Entry page For your use Committee Coordinators Workers Growing in
understanding History Key Ideas Today StructuresReports FAQ Readings Glossary Practice
implications History The DreamingThe Land The Law & The Lore Family and kinship Image and identity Self-determination Practice tips Policy Upper Hunter Acknowledgements Test your
knowledge
Copyright | Feedback

Aboriginal Society Prior to British Arrival

10.2.1 The fact of prior Aboriginal occupation cannot be omitted from any understanding of Aboriginal history or of contemporary Aboriginal claims. Aboriginal history dates back somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 years, and archaeological investigations and improved dating techniques promise further breakthroughs in our knowledge of this history. Regional variations here may not be particularly significant, because they reflect the state of archaeological research--relatively limited in Australia--as much as indicating length of Aboriginal occupation. Aboriginal art of an extremely sophisticated kind and of an extreme age has been found. Aboriginal people had to adapt to dramatic climatic changes which affected not only food resources but the very boundaries of the land itself. Little is known about the Aboriginal past, though some dreaming stories or clan sagas offer clues to their ancient history, as do earlier art galleries.

10.2.2 Our existing knowledge of Aboriginal occupation thus shows that it is extremely misleading to imply that Aboriginal people can be categorised as another minority ethnic group. Any immigration which hypothetically occurred so long ago that the time scope is almost impossible to conceive is in vast contrast to one which commenced only 202 years ago. While migration is undeniably a central part of non-Aboriginal experience, it is not a significant part of Aboriginal history or consciousness. In fact, Aboriginal people may have occupied the same area for longer than any other people in world history. Aboriginal people therefore have an ancient history of having occupied the land we now call Australia.

10.2.3 Many non-Aboriginal Australians imagine Aboriginal people only lived in the middle of the desert, and have no idea that they once lived in areas which are now cities. Population figures in 1788 are estimated at 750,000, with dense populations in New South Wales and Victoria along the coast and rich water courses. The richness of this heritage is still largely ignored. The diversity of Aboriginal land-use patterns, food sources, technology, clothing, and shelter is little known. For example, Aboriginal people in western Victoria wore fur cloaks and lived in more permanent villages with stone houses. In warmer resource-rich areas, Aboriginal people stayed for months at a time, though lighter shelters have weathered away, denying us much ancient evidence. Careful land-management techniques were applied to harvest food resources, and sensitive and skilful methods were used to hunt game. Great physical agility, dexterity and knowledge of animals and land were required to hunt wily game and gather inaccessible foods. Fishing from the rivers was widely practised. Aboriginal people had a balanced diet, and they had also been quarantined from many of the diseases which affected Europeans.

10.2.4 The social and economic organisation of Aboriginal groups varied greatly throughout Australia, but some general observations can be made. Aboriginal society had a relatively egalitarian social structure where age, gender, totemic and land affiliations were important demarcations. Women usually provided the staple food supply, and they owned and had special responsibilities towards sites in the landscape, associated song cycles and Dreaming stories. They had exclusive control of the secret ceremonies of reproduction, and their maternal function as child rearers was highly valued. Men hunted and also played an important role in nurturing and teaching children, and there were special responsibilities for a wide network of kin in relation to each child. When a baby was born, she or he immediately had a niche in a complex cosmology defined by Dreaming stories. Identity was secure, and the child had a variety of land relationships via its conception Dreaming, as well as inheritance through its father and mother. The child would gradually be introduced to responsibilities towards land and kin and the strict marriage rules. Values which were taught in traditional Aboriginal society included sharing, respecting the wisdom of age, looking out for the young, gentle treatment and close observation of plants and animals, and the fulfilment of kinship obligations. Families and clans travelled the land throughout the year. They harvested the land's resources when the opportunity was available, and looked after special sites to which they had responsibility. Men and women separately facilitated the reproduction of resources through ritual nurturing. They also spent much time working or negotiating business in the company of their own gender. Decision making and law enforcement were divided between men and women, and ultimate power was often accorded on the basis of custodial obligations towards relevant land or kinship obligations. The tablet of the law which was ensconced in the landscape itself was explained through Dreaming stories as people travelled. While women were in charge of their own business - sacred and secular, men' s power often appears to have been more highly valued in regard to law and punishment matters concerning the larger group. In some areas, women's law was more powerful than others and older women held high status. Gatherings of many clans took place from time to time to conduct social, marriage and religious business. Ritual confrontations were also staged to avenge wrongdoing, and other transgressions could be punished physically or through potentially fatal sorcery. Dancing and singing, story telling, drawing, painting and sculpture took place all year round, and through such entertaining means everyone learnt the law of their group.

10.2.5 Aboriginal groups often met other outsiders before the British arrived. In the Northern Territory and parts of northern Queensland, Macassan trepang gatherers had been interacting with Aboriginal people off the coast since at least 1700. Relatively harmonious relations existed, and they traded with and employed local Aboriginal people. Such items as glass thus filtered into Aboriginal tool-making. Macassan words have been incorporated into some Aboriginal languages. Some intermixing occurred, and the all-male crews had sexual associations with the local women.

Source
Royal Commission in Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
National Report
Volune 2
Chapter 10
Australian government Publishing Service Canberra 1991
Full report available on the web.