THE ABORIGINES

GEOGRAPHICALLOCATION

The Aborigines probably came to Australia as modern human beings 40,000 to 60,000 years ago.

 

Food      Traditional Indigenous people ate foods that

they were able to find on the land, as they did not have shops or supermarkets like we do today. The types of foods available depended greatly on the group's location in Australia and on the seasons.

CLOTHING

    Traditionally, Indigenous people did not wear clothing. The different seasons and climates across the country determined the need for clothes. Indigenous groups in colder areas would often use animal skins, fur side in, for warmth, especially during cold nights. A special oil based substance was often placed on children's bodies to protect them from the cold.

    Men would often wear a girdle, similar to a belt, made from animal fur or twine. Some women were known to wear apron style clothes made from animal skins and leaves.

Daily life

Most of Australia's traditional Indigenous people lived nomadic lifestyles. This means that they rarely settled in one place and would move from location to location in search of seasonal food, water and shelter.

Society

Aboriginal Australians were social beings who lived in a number of social groups sometimes called bands, clans, sub-tribes and tribes, but essentially in a family or kinship group who were 1) of the same blood-line and 2) were related to other people through totems.

Hunting is a word that is used to identify the practice of catching and killing game either as a sport or as a source of food. Gathering is the collecting of food such as plants, berries, eggs or insects. Fishing is another method of obtaining food. The Aborigines who lived in areas which included waterways such as rivers or were on the seacoast, made canoes from bark or tree trunks.

Homes

Aboriginal people were social beings as they lived and gathered together in family groups . Their camps were comprised of a number of gunyas (bark huts), but the people also lived in caves or in the open air. Some camps were comprised of as few as 6 to 10 people while in others there were up to 400 people. No doubt the availability of food was a factor in the size of a camp. Each day, various members of the group would leave the camp to hunt and gather food and return to the camp to share the catch with others.

ARTS & CRAFTS

Spears are used for hunting, fishing and fighting. Some are made from single pieces of wood. Tasmanian Aborigines had very long spears, about six meters in length.

Boomerangs

Credited with inventing the boomerang- external site, many Aboriginal groups used this tool mainly for hunting but also in ceremonies. The weapon can easily kill a small animal or knock down a larger one. The way that boomerangs work is very complex. Part of the explanation is that boomerangs are flatter on the lower side and more curved on top in a shape called an aerofoil.

Spearthrowers

Hunters all over the world have used spears. The ‘woomera- external site’, a type of spearthrower, is an Aboriginal invention. A woomera is a simple lever that acts to increase the speed at which a spear is thrown, and thus increase the distance it travels. Made of wood, a woomera acts as an extension of the thrower's arm.

RELIGION, TRADITIONSAND CUSTOMS

  The Aborigonal religion is based heavily on the Dreaming. The Dreaming is the Aboriginal creation story. Aborigines believe that at the beginning of time the world was a shapless mass of nothing, waiting to be transformed into what we see today. The mythic beings called the ancestors arrived, the ancestors took many shapes, although most commonly they were great serpants.

CUSTOMS

  Music, song and dance was and is still today a very important part of Aboriginal life and customs. There were songs for every occasion, some of which were expressed in special ceremonies.

CultureCulture is a celebration of beliefs and usually includes rites of passage from one stage of life to another. Culture is stories and songs. Particularly because their stories and songs informed them about creation, the relationship between mankind and nature and were the source of their tribal laws. The tradition of initiation was an expression of Aboriginal culture and was carried out for thousands of years in exactly the way that had been ordered by the ancestors in the Dreamtime. On another level the stories and songs were believed to be important for the preservation and conservation of their land and all it contained. This involved singing Songlines that had been sung by the ancestors and the concept of taking care.

Marriage

Every tribe in Australia was divided into a number of small social groups, but for marriage purposes, into two main groups sometimes called marriage moieties. People didn't marry outside of their group. Marriage arrangements were made when children were very young and sometimes before they were born.

PROBLEMS

Ever since the British first invaded, Aboriginal peoples have had their land stolen from them or destroyed. Until 1992, when it was finally overturned, the legal principle governing British and then Australian law regarding Aboriginal land was that of ‘terra nullius’ that the land was empty before the British arrived, belonged to no-one, and could legitimately be taken over.

Today they still face racist attitudes, and there are periodic incidents of violence towards them, particularly affecting those in police custody.

SOLUTIONS

Survival has provided funds for some ‘homeland’ projects, whereby Aboriginal people return from towns to their ancestral land. Write a letter to your MP or MEP.Write to the President, your senators, congressmen or other elected officials.Write to your local Australian high commission or embassy, find out more.

Πηγές

A. http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-1_u-444_t-1173_c-4507/daily-life/nsw/daily-life/-indigenous-people-culture-and-change/traditional-life

B. http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/aboriginals

C. http://siekman.tripod.com/religion.html

D. http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-indigenous-cultural-heritage

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