Who Were Aborigines of Australia?
Aborigines of Australia provide an interesting example of Stone Age people. They probably migrated from South-Eastern Asia into Australia over 30,000 years ago, before the sea covered the land bridging New Guinea to Australia. When the British landed in Australia in 1788, the aborigines numbered 3,00,000. Yet they comprised more than 5,000 tribes speaking 300 different languages. australian-aborigines.jpg
Men used spears, harpoons, hooks, traps, nets, clubs and boomerangs to hunt animals and catch fish. They also smoked out animals and, like the ancient Americans, caught fish by drugging then with juices of certain leaves and roots. Women and children collected roots, fruits, edible insects and honey. The aborigines used stone, plant and animal materials skilfully. They carried firesticks and other tools in dilly bags woven from human hair, grasses and bark fibres. In hunting, they often disguised themselves or covered their bodies with mud to hide their smell from their prey. They wrapped babies in tree bark for warmth and rubbed their own bodies with animal fats to fight cold. Their art portrayed myths and legends and geometrical designs. Stylized dances imitated the movements of a tribe’s totem animal or bird. Their musical instruments include didgeridoos and bull-roarers. Their religion included the belief in a dream-time. The aborigines’ religion involved complex rituals, ceremonies and magic. Their witch doctors treated physical and mental illnesses skilfully.