Biraban and his wife Patty dance at Lake Macquarie

1840c Biraban and his wife Patty dance at Lake Macquarie. Biraban, Patty with many other Aborigines dance on a moonlight night on Threlkeld’s mission on Lake Macquarie. Preparing for the midnight dance around the “mystic ring” lit by numerous fires, Biraban and Patty reciprocally rouge each other’s cheek with pigment of their own preparing, and impart fairness to their sable skin on the neck and forehad with the purest pipeclay, until their countenances beam with delight at each other’s charms. They lay the garments of the day aside and dance. (Threlkeld, 1850, 89).