Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines

The Environment and Human Adaptation

 

The ancient people from Australia migrated to Australia about 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. Australian Aborigines are considered one of the oldest continuous societies in the world.  Modern day aborigines are spread all over the continent of Australia.  A breakdown of their population demographics are as follows:

•  New South Wales – 148,200
• Queensland – 146,400
• Western Australia – 77,900
• Northern Territory – 66,600
• Victoria – 30,800
• South Australia – 26,000
• Tasmania – 16,900
• Australian Capital Territory – 4,000
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The state with the largest total Indigenous population is New South Wales. Indigenous Australians constitute 2.2% of the overall population of the State. The Northern Territory has the largest Indigenous population in percentage terms for a State or Territory, with 31.6% of the population being Indigenous.

In all of the other states and territories, less than 4% of their total population identifies as Indigenous; Victoria has the lowest percentage at 0.6%.^[109]

As of 2006 about 31% of the Indigenous population was living in 'major cities' (as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics/Australian Standard Geographical Classification) and another 45% in 'regional Australia', with the remaining 24% in remote areas. The populations in Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales are more likely to be urbanized.^[110]  Living conditions for urbanized Aborigines are crowded, many people to a room and some areas lack running water. The colonization of White people in Australia and the ethnocentric policies that have followed has destroyed the aborigine way of life for the indigenous population.

• The climate of Australia has a wide range of environmental conditions. These conditions may range from dry desert conditions to tropical rainforests. The average temperature in Australia is 55 degrees. Australia receives on average 631 mm (24.8 in) of precipitation annually or 53 mm (2.1 in) each month. The large part of Australia is semi-Arid, only the South East and South West corners have a temperate climate. Rainfall is seasonal. More than 80 percent of Australia has an annual rainfall of less than 24 inches. Snow does happen in Australia. Snow falls in the mountains of Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales and Tasmania. Summer daytime temperatures range from 90 degrees to 104 degrees. In general, most of the weather patterns in Australia are stable. There is a very hot season and it cools down in the winter. The rainforest areas have a dry season and a wet season. The Australian Aborigines have had to find ways to stay cool and also to survive during the desert dry seasons. The most important survival needs is water. (Wikipedia)
• Australia is a land that has about one million different native species. Forest areas have eucalyptus trees and the most prevalent vegetation is the hummock grass lands. Australia has some unique animal species, such as the kangaroo, wallabies, koalas and wombats. There are 55 species of kangaroos. The biggest predators are the dingoes. The dingo is a type of wild dog and is considered a pest because of its danger to sheep herds. Australia has the most poisonous snakes in the world.
  Most of the aborigines that live outside of urbanized centers live in a semi arid or desert like conditions. The stresses caused by this condition include heat during the day and finding water. The aborigines have found some ways to cope with these stressors. The aborigines who live in the mountainous areas have snow and cold environment.al stressors.
  The aborigines have genetically adapted to the conditions of their environment. The aborigines have thick fat that develops around the organs. There is a cooling of the skin due to vasoconstriction. Heat loss is restricted at night and the core body temperature remains at normal levels. However the skin feels cold to the touch. These two physical characteristic take place on a genetic level and are examples of physical adaptation of the aborigines to their environment
  Water is a very important to the survival of the aborigines who do not live in urbanized centers. Water sources are highly secretive and are passed down from generation to generation. One woman found some ants going in and out of a tree and located a water source inside the tree.  Some frogs store water and the aborigines are very in tune with nature and wildlife. A cultural adaptation of the aborigines is to dig shallow irrigation ditches to catch water. Another adaptation is traveling only at night and during the day the people bury themselves in sand and build a temporary shelter for shade. The sand keeps the core temperature from getting too hot. In cold weather the aborigines will build two fires and sleep between the fires. When it started to get cold the cold would wake them up and then they would stoke the fire. Animal skins of the kangaroo were used as blankets. Most aborigines did not wear clothing except in a small area to cover the genitals. 
  www.everyculture.com
  /1G1-57589202.htm lryb.aiatsis.gov.au/PDFs/davis_pt1.pd www.buzzle.com/articles/
  www.alrc.gov.au/..
  The customs and traditions of aboriginal natives of North Western Australia by John G Withnell.
  Cultural Anthropology the human challenge 
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  Language and Gender Roles
  
  
  The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise up to twenty seven language families. In the late 18^th century there were between 350 and 750 distinct languages. The most wide spread language family is Pama-Nyungan familys. Many of the languages are extinct and only 150 languages remain.  Out of those 20 are endangered. One unique characteristic of the Pama-Nyungan languages is no word order. Word order is established by word inflection. Kinship categories shape the grammar of the languages in a way seen nowhere else. This unique quality shows use that kinship was one of the most important factors in the Australian aborigine’s lifestyle. Encyclopedia Britannica)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Many of the mythical female ancestors were powerful and according to Aboriginal legend, the female creators possessed all the sacred rites and emblems, which would be divided among both men and women. The aborigines had gender specific specialization of labor. The men did most of the hunting and fishing and the women did foraging, food preparation and domestic responsibilities. Men and women roles were seen as of equal importance. In Aboriginal societies there was clear-cut division of roles. For women this included all aspects of reproduction, the domain of men included conflicts, the land, male anatomy and male religious ceremonies.
  Some tribes had a boy-lover connection. The boys were given to a man, mutual masturbation might be practiced, but that is all. Among the Tiwi there is a subculture that has been identified as sister-girls. These people are recognized at a young age and given to an older sister girl. After white colonization the role of the sister-girl invited abuse and harassment. The gender roles of the Australian aborigines are pretty strictly defined. Women do not hunt. Small children may hunt lizards etc. The aborigines have myths that show the punishment of women for taking male gender roles. When white colonization interfered with the aborigines the roles of women took a reversal from an equal but separate role to a patriarchal role. Women would be punished for not taking care of their husbands or serving them. Young children are basically socialized by their mothers. The young play house and imitate the roles of their parents. The men could throw spears further, which helped them hunt. The women had to bear children and this made it more difficult for them to travel long distances. In the blessed curse, the Native American people accepted the concept of an intersex person. The two spirited person was given life so therefore she/he was respected. The aboriginal culture from Australia has been demolished by the white colonization and introduced to a harsher form of patriarchal. Even though patriarchy was established before the colonization, it was along the lines of equal but separate. An intersex person would not have been as vilified then as in present times.
  
  
  
  
   The Economy of Culture
   
  Australian Aborigines are a nomadic people who practice hunter-gathering subsistence pattern. The men do the hunting for such as turkey, or emu, kangaroo. They create bird snares which are placed over nests or watering holes. The kangaroo meat is often cured in the sun for later use. They also hunt for hawks, using a rat on a stick as bait. They also eat a variety of roots, berries and vegetables. A method called fire stick farming is used. The area is set on fire and small animals are driven out and captured. This also produces more grassland for the larger animals to thrive on.  Men operated individually, while groups of women and older children collected plant food lizards and frogs. Some variations to this pattern occur around Sydney where women fish and men collect vegetables. The contributions to the meal varied depending on the season. However women supplied about 80% of the food. Yams, nuts and certain bulbs were eaten; also grass seed was milled and eaten on leaves. The Australian aborigine diet was varied and quite nutritional. An interesting fact is that often the Aborigine would consume poisonous plants that were prepared by the women. The women would leach the plant and remove the poison. Honey supplied the sweet tooth with food. When the aborigines transitioned to the western diet, diabetes, tuberculosis alcoholism and many other health problems occurred. Australian aborigines diets are being studied because they diets are an example of a nutritional sound diet. Most of the foods eaten were directly off the land, However, Bunyan nuts were traded for baskets and fish hooks. Some foods were seasonal, when a certain flower appeared the aborigines knew the salmon were getting ready to spawn and they would travel long distances to fish.
  
  
  Economic Systems
  
  
  Bunyan nuts are traded for baskets and fish hooks. Most trade occurs between bands. Gift giving and reciprocity is how wealth is redistributed. Each person shares with whom they have received benefits in the past or may receive benefits in the future. This keeps a check and balance system in place and helps with social equilibrium. Long standing feuds have been known to take place in using this system. The Australian hunter-gathers did not have a currency. The gift-giving was the currency within their bands. Some specialized areas in Australian aborigine’s culture would be the elders, the medicine man and the sorcerer’s. Food is not cultivated to produce surpluses. Surplus food will be traded when it is in season. But food production is not a subsistence pattern in this culture. Red Ochre was traded and is considered sacred. Dreaming trails from ancestors showed people where the red ochre could be obtained.  A gift of red ochre was a big gift and it had to be reciprocated..
   anthro.palomar.edu
  /subsistence/sub_1.htm /wc/...to...//Australian_Aboriginal_ www.highbeam.com/doc
  www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summary
  The customs and traditions of aboriginal natives of North Western Australia by John G Withnell.
  ·         Cultural Anthropology the human challenge

Marriage and Kinship

Kinship: The Aboriginal Australia has one of the most complex systems in the world and is the basis for all social interaction. The marriage pattern is polygnous. Husband and wives are related to each other as kin. This can be for classification purposes other than a real kinship. Reciprocity in marriage is part of wider principle. Betrothal arrangements underline the fact that marriage is not simply a relationship between two people or nuclear families. There are other implications. Those receiving a wife must make a repayment, either at that time or at a future date. Men exchanging sisters or women exchanging brothers, as in a bi-lateral cross cousin marriage is the simplest arrangement of this kind of repayment. Marriage reciprocity also involves the exchange of gifts as well as men and women. There are also rights and obligations associated with the exchange. An example of this would be the Kariera. The Kariera are divided into local groups of about thirty people. These are divided into four groups or sections. Members in a section have certain territorial or ritual claims. The men in the group belong to the Karimera or Burung sections.The other half are divided between the Palyeri and Banaka sections. The sections are exogamous, Karimera men must marry Palyeri women and their children are Burung. Sons live in the same place as their fathers. This complex system fosters a broad network of social relationships and familial solidarity. Since marriage includes gift giving and reciprocity obligations are serious and must be upheld. Marriages are arranged sometimes at birth. Marriage partners are expected to treat each other with kindness and respect, However sex outside of marriage is not frowned upon. Mother-in- laws may not speak directly to their Son-in-Laws. A special relationship occurs with grandparents, but it is a teaching student type of relationship, Uncles and Mothers makes the arrangements for marriage. Incestuous marriages are taboo. Women move in with their husband’s family. Homosexuality is not recognized and in modern aborigines it is condemned. In kinship terms the uncles or mother’s brother had the authority to arrange marriages. Certain elders carried the authority for the whole band or group. Elders were respected and followed, but they had to earn the respect through ceremonies, initiations and hunting. All people in the group have names. A kin term given to her will apply to all of her sisters; a man uses the same name for his sister’s children as he does. The relationship between sisters is extremely close. Sisters can be co-wives. The groups by example above have a patrilineal descent pattern with a four class pattern. The individual’s moiety and marriage class identify who he or she may marry. A person inherits a totem and rituals in their system of kinship. People have the same class identities as their grandparents and grandchildren, but not their parents or children, it skips a generation. 

www.clc.org.au/articles/info/aboriginal-kinship austhrutime.com/k http://library.thinkquest.org/C0115620/text/SocialStructure.htmlinship_systems.htm

austhrutime.com/kinship_systems.htm usthrutime.com/kinship_systems.htm

anthro.palomar.edu/kinship/kinship

www.aboriginalculture.com.au/socia www.clc.org.au/articles/info/aboriginal-kinshiplorganisation.shtm

The customs and traditions of aboriginal natives of North Western Australia by John G Withnell.

·         Cultural Anthropology the human challenge

 

Social and Political Organization

Social Structure:

There are three main aspects of Aboriginal social structure. The geographical structure which is a tribe or language group is made up of bands called hordes. Bands have about fifteen or twenty people and involve several families. The second structure is the religious and totemic structure the society is divided up into two moieties. Each moiety has significant animals, plants or places, which have religious meaning. Aside from being in these moieties, each person has a totem that he belongs to.

The third social structure is the kinship system. This system defines people’s obligations, such as, who will look after the children when someone dies, who can marry whom, who is responsible for someone’s debts and who looks after the old.

The Australia aborigines also use a clan system. The clan has its name and territory, and is the land owning unit. A clan has about 40 or 50 people with common names and totems. It consists of groups of extended families. Men remain in the clan territory. The Australian aborigines have a pretty egalitarian style between kinship and families. Children do not have as much status as adults, until certain initiation rites are performed. The uncles train or mentor the boys into the initiation ceremonies. Sometimes this relationship has conflicts. The elders are the authority figures and initiation rites continue throughout adulthood. The elders have to pass many of these tests and because of the respect for the law and knowledge gained they have a lot of authority in decision making areas. Only special men were allowed to become doctor men. They had to acquire special knowledge. The doctor man had power to bring rain or droughts and could retrieve children’s spirits that were stolen away. Australian Aborigine society did not have a lot of opportunity to change status levels. Passing the initiation tests was one way to gain status. 

Political Structure,     

The elders had the most power in this society. The elders trained their sons for the position so the position was generational. There were no kings in this society.  A council of men could be called and decision and ideas would be discussed. Political duties were carried out through kinship and clan bonds. Everyone knew what their obligations and responsibilities were. The society is basically egalitarian. If an offense was committed it was up to the group to punish the offender. Conflict was considered a bad thing and offences would make it so you were denied higher knowledge and you would become less important in the group. Conflict could be solved through violence. Sometimes a conflict would be solved by people taking turns hitting each other on the head until one person

Australian-Aborigines. . wikipedia.org/wiki

www.aboriginalculture.com

australian-aborigines .au/socialorganisation.shtm

www.aboriginalculture.com.au/socialorganisation.shtml

The customs and traditions of aboriginal natives of North Western Australia by John G Withnell.

·         Cultural Anthropology the human challenge

Religion and Art 

The Australian Aborigines have a belief system based on the dreaming. Everyone has a connection to the dreaming. When a baby is born it is believed that a spirit activates the life of the child. A person totem is where a mother first becomes aware of the unborn child. The child is taught all the stories and ceremonies of their particular totem. The dreaming teaches about three aspects of life, the land, the spiritual world and rules for living. The aborigines believe in a common creator and that their race sprang from one man and one woman. Their creators name is Gnurker. The creator created a whirlwind and sent them daughters and sons with instructions and ceremonies. They were to strictly follow the creator’s commands and when they died they would be received into heaven. They were given power over rain and every food would be held for the common good. As a covenant of God’s promises they were to circumcise their young men at age of fourteen. If they failed to carry out the laws he would make their children fight against each other and if they broke the marriage laws they would be killed by their own kin. A Tarlow is a stone pile dedicated to the ceremony of willing that certain things such as children, birds, animals will multiply and increase. The Tarlows belong to the head of the family. The Tarlow descends from father to son. The Tarlow can only be used by the clan that it belongs too. The aborigines believe in more than one deity. The deity is depicted in a tangible recognizable form; it could be a mountain or a plant or animal form. Aboriginal people do not believe in animism. They believe in certain types of deities. There are creation deities, which created certain lands and people. Ancestral beings taught the people how to make tools and weapons a how to hunt food and created the laws on how to govern society. These deities may be in plant or animal form but they have done deeds in human form. A totem form represents the original shape of the plant or animal form. A person connected with a yam totem might believe he was a yam in another life. This belief system is what governs every aspect of aborigine’s life, the commands and laws are passed down through art, song, storytelling and dance and music. Without the dreaming there would not be an Australian aboriginal culture.

Artwork:

Rock paintings appear on caves in the Kimberly Region of Western Australia. The cave paintings are 40,000 years old and give us descriptive information about social activities, economy, myth and religion. This is an aboriginal way of showing recognition and wisdom to be open to the environment.

Aerial landscape art which is a birds-eye view of the desert. It could be made of rock, sand or body painting. It usually depicts a dreaming story.

Rock engraving- The most famous rock art engraving is located at the Murujuga in Western Australia.  This rock art is the world’s largest collection of petro glyphs and has images of extinct animals on it.

The dot paintings appeared when the aborigines were encouraged to put their dream on canvass.  Some of the elders felt too much of their religion was being displayed and the dots were use to cover up certain parts. Since then the paintings are now all covered with dots.

The music of the aborigines is best characterized by the didgeridoo. Some believe to be the oldest musical instrument. A clapstick is a percussion instrument that is two sticks hitting each other. The songs contain hunter and navigation information, oral lore and storytelling relating to the creation time.

The dance of the aborigines also relates to dreamtime, some of the dance movements would imitate different animals. The performances were done in specific places and some of these places are sacred. The gestures and body paint related to kinship and other relationships. Some dances were considered sacred and men and women had different ceremonies.

Songs take many forms such as the Bungai and the krill-krill. The songs tell of epic journeys during the creation time. The krill-krill has intense lyrics in them.

All of the art forms are a way to communicate laws and hunting grounds and are believed to tell the stories from the dreaming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian_music#Clapsticks

abc.net.au/religion/stories/s790117.htm

aboriginalculture.com./religion.shtml
mythology www.springerlink.com/index/V700666L42L0U272.pdf
www.sacred-texts.com/aus/cat/cat.htm
  The customs and traditions of aboriginal natives of North Western Australia by John G Withnell.

·         Cultural Anthropology the human challenge

Cultural Change

The Australian Aborigines culture is threatened with extinction.  There were 500 different tribes before the European colonization. The number has decreased to around 250. Out of all the languages that were spoken by the aborigines only 20 are being used today.

The Europeans did not understand the culture of the aborigines and they judged the culture through the lens of ethnocentrism. Many of the traditions of the different bands and tribes cannot be practiced. The aborigines are tied to their land both spiritually and culturally. When the Europeans displaced the Aborigines they removed the heart and the soul of this culture. This culture is one of the oldest continuous cultures on earth.

The men of the culture are now placed on the welfare rolls and live check to check, the ethnocentrism of the Australian Government is still in effect today, alcoholism, disease and domestic violence have decimated the population of this great and old culture.

On a positive note, modern anthropologists have worked hard at saving the language and customs of these people.

The government of Australia has apologized for the cruelty inflicted on the Aborigine.  One of the Olympic contenders proudly wore the aboriginal colors in the games, much to the chagrin of the Australian government.

People around the world are beginning to understand and learn about the Australian Aborigines,  The anthropologists from the many disciplines have helped the government and the world to come to a better understanding of these people and have worked together to save their culture identity.

Bibliography

Citations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian_music#Clapsticks

aboriginalculture.com./religion.shtml

·         anthro.palomar.edu/subsistence/sub_1.htm www.everyculture.com/wc/...to.../Australian-Aborigines. .abc.net.au/religion/stories/s790117.htm wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_mythology www.springerlink.com/index/V700666L42L0U272.pdf www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-57589202.htm lryb.aiatsis.gov.au/PDFs/davis_pt1.pd www.buzzle.com/articles/australian-aborigines www.aboriginalculture.com.au/socialorganisation.shtm www.clc.org.au/articles/info/aboriginal-kinship austhrutime.com/k http://library.thinkquest.org/C0115620/text/SocialStructure.htmlinship_systems.htm

·         www.aboriginalculture.com.au/socialorganisation.shtml

·         www.aboriginalculture.com.au/socia www.clc.org.au/articles/info/aboriginal-kinshiplorganisation.shtm

·         www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summary

·         austhrutime.com/kinship_systems.htm usthrutime.com/kinship_systems.htm

·         anthro.palomar.edu/kinship/kinship

·         The customs and traditions of th aboriginal natives of North Western Australia by John G Withnell.

·         www.alrc.gov.au/..

·         Cultural Anthropology the human challenge

·         www.sacred-texts.com/aus/cat/cat.htm

 

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