AUSTRALIA - Aboriginal Anthropology

Australian Aborigines And Their Culture

Aborigines came to Australia from the north probably more than 18,000 years ago. They
migrated during the last Ice Age, when the spreading polar ice caps took up so much water
that the general sea-level fell, exposing more land. They crossed at least two stretches of
water in canoes or on rafts. Aborigines are classified as Australoids, a stock distinct from the
three main groups of mankind: the Caucasoid (typified by the European), the Negroid
(typified by the African Negro) and the Mongoloid (typified by the Chinese). As a distinct
type, the Australoids probably became differentiated in South-east Asia and possibly in the
Malay Archipelago. There are isolated groups of people in Asia and the west Pacific with
physical resemblances to the Aborigines. these include some Aboriginal hill tribes of Southern
India, the Veddas of Ceylon, and the Sakai of Malaysia. There are also traces of Australoid
groups in Celebes and New Guinea. Moreover, archaeology points to their presence probably
thirty thousand years ago in Java. the dingo, which the Aborigines brought with them to
Australia, is believed to be related to the paraiah dog of India.

Although all Aborigines share common features, there appear to be somewhat different
regional types. They all have dark brown skin and dark wavy hair, are of about medium height
and slender build, and have a very erect, graceful carriage. However, some are shorter, lighter-
skinned, and have rather curly hair; others are of medium height and heavy physique, with
high foreheads and high-bridged noses; others again have darker colouring, flat noses and are
tall and slim. These types might indicate separate migrations into Australia by different
peoples, but this is unproven and many authorities believe the Aborigines are homogeneous -
that is, from the same stock. They attribute the different 'types' on the one hand to special
environments and diets and on the other to genetic variation and selection. Although some
northern coastal tribes had a long history of sporadic contact with people from Macassar and
possibly other parts of the Indies, most Aborigines for many millennia were isolated from the
rest of mankind.

The Tasmanians were a negritoid group with a rather simpler material culture than the
Australians. It is not known how they came to Tasmania. Their canoes may have been blown
from the New Hebrides or they may have entered Australia from the north and later been
driven across Bass Strait by the Australians. They became extinct late last century but some
part-Tasmanians survive. When the Aborigines arrived in Australia men all over the world
used stone tools and were nomadic hunters and food collectors, as they had been for hundreds
of thousands of years. Domestications of animals and cultivation of crops began about 10,000
years ago in Europe. Civilisation as we know it began only about 5,000 years ago, when
farmers in very fertile areas around the Eastern Mediterranean began to produce sufficient
surplus food which allowed some people to specialise as craftsmen, merchants and priests.
Metals were first used in Asia and Egypt at about this time, but not in Europe until about
3,000 years ago.

The Aborigines did not develop along similar lines; they never became food-producers but
remained hunters, collectors and makers of stone, bone, shell and wooden implements. The
main reasons for this were their unsuitable environment and their isolation. Australia had no
indigenous animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, horses or asses which could be herded for
food supplies or used as beasts of burden or draught. It had no indigenous grain foods which
could be cultivated. The Aborigines were also largely denied the stimulating effect of
intercourse with developing societies. They were entirely dependent on nature and were
constantly on the move in search of food and water. Since there is a limit to the kinds and
yields of foods which nature will reduce without assistance, they were never a numerous
people; mere handfuls were scattered across a great continent cut off from the rest of the
world. At the time of European settlement there were no more than 300,000 Aborigines in
Australia, an average population density of one person per 10 to 15 square miles.

They were divided into about 500 regional groups or tribes, ranging in size from perhaps 100
to 1,500 persons. A tribe has been defined for Australia as a group of Aborigines having in
common a language or dialect, a body of similar customs and beliefs and occupying a fairly
definite territory. In several parts of the continent, especially in good environments, there
were not clear-cut 'tribal' divisions. there might be several dialects within larger tribes (e.g.
there are four or five Aranda dialects) and tribes otherwise distinct might speak closely related
dialects. Again, adjacent tribes might share almost identical customs, and portions of different
tribes might make common use at times of one tract of country. Generally speaking, the
numbers of a tribe believed themselves related through descent from common ancestors, who
brought their pre-existent spirits to the regions where they were later born. Because of this,
they considered themselves tied to the territory which in the long past was inhabited, and
given its natural characteristics, by these ancestors who were credited with super-human
abilities. The size of tribal territories varied with the fertility of the country, ranging from a
few hundred square miles often with relatively well-defined boundaries in coastal areas, to
large areas in the arid regions, such as the 25,000 square miles of the Aranda in central
Australia. In these cases, tribal territories were sometimes separated by useless country - a
kind of 'no man's land'.
Because of the relatively small numbers, became each tribe lived in comparative isolation,
and because the environments differed so greatly, life varied somewhat from region to region
although it had a common basic pattern. Except for short periods and in good seasons, people
who lived off the country could not live in groups several hundred strong. Logically,
therefore, a tribe consisted of several hunting and food-gathering hands or 'hordes', each of
which had its own recognized 'country', and each of which consisted of several generations of
related men and their wives and children. Such a band probably never numbered more than
about 50, and in desert areas was much smaller. In good times several hordes sometimes
might remain together for considerable periods. Each horde normally had as its nucleus a
small descent-group or 'clan'. the members of this clan had religious ties with a series of
sacred sites in its own part of the tribal territory. This area was their spiritual home and men of
the local group were its ceremonial guardians.

The horde generally ranged over the country surrounding its sacred sits, but was free to move
more widely. by agreement it could cross the hunting areas of other hordes and frequently
shared the use of their resources. Tribal economy was a hunting and collecting one, but the
Aborigines did not wander aimlessly about the countryside. They exploited their territory in
accordance with definite routines determined by the seasonal supply of food and water. They
took care not to waste precious or scarce resources. Totemic and other religious and social
taboos served in some measure to protect useful plants and animals. The Aborigines' attitude
was expressed very clearly in their religion; it was one of active co-operation with the
rhythms, patterns and structure of nature. For many thousands of years they maintained a
delicate balance between man and environment. Food collecting depended on the seasons and,
up to a point, so did large-scale social activity. The ripening of the bunya pine nuts in central
Queensland and the breeding of the bogong moth in New South Wales were occasions for
groups of Aborigines, more than 1,000 strong, to come together. These were times of great
excitement and activity - feasting, trading, the performance of ceremonies and rites, learning
new customs, meeting old friends, and settling old scores. The social season in parts of central
Australia was summer, when the smaller water holes dried up and the people were obliged to
converge on permanent waters.

Aborigines were limited to the range of foods occurring naturally in their area, but they knew
exactly when, where and how to find everything edible. Anthropologists and nutrition experts
who studied the tribal diet in Arnhem Land found it to be well-balanced, with most of the
nutrients modern dietitians recommend. But food was not obtained without effort. In some
areas both men and women had to spend from half to two-thirds of each day hunting or
foraging for food. Each day the women of the horde went into successive parts of one
countryside, with wooden digging sticks and plaited dilly bags or wooden coolamons. They
dug yams and edible roots and collected fruits, berries, seeds, vegetables and insects. They
killed lizards, bandicoots and other small creatures with digging sticks. The men went
hunting. Small game such as birds, opossums, lizards and snakes were often taken by hand.
Larger animals and birds such as kangaroos and emus were seared or disabled with a thrown
club, boomerang, or stone. Many indigenous devices were used to get within striking distance
of prey. The men were excellent trackers and stalkers and approached their prey running
where there was cover, or 'freezing' and crawling in the open. They were careful to stay
downwind, and sometimes covered themselves with mud to disguise their smell.

Frequently disguises were used. Mud also served as camouflage, or the hunter held a bush in
front of him while stalking in the open. He glided through water with a bunch of rushes or a
lily-leaf over his head until he was close enough to pull down a water-bird. He prepared
'hides' and, with bait or birdcalls, lured birds to within grabbing distance. He attracted emus,
which are inquisitive birds, by imitating their movements with a stick and a bunch of feathers
or some other simple device. Fish were sometimes taken by hand by stirring up the muddy
bottom of a pool until they rose to the surface, or by pacing the crushed leaves of poisonous
plants in the water to stupefy them. Fish were sometimes taken by hand by stirring up the
muddy bottom of a pool until they rose to the surface, or by placing the crushed leaves of
poisonous plants in the water to stupefy them. Fish spears, nets, wicker or stone traps were
also used in different areas. Lines with hooks made from bone, shell, wood or spines were
used along the north and east coasts. Dugong, turtle and large fish were harpooned, the
harpooner launching himself bodily from the canoe to give added weight to the thrust.
Hunting was frequently organised on co-operative lines. Groups of men combined to drive
animals into a line of spearsmen, a brush-fence, or large nets. Sometimes a U-shaped area was
fenced and the trapped animals killed. Animals were also trapped in snares, pits, and partly-
enclosed water-holes. there was a fairly clear division of labour between the sexes in food-
collecting, but this was not rigidly maintained. The main concern was to get food. The
women's work may appear monotonous drudgery, but it was usually easier than the men's.
Hunting was arduous, and the men often had to walk, run, or crawl long distances. In poor
country the men often returned empty-handed but the women invariably collected something -
perhaps only a few roots and tiny lizards - but sufficient to tide the family over. Inland, the
quest for water was a life and death matter. Aborigines survived where others would perish.
they knew all the water holes and soaks in their area. They drained dew, and obtained water
from certain trees and roots. They even dug up and squeezed out frogs which store water in
their bodies.

Very little effort went into the preparation of food and much was eaten raw. Meat was cooked
quickly on fires, in hot coals and ashes, or in ovens scooped in the earth. roots were pounded,
and seeds ground between stones, winnowed, and made into cakes or loaves. Some foods,
such as certain yams and the fruit of the cycad palm, were pounded or sliced, soaked in water
(to remove poison) and dried or roasted. Most of the foods available could not be stored under
bush conditions, and generally Aborigines were ignorant of food preservation. In a few areas,
however, some types of food were preserved - fruits were sun-dried and stored in north
Queensland and the Great Victoria Desert, fish were smoked along the lower River Murray
and around some rivers in the Northern Territory, strips of kangaroo were sun-dried in some
central desert areas, and nuts and grass seeds were stored underground in other places. Fire
was made by friction and percussion. A common method was the fire drill. The operator
twirled a hardwood stick into a softwood base until enough smouldering powder was
produced to be tipped into a handful of dry grass and tinder, where it was blown into a flame.
The same result was achieved by sawing a piece of hardwood such as a mulga woomera
(spear thrower) across a cleft in a piece of softwood such as a bean-wood shield.
Because Aborigines were constantly on the move they limited their possessions to a
minimum. they did not need permanent houses but built temporary shelters ranging from a
simple windbreak of branches, bark or stones to a fairly substantial 'wet season' hut,
rectangular and built of poles and sheets of bark, with a raised floor below which a fire was
kept smoking to discourage mosquitoes. Aborigines generally preferred to go naked, rubbing
their bodies with animal fat as a protection against cold wind and insects and sleeping at night
between small fires. Ornaments were popular, and seeds, shells, string, feathers, teeth, animal
tails, claws and bones were fashioned into head bands, necklets, armbands, girdles and
pendants. Some tribes wore a small apron made from fur or human-hair string and in the
south of the continent cloaks of sewn skins were worn in cold weather. The main weapons and
implements were the spear, spear-thrower, club, boomerang, shield, stone axe and knife. there
were many regional variations of each.

Spears measured up to about ten feet in length and varied, according to purpose, from light
three-ronged fishing spears, through medium and heavy hunting and fighting weapons, to
elaborately carved ceremonial spears. Hand-thrown spears were made of a single length of
hardwood pointed and sometimes barbed at one end. Most spears, however, had a hollow or
light wood shaft fitted with a stone or hardwood head. They were made to be thrown with a
woomera, which acted as a lever, giving the spear greater velocity, accuracy and range. Clubs
were of hardwood with wooden or stone heads and were made in a variety of sizes, from great
two-handed sword sticks used in personal combat, to short throwing sticks which were used
throughout the continent. The best known type of throwing-stick was the boomerang. The
returning boomerang was made only in the east and west and was unknown to Aborigines in
the centre and north. It was mainly a plaything, although it was sometimes thrown into a flock
of birds. the non-returning boomerang was a larger, heavier weapon with a shallower curve,
sometimes with a hook at one end, and was often thrown to bounce along the ground. Some
tribes did not use the boomerang at all.

Shields fanged from a very narrow, hardwood type to a slab of softwood up to five feet long.
Knives, axes, spearheads and a variety of pointed or edged tools such as adzes, chisels,
scrapers, borers and saws were made from stone, by knapping - striking or prising off flakes -
or grinding. In some areas needles were made from fish or animal bones. Containers included
dilly bags, plaited and woven from pandanus fibre or various grasses (in some parts of
northern Australia these were woven so tightly that honey and even water could be carried in
them); pitchis or coolamons (shallow wooden dishes); bark baskets joined with wax, gum or
cord, and animal skins in which all openings but the neck were sealed or tied off. Watercraft
ranged from simple log or bark floats, used once for crossing a river and then abandoned, to
the dugout canoes used along the northern coasts. The latter were probably copied from those
of Macassan visitors. A few had large Macassan-type sails woven from pandanus palm leaves.
Along Cape York Peninsula dugouts measured up to 50 feet long and were fitted with
outriggers, an idea probably copied from new Guinea via Torres Strait.

The lack of raw materials such as ochre, stone or suitable wood for weapons in some areas led
to barter between groups. But there were other forms of material transactions: gifts were given
as part of kinship and marriage obligations, to settle grievances or debts, and in return for
social and ritual services. Gift-giving strengthened kinship and friendship ties, and sustained
social contacts and exchange of ideas between groups. Except in outright barter, the fact of
giving was always more important than the gift, which might even be reciprocated with an
identical object. When barter and exchange are looked at on an Australia-wide basis, a
number of major trade routes can be plotted. Along these, objects were traded over long
distances. Pearl shell ornaments travelled east and south from the Kimberleys right across
Australia to Eyre Peninsula and Eucla, while back to the Kimberleys from the east came
spears, boomerangs, red ochre, and other goods.
Because Aborigines had a live in small groups, and because in poor seasons survival was
precarious, the groups kept in touch with each other as much as possible in order to have a full
and satisfying social life. These needs were formalised in an elaborate social organisation
between a great many inter-related social groups. Aborigines extended family-type
relationships throughout, and even beyond, the whole tribe. They used a classificatory kinship
system - a limited number of relationship terms extended to cover all persons. thus, a father's
brothers were also called 'father' and their children were classed as 'brothers' and 'sisters'. The
number of classes of relatives varied from about fourteen to about thirty two. A definite code
of bahaviour was prescribed for each class of kin. For example a man was not permitted to
look at or speak to any woman classed as his 'mother-in-law', although in the case of his wife's
own mother he was obliged to make gifts to her, and to take her art in a dispute. In this way a
person's general behaviour towards everyone with whom he came in contact was, to some
extent, ordained. the strength of the behavioural codes diminished with the distance - spatial
or genealogical - between relatives.

Obligation and reciprocity were important aspects of kin behaviour. A hunter always shared
his kill among his relatives, sometimes according to fixed rules. Each relative, however, was
obliged to reciprocate when able to do so. there was a positive ideal of generous sharing and
return. No member of the group ever went without if others could help. Other forms of social
grouping were associated with or expressed the kinships system in various ways. Many tribes
were divided into two 'moieties' or halves. In effect these were descent groups. A person was
born into either his father's or mother's moiety, depending on whether descent was reckoned
through the father or the mother. People born into one moiety had to marry into the other. Not
only people, but animals, plants, birds and other natural species and phenomena were often
divided between the two moieties, so that the people of each moiety had a special relationship
with all the natural phenomena associated with it. Moieties not only affected descent,
inheritance, succession, marriage and the family, but they also had an important role in the
organisation of fighting, the settlement of grievances, and the playing of games. Above all,
they were important in the conflict of religious ceremonies. Each moiety had a heritage of
myths and rites, symbols, sacred designs, songs and dances which it had to cherish, perform,
and hand on. The men of each moiety were bound together by this sacred responsibility. Many
tribes were divided into four sections. These summarised relatives into classes or divisions
and, like the moieties were associated with marriage, descent, totemism etc. The following
example is from a Western Australian tribe:
(Panaka = Burong)
(Karimba = Paljeri )
The double-headed arrows connect a mother's section to her children's section and the = signs
connect intermarrying sections. thus a Panaka woman would marry a Burong man; their
children were Karimaba. Karimba girls married Paldjeri men and had Panaka children; and
Karimba men married Paldjeri women and had Burong children. Panaka's cross-cousins (and
wife or husband, who were usually second cousins) were Burong, and Panaka's and Burong's
paternal grandparents were also Panaka and Burong. the sections thus summarised relatives
not only into four categories but into intermarrying as well as alternate generations. Each
inter-marrying pair of sections represented a person's own generation level, and also the levels
of his grandparents and grandchildren. sometimes the four sections were associated with a
system of two moieties as well.

Across much of central and northern Australia, the system was even more elaborate. There
were divisions into eight sub-sections with or without moieties. There were other
combinations too complex for brief description. In all cases the connections of the divisions
with descent, kinship, marriage and totemic systems were comparable. In summary the 'horde'
or band was the most important territorial group. The nucleus of the horde, a 'clan', was the
most important social group. These clans were groups of people who claimed to be descended
in one line from the same ancestor, often a mythological being. The moieties, sections and
sub-sections and sub-sections were structural divisions rather than discrete groups. All were
connected together through the kinship system. The behaviour rules associated with the
kinship system ensured for the most part confident and co-operative relations within and
between the clans, hordes and other divisions or groups. The territorial, social and structural
divisions gave further rules for the regular practice of institutional customs. Nevertheless,
these rules provided only a formal or ideal scheme to which actual behaviour did not always
conform.

Aborigines saw man as sharing a common life-principle with animals, birds and plants. They
included these things in human social and religious life by establishing totemic relationships
between them and people. The totemic relationships varied. For example a man of the
kangaroo totem looked on the kangaroo as a friend and helper, even as a brother; he was
reluctant to kill or eat it because it was his flesh; or he may have had an attitude of
responsibility towards it - to guard its 'beginning place' and to perform ceremonies to ensure
that there would be plenty of kangaroos continuously. there were several forms of totemism,
and one person could have several totems - his moiety totem, say, could have been eaglehawk,
his section or sub-section totem wallaby, and the totem associated with the place where he
was born, the yam. he might also have a personal or 'dream' totem. All were inalienably part
of himself. In this way totemism linked man in a bond of mutual life-giving with nature. The
sharing of certain totems by all members of a group or division brought order into social
relations, and the common public recognition of each person's or group's totems made the
symbolic principles of immense social importance.

A person and his totems possessed a sacred quality in common because their relationship, it
was thought, had been established by an ancestral being in the dreamtime, the period long ago
when the world, as the Aborigines knew it, was formed and their pattern of living established.
Suprahuman ancestral spirits, it was believed, then lived on earth. They often embodied the
essence of some natural species - thus goanna man was at once man, goanna and spirit. the
ancestors travelled about performing marvels which led to the production of features of the
landscape, animals and plants, the sky and the seasons, and - in some mysterious way,
variably phrased in different regions - the first appearance of recognisable human beings, the
Aborigines. the forms of religion, law, customs, rites, songs and dances supposedly were
established then. The tracks of the ancestors (the routes they followed) were marked with
sacred sites associated with their deeds. Eventually they changed into other forms; their
physical elements went into the ground, or the sky, or waterholes, or into rocks or trees, but
their spiritual elements continued to exist. Living men, it was supposed, could keep in touch
with them draw on their magical power, and make sure that their country maintained the
fertile pattern given it in the dreamtime, by faithfully following the teachings of the ancestors
and re-enacting their ceremonies and rites. The dreamtime was not merely the sacred past, it
was vitally continuous with the present and future. Because of this it was conceived of as an
eternal dreamtime and is appropriately referred to as the Dreaming.
The deeds of the ancestors were enshrined in mythology. there was an enormous and rich
body of myths, ranging from secular stories or fables such as 'Why the kookaburra laughs' to
complex religious myths and immense song cycles sometimes requiring days to recite. Many
of the song cycles were but connected strings of key words or place names denoting the track
of an ancestor. to an initiated Aboriginal each name symbolized heroic deeds of great
significance. Associated with the myths was a vast body of ritual through which the latent
power of the ancestors and of the Dreaming became operative. Many rites were concerned
with maintaining the fertility of the country as the ancestors had created it by leaving the life
'principle' of various species, including particular clans of people, at different sites. The
kangaroo 'principle', for example, was believed to persist, say, in a certain sacred rock. Living
men who had the kangaroo as totem regularly performed special increase rights at this rock, to
ensure that the 'principle' there would go forth into kangaroos so that they would continue to
multiply. Other rites were re-enactments of the ancestors' deeds, performed partly in memory
of them and partly to instruct the young men. these rituals sometimes continued for many
months. the Aborigines believed that the performances were vital to the very existence of man
and nature; if they were neglected, the life-giving forces which came from the dreamtime
would dwindle or be lost.
An Aboriginal did not own land in the sense that he could acquire or dispose of it. He
belonged in his country. His spirit had lived there since the dreamtime, and because of this he
had the right to draw on the life-giving powers of the ancestors; in fact it was his duty to do
so, for it was essential to the well being of the country and his people. Aboriginal beliefs,
economic, social and religious, thus bound each person to his country, united him with nature
in a relationship of intimate dependence, and explained the origin of and reasons for his social
organisation, customs, and laws. In this form of life religion and magic were inseparable.
Religion gave a general assurance of well-being; particular misfortune such as illness, death,
and drought were attributed to, and an effort made to avert or control them by, magic of many
kinds. It was thought that some magic could be carried out by anyone. Specialised magic such
as curing illness was usually the province of 'clever men'. Some of their methods of treating
illness (bleeding, heating, massage) were in part empirically sound and often psychologically
fruitful. Belief in the efficacy of both white (benign) and black (malign) magic was so
profound that no Aboriginal doubted that magicians could cure apparently doomed men, and
cause healthy men to die. Bone pointing, a form of projective magic, was a common method
of sorcery.
The survival of any local group eventually depended on its solidarity and there was strong
feeling against serious quarrels within it. Nevertheless personal conflicts were common.
Where possible these were confined to the person immediately concerned, but it was one of
the weaknesses of Aboriginal society that quarrels tended to spread widely because of kinship
and marriage loyalties. there was no juridical machinery to prevent this from happening and
the moral feeling against it was often ineffective. However, there was a deeply-ingrained
principle of 'equivalent injury', and this helped to limit the passion for revenge. Antagonists
often fought a duel with spears, clubs or stone knives, striking at each other, torn and torn
about, until one submitted. Usually they took care not to disable each other permanently, as
the loss of an able-bodied man to a small hunting community was a serious matter. Even in
large-scale fights a sense of prudence and common interest made itself felt. On most
occasions the fighting ceased when several men were badly hurt or killed. Grievances
between local groups often led to massed duets of a format character conducted under strict
convention. the most intractable offenders, especially against religious codes, were judged
secretly by elders, and they were injured or killed by younger men acting under orders.
Sometimes the retributive methods involved magical ritual. Pitched battles were common, but
not warfare in the sense of protracted campaigns. There were no military or social
organizations suited to warfare in that sense and, indeed, little to be gained by it. Material
wealth, conquest and slavery were alien to the Aboriginal way of life. perhaps the nearest
approach to warfare resulted when repeated murders, deaths attributed to sorcery, and thefts of
women gave rise to an uncontrolled series of revenge killings. Most tribes had a favourite
enemy of this kind.
The Aborigines had no chief or rulers and only the loosest form of political organisation.
Their elaborate social and religious rules were enforced, often relentlessly, by the older men,
who also sought to settle serious quarrels, punish offences against the group and decide the
group's economic, social and ceremonial activities. It was not, strictly, a gerontocracy, or rule
by the oldest men, but age and authority were very closely connected. Men, who had passed
through the long periods of training and ordeals of initiation, had proved themselves as
hunters and as fighters, and had shown the wisdom of maturity, were those to whom everyone
naturally turned when guidance and leadership were needed. They alone knew all the rituals
and ceremonies on which the well-being of the group and their territory depended. Indeed,
because the Aborigines had no writing, the older men were the living store-houses of the
knowledge, the precedents, and the well-tried experiences of their people. Authority was
achieved by and given to them by virtue of these things. They were prepared for responsibility
from boyhood. boys and young men were disciplined and trained for many years by their
elders who handed on to them their knowledge of tribal law, religion and social behaviour.
Usually each youth had one or more older men as mentors. Crucial stages of the initiation
period were often marked by a ritual operation, such as the knocking out of a front tooth, or
the cutting of cicatrices on the body, or circumcision. young men bore these signs of manhood
proudly.
Because of the use of comprehensive symbolism, it is almost impossible to separate
Aboriginal art from craft and religious and magical practice. Implements weapons and
utensils were not merely useful - they were beautifully made and adorned. In addition the
owner often sang a special song as he made the object, and painted a sacred design on it to
give it dreamtime power. Religious and magical rites always involved symbolism and
mythology. In such rites a lavish use was made of sacred objects such as Tjuringa (carved
pieces of wood or stone); ornate headdresses made of sticks, twine, feathers, down and
grasses; carved, painted or feathered poles 15 or 25 feet high; a great variety of paintings and
designs; and a rich repertoire of songs and dances. The performers usually painted themselves
elaborately with red and yellow ochre, white pipe clay and charcoal; sometimes they added
feathers and down stuck on with blood. Some groups painted the ground where they were to
perform. The most beautiful ground designs were made in central Australia. Rock painting,
usually with religious significance, occurred all over Australia. There were many different
styles. In parts of Arnhem Land the artist painted in X-ray style, showing the bones and
internal organs of the animal depicted; in caves in north-western Australia were great 14 feet
long figures with large eyes and noses, but no mouths, representing Wandjina, ancestral
beings; in western Arnhem Land there were stick figures - running, fighting, spearing,
dancing - drawn with grace and vigour. Bark painting was (and is) very popular in Arnhem
Land, and is recognised today as one of the world's outstanding forms of primitive art. In
southern and eastern Australia rocks were engraved and trees carved, and across north
Australia figures were made from wood, beewax and bound grass.
Over much of Australia designs were stylised. Just as many Aboriginal songs cannot be
understood simply by hearing the words, so the painting cannot be understood simply by
looking. Most paintings were associated with a story. The symbols used varied. In central
Australia concentric circles, spirals, U-shaped figures, dots and wavy lines predominated. In
different parts of Arnhem Land paintings were either geometric and abstract or more
naturalistic. Songs and dances were usually accompanied by hand-clapping or time
(percussion) sticks and, in northern Australia, by the didjeridoo, a long, hollowed-out wooden
instrument which, when blown, gives a pulsating droning sound. The Aborigines were a
people of buoyant mood and of carefree outlook when circumstances allowed. They greatly
enjoyed games. Ball games were played in eastern Australia with an opossum-skin ball; a type
of game resembling hockey was played in western Queensland with sticks and a stone; and
tops made of clay or a gourd on a stick were popular in eastern Australia and Lake Eyre. Men
everywhere enjoyed spear and boomerang throwing contests. Children played the universal
games of hide and seek, wrestling and telling stories with string figures. Like children the
world over, they learnt by copying their parents. both boys and girls practised tracking
animals and people; the boys enjoyed sham fights, threw small spears and clubs at a bark disc
bowled along the ground and hunted small animals; the girls took miniature coolamons and
digging sticks and busied themselves alongside their mothers.
In the evenings folk lore, jokes and popular myths were told, songs were sung and dances
performed for general entertainment. Environment, isolation, and economy of hunting and
collecting kept the Aborigines materially poor but they compensated for their lack of material
possessions by developing a rich social, religious and cultural life. It was a satisfying and
emotionally secure life. Everybody was expected of him. food gathering, social organisation,
religion, law and art were all inter-dependent. A life constituted in this way was extremely
resistant to change.
In many ways, however, the Aborigines were ill-equipped to face the changes brought by
European settlement in Australia; similarly, a western European people, whose economy
emphasized competitive activity and the value of material possessions, found the Aboriginal
philosophy and way of life hard to appreciate.