Referat Aborigines

Aborigines

1) Definition

1.1. The Term

The word "aboriginal" means "the first" or "earliest known". And it is really believed, that Australia could be the home of the world's first people - nowadays well known as "Aborigines". The term "Aborigines" is usually used to refer to those, who live in the mainland Australia. The noun "Indigenous Australians" includes also the inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands (between Australia and New Guinea) and other nearby islands. Together they make up about 2,4% of Australia's population.

1.2. Languages

There are various names of the indigenous languages, which are also used to identify groups based on regional geography. So for example: "Koori" is spoken in New South Wales and in Victoria, "Murri" in Queensland, "Noongar" in Southern Western Australia and "Yamatji" in Central Western Australia.

Within one clan grouping, all were speaking the same language or the same dialect. In the late 18th century, there existed between 350 and 750 distinct groupings and a similar number of languages and dialects. Today there are about 50 different Aboriginal languages.

A common feature of many Australian languages is that they display so-called mother-in-law languages, special speech registers used only in the presence of certain close relatives.

2) History

2.1. Origins

Stone tools, discovered in Australia, show that humans lived in Australia at least 12 000 years before the appeared in Europe. The exact timing of the arrival of the ancestors of the Indigenous Australians has been a matter of dispute among archaeologists. The most generally accepted date for first arrival is between 40.000 - 50.000 years. The upper range supported by others is up to 70.000 years ago.

At this time, which is known as the last great Ice Age, Australia was joined to New Guinea. The two continents were either connected by some kind of "land bridge", or the sea passages between them were by far narrower than nowadays.

For that reason, it was possible for people from lands to the north to reach Australia.

It is not exactly known from where the Aboriginals began their journey, and so the real origins of the "Aborigines" are also not exactly known. But people from South Asia may have been the first, who discovered Australia, because of the similar genetic information.

The migrants of the northern countries had to cross a 100 - 160 kilometres long sea passage between the two "islands", with some kind of "water craft", because there was no other possibility to reach this southern continent. They used tree-trunks and tools, which they found in coral reefs, to form canoes and rafts. This sea voyage is the earliest evidence of sea travel by prehistoric man.

As the ice began to melt, the sea level rose and Australia became isolated from the mainland or the "rest of the world". This made it impossible to cross the sea passage with the simple forms of watercraft available at that time. This meant, also the people there were isolated until the arrival of the European settlers. About 5 000 years ago, the Australian continent took on the shape of that it has today.

It is not exactly known, how long it took the ancestors of the Aborigines to reach Australia and also how the first settlers settled the continent when they arrived.

New discoveries found by archaeologists also are changing previous ideas about the length of time that Aboriginals have been in Australia and their ways of life. Modern scientific methods of dating have provided new possibilities for further research.

2.2. Before the European arrival

At that time the population of the Aborigines was between 300.000 and 1.000.000. Today almost 380.000 "Aborigines" live in Australia. But only 50.000 among them count to the 'full blood Aboriginals'.

2.2.1. Climate/Animals

The climate in the northern Australia was similar to the conditions in Asia. The first settlers found also similar plants.

Further south, there was a temperate climate, which was different to Asia, as the flora and fauna. There were also lots of lakes.

By the time, the Indigenous Australians lived through great climatic changes. There were less precipitation and more and more droughts, which leads to aridness all over the country. About 25.000 years ago, Australia was as dry as today and about 20.000 years ago this continent was even drier and colder with many storms.

The Aborigines adapted successfully to their changing physical environment.

The animals fond in Australia were different at all to those in Asia. While in Asia were tigers, elephants, monkeys and boars, the typical Australian animals were kangaroos, koala bears, duckbilled platypus, marsupials and also a lot of poisonous animals, like snakes or spiders.

2.2.2. A perfect environment

More than 30,000 years ago the population of the world was small. At the time, when the first European arrived in Australia, there lived between 250.000 and 1 Million people.

The Aborigines lived in family groups, hunting, fishing and food gathering. There where no cultivated crops and animals were not herded for food. Metalworking was yet to be discovered.

The first Aboriginals found an Australia with a better environment than today. Large animals, which are extinct nowadays, provided a lot of meat.

Some parts of the continent were richer in vegetable foods, but the land contained no cultivated crops, or animals that could be domesticated, such as cattle and sheep.

The Aborigines settled throughout the whole continent many thousands of years before the white men came. They evolved a way of living that was in harmony with the environment, and that satisfied their needs. Because Australia was isolated from the rest of the world, Aboriginals had little contact with outside groups from whom to 'borrow' techniques, to trade goods, to acquire crop seeds, or animals, as was happening in the North of the world.

The Aboriginals adjusted to the environment, learned to understand it and gained the maximum from it.

Each clan grouping occupied a well-defined area of land, their 'clan territory" with which they had close and dependent relationship. The group belonged with, or to, the land - like the animals and plants of the area. They lived their life as they were an integral part of a relatively unchanging environment.

Aborigines had no concept of being able to buy or sell land because the land was given long time ago. The Aboriginal People were of the opinion, that they were not the "owners" of the land, they lived on.

2.2.3. Gatherers

The way of life of the Indigenous Australians varied from region to region. While the ones, who lived near the coast, were fishermen, there were inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands, who were agriculturists.

Most of the Australian Aborigines in the mainland of Australia were Gatherers and Hunters and no animal, except the "Dingo" was domesticated.

Aborigines were limited to the range of foods, offered naturally in their area. They knew exactly when, where and how to find everything edible. But they also had the right skills to get the food. Often both, men and women, had to spend up to 2 thirds of each day hunting and gathering food.

Inside the continent, water was absolutely necessary - it was a matter over death or life. Water was some kind of "scarce commodity". But Aborigines could stand conditions, where others would perish. They exactly knew where the water holes and soaks were in their area. They even drained dew and obtained water from certain trees and roots. They even dug up and squeezed out frogs, which store water in their bodies.

The Indigenous Australians lived in small bands or family-groups, which carried out their daily life together. Most oft the "Mainland-Aborigines" were semi-nomadic, which means that they moved around as a group in their clan-territory, from place to place, depending on the seasons and the sources of food. They returned to the same place at the same time of the year.

In coastal areas, and the more fertile parts of the country, the clans were relatively static, because they had enough food. But the desert areas of the land provided only food for fewer people, and so they had to travel long distances to be able to survive.

The necessity to be mobile meant that Aboriginals could afford only those possessions that were essential to their way of life. Many belongings were multifunctional - so for example some kind of wooden carved "basket", which was called "coolamon" and used to dig, to carry water, the baby or to collect fruits,.!

2.2.4. Hunters

A family or a clan grouping often went hunting together. The men carried only a spear thrower, spears, and other weapons, which the needed to kill the animals. The women carried the rest, the babies and household utensils, to leave the men free to use the weapons.

The Aborigines used all natural resources they could find to produce whatever was needed. They wove for example strings, cords, and hair into nets, baskets, mats and fishing lines. Wood and bark were used to make dishes, shields, spears and boomerangs or to make rafts. Stones were important to form tools that could be used as weapons, or to cut and carve wood. Flat stones were used to grind seeds to flour. The Aborigines used sharpened pieces of bone as spear points or even as needles to sew together skin for cloaks. Skins of animals were treated to carry water, and in some places human skulls were used for the same purpose.

To catch different types of animals and birds, the Aborigines used clubs, nets snares and spears. Large animals were speared or clubbed, smaller ones caught in pits and nets. Fish were speared or caught with traps, and sometimes water was poisoned with plant juices.

In some tribes, boomerangs were very common. They used Boomerangs to knock out and kill their prey. A boomerang, which is a flat, curved piece of wood, is an important hunting tool. The special thing of a boomerang is that when it is thrown properly away it returns to the thrower. There were many boomerangs used for different jobs. The heavier, non-returning boomerang, which is also known as "Throwing Stick" was used for hunting. It was more powerful as the returning-boomerang and could be used to injure or even kill a kangaroo. The largest boomerang is up to two metres in length. The well-known returning boomerang is light and thin and was only used by a limited number of tribes.

By the time, the Aborigines developed extraordinary skills in tracking their prey.  They could recognise the foot tracks of animals and of every member of the group even on the hard ground.

The hunters were also careful to stay downwind and sometimes covered themselves with mud to disguise their smell. They also held a bush in front of them while stalking in the open or glided through the water with a lily-leaf over their head until they were close enough to pull down a water bird. Sometimes they even imitated movements of the animals with a stick.

The catch of the hunters were not always constant, in contrast to the daily plant food and small animals gathered by the women. Women collected the larger part of the group's daily needs. Their ability of finding food, even in the poorest conditions often kept the group alive.

The typical Indigenous diet included a wide variety of foods, such as kangaroos, emus, snakes, birds and many insects and of course many varieties of plant foods such as taro, nuts, fruits and berries were also eaten. Almost anything grew, or moved could be used for food. The women usually prepared and cooked the food in an earth oven.

Aborigines had to make use of the natural materials available in their area, so huts were often made from bark and boughs or other materials, depending on the climate, the time of year, and the length of time that the group forced to remain in one camp.

Indigenous Australians used fire for a variety of purposes: to encourage the growth of edible plants; to reduce the risk of catastrophic bushfires; to make travel easier; to eliminate pests; for ceremonial purposes; for warfare and just to 'clean up country". They lived from fire-stick farming. This means that they burned down their land controlled to make hunting easier and to change the composition of plant and animal species in an area.

2.3. Impact of the European settlement

2.3.1. First Sightings

The first recorded sighting of Australia was in 1606 by the Dutch captain William Jansz who described the natives as ".savage cruel, black barbarians who slew some of our sailors". The Dutch were the first to extensively sail around the continent, naming it New Holland.

In the same year the Spaniard, Luis Vaez de Torres sailed around the strait that bears nowadays his name (Torres Strait Islands) and described the natives as ".very corpulent and naked. Their arms were lances, arrows, and clubs of stone ill fashioned".

In 1623 the Aborigines were described by Jan Carstenz as ".the most wretched and poorest creatures that I have ever seen in my age or time".

The Englishman William Dampier published his "New Voyage Round the World" in 1697, in which he described Aboriginals on the Western Australian coast as ".the most misereable people in the world. They were tall, straight bodied, and thin with small long limbs. Their eyelids are always half closed, to keep the flies out of their eyes."

As a result of these reports the Dutch government decided the land, to be not suitable for colonisation.

2.3.2. Macassans

The Macassians were the first "real" visitors on the Australian Island. They taught the Aborigines the use of steel in making knives, spear blades and tomahawks. The Aboriginals watched or took part in the entertainment and ceremonies; they learned to play cards and began to adapt their song rhythms to the strange tunes and sounds of foreign musical instruments.

The Aborigines learned also more about the culture of the visitors by travelling to Macassar with the fishermen. They even adopted some Masassan words into their won languages. The names of Macassans are still remembered and Aboriginals often adopted Macassan names as well as their own.

2.3.3. Captain James Cook

In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed form England in the Endeavour to Australia and finally took possession of the east coast of Australia in the name of Great Britain and named it New South Wales. The British government was looking for an alternative penal settlement to the North American colonies, which it lost in the American Revolution.

Cook visited New Zealand and was the first European who landed on the coast of Eastern Australia. He called the landing spot 'Botany Bay' because there were so many different plants and animals there.

Cook was killed by Hawaiians in 1779 for the reason of having stolen a boat.

Captain Cook's descriptions of the Aborigines were numerous and very detailed: 'these people may truly be said to be in the pure state of nature, and may appear to some to be the most wretched upon the earth; but in reality they are far happier than we Europeans.'

2.3.4. Colonisation

Australia was at first uninteresting for the British, because of the long distances between Britain and Australia. But then the fist convicts were sent there in 1788, which was called the "First Fleet". One of the most important personalities was Captain Arthur Phillip: He sailed with theses convicts to Australia, settled at fist in Botany Bay, but decided then, that this Bay wasn't a very good place to start a settlement and so he moved to Port Jackson (nowadays Sydney).

Early conditions in Old Sydney town proved to be very difficult. Crops wilted in the heat or were destroyed by bushfires. Cows wandered off into the bush and were lost while native animals were almost impossible to catch. The colony would have gone under had it not been kept supplied from England.

The British did not want to harm the Aboriginals. Aborigines were seen as 'noble savages.' The thinking was that they were without sin as they have never learnt it.

The British began their settlement with the good intentions of "teaching the Aborigines the advantages the will reap from cultivating the land". In fact they didn't respect the Aborigines and by the time the British took the land of the Aboriginals over.

The first consequence of British settlement - within weeks of the first colonists' arrival - was a wave of European epidemic diseases such as chickenpox, smallpox, influenza and measles, which were rapidly spread all over the country. Many Aboriginal tribes died.

The British spread in waves across the whole continent, moved inland and destroyed the Aboriginal lives. So the Aborigines were forced to life in areas, which were uninteresting for the British. In fact the loss of traditional lands, food sources, water resources and even their source of life was usually fatal, particularly to communities already weakened by disease. Indigenous Australians groups had also a deep spiritual and cultural connection to "their" land.

The British and the Aborigines had two extremely different attitudes towards "Land". To the Aboriginals, land was not something to be bought and sold and it was a part of their life. The British believed that land cold not only be bought and sold, but taken to be exploited by productive agriculture - those who carry out this obligation had some kind of "moral right" to the land.

The Aborigines didn't want to co-operate with the British because of their barbarous behavior. But the British had not the knowledge of cultivating this land with the poor soil and so they lived near starvation in the fist years of their settlements.

Also because of the different religions, the white settlers could not understand the original inhabitants. This misunderstanding caused a log of suffering to the Aborigines. They suffered from the effects of alcohol and from fighting between the groups.

Although the Aborigines were supposed to be protected by the British law, this protection was difficult to enforced and almost impossible at the frontiers of settlement.

The combination of disease, loss of land and direct violence reduced the Aboriginal population from 300.000 to 80.000 indigenous people between 1788 and 1900.

Aborigines try to defend their land and kill colonists. Captain William Bligh issues an order to send soldiers 'for their (colonists') protection against those uncivilised insurgents'.

A wave of massacres followed the frontier of the European settlement. Especially in the 1830s many Aborigines died, because they were murdered by the English settlers. Only a few tribes resisted against the British. The English Government did not stop this cruel development immediately. Only after some years, the convict-settlers, who were responsible for the murders, were hanged.

In 1837 the British House of Commons selected a committee which said that Aborigines have a 'plain right and sacred right' to their land, which included:
Sending missionaries to convert the Aborigines

Defending the Aborigines from the encroachments of the settlers
Schooling for the children of the Aborigines

Special laws for their supervision until the time the Aborigines
learned to live within the general British community

But it was by far not the ending of the suffering of the Aborigines. There were lots of other problems. The settlers brought alcohol and drugs to Australia and so many Aborigines booze to death.

The British settlers even poisoned the Aborigines' water and food, which sent many Aborigines to death.

Often non-indigenous men took Aboriginal women to rape in their huts. Governor Bourke was so alarmed by such reports that since 1837 British settlers were arrested because of such acts.

The newspaper "The Bulletin" wrote about the situation in Queensland:
"The blacks have been murdered by thousands there is wholesale massacre of human beings; a relentless violation of women. [I have] seen the brain of an infant dashed out against a tree after another had been murdered.

This is not fiction but the statement of one who, not three years ago, saw in Queensland scrub the sunburned corpses of men and women and children who had been murdered by officers of 'justice' and left for the crows."

In 1836 the British settlers decided, that the Aborigines were not able to use their land by their own, so the rights of the natives were no longer valid. Since this moment, the Aborigines were treated like an inferior race, which should die. The Aborigines were forced to leave their land and since 1842, the Europeans tried to put the Aborigines in reservations to force them, to live like the Europeans.

Many missions worked for 'smoothing of the pillow on the black man's death bed'. This means, they wanted to speed up the die out of the black in Australia.

As the Europeans developed industries, the way of life of many natives changed. Many indigenous people adapted to European culture, working as stock hands or labourer-workers. Indigenous women, men and children became a significant source of labour. Most of the indigenous workers were unpaid. Instead of money, indigenous workers received rations in form of food, clothing and other basic necessities.

Many native Australians became dependent on the European settlers.

In 1853, the discovery of gold in Western Australia sparked massive waves of immigration. Miners from all over the world descended upon Australia and brought with them ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. This part of Australia became known as the "Golden Mile" and was the richest gold area that the world has ever known.

In 1901, when Queen Victoria died, the six colonies Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia formed a Federal Commonwealth. It had a democratic government and Britain's royalty has only a ceremonial role. In 1927 the Government of Australia moved to Canberra (the aboriginal word for "meeting place"), which became the new capital of Australia.

Since 1909 the Government wanted to protect the Aborigines from the influences of the modern world. There were four phases: protection, assimilation, integration and self management.

The Aboriginal Protection Act of 1909 introduces powers to move people away from towns and reserves and leads to the institutionalisation of Aboriginal people. The Government had absolute authority over the Aborigines' daily lives and their aims, which included the care, custody and education of the children.

The so-called "Protection Law" denied the Aborigines several rights, such as voting and having any say over their lives. This made them dependent on reserve mangers for food, shelter and clothing.

In 1915 the Board was given control of Aboriginal children and the power to remove them from their families for training and indenture as domestic servants and farm labourers. This law also became known as the "Aborigines Persecution Board".

In 1918 the Board adopted a dispersal policy and expelled Aborigines who were not full-blood or half-caste from the reserves on the grounds that they were not aboriginal and should be part of the white community.

As a result, the number of Aborigines camping on the fringes of country towns swelled significantly, but they were not accepted by the townspeople.

As they were not welcome at other reserves or towns, these 'part-Aborigines' were forced to wander from place to place, often hundreds of miles from their traditional territory. This lasted until 1936 when the government recognised people with any mixture of Aboriginal blood as Aborigines.

After the failure of its dispersal policy, the Board introduced assimilation for adults. Aborigines and part-Aborigines were again concentrated on reserves to be trained to live in ways acceptable to the white community. This lasted from 1934 to 1939.

In the 1920s, a number of organisations lobbied for civil rights, self-determination and the abolition of the Aborigines Protection Board.

The Aborigines Act of 1940 introduces a new policy of 'assimilation'. The Protection Board is abolished and replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Board, which continued to close reserves and encourage people to move to town.

Since 1949 the Australian Citizenship Act gave Aboriginal people the right to vote in Commonwealth elections but only few Aborigines knew their rights and so only a few voted. In 1962 all Australian native people were given the right to vote. Five years later, they were recognized as citizens.

During the period of the Second World War, it is known that European settlers shot down indigenous people again. The belief that the Indigenous Australians would soon die out was widely held, even among Australians sympathetic to their situation. But those Indigenous Australians who had survived had acquired better resistance to imported diseases and birthrates began to rise.

In 1967 a referendum was held to change clauses in the Federal Constitution which discriminated Aboriginal people against. With the following changes Aborigines became recognized as Australian citizens, but it was still very difficult for them to fit in the modern community of the invaders.

2.4. The Stolen Generation

The Stolen Generation is a term used to describe the Australian Aboriginal children, usually of mixed descent, who were removed from their families by the Australian government and church missions. It took part between 1907 and officially 1969.

An Aboriginal woman, who was replaced as a child tells:

Years later, when I found my mother, I asked 'Why did you let me go?' My mother told me, in a very soft voice, 'My son, you were going to school. I took you to school every day then I went to pick you up this day and you were gone."

The reasons for these movements of the children were that the white people were afraid to loose their culture because of the Aborigines and they were of the opinion, that the 'full-blood' Aborigine would be unable to sustain itself. In foster-families, the children should learn the "white" was of life.

The aim was to culturally assimilate mixed-descent Aborigines into contemporary Australian society. Indigenous children, who were considered to be suitable to be assimilated, were taken away by force from their black mothers and put into orphanages or other institutions. These missions usually run by Europeans and were situated thousands of kilometres away form the children's' families.

The children were removed as young as possible, preferably at birth. The white people did not want them to really get to know their parents, their language and customs.

In the mission-camps, children were no longer allowed to speak their native language and often the missionaries used to change the children's aboriginal names to names of Christian origin.

Boys often had to work as labourers on farms, the girls had to work as domestic servants and many of them were punished and sexual abused.

2.5. The last years

In 1970 the Civil Right Movement started to fight peacefully for Aborigines, to have the same rights as the other Australians. As a symbol for the aborigianl unity and national identity they created an Aboriginal flag.

In 1982 Eddie Mabo, an Aboriginal was the first plaintiff who went to court to claim his land, to have rights over it. But only 11 years later (1993) the Aborigines got land rights. This decision was an important turning-point and is called "Mabo Act".

In the 1980s, 200 years after the British settlement, there were massive marches for "freedom, justice and hope" by Aborigines. 1988 was named "the year of Mourning", but the Indigenous Australians celebrated also their survival.

Since 1995, the Australian government tried to help people of the "stolen generation" to find their relatives. But the government never has apologized for what they have done to the Aborigines. In 1998 "Bringing them Home", a report with stories of the "Stolen Generation" was published, which was sold out immediately.

On 26 May 1998, the first "Day of Mourning" was held for the tragedies and losses suffered by Indigenous people.

Now each year, the "National Sorry Day" is celebrated with several concerts for the survival of Aboriginal culture.

Now there are several organisations, like f.e. "Link-Up", which work with adults who were separated from their families when they were children. They try to help separated Aboriginal people to find their families and the other way round.

Now Australia has an advanced Reconciliation movement to heal the pain of Australia's past. This includes events like in 2000 "The Walk for Reconciliation" across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where 300.000 took part.

3) Culture

3.1. Childhood

An Aboriginal child learned from its birth, how to cope with the material and non-material elements of his world. By the time the child had to learn how to become a full member of the group in which he was born. He had to get the knowledge to being able to keep alive and also the rules and traditions that governed his nomadic society.

When the children were very young, they were some kind of "spoilt" by the whole group and loved by all members of the tribe. But soon, each child had to begin to care for himself. Shortly after they learned to walk, the boys began to handle small spears and followed their fathers and the other men to watch them while they fished or made tools. Little girls began to follow their mothers, helping them and trying to copy what they saw from their "idols".

Beside the "practical side of life", they began to join in spiritual matters. They were taught how to dance in the right rhythms and were prepared for later participation in sacred and non-sacred rituals. The children began to learn songs and stories, which were passed on from generation to generation.

From early childhood to death, the Aborigines were continuously leaning more about the traditions of the past.

3.2. Adulthood

As the children reached puberty they began to take on greater responsibilities. To mark the transition from childhood special ceremonies were held.

For girls these ceremonies usually were quite simple, but they could be spectacular. Boys had to train intensivly over years in the traditions and mythology of the clan. In many tribes the focal point of the initiation of a boy was circumcision. From the point of view of the group, the boy became a full member of the society since his initiation. But however, a boy did not learn everything at his initiation. It was only the beginning of his adulthood and the door to the sacred life of the group.

After a boy's final initiation ceremonies, he could marry. The community of his tribe regarded him only as a fully-grown man, when he had a wife and sometimes a child. Since this moment he had an obligation for using the hunting skills he had leaned in childhood.

3.3. Religion

Nowadays over 70% of the Aborigines practise some form of Christianity, which the British settlers brought to Australia.

3.3.1. Dreamtime

Religion was related to the past, the present and future. The Dreamtime is the mythological past of the Aborigines. Dreamtime or dreaming is a word for their belief in which way the world was created.

It was the time when spirit ancestors had travelled throughout the land, giving it its physical form and setting down the rules to be followed by the Aborigines.

In the contrast to Christianity, in Aboriginal religions, the snake is the creator who was both revered and feared and who was called the "Great Rainbow Snake". The different status of the snake is just one of many differences between the religions of the Middle East, and the dreamtime religions of Australia.

From the serpents' body sprang the tribes, the animals and the birds of Australia.

One of the Dreamtime-stories is like following:

"The whole world was asleep. Everything was quiet, nothing moved, nothing grew. The animals slept under the earth. One day the rainbow snake woke up and crawled to the surface of the earth. She pushed everything aside that was in her way. She wandered through the whole country and when she was tired she coiled up and slept. So she left her tracks. After she had been everywhere she went back and called the frogs. When they came out their tubby stomachs were full of water. The rainbow snake tickled them and the frogs laughed. The water poured out of their mouths and filled the tracks of the rainbow snake. That's how rivers and lakes were created. Then grass and trees began to grow and the earth filled with life."

The dreamtime myths connected humans, animals, fish, birds, and the land within a vast network of relationships. The inter-connectivity could be seen as a kind of environmental protection philosophy. These relationships could be seen in totems.

Each Aboriginal and also each tribe identified with a certain animal and grouped himself according to this identification - his totem. Relationship with a totem meant a responsibility towards that totem - for example, people of a kangaroo totem might not kill kangaroos, and carry out special ceremonies to ensure the continued increase of the kangaroo.

As every tribe had a different totem, every Australian animal had a region where it was protected.

Aborigines believe some of the Ancestors metamorphosed into nature (as in rock formations or rivers), where they are still spiritually alive.

The dreamtime myths also conveyed a morality in regards to how the individual should live with other members of the tribe. As Aborigines had no written language, there was no written script to formally record taboos and myths. Instead, the religion was regenerated with paintings, stories, song poetry and ceremonies. Each of the Dreamtime stories is combines with colourful, symbolic and enthusiastic dancing, which bring the people into direct contact with the Ancestors.

Some sacred aspects of these stories and ceremonies were available only to initiated adult males. Women had their own sacred ceremonies from which men were excluded. But of course there were also ceremonies and songs in which the whole group joined men, women and children.

But since the arrival of the Europeans, in less than 200 years the Aboriginal traditional way of life and culture have been almost completely destroyed. Sadly, most white settlers were interested neither in the Aborigines themselves nor their culture.

3.3.2. Myths

There is no complex myth which is known in every area of Australia, but there are myths and legends based on heroes and ancestors who travelled through the country. The different tribes in the different areas of Australia have the same heroes but only tell about their actions in the area they live in. Myths and legends are used to explain nature and life as well as moral and rules. Myths explain things which cannot be4 explained and are part of every culture.

The Dreamtime is every myth's root. Some examples of myths are:

A blind woman (Mudungkala) had three children (the first humans); every where she put her feet water came out of the earth This was the reason why Australia was separated form the other land.

Once upon a time, there existed an old and terrible serpent called Thugine which shimmered in the colours of the rainbow. It lived in the sea and waited for children who wandered alone. Near the sea there was a camp where hunters lived. They also had two boys with them and warned them not to go down to the beach. But the day was very hot and when the hunters had left the camp, the two boys went down to the golden beach and played in the sand. When the men discovered the absence of the boys they ran down to the beach, but it was too late. Thugine had already turned the boys into rocks.

Myths are generally handed down from one generation to the other by word of mouth. Myths are often told during ceremonies. What is told depends on the storyteller and the audience. Very often myths are summarised in shorter stories.

An enormous problem is that the aborigines' languages are vanishing and that is the reason why a lot of myths also get lost.

3.4. Supernatural

As in every other society, also in Aboriginal societies were problems: droughts, people became sick or injured and they died. For almost every event supernatural forces were blamed and magic and rituals used to correct the situation.

The "medicine man" as a powerful man who tried to cure many physical illnesses, for example by natural medicines made from plants or roots.

It was the belief that the spirit was the primary source of illness - evil thoughts act fist on the spirit and the physical symptoms appear later.

Old people in Aboriginal society were respected for their wisdom and knowledge. When a person died the mourning customs and burial rights varied from region to region. The mourners freely expressed their sorrow and sometimes covered themselves in ochre and clay. The dead people were either buried, cremated, placed on platforms in trees of left in caves or rock shelters. Sometimes the bones were recovered and parts, such as the bone of the forearm, kept as relics for long periods.

3.5. Music

Aborigines developed unique instruments and folk styles. The didgeridoo is commonly considered the national instrument of Australian Aborigines, and it is claimed to be the world's oldest wind instrument. But the didgeridoo was only played in some areas of Australia and often only men were allowed to use it.

Clapping sticks probably were the more important musical instruments, because they helped to maintain the rhythm of a song.

Nowadays Aboriginal musicians use also elements of rock and roll, hip hop and reggae. One of the most well known modern bands is playing a style called "Aboriginal rock".

3.6. Art

Australia has a long tradition of Aboriginal art which is thousands of years old.

Art was regarded as an integral part of life and not only something that was decorative. Bodies were painted for ceremonies and the different designs, which had totemic significance, were taught to the young.

Rocks were engraved and became one of the few art forms of the Aborigines to survive. Designs were painted on the walls of rock shelters.

"Bark paining" is the most well known Aboriginal art form but could only be done in areas where trees with suitable bark were available. The typical colours, which were made from rocks, clay and other natural materials were red, brown, black and white.

Paintings told stories and the only way to keep a record of the Aborigines' daily lives and religious beliefs. They reflected also what was happening around them. The Aborigines drew the animals of the area and later also showed the contact with other peoples, such as the Macassans.

The Aboriginal Art plays also an important role in rituals. They painted sacred symbols on their bodies and also in caves on rocks. Sacred stories and myths were passed on through these paintings.

The art varies in different parts of the country. In the North the people only painted sketches. In the centre of Australia the tribes conserved prints from humans and animals in the sand.

Modern Aboriginal artists continue the tradition using modern materials in their artworks. Aboriginal art is the most internationally recognisable form of Australian art.

Nowadays the sacred Aboriginal Art is sold all over the world because of economical pressure from "outside" (European influence).

3.7. Astronomy

For many Aboriginal cultures, the night sky is a central repository of stories and law. Song lines can be traced through the sky as well as through the land, and the stories and songs associated with the sky are a main part of the Aboriginal cultural.

This cultural astronomy is said to be the origin of European or Asian astronomy, so that Indigenous Australians have been called the "world's first astronomers".

3.8. Sacred places and things

"Tjuringas" are very special sacred stones and often represent the owner's totem animal or his spirit. Some tribes made wooden tjuringas which they also used as "bullroarers". The name bullroarer comes from the noise they produce when you tie them on a piece of string and swing them in circles around the head. This noise was used to keep unwanted people away from sacred ceremonies and areas.

3.8.1. Ayers Rock - The Sacred Mountain

Aborigines have many holy places like hills and rivers or rocks. They believe that nobody, except members of their tribe, should touch this land. But since the arrival of the white settlers the Aborigines were not able to save their sacred places.

One of the most well known sacred places is for example is Ayer's Rock which is called Uluru by the Aborigines. Ayers Rock is Australia's most famous tourist attraction. Half a million people from all around the world visit this solitary rock formation each year.

The world's largest monolith is 3.6 km long, 2 km wide and rises 318 meters above the desert floor. It is made of arkosic sandstone and is renowned for the way it changes colour in the light and is particularly spectacular at sunrise and sunset.

The Aborigines believe that there is a hollow below the ground with a sacred energy source, which they call "Tjukurpa".

Ayers Rock was and still sometimes is a place, where sacred ceremonies were performed. The caves in the mountains were also used to paint stories or certain events, which should be passed on to later generations.

Uluru was named "Ayers Rock" by an European Explorer in 1973. In the 1980s the Australian Federal government considered in its wisdom that the future of Australia would best be served by giving Ayers Rock to the indigenous aboriginals and then leasing it back. It is now under aboriginal management and is a National Park.

In May 2006 Ayers Rock was closed for the public. For eleven days no tourists were allowed near the rock. The Aborigines performed a sacred ceremony for one of their clan leaders. They came to Uluru to mourn his death. Like it was done long ago before4 Australia was discovered by white people.

4) The situation of the Aborigines today

4.1. The Aboriginal Flag

The Aboriginal flag is divided horizontally into two equal halves of black (top) and red (bottom), with a yellow circle in the centre. The black symbolises Aboriginal people and the yellow represents the sun, the constant renewer of life. Red depicts the earth and also represents ochre, which is used by Aboriginal People in ceremonies.

4.2. Population

In 2001 the population of Indigenous Australians was about 458.520 people, which are 2.4% of Australia's total population. Most of them are not "full-blood Aborigines" but of mixed descent. The State with the largest total Aboriginal population is New South Wales.

The majority of Aborigines do not live in separate communities away from the rest of the Australian population. They live in cities, rural towns and most of them in urban areas. Only a few still practise the aboriginal way of life.

4.3. Political Representation

Indigenous Australians gained the right to vote in Federal elections in 1965. But it took a long time that they were accepted as applicants for elections.

But only two Indigenous Australians have been elected to the Australian Parliament and currently there are no elected Indigenous Australians in the Australian Parliament.

The current and former governments have repeatedly refused to apologise to Aboriginal communities for policies such as that of the stolen generation.

4.4. Problems

Aborigines are not still treated like other Australians. They have lots of problem and have to suffer from many disadvantages.

There are several reasons for these problems, so f.e. discrimination, poor education, substance abuse (such as smoking, alcohol, drugs), for some communities poor access to health services, social pressure which prevents urbanised Aborigines to health services, good education,.!

Most Aborigines do not see any solutions for their problems and for their lives.

4.4.1. Health

Indigenous Australians are more likely to become ill as other Australians. A white person can expect to live for 72 years, an Aborigine for only 56.

A number of Indigenous communities suffer from a range of health and social problems associated with substance abuse of both legal and illegal drugs.

The problems began with the help of the white people: The white felt guilty of the cruel events of the last years and so they give the Aborigines money to bye f.e. alcohol to be able to relax and to drink themselves into oblivion.

Alcohol often causes violence and social problems within the community. The Aborigines began to harm themselves and others. So many organizations came into existence to prevent the Aborigines of alcohol-abuse and other illegal drugs.

4.4.2. Education

In general, Indigenous students leave school earlier and with a lower standard of education, compared with their non-indigenous colleges.

Although the situation is slowly improving, the levels of participation in education among Indigenous students are well below those of non-indigenous Australians.

Only 39% of indigenous students stay on to year 12 at high school, compared to 75% for the Australian population as a whole.

Only 22% of indigenous adults have a vocational or higher education qualification, compared to 48% for the Australian population as a whole.

Only 4% of Indigenous Australians held a bachelor degree or higher, compared to 21% for the population as a whole.

4.4.3. Crime

An Indigenous Australian is 11 times more likely to be in prison than a non-Indigenous Australian. In 2003, 20% of prisoners in Australia were Indigenous.

Violent crime, in particular domestic and sexual abuse, is a problem in many Aboriginal communities.

An Indigenous Australian is twice likely to be a victim of violence than a non-Indigenous Australian.

An estimated three in five children have suffered some kind of sexual abuse in the southeast Queensland Aboriginal community. Since May 2006 child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities is declared a 'National problem'.

4.4.4. Unemployment and Housing

An Indigenous Australian is almost three times more likely to be unemployed than a non-Indigenous Australian. Unemployment is higher in Indigenous Australian populations living in urban centres.

The average household income for Indigenous Australian populations is 60% of the non-Indigenous average. Indigenous Australians are 6-fold more likely to be homeless and 25-fold more likely to be living with 10 or more people.

Structure

1) Definition

1.1. The Term

1.2. Languages

2) History

2.1. Origins

2.2. Before the European arrival

2.2.1. Climate/Animals

2.2.2. A perfect Environment

2.2.3. Gatherers

2.2.4. Hunters

2.3. Impact of the European settlement

2.3.1. The First Sightings

2.3.2. Macassans

2.3.3. Captain James Cook

2.3.4. Colonisation

2.4. The Stolen Generation

2.5. The last years

3) Culture

3.1. Childhood

3.2. Adulthood

3.3. Religion

3.3.1. Dreamtime

3.3.2. Myths

3.4. Supernatural

3.5. Music

3.6. Art

3.7. Astronomy

3.8. Sacred places and things

4) Situation of the Aborigines today

4.1. The Aboriginal Flag

4.2. Population

4.3. Political Representation

4.4. Problems
                        4.4.1.Health

4.4.2. Education

4.4.3. Crime

4.4.4. Unemployment and Housing

References

• https://www.convictcreations.com/
• https://www.apex.net.au/~mhumphry/#main1
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians
• Documents of Mrs. Kastner
• "The elements of the aborigine tradition" by James G Cowan
• Film: "A long walk home"