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TTALL Programme Final Project

The very heart and soul of the Aboriginal people can be found in the many Dreamtime legends and stories. These are their laws, it is what bonds them to the land, rivers and the animals.

Each tribe has its own 'totem' and that tribe never hunted that particular animal for food. And remember Aboriginal people NEVER killed for sport and only killed for food and only when necessary.

platypus

The Platypus was not at anytime hunted or eaten. The Aboriginal people recognised it as a rare species belonging a little to all others and quite unique. It was taboo in all areas. Dreamtime stories revel the respect these people had for this unusual creature. The sighting of a platypus was regarded as a 'good luck' omen.

hopping off into the sunset

Kangaroo was the largest of the animals hunted and the most important. The major source for meat, bones for making implements, hide used to make water carriers, rugs and cloaks. Babies wrapped in or lain upon, fur side up.

They had much knowledge and a deep seated respect for each living creature believing that each one like themselves had its special place in the overall plan of creation and life.

In 1788 an estimated 300,000 persons lived in this land and had done so for many thousands of years prior to this. The meat of the native animals was a major source of food so the animals and birds were necessarily hunted constantly. Yet in 40, 000 years of Aboriginal occupation of this land very few animal species became extinct. They practiced long term conservation very well indeed. They had a policy of take some, leave some, when raiding birds nests for eggs, they never killed young animals or a mother suckling young. The walkabout circuit followed the same route and usually took place in the same seasons of each successive year. Coastal people did not need to 'move on' as constantly.

For the Sydney Aborigines, the events of 1788 marked the end of a time during which a rich material and spiritual culture had developed. The European society established on the shores of Port Jackson not only had a direct impact on Aboriginal life but also depleted many natural resources on which it depended.

The first Europeans failed to recognise the relationship between the Aborigines and the land and to accept that Aboriginal people had prior claim to it. From the first days of settlement, they established a pattern of aggression, displacement and neglect.

Although they devoted much time to food gathering and associated technical processes, their social system allowed frequent contact between neighbouring bands and larger groupings on ceremonial occasions, providing opportunities to exchange gifts and settle disputes. There was time to draw and paint on rock shelter walls and to engrave thousands of figures on flat sandstone outcrops. There was time to decorate themselves with clay and ochre for corrobrees and to tell the children stories of the Dreaming.

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Published August 1997 - Updated December 2007 ©

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