Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known
human inhabitants of the Australian
continent and its nearby islands, they make up about 2.4% of
Australia's population. Indigenous Australians are recognized to
have arrived between 70,000
and 40,000 years ago, though the lower end of this range is generally
accepted . The earliest
human remains
found to date are that of Mungo
Man
which have been dated at about 40,000 years old.
It is estimated that prior to the arrival of British settlers the population of Indigenous Australians was approximately 318,000 - 750,000. The distribution of people was similar to that of the current Australian population, with the majority living in the south east.Murray River valley in particular.
Although the culture and lifestyle of Aboriginal groups have much in
common, Aboriginal society is not a single entity. The communities have
different modes of subsistence, cultural practices, languages, and
technologies. However, these peoples also share a
larger set of traits,
and are otherwise seen as being broadly related.
The Indigenous
languages
of mainland Australia and Tasmania have not been shown to be related to
any languages outside Australia.
The word aboriginal, has been used in Australia to describe its Indigenous peoples as early as 1789. It soon became capitalised and employed as the common name to refer to all Indigenous Australians.
British colonisation of Australia began in Sydney in 1788. The most immediate consequence of British settlement - within weeks of the first colonists' arrival - was a wave of Old World epidemic diseases. Smallpox alone killed more than 50% of the Aboriginal population living in the vicinity of Sydney. The second consequence of British settlement was appropriation of land and water resources. The combination of disease, loss of land and direct violence reduced the Aboriginal population by up to 80% between 1788 and 1900.
Due to the large number of tribal divisions and language groups in Aboriginal Australia, and, corresponding to this, a wide variety of diversity exists within cultural practices. However, there are some similarities between cultures. In the world's oldest continent the creative epoch known as the Dreamtime stretches back into a remote era in history when the creator ancestors known as the First Peoples travelled across the great southern land of Bandaiyan (Australia), creating and naming as they went.
Indigenous Australia's oral tradition and religious values are
based upon reverence for the land and a belief in this Dreamtime.
The Dreaming is at once both the ancient time of creation and the
present day reality of Dreaming. There were a great many different
groups, each with their own individual culture, belief structure, and
language. These cultures overlapped to a greater or lesser extent, and
evolved over time. Major Ancestral spirits include the Rainbow Serpent,
Baiame,
and Bunjil.
The Yowie and Bunyip
are also well known Ancestral beings. One version of the Dreaming story
runs as follows:
The whole world was asleep. Everything was quiet, nothing moved, nothing grew. The animals slept under the earth. One day the rainbow snake woke up and crawled to the surface of the earth. She pushed everything aside that was in her way. She wandered through the whole country and when she was tired she coiled up and slept. So she left her tracks. After she had been everywhere she went back and called the frogs. When they came out their tubby stomachs were full of water. The rainbow snake tickled them and the frogs laughed. The water poured out of their mouths and filled the tracks of the rainbow snake. That's how rivers and lakes were created. Then grass and trees began to grow and the earth filled with life.
A brief look at an aborignal myth, and marriage.
Aboriginal people developed unique instruments and folk styles. The yirdaki or didgeridoo is commonly considered the national instrument of Aboriginal people, and it is claimed to be the world's oldest wind instrument. However, it was traditionally only played by Arnhem Land people, such as the Yolngu, and then only by the men. It has possibly been used by the people of the Kakadu region for 1500 years. Clapping sticks are probably the more ubiquitous musical instrument, especially because they help maintain the rhythm for the song.
Australia has a tradition of Aboriginal art which is thousands of
years old,
the best known forms being rock art and bark
painting.
These paintings usually consist of paint using earthly colours,
specifically, from paint made from ochre. Traditionally, Aborigines
have painted stories from their dreamtime. Modern Aboriginal artists
continue the tradition using modern materials in their artworks.
Aboriginal art is the most internationally recognisable form of
Australian art. Several styles of Aboriginal art have developed in
modern times including the watercolour paintings of Albert Namatjira;
the Hermannsburg School, and the acrylic Papunya
Tula "dot art" movement. Painting is a large source of income for
some Central Australian communities such as at Yuendumu today.
A brief look at modern Aboriginal art
Australian Aboriginal poetry is found throughout Australia. It
ranges from the sacred to the every day. Ronald M Berndt has published
traditional Aboriginal song-poetry in his book "Three Faces of Love",
Nelson 1976. R.M.W. Dixon and M. Duwell have published two books
dealing with sacred and every day poetry- "The Honey Ant men's love
song" and "Little Eva at Moonlight Creek"
The largest Aboriginal communities, the Pitjantjatjara, the Arrernte, the Luritja and the Warlpiri are all from Central Australia.