Helpful Information

This is one of several pieces of information prepared for this Blog by participant, Erica Venegas, as part of her assignments in another course.

History
Aborigines are Australia's indigenous people which make up about 2% of the population. Australian Aborigines migrated from somewhere in Asia at least 30,000 years ago. The name "aborigine" derives from the Latin, meaning "original inhabitants." There are approx. 400,000 aborigines living in Australia. Aborigines lived as Hunter-gatherers. They hunted and foraged for food from the land. Their skin and hair are both dark. There are about 500 recorded tribes. Aboriginal tribes didn't usually stay in one place for long, moving to watering places and setting up camp there. Aborigines lived in family groups and clans. Each clan has a place on their land where their spirits return when they die. They have to protect these places so they won't upset their ancestral beings.

Culture
The Aborigine culture consist of practices and ceremonies, belief systems, music, art, Astronomy, and traditional recreation. A Bora is an initiation ceremony in which young boys are changed into men. They receive one gift. A Corroboree it is a ceremonial meeting for Australian Aboriginal people. Fire-stick farming, identified by Australian archeologist Rhys Jones in 1969, is the practice of regularly and systematically burning patches of vegetation to facilitate hunting, to reduce the frequency of major bush-fires, and to change the composition of plant and animal species in an area. "Burning-off", as it is often called, reduces the fuel-load for a potential major bush fire, while fertilizing the ground and increasing the number of young plants, thus providing additional food for kangaroos and other fauna who are hunted for meat. It is regarded as good husbandry and "Looking after the Land" by Indigenous people. A Smoking ceremony is a cleansing ritual performed on special occasions. Tjurunga or churinga are objects of religious significance by Central Australian Aboriginal Arrernte (Aranda, Arundta) groups. Walkabout refers to a commonly held but unverified belief that Australian Aborigines would undergo a rite of passage journey during adolescence by living in the wilderness for six months.

Present Circumstances
Many of the Aborigine culture has been altered or even taken away upon the arrival of European settlers. The forced introduction of European culture and values to Aboriginal societies, the dispossession of Aboriginal lands, and the imposition of alien modes of governance began a cycle of social, physical and spiritual destruction. You can see the effects of this today. Some effects include poverty, poor health, and substance abuse. Underlying these problems is a loss of identity and a learned helplessness from having their values oppressed and their rights ignored. Hope is starting to emerge from the Aborigine culture. Aboriginal people are struggling to improve their lives while re-discovering their traditional values after years of oppression.
Resources
wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians
dictionary.reference.com/browse/aboriginal
www.aboriginalaustralia.com/