1. UNIT 3: Relationships with Outdoor Environments
Area of Study 1
Historical Relationships with Outdoor Environments

2. We all have different relationships with the Outdoors
What message did you get from watching the clip?

3. Human-nature relationships
What we mean by relationships with the environment. Below is a diagram that represents. Perceptions of, interactions with and impacts on outdoor environments are part of an interconnected understanding of these relationships.
**YOU NEED TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THIS DIAGRAM BACK to FRONT

4. Human-nature relationships
How we INTERACT with the environment effects our PERCEPTIONS of it and the IMPACTS we have on it.
Our PERCEPTIONS of the environment influence our INTERACTIONS with it and IMPACTS we leave on it.
The IMPACTS we have on the environment alter our PERCEPTIONS of it and INTERACTIONS with it.
E.g. A farmer thinks (perception) of the environment as a resource,
where a profit can be made. So what he does (interaction) is cultivates the
land and plants crops. He effects (impact) the land by clearing it to make fields
and putting in irrigation channels.
Other Examples from your own practice?

5. What are Relationships???
Perceptions - What we think
Interactions – What we Do
The Impacts – The effects
What sort of ‘Relationship’ do you have with the environment?
Does it change depending on the place you go? Why / Why not?

6. Future Eaters Tim Flannery
Watch ‘The Future Eaters Part 1: Taming the fire’ 55 mins
Answer the questions in your Work book

7. Relationships with Australian outdoor environments expressed by: specific Indigenous communities before and after European colonisation

8. How did humans come to Australia
Watch: The Incredible Human Journey - Part 4 – Australia (YOU TUBE) from 38 mins to end or own research if you cant watch this
Questions:
What countries did humans take to get to Australia?
How did they do this?
What difficulties were they faced
with?
What was their initial thoughts
of the land?

9. Victorian Indigenous Groups
What Indigenous group belong to Werribee?
What Indigenous group belong to the Surf Coast?

10. Indigenous people and the land
PERCEPTIONS
Custodians of the land – responsible of looking after the land. Trees/Animals/water/rocks (NO ONE OWNED THE LAND)
KINSHIP – Affinity/closeness with the land (the land owns us)
Deep Spiritual connection
Constantly surrounded by, and communicating with their ancestors

11. Interactions / Practices
OVERVIEW:
Seasonal Migration (nomadism)
Fire Use
Hunting / Gathering Food
Use of Trees
Shelter and Shade
Finding Water
Use of the Sea

12. SEASONAL MIGRATION Significant form of conservation
Nomad lifestyle (not living in one place)
Migratory circuit of each group followed:
- same route
- same time/season of the year
No fences
WHY DID INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE MOVE AROUND
THE SURFCOAST?
Show ‘6 seasons’ clip from Brambuk Centre

13. SEASONAL MIGRATION Benefits for the environment:
- Grasses, fruits, insects and animals build up in the area (never depleted, only took what they needed)
- Earth ovens
- Varied diet to include everything in the area (seasonal)
- Sufficient seeds to ensure regrowth of grasses needed
- Rarely killed the young of any animals or female still raising her young
- If bird nest was robbed, some eggs
would be left to hatch

14. SEASONAL MIGRATION Preserving skills that include:
- flesh of some animals cut into strips and dried
- Stone fruits were dried and stored. Later soaked and poached for eating.
- Large supplies of nuts were buried in the sand
Aboriginal people preserved perfect harmony
60,000 yrs of occupation of Aust, very few animal species became extinct

15. USE OF FIRE Essential to the Indigenous People - cooking
- communication (smoke)
- hunting
- warmth
- keep insects away

16. FIRESTICK FARMING
‘FIRE-STICK FARMING’ refers to the consistent and repeated use of fire to clear vegetation in a particular area. This was normally done in mosaic formation
Benefits of firestick farming:
1. Renew the land
Ashes from the fire fertilize the soil
- opportunity for growth of fresh plants
- attracted more animals for hunting

17. FIRESTICK FARMING Benefits of firestick farming continued……
2. Clear vegetation to make it easier to travel from one location to the other
3. Prevent Wild fires

18. Hunting and Gathering food
Living off the land
Men hunted and women gathered
Hunted – killing of animals for food
Gathering – collecting wild fruit, vegetables, roots, nuts, grasses and other edible plants
Hunting equipment included spears, boomerangs and trap
What did men and women of the Wathawurrung people hunt and gather?

19. Hunting and Gathering food
No waste philosophy
Every part of an animal was eaten or used – eg dried kangaroo tendons were used to make spears

20. USE OF TREES
Aboriginal people of all areas utilised every aspect of trees available to them
Remarkably non-destructive and organised way

21. USES OF TREES Timber needed for: - tools - weapons - water travel
- food (shrubs / flowers)
- shelter
- music(digeridoo / sticks)

22. Boab Tree Found only in WA Kimberley area Protected Species
Used for its:
Roots
Flower / Fruit
Nuts
Leaves (trees knew when the rain was coming and would shoot leaves for the first rain)
Shelter
Later became prisons for the

23. SHELTER and SHADE
From intense heat of the daytime and cold nights – finding shelter essential
Aboriginals built no permanent dwellings
- used whatever they could find on the landscape
Homes were primitive, simple and easily built.
Provided a comfortable shelter in all weather

24. FINDING WATER Vital survival skill was the ability to find water
Because of the dryness and lack of rain waterholes/billabongs or rivers were few and far between
Forced to find water where none was visible
Used natural human senses to find (hearing, sight, smell)
Certain plants contain water in their roots

25. METHODS OF FINDING WATER
Lie down on the sand and listen for the sound of water underground
Scan the horizon to see the vague shimmering of heat vapours above the land indicated water near by
Sense of smell so accurate many could locate water by a faint whiff of odour in the air
From Mallee Roots

26. USE OF THE SEA A great source of food Cleaning purposes
Shells from the shore used as:
- utensils / cutting tools
- spear points
- toys
- ornaments

27. Dreamtime stories Dance Music (Yothu Yindi, Xavier Rudd)
Painting (dreaming tracks / stories)
Secret sites
Tells what plants can be used as medicines (Medicine from the land) – eg. tooth ache, warts removal, disinfectant

28. Messages by symbols

29. Ten Canoes How Canoes are traditionally made
What methods were used?

30. INDIGENOUS IMPACTS

31. Positive Impacts Little or minimal impact on the land
Sustainable living – only resourced what they needed rather than excess
Creation of Grasslands/Open woodlands
Less devastating wildfires

32. Negative Impacts Possible extinction of Mega fauna
Selection of Eucalypts over rain forest plants
Introduction of dingo – impact on mainland

33. In Conclusion….
Indigenous people always respected the environment around them ‘at one’
Took only enough to feed their own people and never over hunted or over collected in any one area
Only stayed in the one area for a short period of time to ensure food for the next season or next group

34. Indigenous Relationships
AFTER EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT

35. After the Arrival of Europeans
Indigenous people’s perception of the environment DID NOT change after European Settlement
They still considered themselves as custodians of the land (caretakers)
Continued their deep spiritual connection with the land

36. After the Arrival of Europeans
Indigenous communities we encouraged to relocate and later forcibly removed
Nomadic movement was discouraged by roads, fences and permanent structures
Fire-stick farming was stopped for being too dangerous to homes and livestock
Sacred sites destroyed
Many indigenous communities were murdered by landowners or newly formed police/governments

37. Contemporary Indigenous Australians
Poor physical health
Mental health
Low education
Low income levels
High alcohol and drug use
Lower life expectancy
What led to these problems????
Reduced access to land and sacred sites
Relocation of whole communities
Loss of traditional practices

38. Contemporary Aboriginals
By the 1930s, white Australians were no longer attempting to provide the Indigenous population with an education that they could take back to their community. Instead, a policy of assimilation was beginning to emerge.
Assimilation was designed to integrate Aboriginal people into white society by forcing them to live in the same way and hold the same beliefs and values as white Australians.
This led to the even further diminution (reduction) of traditional Aboriginal culture. The most unfortunate aspect of the assimilation policy was that it led to many children being forcibly taken away from their parents and families and placed in foster care or group homes. These children have become known as the Stolen Generation.

39. How have Contemporary Aboriginals changed?
Perceptions have stayed the same – care and protect the environment
Act in Sustainable ways (land managers work with government organisations to pass on knowledge of land management practices)
Protecting Cultural and Heritage Sites (paintings etc)
Education – many work with Parks Vic, or other education groups to pass on knowledge (eg Brambuk)
Mental Health is an issue – losing their IDENTITY
Forced to live the way Europeans lived
Women were raped, and European men were allowed up to 5 Indigenous wives (often against their will)
Aboriginals have been fighting to keep their traditions and this has improved their mental health.
Some are forced into poverty – reliant on alcohol – negative