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Aborigines
- "aboriginal" = "the first", "the earliest known"
- Australia was the home of the first people
- 40.000 years ago, the sea passages narrower
- the ancestors of the Aborigines could come to Australie from their islands
- sea levels rose --> isolating Australia
- so isolated that Aborigines had little contacts to outside groups
- Aboriginal lived in harmony with their environment
Hunting
- the Aborigines got everything they need from the nature
- they were limited to the range of food in their area
- some groups were static because food was readily obtainable, but some groups had to travel
around in their area to keep alive
- the Aborigines hunted and gathered their food
First Sightnings:
- first recording sightning of Australia was 1606 by the Dutch
- result: the Dutch government decided that the land was not suitable for colonisation
Macassans: The first visitors?
- the Macassans live in camps (well organized)
- taught the Aborigines in making knives and tomahawks
- Aborigines adopted some Macassans words into their own language
Colonisation:
- 1788: the first fleet arrived in Australia
- country was inhabited by about 300.000 Aborigines
- the settlers wanted to become industrious but the Aborigines didn't want to give up their way
of life
- Aborigines began to lose their hunting grounds and watering holes
Art:
- the art was regarded as an integral part of life
- markings and designs have totemic significance
- paintings tell stories and they reflect what happens around the Aborigines
- there are different kinds of art: Rock engraving, Bark painting, Symbols and Ground paintings
Mythology:
- "Dreamtime" is the mythological past --> mythology grows up step by step
- Aborigines have a lot of different ceremonies in which they sing, dance and pray
- in Aboriginal society are a lot of problems, for example that the people become sick and they
die
- "mediine man": he's a very powerful man and he tries to remove the "evil" from sick persons
with spells
Didgeridoo:
- traditional music instrument of the Aborigines
- made out of a piece of eucalyptus tree
- used in ceremonies
- possibly the world's oldest music instrument
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