The Aborigines

From KstructIB

There have been people in Australia for some 40,000 years

The first Australians arrived from Asia. By the time Europeans arrived, there were perhaps 300,00 of them.

There were 2 patterns of living: one belonged to the coast, the northern tropical forests, and the cooler woodlands of the south and east. There, where food (roots and fish) and water were most plentiful, 90 per cent of the population lived. The other ten per cent lived on seeds and the wildlife that lived in the deserts of the interior.

Aborigines lived in harmony with the land around them, disturbing it little when they went fishing, hunting or food gathering.

Aborigines did not keep animals other than dingo

They looked after the land: they put part of some roots back in the ground so that they would grow again the following year. Every year they burnt off the grass, which encouraged the seeds to sprout, and often made hunting kangaroos easier by attracting them to new growth.

Living in the desert - there was rarely, if ever, starvation. The important thing in life was to know where all the water sources were, especially those which did not dry up, even in a drought. For emergency supplies, Aborigines shook the dew off leaves in the morning, or found water stored in the roots of trees, or in the belly of a burrowing desert frog.

People did not necessarily live on the land they owned, although all the land belonged to one clan or another. Each group travelled mostly within their own territory along customary paths. At times many people camped together, at others they would split up into groups of one or two families.

Each person belonged to a clan, which owned a particular territory. All the clans in one region would speak the same language, follow the same customs, and marry endogamously.

The desert dwellers put up temporary shelters according to the season.

Aborigines shared equally the tasks of daily living. All men were hunters, on land or sea. Women’s job was to collect plant foods, shellfish and small animals and insects. Hunters, however skilful, often returned home empty-handed. Everyone depended on the women for the main food supply.

Women knew how to find and use an enormous number of different plants, both for food and for other things such as medicine or making bags.

Men provided most of the meat. Their main weapon was the spear. To make it fly further, a hunter used a spear-thrower. Hunters also used clubs, axes and various kinds of throwing stick.

There were two main ways of hunting: in one, men worked together to surround the animals, or drive them towards other hunters who lay in ambush. The other more common way was for one man, or perhaps two, to stalk an animal. Aborigines’ tracking skills are famous. Hunters used disguises to hunt their pry. A man might hold a branch in front of him, or smear himself with earth, which stopped the animal getting his scent.

Hunters had great patience. A hunter divided a large animal among the other hunters and his relations in the camp. So no-one went hungry and there was no waste.

Case Studies:

• Pg 88-  !Kung San Social Organisation (Marshall 1959)
• Pg 92- Tsembaga Maring Subsistence (Rappaport 1967)
• Pg 100- Karimojong Pastorlism (Dyson-Hudson 1969)