An Aboriginal woman clad in possum skins put a traditional curse on Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Tuesday, apparently in retaliation for government plans to abolish Australia's top indigenous elected body.
Howard encountered the woman on a visit to Colac, an outback town with 500 people in the state of Victoria. Supporters turned up to greet the prime minister along with angry Aboriginal protesters and the woman, known only as Moopor.
Painted in traditional tribal makeup and wearing possum skins, Moopor stood silently and cast the curse by pointing an inch-long bone at Howard as he climbed into a waiting car. Howard smiled and waved at Moopor before leaving.
[Traditional Aborigines believe that when a tribal Gadicha Man points a bone at someone it places a curse strong enough to cause death. Such is the effect of social excommunication.]
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