The indigenous population of Australia looks very, very colorful. Firstly, they have their own unique features in appearance, and secondly, they constantly wear national clothes, and cosmetics are replaced by natural colors and tribal patterns applied to the face and body. We have prepared for you a special selection of Aboriginal photos so that you can touch their unusual world.

Four natives are sitting with national musical instruments - the didgeridoo. By the way, the didgeridoo is one of the oldest wind musical instruments preserved on Earth.

Joy and good mood among Aboriginal men at the holiday.

One of the tribal customs that have survived to this day.

And this is a photograph of a ritual dance at one of the many holidays organized, including for tourists.

There are also more brightly dressed, colorful characters.

Photos of Australian Aboriginal women

Most Aboriginal women can hardly be called beautiful by European standards. Like men, they have very large facial features, among which large and massive noses and no less large chins and cheeks immediately catch the eye.

The modern tribes of Northern and Central Australia are becoming less isolated and increasingly adopting habits and lifestyles from urban residents. For example, in this photo, you can see fashionable sunglasses worn along with national costumes and applied body coloring. In everyday life, many women use clothes familiar to Europeans - T-shirts, sweaters, pants, jackets.

A young girl of one of the national tribes in the generic color.

Children and teenagers

A young boy performing the dance of his tribe. In the future, he will become a hunter and will be accepted as equals in adult men.

In general, the natives live quite well in their homeland.

Would you like to visit Australia and see these cool guys with your own eyes, and not in the photo?

The Australian Aborigines are considered perhaps the most ancient of civilizations living on Earth. And at the same time, one of the least explored and understood. Arriving in "Australia" (then it was called "New Holland") in 1788, the English colonists called its native inhabitants "Aborigines", borrowing this term from Latin: "ab origine" - "from the beginning".

Until now, it has not been precisely established, and it is unlikely that it will ever be established exactly when and how the ancestors of modern aborigines got to this mainland. But it is generally accepted that the indigenous people of Australia came here through the sea about 50,000 years ago from what is now Indonesia.

Before the arrival of Europeans in Australia, the Aborigines lived throughout Australia and numbered about 250 peoples with their own languages ​​(which do not belong to any other language group), most of which are now "extinct". Aborigines led a primitive way of life (gathering fruits, hunting birds and animals, fishing, burning fires and living in forests, deserts, savannahs) for thousands of years until recently. At the same time, it cannot be unequivocally said that the Australian Aborigines were primitive people, since they had a kind of religion (beliefs, mythology of the "Dreaming Time", ceremonies, traditions, initiations) and maintained their own cultural heritage (Aboriginal music, dances, rock paintings , petroglyphs). The natives of Australia had certain ideas about astronomy, although the interpretation and name of the stars and constellations did not at all coincide with European astronomy.

The most striking thing, perhaps, is how far behind the "progress" of the aboriginal civilization from the European one, being at a considerable distance from Europe and in special climatic conditions. This difference is perhaps several tens of thousands of years old. Some tribes maintained this way of life until the early 20th century on the remote islands of northern Australia, continuing to live in solitude with nature.

With the advent of Europeans, the life and future of the Australian Aborigines have changed radically and irrevocably. Since 1788, a black streak begins in the history of the original inhabitants of Australia. Most of the indigenous people of Australia initially peacefully and with interest met newcomers from Europe, although some tribes met the colonists "with hostility". During the first 2-3 years, about half (and in some cases more) of all Australian Aborigines who had contact with European newcomers died from diseases and viruses unknown to them (introduced by Europeans), from which the indigenous people of Australia had no immunity. The most common diseases from which the natives died were smallpox and measles.

In addition, the colonists killed the natives, drove them from their ancestral lands, mocked them, raped their women, poisoned them, forcibly relocated and forcibly took their children from them. The state policy of forcibly removing children from Aboriginal families under the title "Assimilation of Indigenous Australians" continued until the 1970s (and in some places even longer). These Aboriginal children, deprived of their own parents, are now called the "Stolen Generation". For a large portion of the 20th century, Aboriginal Australians did not even have citizenship until 1967.

Today, the situation has begun to change for the better. Since 1998, May 26 is celebrated in Australia as "Regret Day" (or "Day of Asking Forgiveness") in front of the Australian Aborigines for all that they had to endure and endure, starting from January 26, 1788, when the English captain Arthur Philip founded the first British colony in Australia. For a long time, the Australian government refused to publicly apologize to the Aboriginal people for the injustices, genocide and deliberate policies to eradicate the Aboriginal race that were carried out during the 19th and 20th centuries. However, on February 13, 2008, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made the first public apology to all Australian Aboriginal people on behalf of the Australian Parliament. This was an important step in the "reconciliation" of the Aboriginal people with another part of the Australian population. Although this apology was made in English and was not translated into any of the Aboriginal languages, which a priori can be considered injustice and humiliation of the Aboriginal people. Now the aborigines do not like to remember and talk about the "Stolen Generation", which is "sick" for them.

Today, Aboriginal people live throughout Australia, although they are rarely found in large cities. Most Aboriginal people now speak English and live in the central and northern territories of Australia. Among the Aboriginal people, alcohol and drug abuse is common, among them there is a higher mortality and crime rate and a very high unemployment rate, which again is partly "stimulated" by the state.

At the same time, there are outstanding personalities among the Australian aborigines: famous athletes, talented musicians, scientists, businessmen and politicians. Unfortunately, there are few of them. Usually, the natives themselves prefer not to be called "aboriginal", since they all belong to different nationalities (tribes) and do not like to be generalized by this term.

Where to see Aboriginal people in Australia? How to see Australian Aborigines? Where do Aboriginal people live in Australia?

Most Aboriginal Australians today live in the eastern and northern territories of Australia (New South Wales and Queensland), although they can be found in almost any city. The approximate number of Aboriginal people is about 520,000 people, i.e. 2.5% of the Australian population. In almost every city in Australia there is a "center of Aboriginal culture" where you can get in touch with this culture, and sometimes even meet an Aboriginal.

In order not just to "look" at the natives, but to learn more about them, to understand them, and at least get to know their culture and knowledge and history a little, I suggest you come to Australia and visit one (or maybe not one) of our individual excursions.

On our excursions, a Russian-speaking guide will tell you in detail about the former and current life of the Aborigines in Australia, about their mythology and knowledge, about their problems and culture. We know different places where we can show you the real Australian Aborigines. On some of our excursions you will be able to see Aboriginal dances, hear Aboriginal music performed on traditional Aboriginal instruments (see Didjiridu), watch them throw boomerangs and spears while hunting, and just chat with real Australian Aboriginal people. Our Russian guides in Australia also know places where you can see authentic ancient Aboriginal rock paintings and petroglyphs (from 2000 to 20,000 years old), whetstones and fire stones (not in a museum!), Aboriginal caves and ceremonial sites used by Aboriginal people for thousands of years.

You can see all this with your own eyes with me or our Russian-speaking guides in Australia and learn more about the natives of Australia.

Our tours in Australia, where you can see real natives, talk to them or see traces of their life (drawings, footprints, petroglyphs, native places, caves):

Sydney:

• Excursion with a Russian guide to the North from Sydney to the Couring Chase National Park - S5
• Sightseeing tour of Sydney with a private Russian guide in an individual car - S2 (full day)
• Blue Mountains and Australian Animal Park - Russian Guided Tour - S4
• Travel to the capital of Australia - Canberra - tour with a Russian guide - S9

Melbourne:

• Sightseeing tour with a Russian guide to the sights of Melbourne for a full day - M2
• Tour package of excursions from Melbourne with a Russian-speaking guide for 4 days -TPM4-5-8-2012

cairns:

• Excursion to Kuranda by funicular with an English speaking guide - CR07
• Full Day Australian Wildlife & Tropical Tablelands Tour from Cairns - 10 Hours - CR08
• Multi-day tour package 3 days/2 nights with excursions and accommodation from Cairns with Russian speaking guide - TPCR01

Australian Aboriginal culture

Music

Australian aborigines have been making musical instruments for centuries. The most famous of them is the Didjiridu - a pipe 1 to 2 meters long made of a bough or eucalyptus trunk, eaten by termites in the center. It is very difficult to learn to play it: it requires a lot of practice and strong lungs. Good Aboriginal players on the Didgiridoo can play it continuously for an hour (without stopping or pausing). When playing the Didjirudu, the performer often diversifies the game with guttural sounds or tongue for added effect and imitates the sounds of animals and birds, because. kookaburra (laughing kookaburra).

Dancing

Aboriginal people often imitate different indigenous animals of Australia in their dances, because. kangaroo, wallaby, emu, snake, imitating their gait and movements.

Many dances are similar to each other and are accompanied by playing the didjiridoo and percussion sticks. Some dances are used by the natives only for certain purposes or seasons, there are ritual dances.

Aboriginal rock paintings and petroglyphs

Throughout Australia, there are about 50,000 places where traces of Aboriginal painting have been found (drawings on stones or petroglyphs carved in stone, or hand and finger prints made using ocher, a dried, pounded clay with sandstone). However, in order to avoid vandalism, most of these places are kept secret and are not accessible to non-specialists. There are some places where you can still see Aboriginal rock paintings.

In order to see these drawings or petroglyphs and get acquainted with the aboriginal culture, we invite you to our Russian-speaking excursions with Russian guides in Australia. We know these places and are ready to show them to you on our tours in Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns.

Boomerangs, shields and spears

Australian aborigines invented a unique type of weapon - the boomerang. The word boomerang comes from the Aboriginal word "Vomurrang" or "Boumarrang", which means "returning throwing stick" in the language of the Aboriginal tribe Turuwal (Turuwal). Boomerangs were mainly used for hunting birds, but were also used as weapons in conflicts with other tribes or for hunting large animals. In order for the boomerang to return, you need to have skills: be able to throw it at a certain angle, hold it correctly, release it in time and take into account the wind. Also, a proper boomerang should have some cuts on the limbs, without which it will not be able to return.

Aboriginal people also used a variety of javelins in hunting and conflict, and some of them can throw spears up to 100 meters with an accurate hit on a target the size of a coconut.

Shields were mostly narrow and were used for ceremonial purposes and dances, but could also be used to protect against attacks from other tribes too.

If you want to see how to throw a boomerang or a spear, try to throw a boomerang yourself and get to know the Aboriginal culture, we invite you to our Russian-speaking excursions with Russian guides in Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns.

Copyright 2012 Samoorai International

The Australian Aborigines are one of the oldest and most distinct racial groups. It was the isolation of the natives of the Green Continent, also called the Australian Bushmen, that caused them to retain their unique, different appearance.

According to geneticists, confirmed by DNA analysis, the indigenous population of Australia remained isolated for at least 50 thousand years. Research has provided evidence of its continuity for at least 2,500 generations.

General information

The Australian Aborigines, whose photos are presented in the article, belong to a separate, Australian branch of the equatorial (Australian-Negroid) race. According to scientists, this is one of the oldest cultures in the world. The settlement of the mainland, according to scientific data, occurred within 75 - 50 thousand years ago. The Australian Aborigines are the descendants of the first modern humans who migrated here from Africa. They have many features in common: well-developed body muscles, dark hair (usually wavy), a wide nose, and a prominent lower face. But among the natives, there are three separate types. Their representatives, with all the external similarities, are noticeably different from each other.

barrinean type

According to scientists, it was the Barrineans who first set foot on the shores of the mainland. They differ from the other two types in their small growth - the result of the so-called reduction. The area of ​​​​settlement is mainly North Queensland.

Murray type

Representatives of this type of Australoid race are visually distinguished by darker skin and developed hairline. They mainly live in open spaces (steppes) of Southern and Western and the coast of Eastern Australia. According to one of the theories of the settlement of the mainland, called trihybrid, they moved to Australia in the second wave - from the African continent.

Carpentarian type

It is predominantly distributed in the north and in the central part of the continent. Its representatives have even darker skin than the Murrays, and one of the highest average heights in the world. The hairline on the face and body is poorly developed. It is believed that this type of aborigines developed due to the third wave of settlement in Australia.

At the time of the appearance on the continent of the first colonizers from Europe, there were at least 500 Australian Aborigine tribes. The total population, according to various sources, was from 300 thousand to one million people.

Lifestyle

Of course, most of the natives of the mainland joined the achievements of civilization. However, many, nevertheless, did not change the ancient habits. So, in the central part of the mainland, where at least 17% of the total indigenous population of the country currently lives, there are no large cities and towns. The largest settlement here has 2.5 thousand people. There are no schools (children are taught by radio) and medical institutions. It is worth noting that in total, medical assistance to the indigenous population of Australia has been provided for less than a hundred years - only since 1928.

The basis of the diet of the natives, leading a primitive way of life, like thousands of years ago, is the fruits of hunting and gathering - roots, rare plants, wild animals, lizards, and in coastal areas - fish and other seafood. They process the found cereals and roast cakes from them on coals. Still, many centuries later, most of the day in remote communities is spent foraging. If necessary, insect larvae are also used.

The boomerang, the most famous weapon of the Australian Aborigines, is still used by them for hunting. According to ancient beliefs, only a true warrior, brave at heart, could master the possession of a boomerang. This is really not easy, given that the speed of a launched weapon can reach 80 kilometers per hour.

Consequences of colonization

The development of Australian lands by Europeans, as in most cases, was accompanied by forced assimilation or even the destruction of the indigenous population. Aborigines of Australia, driven from their lands to specially created reservations, suffered from hunger and epidemics. Until the early 1970s, it was legal to forcibly remove indigenous children from their families in order to make them servants and farm workers. As a result of this policy, the number of Aboriginal people in the early 90s of the twentieth century was only 250 thousand people (only 1.5% of the total population).

Aborigines achieved equal rights with other inhabitants of the country only in 1967. Their situation gradually began to improve, for which special programs were developed aimed at preserving the cultural heritage and increasing the birth rate. Separate tribes began to move to large cities and settle in them.

However, the consequences of colonization still make themselves felt. So, among the prisoners in Australian prisons, representatives of the indigenous population, with their small total number, make up about 30%. The average life expectancy of the natives is about 70-75, and the white population is about 80-85 years. They are six times more likely to commit suicide.

Aboriginal children continue to be discriminated against in schools on racial grounds. This was stated by about a quarter of those interviewed in the course of a national study on the life of the indigenous population. At the same time, the level of education among the Aborigines of Australia is below average. So, at least a third of the adult population cannot read and write, perform arithmetic operations. And in remote communities, located in areas densely populated by the indigenous inhabitants of the mainland, about 60% of children do not have access to school.

Australian Aboriginal language

History has preserved evidence that by the time travelers from Europe arrived on the mainland, at least 500 dialects existed here. Moreover, many of them differed from each other as seriously as the languages ​​of peoples living in different parts of the world.

Currently, there are about 200 local dialects. Australia is a real paradise for linguists, because, according to them, the melody of the indigenous languages ​​radically distinguishes them from any African, Asian or European. It is difficult to study the lack of written language among the vast majority of tribes, because many of them created only primitive signs to display the plots of ancient legends and elementary calculations (drawings, notches).

At the same time, almost all natives speak the official language of the country - English. With such a variety of dialects, this is the only option that allows Australian residents to communicate with each other without any problems. Even a special channel for Aboriginal people, launched in 2007 and designed to promote the cultural community of different tribes (Australian National Aboriginal Television), broadcasts in the language of Shakespeare. By the way, contrary to popular belief, the word "kangaroo" in the language of the Australian Aborigines does not mean "I do not understand." But more on that later.

• Probably, everyone knows the anecdote about how James Cook, having set foot on the coast of Australia, asked the locals what the name of the animal they saw was called. In response, he allegedly heard: “Kangaroo!”, Which means: “I don’t understand!”. However, this version has not been confirmed by modern linguistic studies. A similar word - "gangaroo", used in the language of one of the tribes of the Australian aborigines to refer to kangaroo, in translation means "big jumper".
• In one of the national parks on the east coast of the mainland, Australian aborigines willingly accept tourists. They are shown, among other things, the art of owning a boomerang, as well as teaching it to everyone. However, not everyone manages to master this difficult science.
• It turns out that Australia has its own Stonehenge. A stone structure of 100 boulders was discovered about halfway between Melbourne and Geelong, the second largest city in Victoria. As scientists have found out, the location of the stones in ancient times allowed local residents to determine the days of the solstice and equinox.
• 10% of the natives living in the Solomon Islands, which are located northeast of the mainland, have blond hair. The reason is a genetic mutation, which is about 1000 years old.

Finally

The article provided information about the indigenous population of the Australian continent. Today, a paradoxical situation has developed here, because on the territory of the state of Australia, which is industrialized, in which the general standard of living is quite high, there is another world in parallel - people living almost the same as their very distant ancestors. This is a kind of window into the ancient world for everyone who wants to join the unique culture and understand how people lived on Earth tens of thousands of years ago.

Long before the advent of Europeans, Australia was inhabited by aborigines whose origins are so unique that researchers attribute them to a separate Australoid race. The first white colonists began to call them the common concept of that time "Bushman", from the English "forest man". The Australian Bushmen are dark-skinned and endowed with large facial features, but are not close relatives of the South African Bushmen.

It is believed that the descendants of modern Bushmen arrived in Australia about 50,000 years ago from the territory of Southeast Asia. Initially, they settled near sources of fresh water, of which there are not so many on the continent. As the population grew, they had to look for new places to live, and over time they populated the entire continent, with the exception of the most desert areas. Climatic and geographical diversity greatly influenced the way of life and even the appearance of the first Australians. Over time, three main national groups of Australian aborigines were formed.

barrinoid group

The Bushmen, who settled in the vast tropical rainforests of the continent, formed the Barrinoid or Barrinean group of peoples. Representatives of local tribes have much in common with the Melanesian peoples of the nearby islands. A characteristic difference is low stature - an adult man is rarely taller than 160 centimeters. Barrinoids are characterized by very dark skin, brown eyes and dark hair. Vegetation on the face is weakly expressed. The superciliary ridges and frontal area are small, although the size of the head is larger than average. Because of this, the faces of this type of natives look too narrow and elongated.

Carpentarian group

In the north of Australia, there is another group of peoples - the Carpenterian. These aborigines have an almost Central African black skin color. Carpentarians are larger than barrinoids but, unlike the latter, are rarely found in large modern cities of the country. Most often, their settlements are located along the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Outwardly, they also differ from their neighbors: massive brow ridges, large teeth and more developed hairline throughout the body. Within the Carpentarian group, anthropologists distinguish two subgroups: western and eastern. Aborigines of the western group live in the region of the peninsula of Arnhem Land. They are on average taller and slimmer than their neighbors. And the Carpentarians who inhabit the Cape York Peninsula are squat and wider. This is largely due to the admixture of the blood of neighboring groups.

Murray group

The last of the large groups of peoples is the most mysterious. The history of the origin of all the ethnic groups of the continent is full of blank spots, but the Murrays raise the most questions. Occupying the southern part of Australia, these Aborigines outwardly most resemble Europeans. Their average height often exceeds 160 centimeters, and their skin tone is the lightest among other natives of the continent. Their hair is most often straight, the facial and body hair is pronounced. In the color palette of hair there are shades not found in other natives, for example, red-brown. A large head, a forehead of medium width and inclination, and a wide jaw, combined with a characteristic elongated face shape, make these Bushmen strikingly different from others. But their most outstanding feature is macrodontia. The increased size of the front teeth, which is found in no more than 12 percent of people worldwide, is a common feature in Murrays. Until now, there is no consensus on what these features are associated with.

Other ethnic groups

Tribes of the "Red Center"

The central region of Australia - the Red Center - is the most severe and least explored of all. Until now, Europioid Australians rarely visit these places. And the anthropological analysis of the local population has only just begun. Local tribes are not even assigned to any ethnic group due to insufficient research. The local Bushmen resemble a mixture of other groups, with the exception of one important feature. Only here on the continent are fair-haired natives found. Most often, blond hair can be observed in local women. On average, men are darker. Also, local Bushmen have a massive nose and a strong physique. Most have a well-developed chest, and the average height can be considered the largest among the Aborigines of Australia.

Western tribes

The inhabitants of the west coast are few in number, and their isolated position has made adjustments to their anthropological type. Pronounced eyebrows and a low position of the nose makes their face wider, which is not typical of the Australian Bushmen.

island peoples

Outside the continent, in the Australian part of Oceania, the Papuans and Melanesians live. Most often, the Melanesian tribes are divided due to their insular location. Despite the number of several hundred thousand people, more than four hundred languages ​​are spoken among the Melanesian tribes. The natives of Melanesia are another owner of blond hair. The number of blondes among them reaches 10 percent. Recent studies have shown that a completely different genetic mechanism is responsible for the light shade of hair in Melanesians than in Europeans or residents of central Australia.

The Papuans, on the whole, are related to the Australoid aboriginal population of the continent. But their culture and way of life have their own characteristics. For example, the social hierarchy in the Papuan tribes is less pronounced. Often, a Papuan village can be a long (up to several hundred meters) common house.

Aboriginal culture and religion

Before the advent of Europeans, the life of the Australian Bushmen was not much different from the life of their ancestors. Presumably, up to five hundred large tribal associations existed on the territory of the continent. The art of the Bushmen is represented in abundance by the petroglyphs that have survived to this day, the oldest of which are about 20,000 years old. The natives did not have a written language, but had a well-developed system of laws. Despite the presence of leaders, the power in the tribe belonged to the elders. The leaders were more like military rulers. The religious ideas of the natives have come down to us in a highly distorted form, but the rite of cremation of the dead began to be practiced here 25,000 years ago, long before it spread to other peoples of the world. The main occupations of the indigenous tribes were hunting and gathering. However, agriculture often originated in the most fertile lands along the largest rivers.

The coming of the white people

Since the opening of Australia to the Western world in 1606, Europeans have visited the new continent occasionally. Real settlement by colonists began in 1788 with the founding of the first British colony, New South Wales. Building relationships with the natives here was stereotyped - they were gradually forced out of their lands. According to various estimates, before the advent of European settlers, the number of Australian Bushmen could be from seven hundred thousand to three million people. Skirmishes with colonists and new unknown diseases have reduced this figure by several times. Even into the 20th century, the Aborigines were subjected to various forms of apartheid. The most striking example is the time of the "stolen generation". From 1909 until the 1970s, Bushmen and Torres Strait children were removed from their families by the Australian government. The official pretext was "child protection". This destroyed many tribes and even peoples. The most striking example is the Tasmanians, today considered an extinct people. Thus, the indigenous population by the end of the 20th century was not much more than a quarter of a million people.

Australian bushmen today

Today the situation is starting to change. Every year there are more and more laws protecting the culture, rights and language of the indigenous population. Despite the great support of the state, only about 10-15 percent of the natives speak the languages ​​of their ancestors. In the 2000s, many educational programs and television channels in Aboriginal languages ​​were launched, but the situation remains dire. The number of surviving dialects today is about two hundred, while 300 years ago it reached five hundred. In the Australian reservations, significant powers have been transferred by the federal government to local governments. Despite the relatively low standard of living, the growth rate of the Bushmen is very high. To date, it has exceeded the mark of half a million people. Among them are a number of famous personalities: artist Albert Namatira, writer, journalist and inventor David Yunaipon, musician and singer Geoffrey Yunupingu, singer Jessica Mauboi and 2000 Olympic champion runner Cathy Freeman.

Australian aborigines

Australian Aborigines belong to the Australoid race, whose representatives are characterized by a massive protrusion of the front of the skull, dark skin, hair growth on the face and body, a wide nose, wavy hair. The number of the indigenous population of Australia is (in 2001) 437 thousand people. Aborigines live in regions of Northern, Northwestern, Northeastern and Central Australia, remote from cities, some of them live in cities.

Aboriginal languages

By the beginning of European colonization, the number of Australians was about 700 thousand people, united in about 500 tribes who spoke more than 260 languages.

Australian languages ​​have a large number of dialects that are very different from each other, mutual understanding between speakers of some of them is impossible. The autochthonous languages ​​(that is, the languages ​​of the indigenous population) of the Australian mainland do not have clear genetic links with other languages. They can be divided into two main groups: the Pama Nyunga languages ​​(typical of the southern part of Australia), and the non-Pama Nyunga languages ​​(the languages ​​of the north and northwest).

Presumably, all the languages ​​of Australia are related and evolved from a single proto-Australian language, but this hypothesis has not yet been proven in detail. Information about the languages ​​of Tasmania is even more fragmentary. There were approximately nine communities, each of which spoke its own language.

native with didjiridoo

Indigenous Australians were multilingual, the adult population knew at least three languages. Since the beginning of the colonization of the mainland by Europeans, new languages ​​\u200b\u200bhave been developed - the so-called "pidgins".

Aborigines of Australia were characterized by polygynous marriage (polygamy), the husband was most often older than his wife.

Aboriginal life and culture

traditional Aboriginal painting

Traditional Australian Aboriginal activities hunting, fishing and gathering were, among the population of the Torres Strait Islands - manual farming. The Australians hunted animals and birds, fished, dug up the roots and bulbs of plants, collected berries, leaves, insect larvae, bird eggs, honey from bees and wasps, caught shellfish and crustaceans. The Australians had no pets, with the exception of the dingo dog.

All tools were made of stone, shells, bones and wood. Hunting weapons (spears), digging sticks and troughs for carrying plant food, bags, bags, ropes were used. The Aboriginal costume included braided belts, bracelets, and feather headdresses. The natives did not use bows and arrows for hunting, they did not use poison for spears.

At the same time, they knew poisonous plants, poured them into reservoirs to poison fish, emus and other birds. Fire was made by rubbing two sticks together. Grain graters were used, on which hard roots and grains were ground, nuts were cracked, and animal bones were crushed. Roots, tubers, seeds were soaked in water or baked in a fire. The snakes were coiled and baked in ashes. Small animals, birds, caterpillars and snails were roasted on coals. Big game was cut into pieces and fried on hot stones.

The natives led a semi-nomadic lifestyle. During long stops, huts were built from poles, branches, stones, and earth. Women were engaged in gathering, men hunted big game. Women shared the food they collected only within their families. A large animal brought by a man was divided among all members of the production group from several families, thus, a wide circle of relatives received meat food. When food resources within a radius of 10-13 km from the camp were depleted, the group moved to a new place.

Australian Aboriginal Beliefs

Australian Aboriginal Flag

Australian Aboriginal Religion associated with the ritual life of the tribes and reflects totemic cults, initiation rites, intichium (magical reproduction of animals of their totem) and calendar rites. Ideas about space are poorly developed. The most common myths explain the origin of natural objects - lakes, hills, trees, etc. In mythology, the “time of dreams” stands out, when the mythical heroes completed their life cycle, called people, animals, and plants to life. Then they turned into sacred objects - rocks, trees.

Mythical heroes are totemic ancestors, progenitors of a certain breed of animals or plants and, at the same time, a certain human group; in totemic myths there are kangaroos, dogs, snakes, crabs, emus, opossums. In myths, totemic ancestors introduce various customs and rituals, teach people to use a stone axe, and make fire. The northern tribes have the image of a matriarchal progenitress, symbolizing the fertile land, the tribes of the southeast have a patriarchal universal father living in heaven.

Government policy towards Aboriginal people -

Colonization, accompanied by the extermination of Australians, their displacement into ecologically unfavorable areas, epidemics, led to a decrease in their numbers - up to 60 thousand in 1921. Since the 19th century Until the 1960s, the Australian government took half-breed children from Aboriginal families and sent them to assimilation camps. There they had to learn to live in a white society. During this state campaign, approximately 50,000 children were sent to assimilation camps. The position of the natives began to improve in the second half of the 20th century.

In 1967, the civil rights previously granted to the natives were legally secured. Since the late 1960s a movement is developing for the revival of cultural identity, the acquisition of rights to traditional lands. In many states, laws have been passed that provide the lands of the reservations to the collective possession of Australians in terms of self-government, protecting their cultural heritage.

photograph 1906

In 2010, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to the indigenous people of Australia for the actions that the white colonizers committed towards the Aborigines.

Official apology from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

Currently, the growth rate of the Aboriginal population exceeds the Australian average. Aborigines live in remote areas and often make up the majority of the population there. Thus, over 27% of the population of the Northern Territory are aborigines. However, their standard of living is below the Australian average. Few natives retain the way of life of their ancestors. Traditional hunting, fishing and gathering have been lost.

Australian Aboriginal stamp

Watch the video Australian Aborigines:

“The liberals were and remain the ideologists of the bourgeoisie, which cannot put up with serfdom, but which is afraid of the revolution, afraid of the movement of the masses, capable of overthrowing the monarchy and destroying the power of the landowners. The liberals therefore confine themselves to the "struggle for reforms", the "struggle for rights", i.e. the division of power between the serf-owners and the bourgeoisie" Lenin, 1911.