Aborigine History & Culture

Migration  Aborigines were the first inhabitants of Australia. They are believed to be from South East Asia, and may have arrived around 40,000 years ago. The Aborigines are the longest on-going culture in the world.  Aborigines have tried hard to preserve their history and culture and share it with their children.

When Europeans arrived in Australia there were over 750,000 Aborigines. Most were forced to move to the interior of Australia, Because of expanding colonial settlements taking their lands. The Aborigines had to hunt and gather, and they learned to raise sheep. Europeans excluded Aborigines from participating in government. Over half of the Aborigines died from fighting or exposure to European diseases. Today, ONLY 1% OF AUSTRALIA’S POPULATION ARE ABORIGINES.

Culture - The behaviors and belief characteristics of a particular social or ethnic group. Where do they live in Australia? In modern cities and the Outback What type of language do they speak? The Aborigines have between different forms of language Boomerangs were originally used as a weapon to hunt kangaroos. Now boomerangs are used more for sport/games

What kind of food do they eat?  They still hunt and gather for food in the Outback  In the cities, they eat modern foods like us

What do they do for fun? Boomerang, dance, music…they do a lot of the same things we do for fun What is their religion? They have many different gods. These gods sometimes change between tribes. Gods are often shown as land features, animals or plants. They often chant and dance during ceremonies. Women are separate from men and have their own ceremonies. Dreamtime – belief that it is the time of creation when the gods created land forms and made the first animals and plants. Dreamtime is a big part of Aboriginal art.

What are some Aborigine traditions?  Dot Painting  painting their faces white for religious ceremonies  Spiritual dances  Totem poles

Dot painting - consists of various paint colours like yellow (the sun), brown (the soil), red (desert sand) and white (the clouds and the sky). These are traditional Aboriginal colours. Dot paintings can be painted on anything though in aboriginal times they used to paint dot pictures on rocks, caves etc. Mostly Indigenous Australians painted nature like animals or lakes and of course, the dreamtime. They used to paint stories and legends on caves and rocks to represent their religion

Totems – poles with art that reflects a family or tribal group.

Education?  Many aborigines do not finish high school.  87% of rural Aborigines struggle to read and write  Some of the rural people live in huts  Their standard of living is lower than most people in Australia

 Because of the low literacy rate, the lower standard of living, many Aborigines work for low wages.  Some work in the Outback/Ayers Rock as tour guides for the national parks.

Native American History  The men were hunters, warriors, and protectors, while the women tended to the children, their homes, and farmed. It depended on the tribe when it came to artwork. In some tribes, the men would actually weave baskets and blankets. Natural foods were consumed and hunted. Deer, buffalo, fish, and various birds were the game of choice. Corn, beans, squash, berries, nuts, and melons were the fruits and vegetables that were consumed. Berries were also often used as a natural dye for fabrics.  The Native American Indians were forced out of their homeland, prompting such legendary stories as the Trail of Tears. Eventually many simply adopted the European way of dress and even religion, with many Indians converting over to Christianity. Today, there are approximately 560 federally recognized Native American tribes within the United States. Many face problems such as poverty, alcohol abuse, and heart disease.  Today, only 1.2% of the population in the United States are Native Americans  "Civilizing" the Children  Boarding schools were established as the government's attempt to "civilize" the Native American children according to Western culture. Children as young as four years old were taken away from their families and sent hundreds of miles away for months or years at a time.  "Don't kill the man, but kill the Indian in the man. That's exactly what the boarding schools were intended to do," explains Rick West.  Government Imposed Restrictions  In the 1800s, the government forced Native Americans from their fertile land onto barren reservations. Rick says these desolate places were never intended to be economically viable and became areas of intense poverty. "They wanted our cultures broken up. Breaking up our land base was one way of doing that, because of our spiritual attachment to the lands on which we live.“  Losing a Culture  Native Americans welcomed Europeans who came to America, but were then betrayed and viewed as savages by these newcomers.