Australian Culture
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People have inhabited Australia for at least 40,000 years. Exploring Australia’s First Nations offers a unique insight to the diverse and rich cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Aboriginal History
Archaeology sites together with scientific dating of relics including tools and paint from cave drawings indicate that Australian Aborigines first occupied Australia some 60,000 years ago that can be accounted for and probably longer. Their immediate origin was from Asia having moved to the "mainland" of Australia when this country was joined to Malaysia. At the same time the now island State of Tasmania was also linked to the "mainland" of Australia. Over thousands of years, both Tasmania and New Guinea became separated from the "mainland" thus isolating Australia from the rest of the Asian continent. Therefore, an obvious situation was that the "new" inhabitants of Australia were isolated from their own historic and cultural roots. During this extensive period when the land masses were changing, there were also extensive changes to the interior of the now island continent of Australia in that the major inland seas had dried up and many of the rivers became seasonal rivers only flowing during periods of high rainfall. There was a need for the Aboriginals in Australia to adapt in their way of life to the new conditions of their environment and they did this by become great wanderers, great hunters and gatherers, making use of the flora and fauna for their very being in fact these people became "part of " the very country, the water and the land.
Aboriginal Family
Family has alway been of the utmost to the Aboriginal people, they live for their family with life long bonds being maintained through the forging of kinship ties as a high priority of their social being. Together with a very strong identification with the land and in fact many aboriginals came to be the carers of the land these people observed strong cultural ties. Even in the married lives they treated their choice as a most serious one indeed by observing certain taboos and social customs such as the marriage between people from within the same localised group was taboo.
Corroborees
The Aboriginal culture and way of life is very closely tied to their observance of and being part of the land which they are protectors of to a point where part of their culture involves the sacred meetings known as Corroborees. At these Corroborees stories that have been handed down over the ages are told by way of music, dance and singing. The stories themselves may have been the simple act of hunting a particular animal that these people have a lot of respect for or in fact the meeting of family members whom have not been together for many years, in fact all facets of life is enacted in these Corroborees.
The act of the Corroboree is seen to be sacred in the aboriginal culture. Participants use local "paint" to enhance their bodies or to represent themselves as certain people and animals within the story they are telling. Aboriginal music for these Corroborees may come from a Didgeridoo or simply the beating of sticks but accompanied with the singing is a very effective background to the dancers telling the story.
Dreamtime
The Dreamtime is a period in Aboriginal past life that is often referred to when stories are told of certain beliefs and happenings and in fact it is believed that Dreamtime is a timeless period. The aboriginals believed in spirits of the Dreamtime, the spirits are in their terms their creator of the people, the land and in fact everything within their lives. These stories, their beliefs and the representations of the spirits of the Dreamtime are represented along with hunting and other happenings in the many cave drawings and engravings, which are still to be found around the country.
Aboriginal Art
The art of the Australian Aboriginals is arguably the oldest continuing art tradition in the world. Amongst Indigenous Aboriginal art are bark paintings, sculpture, weaving, rock and cave paintings and engravings, and of course the numerous “tools” which include weapons which are painted and etched as part of ceremonial activities.
In the modern day, Indigenous Art is divided into two very distinct areas, these being “Urban” and “Traditional” art. The traditional art is typical and identifies with the long held stories of the Aboriginal way of life more often known as the “Dreamtime” which relates to the original stories of the original ancestors of the current day Aboriginals.
On the other hand of course is the Urban Art which can in fact be any art by any Aboriginal descendent but does not normally relate to the dreamtime or in fact normal traditions of Aboriginal Art but will generally incorporate a modern day Western influence with a long held local style and never use the sacred stories or images of traditional Aboriginal art.
Hunting and Gathering
Historically, women were the gatherers of food such as fruits, tubers, eggs and witchetty grubs whilst the men hunted kangaroo, wallaby, emu and other small animals. The most common weapon used by the men was the boomerang and the spear, which was often used with a woomera, which was a "thrower" for the spear. The Boomerang is well known as a weapon that returns to the thrower but in fact there are many various types of boomerang and they were fashioned to fulfil a certain role. The Boomerangs that return to the thrower are in fact used for ceremonial or sporting occasions only whilst the Boomerangs that are used to hunt with or to fight with tend to be narrower and with a straighter back to them for more direct throwing.
Contact with Europeans
Initial contact with Europeans was briefly in the West of the Country with the Dutch and it was not until 1788 at the time of the First Fleet that aborigines came together in any substantial way. It is an unfortunate fact of history that many aboriginals were killed and their way of life and habitat exploited with large tracts of land cleared for crops, cattle and homesteads. The numbers of the aboriginals declined dramatically due to disease, frequent and numerous killings and relocation from traditional hunting grounds.