Australia’s Aborigines

1. Australia’s Aborigines History

2. Aborigines • Were the first people to settle in Australia • “aborigine” = the first • Some scientists believe they were the world’s first people. Artifacts found have been dated back farther than any artifacts found from any European settlements.

3. Aborigine Life • Aborigines live in small groups of people, but they were not considered tribal. • Each group lived on a piece of land that they believed was given to them in the “Dreamtime” or the past. None ever bought or sold property. • Different groups learned to hunt and gather food differently depending on what type of land they lived on. • They did not trade or grow any crops but gathered their own food daily from the land around them. Aborigine man holding a freshly killed animal (that will be used as food.)

4. The British have arrived! • British arrived to settle the island in 1788 and found that the Aborigines had already settled the land. • The British are not hostile at first, but do not think highly of the Aborigines because they did not cultivate the land and were not Christians. They thought of the Aborigines as native savages. • British begin taking the land because the Aborigines would not sell it to them, so they were forced off their land. • Some Aborigines still live in Australia today.

5. “Dreamtime” • Aborigine spiritual beliefs is called “The Dreaming.” • Some beliefs: • All exist eternally as spiritual or physical beings eternally. • Cultural heroes created sacred sites and significant places in the natural world. • Establishes the structure of society, rules for social behavior, and how people should conduct themselves in their community. • Stories, songs, paintings, and dances retell the major events of “The Dreaming”.

6. Aborigines and Dreamtime