Aboriginal History and Culture Essay examples -- Essays papers

Aboriginal History and Culture Aborigines are believed to have lived in Australia for between 60,000 and 40,000 years, their early ancestors coming from South-East Asia. Precise population details for the period before European colonisation are unavailable, but it is estimated that there were between 300,000 and 1,000,000 Aborigines in Australia when European settlers first arrived in 1788. These natives formed approximately 500 tribes, each associated with its own language and stretch of territory. Although the sizes of the tribes varied, they had much in common. The Aborigines were not natural cultivators of the land - fertile land was obviously scarce - and Australia (before the European colonisation) had no animals suitable for herding, so the Aborigines lived by hunting and gathering food. The size of the tribe and the extent to which they could hunt and gather were limited by the proximity and quantity of fresh water, necessitating a semi-nomadic lifestyle. As the numbers of the tribe swelled and/or supplies of water dwindled, subgroups set out to discover new waters and set up new territories. Each tribe was led by religious leaders, with no political chief or formal government, and was broken down into bands (hunting groups) and also local descent groups (family units). These family units were vitally important, as all members of a tribe were related. The territory of the tribe was centred on the place where its ancestors had originally settled, and it was b...