This custom is spread very widely, and is practised in various parts of Australia. Among the native tribes of the southeast coast of New South Wales this act occurred after the initiation of a young man, during the colder months. It is generally done with a sharp pointed bone or a piece of hard wood. During ceremonial occasions a wing bone of uroaetus audax [wedge tailed eagle] is carried in the hole and forms part of the gala decorations.

Of course, injuring such a sensitive organ as the nose causes considerable swelling, so that the patient has to breathe mainly through the mouth. In some cases the swelling is so great that the skin stretches so far that the cartilage of the septum breaks through at the bottom side and the inserted pin is pushed out. In my youth I saw old blacks whose nasal septum showed clear signs of such a rupture.

A thin piece of wood, bone, a feather, a grass stalk or the like is put into the freshly made wound and turned at intervals over and over again—a painful operation. The hole was widened bit by bit, until it was wide enough to take in a peg of proper size, which then had to be carried constantly for ceremonial occasions or when a person was not working.

In all the regions of Australia I have had the opportunity to visit, the piercing of the nasal cartilage was customary for men and women. Looking through various works about the natives I find that nearly all observers report seeing natives who carried some ornament in the nose. It is practised in the whole of New South Wales and Victoria, also in Queensland, South Australia and in the Northern Territory. In regard to Western Australia I have asked some of my friends who reside there to inquire into this matter, and they now report that most of the tribes practise nasal piercing, although some tribes in the southern part of this state are said to have intact noses.

As already mentioned with some tribes of New South Wales, a youth cannot have his nose pierced before undergoing his initiation ceremony; but there are other areas in Australia where the operation is performed on very young boys and girls and apparently is not accompanied by any further ceremony.