Aboriginal Life Year 8 History

Childhood Children were very important people in Aboriginal tribes. The young children helped to gather food and older boys learnt to hunt with the men. They learnt about their place in the tribe by listening to the elders.

Childhood The elders told them about the Dreaming, the tribal laws and how to care for the land. The children had toys such as spinning tops and toy spears. They would join in some of the dancing and play in the bush or water on hot days

Marriage Marriage was often arranged by the elders soon after the girl was initiated into adulthood There were no marriage ceremonies The young woman would just move into her husbands camp. Divorce was not allowed There were harsh punishments for people who broke the marriage laws.

Examples of Aboriginal Rock Art

Death Death was seen as the person returning to their Dreaming During the funeral, songs were sung to help the person’s spirit find rest back in the land In some tribes, the person’s name was not allowed to be spoken for some time- until their spirit had time to find rest

Initiation Initiation marked the time in the life of a child when he or she became an adult in the tribe For girls is was at age 13 They were told about their sacred sites and how to look after the land

Initiation cont…. For boys, they were about 16 years old they were told the Dreaming, laws and were taught self-discipline. Boys often cut their chests with sharp rocks to show that they were initiated into adulthood.

Initiation cont….. The initiation ceremonies were very important in the Aboriginal culture The children were initiated into adulthood by tribal elders. Some ceremonies took place in bora rings

Elders Elders were the older, wiser men in the tribe. These men knew all the Dreaming stories. The elders organised the different ceremonies of the tribe and passed on the traditions and culture