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 popula
tion 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
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 environments as 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/
The customs
and traditions of aboriginal natives of North Western Australia by John G
Withnell.
Cultural Anthropology
the human challenge
·
Language and Gender Roles
The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise up to twenty
seven language families. In the late 18th century there were between
350 and 750 distinct languages. The most wide spread language family is
Pama-Nyungan family's. 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 us 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 patriarchy. 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 their 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. 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 Aborigines in Australia has one of the most complex kinship 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.
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
offenses 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 gave up or falls down. They used yam sticks to hit
each other with. Sometimes a person would be taken to a smoky place and left
there until they choked. If another group entered the territory of a clan, if
proper messages were not sent or gifts given, the group would kill everyone but
one person. The laws were based in the dreaming through stories and dance. The
laws were strict and spiritual in nature.
Australian-Aborigines. . wikipedia.org/wiki
www.aboriginalculture.com
australian-aborigines .au/socialorganisation.shtm
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's 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, 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 petroglyphs 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 used 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 clap stick 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 dream time, some of the dance movements would imitate different
animals. The performances were done in specific places and some of these places
are sacred. These 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.
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 anymore. 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
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/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.
· Cultural
Anthropology the human challenge
· www.sacred-texts.com/aus/cat/cat.htm
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