Australian Aborigines

Recent history

At the time of first contact with the European colonists in the late 18th century, most Aboriginals were hunter-gatherers with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based upon reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Dreamtime is at once the ancient time of creation and the present day reality of dreaming. (Also see Aboriginal mythology). The Abporiginal and Torres Strait island people are the indigeniou (native) people of Australia. Their ancestors probably came from southeast Asia more than 50 000 years ago. This means there have been more than 1250 generations in Australia. The Aboriginal people lived through many climatic changes and adapted successfully to the different environments.

There were a great many different Aboriginal groups, each with their own individual culture, belief structure, and language (approximately 200 different languages at the time of European contact). These cultures overlapped to a greater or lesser extent, and evolved over time. Lifestyles varied a great deal, and the stereotyped image of a proud and naked hunter standing one-legged in the red sand of the central Australian desert cannot be applied across the board. In present-day Victoria, for example, there were two separate communities with an economy based on fish-farming in complex and extensive irrigated pond systems; one on the Murray River in the state's north, the other in the south-west near Hamilton, which traded with other groups from as far away as the Melbourne area.

The Aboriginal population was decimated by British colonisation which began in 1788. A combination of disease, loss of land (and thus food resources) and outright murder reduced the Aboriginal population by an estimated 90% during the 19th Century and early 20th Century. A wave of massacres and resistance followed the frontier. The last massacre was at Coniston in the Northern Territory in 1928. Poisoning of food and water has been recorded on several different occasions.

The number of violent deaths at the hands of whites is still the subject of a vigorous and politically-loaded debate, with some figures—notably Prime Minister John Howard—rejecting what Howard terms "the black-armband" view of Australian history. Figures of around 10,000 have been advanced by historians such as Henry Reynolds. Historian Keith Windschuttle claims such numbers are not backed up by documentary evidence, finding evidence existing only for a much smaller number. Reynolds attacks Windschuttle's interpretation of the existing evidence, points out that documented proof that Windschuttle requires is unlikely to be available, and questions Windschuttle's rejection of other forms of evidence such as oral history.

Despite the prominence of the direct violence debate, loss of land was probably more significant as a killer, and there is no doubt that by far the major factor in the decline of Australia's Aboriginal population was disease.

In particular, chickenpox, smallpox, influenza, venereal diseases, and measles spread in waves throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Aboriginal people had no understanding of European diseases, and very little of the genetic resistance that Europeans had evolved over the centuries. It is estimated that about 90% of the Aboriginal population decline was the result of disease spreading in advance of the European colonists. As always with infectious diseases, the worst-hit communities were the ones with the greatest population densities where disease could spread more readily. Entire communities in the moderately fertile southern part of the continent simply vanished without trace, often before European settlers arrived or recorded their existence. The large fish-farming economy in south-west Victoria, for example, was entirely unknown to science until the turn of the 21st century, when investigations by a team of archaeologists working with and guided by surviving members of a local Aboriginal community began to unearth the foundations of houses and rediscover the irrigation system.

In the arid centre of the continent, where small communities were spread over a vast area, the population decline was less marked, and Aboriginal communities were able to continue in an approximation of their traditional lifestyle for considerably longer—in many cases, until the late 19th century and in a few instances well into the 20th.

Nevertheless, European settlers gradually made their way into the interior, appropriating small but vital parts of the land for their own exclusive use (waterholes and soaks in particular), and introducing sheep, rabbits and cattle, all three of which ate out previously fertile areas and degraded the ability of the land to carry the native animals that were vital to Aboriginal economies.

In general, the first European colonisers were welcomed, or at least not opposed, but there were violent conflicts from time to time, frequently culminating in murder. In the Northern Territory, both isolated Europeans (usually travellers) and visiting Japanese fishermen continued to be speared to death on a semi-regular basis until the start of the Second World War in 1941. It is known that some European settlers in the centre and north of the country shot Aboriginal people during this period. It is reasonable to presume that many more Aboriginal people died than Europeans, but such events were seldom recorded and the number of murders is a matter for speculation.

As the European pastoral industries developed several economic changes came about. The appropriation of prime land and the spread of European livestock over vast areas made a traditional Aboriginal lifestyle less viable, but also provided a ready alternative supply of fresh meat for those prepared to risk taking advantage of it.

As large sheep and cattle stations came to dominate outback Australia, Aboriginal men, women and children became a significant source of labour, usually on a voluntary basis but sometimes under conditions that amounted to virtual slavery. For European workers, life in the outback was harsh, dangerous and ill-paid. For Aboriginal workers it was usually worse yet, wages often being restricted to food and other basic items, particularly in the early years. Typically, an Aboriginal stockman could expect to earn half as much as a European doing the same job. This system lasted until the introduction of equal pay legislation in 1965, which—paradoxically—brought about widespread unemployment and yet more hardship.

(Several other northern industries, notably pearling, also employed Aboriginal workers.)

During the first half of the 20th century, native welfare boards were established in the various states. These instituted a policy of separating children from their parents based upon racial stereotyping. Pale-skinned children were forcibly removed, and Aboriginal parents often darkened up their children to keep them. This aspect of Aboriginal history is also open to considerable debate. See Stolen Generation.

Many Aborigines now live in towns and cities around Australia, but a substantial number live in settlements (often located on the site of former church missions) in what are often remote areas of rural Australia. The health and economic difficulties facing both groups are substantial (for instance, life expectancy of Aboriginal people is often 20 years shorter than the wider Australian population) and the root causes and solutions have been, again, contentious political issues.

Prominent Aborigines

Aboriginal people have succeeded in Australian life through excelling at sport, especially Australian Rules football. For example:

• Evonne Goolagong, tennis star who won seven Grand Slam titles.
• Doug Nicholls, a Yorta Yorta man and football star, was later a respected clergyman and the first Aboriginal governor of an Australian state
• Graham Farmer, AKA "Polly" Farmer, a Noongar man regarded by many as the greatest ever player of Australian Rules football.
• Cathy Freeman, Olympic athlete.
• Michael Long and Nicky Winmar, footballers who publicly challenged racism in Australian Rules football.
• Gavin Wanganeen and Adam Goodes, winners of the Brownlow Medal, Australian Rules Football's highest individual honour.
• Patrick Johnson, athlete; first man not of West African ancestry to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters. White father and Aboriginal mother.

Prominent Aboriginal performing artists and entertainers include:

• Mark Atkins, internationally known didjeridu player.
• Ernie Dingo, an actor and television presenter
• David Gulpilil film and television actor
• David Hudson, internationally known musician specialising in didjeridu.
• George Rrurrambu of the band Indigenous Roots
• Mandawuy Yunupingu from the rock band Yothu Yindi

The number of Aboriginal people who have achieved prominence outside the areas of sport and entertainment is still small. Some examples include:

• John Ah Kit, Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
• Neville Bonner, first Aboriginal member of the Australian Parliament
• Ernie Bridge, former Cabinet Minister in Western Australia
• Linda Burnley, member of the New South Wales Parliament
• Burnum Burnum, activist, actor, artist, author, educator, sportsman, storyteller
• Carol Martin, member of the Western Australian Parliament
• Mudrooroo, author and playwright
• Albert Namatjira, artist
• Oodgeroo Noonuccal, writer, actor, teacher and artist
• Pat O'Shane, New South Wales magistrate
• Charles Perkins, the first Aboriginal university graduate and later a senior public servant
• Aden Ridgeway, Australian Democrats Senator for New South Wales
• David Unaimon, preacher, inventor, writer, and features on the Australian $50 note

A note on nomenclature

Most Aboriginal people had no name for themselves as a people before their encounter with Europeans in the 18th century, as only a few on the northern coast had ever encountered outsiders. The word aboriginal, in use in English since the 17th century to mean "first or earliest known, indigenous", was used in Australia as early as 1789; it was soon capitalised and became the standard name for indigenous Australians.

Strictly speaking Aboriginal is an adjective and Aborigine is a noun. It is therefore correct to refer either to Aboriginal Australians or Australian Aborigines, but not to Australian Aboriginals. This is partly because Aboriginal people increasingly dislike being called Aborigines. (Note that the once-common abbreviation Abo is highly offensive.) Today the preferred usages are Aboriginal people (as in "This is what Aboriginal people want") or indigenous Australians.

A generally acceptable indigenous name for most of the Aboriginal people in New South Wales and Victoria is Koori. Aboriginal groups in other parts of Australia have their own names, such as Murri in southern Queensland, Noongar or Nyungah in southern Western Australia, Nunga in South Australia and Palawa in Tasmania. These names are not tribal but refer to the languages formerly spoken by many groups over large areas.

See also: List of Australian Aboriginal tribes, Music of Australia, Torres Strait Islanders, Aboriginal art, Australian Native Territorial Rights

External links

• Norman B. Tindal's Catalogue of Aboriginal Tribes
• Bibliography for Aboriginal Studies

Referenced By