Australian Aborigines

Introduction

The name “Australian Aborigines” refers to the indigenous peoples of mainland Australia, Tasmania and the Torres Islands.

Aboriginal groups share common cultural elements such as the complex mythology of The Dreaming, a reliance on a foraging lifestyle to gather resources and an egalitarian social system.

The first section of this page addresses how these native Australians first came to the continent and made a living in every ecological environment available. The second section of this page addresses Aboriginal history after the colonization of Australia by Europeans and the incredible resilience of Aboriginal culture in the face of political marginalization and ignorant racism.

This page does not attempt to give a comprehensive analysis of every Australian native tribe. Compiled here is a list of Australian Aboriginal Tribes by tribal name and region. Instead we attempt to characterize the overarching cultural features that unite the foragers of Australia. For more information on the sources used to compile this page visit our bibliography page.

The bold headings indicate dominant cultural or tribal groups in the region (Hiatt 1996:xiii).

Pre-European Contact

The original inhabitants of Australia are believed to have begin inhabiting the continent around 40,000 - 50,000 years ago. Some migrations to the continent may have occurred as far back as 70,000 years ago; however, this figure is not commonly accepted by most scholars. Aboriginals migrated from the north end of Australia, spreading throughout the continent into hundreds of groups. Aboriginal populations remained mobile, utilizing just enough of the land necessary for survival. They hunted large and small game, from kangaroos, to snakes, lizards, rodents and birds, using spears, throwing sticks, boomerangs, and even rocks (all of which they were considered highly effective with). They also fished, and gathered nuts, seeds, fruits, and plants. When resources grew scarce, groups easily mobilized and moved to other areas. Small, simple shelters and lack of material possessions made movement easy. Aboriginal populations grew to an estimated 500,000 - 750,000 until European settlement began in 1788.

Settlement and Geography

By 20,000 years ago all major ecological zones were occupied by the descendents of those first colonizers (Tonkinson 1978: 1-13). Australia is an extremely ancient land mass with some of the oldest rocks on earth. Extensive erosion has lead to the low relief of the Australian continent. This has caused a gradation of ecological zones, rather than the sharply defined zones found on other continents such as North America. This allows Aboriginal groups to exploit a variety of ecological areas as a mobile group, leading to the decoupling of cultural characteristics and ecological zones while also facilitating the diffusion of cultural concepts across the continent.

Australia is measured at 7,617,930 sq kilometers/2,941,299 sq. mi. This map details the pervasive climate and ecological regions of the continent.

Aboriginal Life - Reconstructed

Tribes and Languages

Aboriginal tribes are named primarily after a "…local object, or from some peculiarity in the country where they live, or in their pronunciation." (Dawson 1943: 2). When describing an individual of a specific tribe the correct word is Kuurndit, which literally means "member of" and it usually follows the name of the tribe itself, as in Kuurn kopan Kuurndit. Before settlement by Europeans there were an estimated 200 languages in Australia, each distinct and requiring trained translation to allow communication between languages. There are 4 main language groups among the Australian Aborigines, subdivided into 10 dialects:

Kuurn kopan
Pirt kopan noot
Kii wuurong
Peek wuurong
Kirrae wuurong
Warn talliin
Kolak gnatt
Katubanuut
Wirngill gnatt tallinanong
Chaap wuurong

Aborigines view linguistic differences as a key factor defining a group relative to their neighbors. In order to facilitate group interaction, many Aborigines are multilingual. People from different language groups often marry and a child will grow up learning both his/her father’s and mother’s respective languages (Tonkinson 1978: 5-6).

The Dreaming

"Creation stories from the Dreaming are important links between indigenous Australians and their traditional country, often explaining how features of the landscape were formed while also affirming important community values and customary laws." (Bottoms 1999: 2) Although one story remains fairly constant among Aboriginal tribes and that is the Storytime of Bulurru, or the making of the world. Originally there was chaos and dry land, that is when from the great waters surrounding this land there rose Gudju-Gudju, the Rainbow Serpent and he crossed the dry land creating for his people great rivers and creeks. There are several key spirits that are significant to the Dreaming and each is important in Aboriginal Storytimes or Storywaters.

Gudju-Gudju (the Rainbow Serpent) is the 'Spirit of the Law' and his voice is the thunder which warns men of his anger and vengence. His presence is central in all healing and intiation practices, as told by the Gurra-Gurra or ancestors.
Budaadji is often represented as a man carrying seashells, which he leaves all over Australia throughout his journey until he was captured and cut-up by greedy bird men who threw pieces of his body into the bush and it is believed that where these pieces fell that waterholes can now be found.
The spirit brothers Damarri and Guyala are described as tall, quarrelsome, and skilled in the art of fighting, they are mostly attributed with setting into place marriage laws and social rules. They also gave people the knowledge of poisons, how to make fire, and trapping animals. Often these brothers would argue about whether or not life should be difficult or easy, with Damarri believing it should be difficult and Guyala believing it should be easy. Due to these arguments Damarri created toxic foods and "gave ganyarra, the crocodile its teeth and lost a leg in the process" (Bottoms 1999: 7). Guyala on the other hand tried to make life easier by naming many places, that way no one would get lost. Damarri is also known to have made fire and rock come out of the ground and once stopped the sea from rising by building fires and placing hot rocks along the coastline, but in the end Damarri kills Guyala and life for the Aborigines is inevitably difficult.
The Burrawungals or Bunandas are water fairies or female spirits which are known to live in the water like eels or fish and are covered with slime. They are most often depicted as luring men into the water to drown, but there is a story about a man who caught one of them and made her his wife.

As these spirits moved across the landscape they left behind an essence of their power that later animated "spirit-children" that became human beings. Every person is invested with a unique Dreaming history as they are composed of different ancestral power than anyone else. The mobil lifestyle of Aboriginal foragers are seen as a reenactment of Dreamtime spirits' wanderings and through rituals and dreams people can interact with the spirits of Dreamtime to help define the Law or sustain life-giving resources.

Territory

The Aboriginal system of dividing land or territory is based upon The Dreaming where each ancestral territory is shared among the tribal members through a complex land tenure system. Aboriginal people can claim different regions as their "country" based on diverse criteria such as direct kinship (relations who claim a region as "country"), an individual's region of conception, where his/her parents were conceived, where relatives have died, or where Dreamtime beings moved to after crossing through a person's "country"(Myers 1986). Each individual has a unique array of "countries" and fellow countrymen he or she can call upon if he or she needs to camp or share resources. People invest certain regions within the territory with sentimental value. These regions are not held or foraged exclusively but are ultimately viewed as a home "country" (Kelly 2007: 186). Aboriginals believe the land is not something to be owned, but simply utilized for survival. Objects extracted from the land, including food are thought to be gifts from nature.

Tribes that have inhabited an area for an extended period of time have "first say" in what other outsiders are welcome to forage in that territory. Since group systems are mobile, individuals and groups often relocate to find resources. Often, nomadic outsiders will be welcomed to forage in the area of another group. However, if resources are scarce or if outsiders are not welcome by the group, they will not be granted access to forage in that particular territory.

Food

The main Aboriginal diet consists of 4 categories: meat, roots and vegetables, fruit, misc.

*Indicates the information pertains to Central Australia (Latz 1995).

MEAT	ROOTS & VEGETABLES	FRUITS	MISC.
Possums, fish, emus, wombats, turkeys, kangaroos, birds, eels, bears, wild dogs, porcupines, ant-eaters, flying squirrels, bandicoots, dasyures, platypus, water rats, yaakar, snakes, lizards, frogs, mollusks, and birds of prey	Muurange (similar to parsnip), muuyuup (a bulbous root), weeakk, puewan, sow thistle, pig’s face, root of the common fern, mushrooms, fungi	Nurt (like cherries), wild berries, 9 species of Solanum fruits, wild figs, Quandong fruit, Gooseberry, Native Plum, Bush Banana	Pupae, eggs, Acacia seeds*, gum of trees, insects, grubs, oysters, buumbuul/ lerp (honey-like insect secretion)

Out of these four categories Aborigines prefer meat over anything else and their favorite meats are (in order) eel, tortoise, wombat, opossum, and snake.

This traditional diet provided low caloric density per food item, but a high density of necessary nutrients. Through the active collection of these foods, which were generally baked whole or eaten raw for maximum retention of nutrients, aboriginal people avoided obesity. There was also a low incidence of non-insulin dependent diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In recent decades most Aboriginal communities have adopted a Westernized diet and a more sedentary lifestyle. With these cultural changes there has been a rapid increase in obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Today, 50% to 80% of all Aboriginal people over the age of 35 are obese or overweight (O'Dea 1991).

Environment Management with Fire

The Native peoples of Australia intentionally alter their ecological environment; this provides both immediate and future returns (Bird 2005; Gott 1999; Latz 2005). They (mainly the women) perform managed burns, which in the case of the Mardu happens mainly when they leave their camps. The Australian desert is naturally dominated by spinifex, which is a human-inedible grass. When it is burned, though, less competitive species of plants are able to thrive.
A study conducted in the "cool-dry" seasons of 2000-2001 considered the use of fire to increase the efficiency of hunting (Bird 2005). It found that the burning increased the efficiency of the type of hunting that women conducted, Wana hunting, but did not increase the efficiency of gun hunting, which was normally done by men. Wana hunting (the use of a digging stick) focuses on finding smaller animals who generally burrow. The burning regimes exposed the ground which allowed for the tracking of animals and made seeing their dens/ holes much easier. To a certain extent it drove the animals out and allowed for an easier time hunting them. The burnings, though, did not significantly increase the amount of large game who were visible. Large game are usually hunted by gun, which generally means they are hunted by men (Bird 2005).
It was also found that with the removal of the dominating spinifex grass, the area was immediately colonized by a wider variety of plants, which included varieties that were edible for humans. The Pituri plant, discussed below, is an example of these colonizing plants that took advantage of the burning of the spinifex.
The Mardu classified their newly modified environment based on the amount of time since the last burning.

Nyurma: A recently burnt area without any regrowth as of yet.
Waru-Waru: Herbaceous plants begin to grow in the burnt area.
Makura: Herbaceous plants have reached maturity.
Mangul: Herbaceous plants start to die off; Spinifex begins to grow.
Kunarka: The area is dominated by Spinifex grass.

(Bird 2005)

Pituri, an Australian Aboriginal Drug

The actual use of Pituri is still up for debate, but Pamela Watson a pharmacist/anthropologist writes about the desert plant as a drug that may have been utilized by Aboriginals in a similar way to tobacco (they both contain the alkaloid nicotine) or as a hallucinogenic. "[I]t's physiological action is identical with that of nicotine." (Langley & Lee 1890). Both the tobacco plant and the Pituri plant contain the alkaloid nicotine. It is important to note that the tobacco usage of modern America may have differed dramatically from the usage of the Native Americans prior to colonialism. Due to how the leaves were cured and ingested (smoke, tea, or enema) the absorption of nicotine may have had intoxicating or hallucinogenic affects in a way that may not be apparent to present-day Americans (Gremillion Lecture 2008). This is presented as a hypothetical, comparative tool only.

In summary, although Western knowledge of the role of pituri in Aboriginal life is incomplete, and mainly represents only what 19th century and early 20th century European observers found pertinent, nevertheless several conclusions can be reached: pituri was a nicotine-based drug the use of which bore many resemblances to tobacco consumption among the indigenous peoples of the Americas; Aboriginal people showed considerable knowledge of nicotine both as a drug and as a constituent of plants; pituri had great political social and economic importance at the time of European conquest; and social controls existed over both drug supply and drug demand.

It is important to note that the reason the actual use is up for debate, is the fact that the colonizing government discouraged the use of pituri. It therefore suffered a fate that too many cultures have seen happen; the cultural-use knowlegde wasn't passed through the generations (Watson 1983)

For a list of other Ethnobotanical plants, click this link.

Housing

These are two types of the many dwelling types in which Aborigines live, the family wuurn (permanent dwelling) and the temporary wuurn. The family wuurn is made of tree limbs that have been shaped into a dome-like structure and covered with bark, thatch, and dirt. The doorway generally faces in the direction of the morning sun or a shaded area which keeps the structure cool during the day and a large fire is placed in the center for heat at night. Sometimes Aborigines will construct longhouses using similar materials for large or extended families. The temporary wuurn, constructed during the summer hunting trips is also dome-shaped and made from tree limbs, but bark, gum, and grass make-up its coverings. These temporary structures tend to have a "large open side with a fire in front" (Dawson, pg. 11) and only women are allowed to construct them. All small tools or personal items are kept inside while long spears are generally stuck into the ground outside the door so they will be readily available.
There are 5 main types of wuurns:

Dome-shaped Family Wuurn
Tall Family Wuurn
Longhouse Extended-Family Wuurn
Half-dome Temporary Wuurn
Half-cone Temporary Wuurn

The image on the left is of a dome-shaped family wuurn made from tree limbs and covered with bark. This picture is taken from the Primitive Technologies website. Home Page

Tools

Awl – formed from the smaller bones of a kangaroo.
Baskets and Bags – carried by women on their backs or around their shoulders, baskets are made of brush and bags are made from acacia tree bark.
Cooking Basket – made from rough brush, this is used as an oven to roast meat, roots, or vegetables.
Flint or Volcanic Glass – used to sharpen tools and weapons.
Knives – made from flint or sea mussel shells, they are used in skinning animals, cutting materials, and ritual skin markings.
Popaeaer Yuu – a wooden bowl made from acacia bark that is crafted into a circular, waterproof shape that is used to carry water.
Spoons – generally made from a shell of a freshwater mussel or a sea snail, each person has their own.
Stone Axe – crafted from green stone and shaped like a wedge with one sharp edge, this axe has a wooden handle and is considered one of the most valuable tools an Aborigine possesses.
Stone Chisel – similarly shaped like an axe but without a handle, it is used to form weapons.
Wana Stick- A digging stick which is mainly used by women. It is used in hunting for burrowing animals

Weapons

The spear is considered the most important and most favored weapon of an Aboriginal hunter. There are 7 different types in all, along with other important weapons such as the club which also ranges in size and shape.

Bundit Spear – considered very rare, they are made of heavy wood collected from the Cape Otway Mountains, generally thought of as ornamental and usually given to guests as tokens of friendship.
Eel Spear – 7 feet long, formed from peeled ti-tree saplings with one end pointed with the leg bone of an emu.
Gnirrin Spear – 5 feet long, made of strong reed with a sharp point of ironbark wood, this is used for throwing at criminals.
Hunting Spear – 7 feet long, made from a peeled ti-tree sapling, it has a smooth sharp point and a hole on the opposite end.
Spear-thrower – 2.5 feet long, a piece of wood which has a thick handle and a hook on one end, it is used to throw hunting spears.
War Spear – 9 feet long, made of ironbark saplings, this spear ranges from having a smooth point, to a barbed point, to a jagged point.

Other Favored Weapons

Clubs – they range in thickness from that of a walking stick to a baseball bat and terminate in a sharp point.
Liangle – 2.5 feet long, heavy with a sharp-pointed bend projecting at a 90 degree angle, used for close range fighting.
Shield – a thin, oblong, concave piece of wood, very light and has a handle on the back.
War Boomerang – generally heavy and made of wood, cut at an obtuse angle, but it does not come back to the thrower.

Clothing

While there are different types of clothing for just men or women, the use of animal fat mixed with red clay is a common way for both genders to protect themselves from the cold.

Men - wear short, skirt-like coverings made from opossum skins and in the winter they add to this a small cape made from kangaroo skin, which is worn around the shoulders and across the back.
Women - wear small, blanket-like coverings made from opossum skins with short skirts of emu feathers and in the winter they also wear small capes made from kangaroo skin.

Artistic Expression

Australian Aborigines make up 500-600 hundred different groups throughout the Australian continent. Their forms of artistic expression and oral traditions make up a large part of their culture.

Song and dance are prime aspects in Australian expression. Elders use song to pass on oral traditions to new generations. History, myth, folklore, and ancestral tales can all be relayed through song. Song and dance are important in all ceremonial events. Ceremonies of initiation, funeral, dreaming ceremonies, seasonal changes, and other important social events are all accompanied by ritual song and dance. During ceremonial events, Aboriginals cover their bodies in body paint in order to bring spiritual entities to life through dance.

Dances and songs are not limited to a single tribe or even language group but can be exchanged between neighboring groups, allowing the diffusion of information about The Dreaming and the 'Law' across great distances. When two groups meet they may perform rituals concerning the land or mythology for each other. The other group can adopt these rituals for their own and integrate them into their wider understanding of their history. The exchange of such "mytho-ritual complexes" has facilitated a continuity in the conception of Dreaming mythology while allowing groups regional expression and innovation preserving regional cultural characters (Sylvie 1992).

0306_200887%20-%20Aboriginal%20Painting,%20Louth-%20Cobar_230x280.jpg

Aboriginal art is common in the forms of rock and cave paintings, beadwork, basket weaving, and sculpture. Art often conveys symbols of fertility, animals, nature, spiritual figures, and abstract images. Rock art intends portray stories, myth, creationism, magic, and images of powerful cultural significance. Paintings from 12,000 to 15,000 years B.P. depict Aboriginal cultural activities. These images portray cultural features such as trade and the Aboriginal form of money as well as cultural manners such as waving a flag to warn of a dead body; it is of interest that none of these illustrations contain elements of warfare (Scutter, 2001:232). In 2003, over 200 well-preserved paintings around 4,000 years old were discovered near Sydney. Link to article

The artwork is also currently used as a tourist attraction.

Aboriginal music is commonly linked to a common musical instrument, the didgeridoo. The didgeridoo, also known as a yirdaki, is a wind instrument, about 5 feet long and most commonly made out of hollowed tree roots. It produces a low frequency vibrating hum. Didgeridoos are used along with clapping sticks and song to accomodate Aboriginal ceremonies.

A Brief History of Post-European Contact

European contact and intervention introduced many sweeping cultural and demographic changes in Aboriginal life. Women enjoyed more equality in precontact Australia than after the British imposed their cultural values upon them, though men still carried more authority over women and younger men. The Europeans brought disease and colonized indigenous lands, and destroyed natural resources. Within twenty years of their arrival onto the continent, a little more than half a million indigenous died as direct consequence (Stacy 1995:63). BY 1840, the population was reduced to 40,000 (Petchkovsky and San Rogue 2002:346). Through the 1910 Southern Australian Northern Territory Aborigines Act, a chief protector of Aborigines was delegated "the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and half-caste child" (Petchkovsky and San Rogue 2002:346). Children were forced into assimilation; this is now referred to as the Stolen Generations.

Botany Bay harbour in New South Wales, with a view of the heads, taken from Cook's Point
Permission pending…

1788: The British first begin the colonization process and declared Australian land to be terra nullius- unowned land (Stacy, 1995:63). The idea of the indigenous people wasting and therefore not in ownership of the land stemmed from John Locke’s philosophy adopted by American colonists (Buchan and Heath 2006: 8), who wrote,

And the leagues that have been made between several states and kingdoms, … have, by positive agreement, settled a property amongst themselves, in distinct parts of the world; yet there are still great tracts of ground to be found, which the inhabitants thereof, not having joined with the rest of mankind in the consent of the use of their common money, lie waste, and are more than the people who dwell on it, do, or can make use of, and so still lie in common; though this can scarce happen amongst that part of mankind that have consented to the use of money. [emphasis added] (Locke, [1690]: Book II, section 45).

The Severe Clash of Cultures

Just as the British believed untilled soil was unowned soil, the Aborigines were similarly appalled at the desecration of the land at the hands of the agriculturalist British (Buchan and Heath 2006:10). Colonists viewed themselves bringing the ‘savages’ ‘civil and religious liberty, civilization, and Christianity’ (Buchan and Heath, 2006:11).

Colonists attempted to convert the native populations to Christianity, but did not realize the culture they had encountered already had a rich spiritual world-view.

So the sad thing about it all was the missionaries didn't realise that we already had something that tied in with what they'd brought to us. They saw different as inferior, and they didn't ask us what it was that we had. And it's very sad because if they had asked… things may have been different today. Our people, before the white man came were very spiritual people. They were connected to land and creation through the great spirit, there was a good great and a great evil spirit… And Satan was the great evil one. So there wasn't much difference in what the missionaries brought and what we already had….
Wadjularbinna Doomadgee, Gungalidda Leader, Gulf of Carpentaria, 1996.

Their stories of their creation myth of The Dreaming are still revered and given homage, and are of interest to non-indigenous people as well, for their remarkable beauty as well as sustainability in the culture. Facilities and organizations such as The Rainbow Serpent an online resource of Aboriginal art and design ranging from children's books to musical instruments, provide access and education to non-indigenous.

But for the colonists, the aborigines needed to be lifted out of the Hobbesian state of nature and assimilated into the British civilization. Then-Lieutenant, Captain James Cook who commanded the first expedition of possession declared,

We are to Consider that we this Country in the pure State of Nature, the Industry of Man has had nothing to do with any part of it and yet we find all such things as nature has bestowed upon it in a flourishing state (Cook 1969[1768-80]).

At the swearing in of Governor George Gawler in 1838, he addressed the Aborigines, telling them "to love the Queen and people of Great Britain, to behave themselves and learn to read, especially the Bible and to fear God; if these conditions were met, they were told, they would live happily together" (Foster and Muhlhausler 1996:2).

One month later, he said,

Black men -
Above all things, you cannot be happy unless you love GOD who made heaven and earth and all things.
Love white men. Love other tribes of black men. Do not quarrel together. Tell other tribe to love white men, and to build good huts and wear clothes. Learn to speak English.
If any white man injure you, tell the Protector and he will do you justice (South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register 3 November 1838.)

(Foster and Muhlhausler 1996:3)

Lingering Effects in Contemporary Australia

They are a courageous people who have managed to survive because of, not in spite of their luminous spiritual heritage…which makes it possible for the Aborigines to remain optimistic about their future. - James G. Cowan 1992

Australia is unique among the four English speaking settler societies(The United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia) for the level of debate on indigenous people's rights. This is partially due to the relatively recent occurrence of dispossession (1788 through 1992) and an international awareness of racist governmental policy (Moran 2002) that put extreme pressure on the Australian Government to change their policies toward the Aborigines.

Currently, Indigenous Australians comprise of only 2.4% of the population, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002. It is important to remember that many tribes still represent the collective term “aboriginal.” Even within the past Indigenous radio project, a “Dreamtime Network”, there were complaints that one tribe was over-represented (Morrison 2000:149). Nearly two hundred years after the genocide, New South Wales Parliament member Richard Windeyer even denied aboriginal groups any recognition in society (Buchan and Heath, 2006:11).

Perspectives of the world still cause strain today; in the education system, cultural conflict can disrupt the learning process for Aboriginal students who do not share the same values as their non-indigenous peers (Brady 1997:415).

Artwork is a personal and spiritual process to be kept in the artist’s soul, not to be discussed with an interested admirer (Brady 1997:420). There are some dreamtime stories that will never be told outside their gender group. For Dreamtime stories and more information about this group, see Dreamtime.net

Even the concept of time has been used against the indigenous people. In 1965 it was determined through the Commonwealth Arbitration Commission that because the people had not Western sense of time, of “forward planning and… mathematical accuracy” (Perkins 1998:338), serving as rationalization that the workers were not entitled to receive equal pay with whites (Perkins 1998:338).

The Stolen Generation

In the first half of the twentieth century it was governmental policy to remove children from their families and inter them in "orphanages" where the children learned domestic duties so they could be employed in white society and enculturated. The children who where removed from their families in this way are called the "Stolen Generation." The 2002 film //Rabbit Proof Fence// addresses this turbulent time in White/Aboriginal relations. In 1942, the employer of an Aboriginal domestic servant wrote,

This Aboriginal girl was one of the unfortunate children whom the Aborigines Bd. removed from her perfectly happy family circle at a very early age. The parents protested & implored the Matron at Cootamumdra Home to release this girl…but it was hopeless, as always, because it has been the policy of the Aborigines Bd. to take away under any pretext, the little girls & send them to a so-called training 'Home' later to be sent to the Cities as domestics…
They arrive in Sydney, utterly desolate and lonely, they are a communal people & to be suddenly alone in a strange home & amongst all white people terrifies them, they are not permitted to correspond with their own people, nor to meet other dark girls, & gradually they become like little haunted shados, moving abount silently & escaping when they can, out into the darkness, for this is the only time that they are unmolested..

(Haskins 2001:15)

Civil Rights Victories

1967: Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were given full citizenship through the amendment of the Australian Commonwealth Constitution. The Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 provided further legal recognition of their treatment.

1992:The key moment in civil rights history came with the judgment of Mabo and Others v State of Queensland (No. 2), which overturned terra nullius. This decision allowed land that had not been explicitly claimed by the government to be returned to the native inhabitants.

Legal Responses to "Mabo":
1993: Native Title Act provides that Aborigines can claim land that is linked to their traditional practices.

1995: Indigenous Land Fund and Indigenous Land Corporation (ATSIC) Amendment Act provides money for land to those who cannot meet the continuous posession requirements of the previous Act.

(Stacy 1995:65).

Mabo, Eddie, 1936-1992. Self portrait [picture]
Permission Pending…

In 1971 Harold Thomas, an Aboriginal artist designed this flag as a symbol to unite Aborignal peoples as a social and political body. The black half represents the Aboriginal people, the red represents the earth and at the center is the sun the "giver of life." More information on the flag.

Today and the Future

Dancers from the Australian Aboriginal band Yothu Yindi
Permission pending…

Yothu Yindi

Hear different didgeridoo sounds and learn to play one; scroll through images of ancient art and more at the Northern Territory website.

Aboriginal Art offers cultural information on music, art, social organization, history and more: 100% Aboriginal Owned and Operated

HREOC has been instrumental in giving a voice to the Aboriginal people.

"The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, HREOC, was established in 1986 by an act of the federal Parliament. We are an independent statutory organisation and report to the federal Parliament through the Attorney-General.
Our goal is to foster greater understanding and protection of human rights in Australia and to address the human rights concerns of a broad range of individuals and groups.
What we do
HREOC’s responsibilities include:
education and public awareness
discrimination and human rights complaints
human rights compliance
policy and legislative development" ~ quote from their website

Even though “the majority of indigenous people are endeavoring to overcome the impact of colinsation” (Brady 1997: 421), researchers agree that, “for a variety of reasons Australians posses a curious lack of understanding about the gaining of civil rights by Indigenous people. These reasons include the lack of a clear civil rights ‘moment’ in Australian History and the negative connotations now associated with civil rights when compared to the more radical Indigenous rights.” (Chesterman 2000: 497) John Chesterman believes that “there remain a number of reasons why the achievement of civil rights by Indigenous Australians Should be remembered. The first involves recognizing the agency of Indigenous activists and their non-indigenous supporters in bringing about changes in governmental policy.”

“Second, the work and achievements of these activists broke new ground in forcing a reluctant state to deal with Indigenous leaders, while at the same time fostering in future Indigenous leaders the belief that positive results could come from an active engagement with the state.” (Chesterman 2000:509) Therefore, becoming a respected part of a society requires other peoples’ understanding of your own importance within that society. In other words, what people bring to the table within their society should be considered beneficial to all. The long road of accomplishment is not over for these people, however, the achievements that have been attained are definitely huge milestones marking their way. As more and more people begin to see and hear their case, their attainment of civil liberties should and will be studied in the future as a crucial part of world history. The Australian Aboriganes are the epitome of the connectedness of humans and nature and we should all try to learn a little from the experience of studying them.

Education

As the western culture focused on colonization, globally indigenous people are attempting to bring into the introduced educational systems culturally appropriate teaching and learning practices so that a more holistic approach to education can become the norm rather than the exception (Brady 1997). The relationships of indigenous knowledge and western concepts of knowledge need to be equally beneficial for both indigenous and non-indigenous people.

The introduction of non-indigenous education system does not allow for cultural differences. There is an exclusion of the indigenous people and a denial of access of participation by non-indigenous people. Non-indigenous based institutions exert control over education and there are huge discrepancies over this.

Many of the historical concepts of the indigenous people have been passed on throughout their history by the mouths of their ancestors. There is a lack of indigenous knowledge in the education systems brought on by the western civilization that is being asserted upon the Australian aboriginals. For the last two centuries there has been a cultural loss of knowledge. Indigenous people have been stripped away from their families, their land and their tribal groups. This separation is a way for the western colonization movement to instill change upon the indigenous people insisting on white conformity.

These losses show substantial effects on the living conditions that the indigenous people are facing today. The poor living conditions and hygiene and endemic substance abuse can ultimately and most often does lead to the suicide from the lack of hope from living in a fringe culture with inadequate schooling. The indigenous culture is looked upon as primitive and savage like with no ownership of knowledge.

The knowledge of indigenous people is very low. People are beginning to forge new understandings and practices of indigenous culture through education and research. There is still struggle with this as non-indigenous education systems are feuding with indigenous cultures as to who has the right to say what the identity of your culture entails. That is where both teaching and learning should become fused, an example being enabling Indigenous Australians to engage in the decision-making about who, how, when, where, and what to teach in Indigenous Studies. Much of the indigenous knowledge of today is a commodity where qualification must be met and money is required in order to take the curriculum. Some of the educational dismay, if you will, comes from inside the classroom. The teachers have low expectations. There are clashing norms with what the children are used to at home compare to the values and ways in which to communicate within the school setting.

Writers are looking to steer clear from the harsh legacy that the indigenous people have faced over the last two hundred years and focus on more positive aspects. Writers stress positive aspects of identity and culture and give strength through optimism and show respect and knowledge for their own heritage. They are conveying these messages with positive approaches of life histories and memoirs. Writers are focusing on retelling dreaming stories in Aboriginal and English languages. Also they are passing on positive information through fictional picture books for children.

Australian Aboriginals understand that their ancestors had in place systems of education, cultural practice and maintenance, spirituality and social cohesion, which sustained them for 40,000 years. After 208 years of colonization they are left with a legacy of grief, dispossession, and struggle for survival. They believe that it is time they empowered themselves to take back their education so that they can move with pride into their next 40,000 years (Brady 2007).

Aboriginal Rights Links

The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation
Department of Indigenous Affairs
Action for Aboriginal Rights
The Foundation for Aboriginal & Islander Research Action
European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights

Bibliography

Link to the Bibliographies of the work cited on this page.

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