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Englisch

Käthe-Kollwitz-Gymnasium Dortmund

14 Punkte, M. Köhn, 2013

Jana B. ©

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Aborigines


1) Introduction


Myths, dreams and connection to the earth – the culture of the Aborigines.”


For many Europeans Australia is only a country far away and nearly nobody knows about this country. Eating at McDonald’s, buying at Woolworth’s and swimming in own pools – this was not what Australia originally was. Many thousand years before the Aborigines, the first settlers, lived on this continent. For most people it is unbelievable to live in houses built of stones and sticks, to have to go hunting or to live without any internet and without any connection to the outside. To change this point of view we tried to give the reader a little insight in the culture of the Native Australians.


2) About the Aborigines

Aborigines are the Natives of Australia. The word “Aborigine” is derived from the latin word word “origin” which means “from the beginning.” They call themselfes “Indigenous people”. Aborigines lived in clans and every had a different language, so other expressions for them are for example Koori, Anangu, Yolngu, Murri or Nanga.

Before the first Europeans came to Australia in 1788 there were about 600 clans. They came to the continent from Southeast-Asia about 50.000 years ago. Before 1788 there were about 1.000.000 Aborigines in Australia, but the white people brought many diseases to the continent and there were many conflicts about the rights of the land, so the rate of the natives fell to about 60.000 (counted in 1920). The Europeans came last to the Northern Territory so today there live the most aboriginal people.


3) The history and the rights of the Aborigines

The Aborigines came from the Asian mainland to Australia about 50,000 years ago. The first Europeans who arrived in “Down Under” at the end of the 16th century were Dutchmen, so the people from the Netherlands, but they didn’t find the wealth they hoped for. A much more important role in the history played the British people.

On the 29th April 1770 Captain James Cook and his crew landed at Botany Bay near Sydney and took the East coast on behalf of the British Crown. From this time the Aborigines met a completely different culture – the culture of the Europeans. So in the beginning of the 19th century for the settlers the Aborigines were not better than animals. Those who defended themselves were killed and many other died of diseases, which were imported from Europe. But the biggest problem was the division of the land between the British and the Aborigines.

When the colonial administration saw the disintegration of the Native Australians in 1836, it helped with medical care and education. But on the other hand they were excluded from political decisions in Queensland, Western Australia and later also in the Northern Territory by cutting their rights. For example they lost their right to raise up their children.

As a result between 1910 and 1970 100.000 Aboriginal children were taken from their families. They were put into white families and grew up as whites. The so called “full blood Aborigines” should die out in the reservations.
That was a really bad time for the Aborigines. Today they’re still afraid that somebody takes their children again. This time is called ‘The stolen generations’ because this generations are lost, they are white people now.
1949 officially every Aborigine got the Australian citizenship, but in 1964 they were given the same civil rights as whites.
From then on life was easier for the Aborigines: 1961 the Native Australians were given the right to vote. 1971 the first Aborigine was in the Australian parliament (Neville Bonner) And in 1976 for the first time there was the possibility to claim land rights and many Aborigines got large areas back. In 1997 the “Australian Human Rights Commission” dealed with the Stolen Generations and on the 26th of May 1998 the “National Sorry Day” was introduced. All over the country thousands of Australians signed “sorry books”.



4) Aborigines today

That was the history of the Aborigines now we talk about today.

Here you can see a table that shows how many Aborigines live in the different parts of Australia, they are New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Viktoria and Tasmania. You can see how many Aborigines live in the part and the aboriginal percentage in this part. That’s important, it’s not the aboriginal percentage of the population in whole Australia, it’s from this special part. The most important fact is, that the aboriginal percentage of the population in the parts are everywhere under 4%. Everywhere, but not in the Northern Territory. The percentage is there about 31%. So there live about 16 times more Aborigines than in New South Wales. I told you the reason earlier. That was just a little insight in the aboriginal rates today.
Today about 75% of the Aborigines live in the cities, no longer in clans.

Most of the Australians respect the Aborigines and are proud that they are there.

In 2009 about 73% of the modern Aborigines are Christs. That’s because there are many organizations which build schools, hospitals or other facilities in Australia and they spread their beliefs to the families.

But the Aborigines’ situation is still bad: many of them have no work (about 20%), many children die and for example Europeans live in average 10 years longer. This is so because there is not enough work and they are too poore for good medicin.

Furthermore there’s still a lot of discrimination, of course some Australians don’t like them but that’s not all: the attacks on the aboriginal people in the past are still in their mind so it’s very difficult to rebuild the culture.

The Aborigines don’t live like the white people in Australia because they get with the same career less money and for the most young people there’s no chance to get a good education! They are not allowed to go to an university!

In 2007 an article tells that the Aborigines abuse young children and drink really too much alcohol. But nobody asks why. Nobody thinks that this is because of a

lot of discrimination. The government just wants the control over the Aborigines. But the Aborigines defend themselves and they want to fight for their rights, even though they are scared to loose their kids again like Karli told us with the story of “The stolen generation.” Bea told you the reason before.


5) Languages

You know already that Aborigines lived in clans. Every clan has its own language.

Before 1788 there were about 300 languages spoken but today there are only about 25 languages passed on from generation to generation.

The languages have no names, you say only “The language of the …”. Then comes the name of the clan.

There’s one important fact about it: In the Northern Territory there are schools with bilingual classes, so there’s a chance that the young students can learn englisch and the language of their ancestors’ clan. Today is the language of the clan “Arrernte” in Alice Springs with about 2800 speakers the most known language in Australia. It’s really difficult to learn it, because there are so many expressions, the words are long, hard to remember and to pronounce.


7) The Uluru

It’s time to show you a famous tourist attraction: The Uluru. It is also known as the Ayers Rock. It’s a big red rock which stands in the desert in Northern Territory. But it isn’t just an attraction: Many tourists don’t know how holy the Uluru is for the Aborigines. There are many drawings of Dreamtime-Stories and they are often connected with the Uluru.What these stories are we tell you later. It’s not allowed to talk at some places next to the Ayers Rock. Tourists often climb on the Ayers Rock, but the Aborigines do that just in holy and important ceremonies. To respect this sacred place, you just go around it.


9) Food

Before the Europeans came to Australia the Aborigines were picker and hunter, so the women picked up berries and other food in the nature.

Really popular was the consum of roots. They are delicious, healthy and you can

make mash or bread with them or eat them just uncooked.

The men hunted kangaroo, emu and its eggs, snakes, birds and a lot of other wild animals in Australia. They also ate a lot of insects. The people near the coasts ate fish, turtles, a lot of eels and of course crabs. Having a meal with other clans was difficult, because some animals were holy in the first clan and often eaten in the others. The white people told that Aborigines were cannibals, that wasn’t and isn’t true.

The Aborigines’ food was much more healthy and balanced than our’s in Europe.

In the 18th Century the Europeans despised the Australian food but today dishes like Kangaroo meat are specialities in Germany too.


10) Arms

The Aborigines eat and ate the same food as the other Australians. The white people told that Aborigines were cannibals, that wasn’t and isn’t true.

I will tell you now something how the Aborigines hunted the animals.

The most important arm vor the Aborigines was the fire, it was really easy to kill small animals with it. In addition there were three main arms: the spear which you throw to kill an animal with the spike on the front. Second there’s a burrow-stick, so it’s a piece of wood with which you can burrow the roots out of the ground. Very popular is the boomerang. You throw it onto an animal to kill it and the boomerang flies to you back.



11) The aboriginal flag

The aboriginal flag was designed by Harold Thomas who comes from an indigenous family in Australia. Unfortunately, he did not report to its meaning, so there are different interpretations. We decided for one:
The yellow circle in the middle symbolizes the sun as the giver of life
The black colored half stands for the dark-skinned Aborigines of Australia or in another interpretation for the dark sky in the night
The red colored half stands for the so called red land of central Australia or for the blood of the Aborigines.
Harold Thomas designed the flag in 1971.

In 1995 the flag was officially accepted by the Australian government as a flag of Australia.
The flag of the Aborigines got worldwide attention as after winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 Cathy Freeman showed both the flag of Australia and the flag of the Aborigines. But it’s only allowed to show one national flags in olympic stadiums.
Someone proposed to replace the „Union Jack“ in the australian flag by the aboriginal flag.

This flag is often used at political demonstrations or as a bumper sticker.


12) Dreamtime

The Aborigines don’t have religions like in Europe. They don’t adore one God, they believe in the “Stories of the Dreamtime.” That’s the Australian belief of the origin of the world. The stories explain the nature and its laws, for example how the humans found the fire. The central figure in the sagas isn’t a god but the earth. For the Aborigines the stories are the cultural pillars of their own religion. No Aborigine questions this stories even though they all are in the clans different. They are passed on by drawings, music and dances. The natives dream about the unity and harmony of humans, animals, plants, nature and art, all is related.


13) The woman of the sun and the man of the moon (A Dreamtime Story)

As the world was young, life was difficult for the Aborigines, because there was neither light nor warmth. They had to hunt in the dark and to eat raw meat.
One day, as Purukupali (the first man in the world) and his mate Japara rubbed two sticks toghether – just to see what would happen – they accidentally discovered the art of making fire. Purukupali directly realized the overwhelmed meaning of this exploration. They had found something which was able to chase away the darkness, to spend warmth and something that was helpful to cook meat. So he gave his sister Wuriupranala a big piece of burning bark and his friend Japara a smaller piece and said: „No matter what happens, you should never let that fire go out. “
As the mythological figures were transformed into animals, plants and natural forces, Wuriupranala became the woman of the sun and Japara the man of the moon.
So when in the morning the woman of the sun got up in the east with the burning bark, the Aborigines left their camp to hunt and to collect food. When the sun reached the highest level at noon and Wuriupranala made a fire to cook her meal it was so hot that everyone had to rest in the shade.
In the afternoon when Wuriupranala had already eaten the Aborigines continued their search until the woman of the sun disappeared behind the western horizon. Then there came the time for Japara, the man of the moon, to make his journey across the sky with his smaller piece of bark to give the Aborigines light.



14) Music

I’m going to talk about the aboriginal music now.

Music is a powerful part of the Aborigines’ everyday life. Traditional music is still practiced and performed. It plays an important role in the traditional Aboriginal society.

There’s usually only one instrument used, it’s the Didgeridoo. Otherwise there aren’t any instruments while singing songs but the Aborigines really often clap their hands.

Some songs tell stories and some are just for fun but the text is the most important part of the aboriginal music.

Music is always used in ceremonies but there are rules: there are songs which are sang by the men and the women dance to the rhythm but there are also songs which everybody sings.




15) Didgeridoo

The most important instrument for the Aborigines is the Didgeridoo.

It’s also called “Yidaki”. It is the oldest instrument in the world.

The Didgeridoo is used for every ceremony or ritual, for songs and for narrating stories. A long time ago the men told the women not to touch a Didgeridoo and not to play one, because if they do that, they became unfruitful. That means they can’t become parents. That was a really huge lie and today most women are allowed to play a Yidaki. You can’t imagine, how important a Didgeridoo is for the Aborigines: One of them said: “If the earth could talk, it would be the sound of a Didgeridoo.”




16) Conclusion

Well I want to conclude our topic.

Aborigines are people like you and me who believe in dreamtime-stories and look a little bit strange. But they should have the same rights as everyone of us has and are allowed to be with us on the earth.
In 1770 Captain James Cook described Australia as an almost uninhabited country - despite the presence of the Aborigines. But they were and are there and we have to support them, because otherwise they will die out and we have to be glad that not everything of the Aboriginal culture is lost.




17) Quiz


Why are today so many Aborigines Christs?

It’s because there are many organizations which build schools, hospitals or other facilities in Australia and they spread their beliefs to the families.



Which is the most known aboriginal language?

It’s the language of the Arrernte.


Tell me one word in the language of the “Arrernte” and what it means in English!

For example the word “Chooka-chooka” which means “dream” in English.



Where was Gordon Bennett born?

He was born in Monto which is in Queensland.



Why was having a meal with other clans so difficult?

Because some animals were holy in the first clan and often eaten in the others.



Who designed the aboriginal flag?
It was Harold Thomas.



Tell me the names of the three main characters in the story “The woman of the sun and the man of the moon!”

Their names are Purukupali, Wuriupranala and Japara.



What’s another name for the Didgeridoo?

It’s Yidaki.




Which european country first sent a sailor to Australia?

It were the Dutchmen, so the Netherlands.































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