, possibly as a wooden imitation of the shell trumpet.” Once adopted, it was “highly favoured in song and dance ceremonies” and consequently “spread east through the Gulf country (Roth), west to the Kimberleys and south as far as the MacDonnell ranges” (Museums Victoria article).

Hence, the didgeridoo was primarily used in northern Australia, with its traditional heartland being Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Its use was more sporadic elsewhere on the continent.

 

Initial records used didgeridoo and trumpet interchangeably, but today in Australia, the didgeridoo is still considered a distinct instrument from the bamboo trumpets or similar pipes noted in early colonial writings.

For instance, here is a quote from Sir Baldwin Spencer’s Recordings of Australian Aboriginal Singing: “Also recorded on the 1912 series are accompanying sounds made by the “conch”, Spencer’s name for the Australian wooden trumpet, currently called the “didjeridu”*.”

In The Australian Aboriginal by Herbert Basedow, here is a quote: “The instrument which is capable of producing the loudest, and, at the same time, most weird sound, when correctly manipulated by an aboriginal, is the bamboo trumpet, otherwise known as the drone-pipe or “didjeridoo.””

Early explorers, missionaries, and settlers often described unfamiliar Indigenous instruments using European analogies.

To their ears, the deep resonant sound of the didgeridoo resembled a “trumpet” (or sometimes a “horn” or “pipe”), so they used those terms rather than Aboriginal names.

In addition, “Didgeridoo” is not an Aboriginal word. It appeared in English writing in the early 20th century, likely imitating the sound of the instrument (“did-jerry-doo”).

So when you see old sources call it a “trumpet”, they were trying to compare it to a European brass instrument. When you see “didgeridoo”, it’s the later onomatopoeic English term that spread widely in the 20th century.

 

The question of whether the didgeridoo is a “later comer” to the Australian musical scene is raised directly within the historical texts.

The evidence suggests that while the instrument was widespread in Arnhem Land, its presence elsewhere was more sporadic. The phrase “later comer” itself comes from an analysis of Sir Baldwin Spencer’s 1912 recordings, which proposed that the “wooden trumpet accompaniment to aboriginal singing is a later comer to the Australian musical scene” compared to the universal use of percussion sticks (Museums Victoria article on Spencer’s recordings).

The theory proposed in that analysis is that the instrument, or the idea of it, likely “entered the continent here from the north, possibly as a wooden imitation of the shell trumpet.” Once adopted, it was “highly favoured in song and dance ceremonies” and consequently “spread east through the Gulf country (Roth), west to the Kimberleys and south as far as the MacDonnell Ranges”.

Therefore, the “latecomer” theory hinges on the idea that the didgeridoo may not be an ancient, pan-continental instrument, but rather a technology that spread relatively recently from a northern point of origin. The mystery of its origins is hinted at in old recordings and the journals of early observers, but it remains unclear whether it was truly a latecomer.

 

The prevalence of hollow branches in the north made this process straightforward, as Baldwin Spencer observed in Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia: “It is very rare, in any of the northern parts of the Territory to find any branches which are not hollow, so that the native can easily secure one that is suitable for a trumpet.”

The “didgeridoo” is made of wood. This wood can be either bamboo (all the sources agree on this), woolly-butt eucalyptus, or the green stem of a native hibiscus bush (according to Herbert Basedow). Spencer, in his recordings of Australian Aboriginal singing also mentioned trumpets can be “made out of a hollow branch of gum trees, ironwood etc.” 

A typical didgeridoo size varies from 2 to 9 feet long. Roderick Flanagan describes it as having “about three feet in length” and Spencer said “it measured 7-9 feet in length.” Spencer also reported a trumpet which was “five feet in length” and had a diameter at larger end of 2.5 inches and 2 inches at the mouth while Basedow asserts that it should be “four to five feet long” which aligns with the trumpet observed in Native Tribe of the Northern Territory of Australia.

The mouthpiece was often refined for comfort and to create a proper seal. Spencer observed that “as a general rule, the mouth end is coated with wax so that the lips can fit on tightly,” a detail also mentioned in the Native Tribes of Central Australia that the end is “covered with a circle of resin so as to make the margins smoother.”

The external surface was frequently decorated, transforming it into a personal and cultural artifact. Spencer in the Native Tribes of Central Australia described two such decorated instruments in his possession: one was ornamented with “alternate circles of yellow ochre and white kaolin,” while the other featured “two rings of white kaolin” connected by longitudinal lines.”

Herbert Basedow called it a “bamboo trumpet”, “drone-pipe” or “didjeridoo.” Sir Baldwin Spencer in his analysis of recordings of the Australian Aboriginal singing suggested the more specific term “conch,” drawing a comparison to shell trumpets despite it being made of wood or bamboo, noting it was “commonly called a trumpet by the whites, but really a kind of conch, made out of a hollow bough.”

Spencer, in his analysis of recordings, referred to the work of Roth, who documented the term “yiki-yiki” for a long wooden trumpet used in areas of the Cape York Peninsula. In his own documentation of Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia, Spencer also listed the sacred names “jiboulu” for the everyday trumpet and its ritual counterpart, “Purakakka.”

From Central Australia, Spencer and Gillen described the “ilpirra” (or “ulpirra”), a shorter, rudimentary tube used in love-magic ceremonies, which they distinguished as a “rudimentary trumpet” that was sung through to intensify the voice rather than played with vibrating lips.

The name “didgeridoo” was first used in a 1908 newspaper account “Retribution,” where it was written as “did-gery-do,” phonetically capturing the rhythmic sound heard on a Northern Territory cattle run. The term simply did not exist in print until the early 20th century.