Australian Aboriginal Traditions

[Solomon]

Jun 30, 2008 7:06:08 GMT 10 Tamrin said:

To avoid distraction, to comment on this thread please do so on the appropriate thread, under Topics.

Be content, my friend Zabud!
The time will soon come when a door will be left open for your reception

In view of the selective nature of membership, the mature responses thus far and despite having been taught to be cautious, I appear to have been too cautious and have accordingly unlocked this thread.

[Tamrin]

ADMISSION FREE

'An afternoon celebrating the Traditional Culture of The Gadigal Tribe
of The Dharug Nation - "The Whale People".'

Hosted by
Uncle Greg
and
assisted by
Associated Artists

The Grand Master, MW Bro Dr Greg Levenston will also be in attendance
Friday 26th February 2010
5.30 pm - 6.30 pm
Level 1 SYDNEY MASONIC CENTRE
Corner of Goulburn and Castlereagh Streets
Sydney

Proudly presented by Lodge Excalibur No 737 - Lodge of Excellence
with the assistance of the UGL of NSW and ACT and the SMC

Sadly, I have a prior engagement in Newcastle that evening.

[Tamrin]

An oldie but a goodie:

Babakiueria (Barbeque Area)

[Tamrin]

More Cultural Fraud:

Lynn Andrews, a best-selling author who writes allegedly “true story” accounts of her experiences with a mysterious worldwide female shamanistic society called the Sisterhood of the Shields, has been denounced by Aboriginal and Native American women as more sham than shaman. According to the July 2, 1993, Sydney Morning Herald, an Australian Aborigional women’s group derided Andrew’s account of a ceremonial initiation in Crystal Woman: The Sisters of the Dreamtime as “laughable.” Andrews describes a ceremonial gathering of women in an unspecified area of central Australia and says her naked body was smeared with bandicoot grease; central Australian Aborigines point out they haven’t seen a bandicoot (a marsupial animal) in their land for thirty years, no one had seen or heard of Andrews visiting, and she even got the name of their language wrong (she calls it “Koori,” which refers to aboriginal people in Victoria, not Central Australia). It turns out, according to paper trails, Andrews was in the country for a mere two weeks.

Rene Denfield: The New Victorians, 1995, p.146

[Tamrin]

The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia
by Bill Gammage

Across Australia, early Europeans commented again and again that the land looked like a park. With extensive grassy patches and pathways, open woodlands and abundant wildlife, it evoked a country estate in England. Bill Gammage has discovered this was because Aboriginal people managed the land in a far more systematic and scientific fashion than we have ever realised.

For over a decade, Gammage has examined written and visual records of the Australian landscape. He has uncovered an extraordinarily complex system of land management using fire and the life cycles of native plants to ensure plentiful wildlife and plant foods throughout the year. We know Aboriginal people spent far less time and effort than Europeans in securing food and shelter, and now we know how they did it.

With details of land-management strategies from around Australia, The Biggest Estate on Earth rewrites the history of this continent, with huge implications for us today. Once Aboriginal people were no longer able to tend their country, it became overgrown and vulnerable to the hugely damaging bushfires we now experience. And what we think of as virgin bush in a national park is nothing of the kind.

[Tamrin]

Littoral and Riparian Cultures:

All of Australia's Aborigines were semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers, with each clan having its own territory. Those communities living along the coast or rivers were expert fishermen. The territories or 'traditional lands' were defined by geographic boundaries such as rivers, lakes and mountains. All Australian Aborigines shared an intimate understanding of, and relationship with, the land. That relationship was the basis of their spiritual life and shaped the Aboriginal culture. Land is fundamental to the well-being of all Aboriginal people. The 'dreamtime' stories explain how the land was created by the journeys of the spirit ancestors. Those creation stories describing the contact and features which the spiritual ancestors left on the land are integral to Aboriginal spirituality. 'Ancestor Spirits' came to Earth in human and other forms and the land, the plants and animals were given their form as we know them today.

[Tamrin]

Saltwater Freshwater Festival Kempsey

Australia Day 26 January 2014
Kempsey Showground
10am – 4:30pm

Entry by gold coin donation

about the festival

[Tamrin]

Shell middens

Shell middens are places where the debris from eating shellfish and other food has accumulated over time. They can contain:

• shellfish remains
• bones of fish, birds, and land and sea mammals used for food
• charcoal from campfires
• tools made from stone, shell, and bone.

Shell middens tell us a lot about Aboriginal activities in the past. The types of shells in a midden can show the type of marine environment that was used, and the time of year when Aboriginal people used it.

Where do you find shell middens?

Shell middens are found throughout Australia, usually close to a shellfish source. They are generally found on the coast, but can be around inland lakes, swamps, and river banks. In NSW, middens are:

• on headlands
• on sandy beaches and dunes
• around estuaries, swamps and the tidal stretches of creeks and rivers
• along the banks of inland rivers, creeks, and lakes.

Middens are usually in the best possible spot - a pleasant place, that's easy to get to, where there are plenty of shellfish. They are often fairly close to fresh water on a level, sheltered surface...

[Tamrin]

Islam and Indigenous Australia ABC, Encounter, Friday 18 July 2014 3:03PMJanak Rogers (excerpt):

It’s a little known fact that Muslim visitors first arrived in Australia well before the British established a colony in 1788. From at least as early as 1650, Muslim fishermen from Makassar in Indonesia made annual trips to Australia's far north coast in search of sea cucumbers—or trepang—which are highly valued in Chinese medicine and cooking. Indigenous Australians also journeyed to Indonesia, trading tortoise shells, tools, tobacco and other goods.

According to Dr John Bradley from Melbourne's Monash University, the Makassans represent Australia's first major, successful attempt at international relations. ‘They traded together. It was fair; there was no racial judgement, no race policy,’ he says.

Muslim Makassans and Australian Aborigines traded more than just goods; they also exchanged religious ideas.

‘If you go to north-east Arnhem Land there is [an Islamic presence] in song, it is there in painting, it is there in dance, it is there in funeral rituals,’ says Dr Bradley. ‘It is patently obvious that there are borrowed items. With linguistic analysis as well, you're hearing hymns to Allah, or at least certain prayers to Allah.’

The Makassan trepang trade with Aborigines ended at the turn of the 20th century, killed off by heavy taxation and the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. The relationship is still celebrated by certain communities in the far north, however.

Aboriginal depiction of Makassan traders



Makassan sailboat