Aboriginals

Aboriginals

My presentation is about the aboriginals.

I have chosen this subject because I didn’t know a lot about them. And I think it is really interesting to read about people with a different view on life. And the aboriginals really have a different view, when I tell you something about the dreamtime you will understand what I mean.

I am going to tell you about 
- History
- How they live
- Language
- Religion
- Art
- Didgeridoo
- And my opinion

History
The word aboriginal comes from the Latin word ‘’ab orgine ‘’which means from the beginning there. The aboriginals came to Australia about 50000 years ago.
Scientists think that there was a land bridge in the ice age, and that the aboriginals found the bridge and crossed it. but when the ice began to melt the land bridge disappeared, and Australia became an island. The aboriginals had no threat from other humans because there were none, they were they onliest modern humans that crossed the land bridge. The most important thing for them to do was finding enough food. The men were hunters and made tools to kill animals, and the women prepared the food and raised the children. The aboriginals don’t have agriculture nor do keep animals; they live on what the land provides them. 
Australia was originally discovered by jan pieterzoon koen, he is a Dutchman, and discovered Australia in the 17th century. In 1770 James cook rediscovered the land and found the aboriginals. He thought they were gentle and nice. Despite of this his successors began to murder the aboriginals. After a century there were less than 60000 of the originally 300 000 aboriginals left. In 1824 they made a law which made it possible to kill an aboriginal without any explanation.

Way of living
The aboriginals are entirely adapted to the environment in Australia, they never did any agriculture nor stockbreeding, not even when they were short of food. They try not to disturb the nature. Ceremonial body and sand painting,danc, sang and music are a very important piece of their lives, just like the uluru. Its other name is ayers rock that’s a holy rock and the aboriginals think that one of their ancestors live in it. They can find water and foot on the basis of myths and stories told by their forefathers. Those myths and stories could mean the deference between life and dead. Because they hunt and gather they live in moveable groups. The men hunt for wallaby’s, kangaroos, emus and other big wild. The women gather fruit, seeds, beets and honey.
There used to be over 600 different tribes al with their own territory, language and cultural heritage. Despite of al those differences they have on thing in common their dream time, I will you later about this.

Language
Every aboriginal tribe has their own language and they often subdue other aboriginal languages. They hardly speak English, except for the ones that live nearby a city. There used to be over 500 different languages before the English took over Australia. Now there are just 25 of them left. In 1870 the Australian government guided a policy which contained that aboriginal children were taken way from their parents and that they would be raised by a white family, that’s one of the reason why so many languages disappeared. They just could lurn their language from parents or grandparents.

Religion
I have already told you that they have one thing in common, their dream time. They believe that everything is connected, the land, the animals, the weather and how people behave. And for them there isn’t any difference between life and death.
And the earth is created in a time which is still active and this time is called the dream time.
They believe that their ancestors were mythical animals. The mythical animals gave shape to the land and lived on it. And after thousands of years they became one with the earth, like the ulury the rock that I told you about.
Because of all this the aboriginals have a hudge connection with mother earth. And the knowledge of this religion is past on though stories, dances, songs, holy ware and rituals.

Art
The aboriginals used to paint on walls in caves, but now they usually paint on canvas.
The aboriginals know two kinds of art, the desert art and urban art.
The meaning of desert art is hidden for everyone except for the tribe itself.
And urban art is exactly the opposite it has a massage for the outer world, which is usually to gain attention for their situation.

Didgeridoo
The best known instrument is the didgeridoo.
The didgeridoo is created when a tree branch is hollowed out by termites, mostly it is straight with a pointed end. The didgeridoo is usually painted with lizards, kangaroos and other things.
The length normally varies between the 1 and 1, 5 meter, though some are even longer than 2, 5 meter. For the aboriginals the didgeridoo is a sacred instrument, which is gaining popularity al over the world.