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Australia has been inhabited far longer than Ireland has.The first settlers were called
Aborigines
Until 1788 , the only inhabitants of Australia were the Aborigines. They had lived there for over 40,000 years and it is thought that there was as many as 300,000 of them there at the time. Today there are only 150,000 Aborigines representing 1% of the population of Australia. Nearly half of them live in the far north, in some of the hottest and remote regions.
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They moved to Australia from South East Asia. They crossed the sea in rafts moving along the islands now known as Indonesia and New Guinea. They were nomads who wandered from place to place in search of food.
The Aborigines did not grow crops but survived by hunting, fishing and gathering food.
The men went to hunt while the while women and children gathered plants,fruits, seeds, berries and nuts. The women collected most of the family food.
Aborigines learned to live with long periods of drought which could last up to eight months.
To hunt the Aborigines used weapons made from wood, bone and stone. The most important weapons were boomerangs and a womera.
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The Boomerang is the most famous weapon of the Aborigines. When skilfully thrown it will zoom back again to the hunter if it does not strike its target on the way. | Click here for more information on Boomerangs |
The Womera is like a long spear.When the spear was fitted onto a stick it was called a Womera. It could be thrown up to ninety metres.
The women used long pointed sticks to dig out roots and small animals such as lizards frogs or mice.
Aborigines belong to different tribes. There were almost 500 different tribes when the white people came to Australia in 1780's.
Each tribe had there own language and had hunting rights over a certain area of land.
They had no chiefs or leaders but headmen, elders and religious leaders had some power.The Aborigines had different sets of rules concerning all areas of life.The rules were strict and everyone was expected to obey them. These rules enabled them to live in peace with one another.
The Aborigines did not fight battles or war to gain more land.
Aborigines were very Religious people. They believed the world began a long time ago in a time called Dreamtime. In the Dreamtime their ancestors created the world and taught them how to live. Dreamtime ancestors were animals, some were plants and some were people.
Burial customs varied from group to group. In many religions they buried their dead in the ground. In other areas they placed the dead body on a platform or in a tree and left it there to decay.
After someone died they believed the spirit of the dead person went to a sacred watering hole or to the land of the dead.
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Ayers Rock is an important holy place for aborigines.