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Most people think that australia is a young country, but is that really true?
Certainly, it was only 200 years ago that the British under Captain James Cook began their invasion (most people said that australia was discovered by Captain Cook, but how can you discover a country where people have lived for thousands of years? That's why many australians now prefer the word invasion). But what some people forget is that the Aborigines had already been living in that country for a long time: scientists say for at least 50.000 years! The Aborigines themselves say that they have been there since the beginning of time.
When the British came in 1788, there were about 750.000 Aborigines. They lived in large family groups, each with its own language and culture. There was plenty of contact between different groups, as the Aborigines were very good at learning languages. One person could often speak four or five.
Coming from such a different culture, the British never really understood the Aborigines' way of life . they even said the aborigines did not have a culture. Let's go back to the time before the British arrived and look at the some of the customs and beliefs of the Aborigines.
Childhood:
Only one or two women - no men - were allowed to be there when a mother gave birth to her baby. In some tribes, the father was only told the sex of his new child by a "message stick". This stick was long if the baby was a boy and short if it was a girl. A baby was not usually given a name until it was one year old. Before that it was not a "real person". Altough the mother had the most respnsibility, all members of the group , including the men , took care of the child in the first years of its life.
Between the ages of 10 and 15 , boys and girls became men and women. This took place in special religious ceremonies called " initiations".
In the south of australia a girl was taken into the bush by some of the older women in her family. Her body was painted with earth colors and her arms covered witch animal skins. For the next few days , the girl had to sit up in a tree in a cloud of smoke from a fire below. She was only allowed to come down at night to sleep. After this, she was given a skirt of emu feathers which she had to wear until she married. Two young men from the tribe then joined the group and took part in the next stage. The girl had to hold a branch witch two small cakes at each end. The men took bites from the cakes, spat them into the fire and began dancing. The branch was burned and the girl taken back to her father . that night there was a big celebration party. The girl knew that she was now ready top marry : she was now a women.
Boys' initiation often took longer. One tribe said when the boys's beards began to grow , it was the right time for initiation. Older men took a group of boys away from the camp and pulled their beards out. They were not allowd to eat or sleep for three days and three nights. This was over the next six months. During this time a boy learned many of the sacred stories, dances and laws before becoming a man.
Family life:
In our society , people usually choose who they marry. For the Aborigines , marriage was more like a contract between parts of the tribe. A women usually had more than one husband in her life, and the first was sometimes 30 years older that herself. However, she was allowed to choose her next husbands if she obeyed the law. Having many children improved a women's status. If she was unable to have any children of her own , she was given a child. A man's status grew if he had many wives and children.
Creation Ancestors:
The aborigines say it was the "creation ancestors" - animal,human and reptile creatures - who created the landscape and the first people. When these creatures disappeared, they left their spirits in the mountains and the rocks. If somebody damaged, they left their spirits in the mountains and the rocks. If somebody damaged these sacred places, they were sometimes punished by death. For us , laws are something people make, but for the Aborigines it is the Creation Ancestors that made the law.
One of these creatures was the Rainbow serpent.
At the time of creation he travelled across the country and made rivers and valleys with his long , heavy body. After his journey , the rainbow serpent went back to his hole in the ground and then called out loudly " Come out". Suddenly , all the animals , birds and plants which had been sleeping under the ground came out and began to live on earth.
Then the rainbow serpent made rules for all living things to obey. If a plant or an animal did not obey him, it was turned into a stone by the rainbow serpent. These stones became hills and mountains. The rainbow serpent rewarded some plants and animals that obeyed the rules by making them into people. In this way the various tribes developed.
Uluru - Ayers Rock - in the Northern Territory has a very special religious meaning to Aborigines.
The fight to survive:
Normally a peaceful people, the aborigines suddenly found themselves at war when British arrived and started taking the land. Thousands of aborigines were killed. Diseases that the British brought with them caused even more deaths. When the aborigines fought back, whole tribes were massacred. The aborigines who survived were put onto reserves and church missions. These were often like prisons. Rape of aboriginal women was common, and soon many children were born witch some "white blood" . The white people thought that these children were better than the other aboriginal children. So they took them away from their families by force and sent them to hostels in the cities. There they learned to live " the eurpean way".
Today , the Aborigines live in a country which is very different form the australia of 1788. Although they live in the traditional ways in only some parts of the country , all aborigines are proud of their culture.
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