1. 3.1.2
RELATIONSHIPS WITH AUSTRALIAN OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTS EXPRESSED BY SPECIFIC INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES BEFORE AND AFTER EUROPEAN COLONIZATION

2. from the Study Design
Key Knowledge: Relationships with Australian outdoor environments expressed by specific Indigenous communities before and after European colonisation.
Key Skills: Describe and analyse the changing relationships with Australian outdoor environments expressed by specific Indigenous communities.

3. Relationships
A major concept in Unit 3 is ‘relationships’ with outdoor environments.
There are three elements that make up a relationship:
Perceptions
Interactions
Impacts

4. Perceptions: What we think about outdoor environments, how we see/view them, how do we see outdoor environments in relation to ourselves on this planet?
Interactions: What we do in, and with outdoor environments, the activities/practices carried out.
Impacts: What are the results of our perceptions and interactions, both on humans and the physical environment.

5. Relationship in and with outdoor environments
Perceptions
(What we think)
Relationship in and with outdoor environments
Impacts
(the effects)
Interactions
(What we do)

6. Introduction
Aboriginals first arrived in Australia around 60,000 years ago – they came from Asia by boat, island hoping
Aborigines continued to arrive until 10,000 years ago (and after) when the last ice age ended – at this time:
The polar caps melted causing the sea to rise separating Australia from Asia
Tasmania was separated from mainland Australia
Australia began a period of warming which continues today
Aboriginal societies were semi-nomadic – they moved from place to place over large distances in a seasonal pattern following food supplies.

7. BEFORE human settlement
relationships
BEFORE human settlement

8. Perceptions How they view life, what they thought:
Kinship - obligation to the land and tribal law
Spiritual connection with land
Land was perceived in terms of worship
The Dreaming (aboriginal spirituality) made strong links with people, the land and all living things
Spirits formed the earth’s landscape (e.g. rainbow serpent)
When spirits die they are absorbed into the earth or go to the sky- sacred sites
Part OF the land. Equal to the land.

9. The dreaming
Bunurong (Boonwurrung) people believe, as do all Aborigines that their world and their history began with the Dreaming.
The Dreaming is the total of religious beliefs and is held in genuine conviction by close to all Aboriginal people.
It is more than just a time in the past. It is with us now in the re- creation of life and as rules of behaviour. It will also influence and shape the future.
Dreaming stories tell of the beginning, when there was a void: empty and without shape. They tell of ancestor heroes who appeared and created life and the landscape as they moved from place to place. The creators were often animals or birds, others included plants, the sun, the moon and natural events such as rainfall.

10. Boonjil- The Eaglehawk Man
The Bunurong people have two creation totems, Boonjil the Eaglehawk and Waang the Crow
The Boonjil was the most important to the Bunurong ancestor heroes.
It is believed that he came from the sky world, said to be a land of trees in heaven, and he cut the land with his knife, creating valleys, mountains, rivers and trees.
Boonjil breathed life into clay and so created the first people.
When his acts of creation were complete, Boonjil returned to the sky.

11. Interactions What they did:
Hunting and gathering – shellfish, seals, kangaroos, bird eggs, yams etc
Nomadism/semi-nomadism- moved with the seasons or after small period of time so they did not exhaust supplies
Fire-stick farming- use of fire to clear land to create/regenerate grasslands to attract large mammals for hunting and make travel easier
Sacred sites- burial sites, sites of worship to the ancient spirits and ceremonies.
Conservation zones - Sanctuary zones permitting no interaction
Tools - made stone tools from rocks on beach
Clothing – made cloaks & bags of possum or kangaroo skin
Shelter – stacked sheets of bark against a tree/branch
Transport – made canoes from bark to travel to Phillip and French Islands
Annual ceremony & feast of mutton bird at Cape Woolamai

13. Impacts The effects of their interactions & perceptions:
Nomadic lifestyle meant impact was minimal
Generally very low- middens, rock art, scarred trees and stone carving sites are often all that remain
Introduction of Dingo (extinction on mainland of Thylacine) and possible impacts on some marsupials.
Fire-stick farming may have changed forest environments- creating grasslands, assist in destruction of fire sensitive species (beech forest), promotion of plants that regenerate after fire (eucalypts).
Creation of grasslands also increased populations of grass eating species e.g. kangaroo
Sanctuary zones: first form of conservation, allowed species to flourish - untouched.

14. May have helped the extinction of Mega fauna due to hunting – giant wombat (diprotodon) & giant kangaro (procoptodon)
Fish traps left in waterways
Decreased populations of aquatic birds due to harvesting of eggs in spring (e.g. Cape Barron Geese - P.I)
Bunurong elders enforced strict collection and management protocols to ensure all waterbird populations remained well into the future

15. Textbook, Page 153

16. AFTEr European settlement
relationships
AFTEr European settlement

17. Perceptions
Whilst changes were occurring in the lives of the Indigenous Australians, their perceptions remained the same.

18. Interactions The arrival of Europeans forced many changes:
Land was fenced, preventing some seasonal movements
Fire-stick farming was discouraged
Traditional practices were discouraged (ceremonies, hunting)
Communities were dispossessed of their lands
Violent confrontations occurred
Aboriginals were kidnapped as slaves (mostly women)
Population was decimated in murderous rampages

19. Major impact
One major impact at this time was the increase in large bushfires.
As fire-stick farming had been banned/discouraged by europeans, and land was fenced off, preventing tribal movements…
Undergrowth was able to grow thick, providing fuel for wildfires to burn greatly.

20. Conflicts with settlers
The Indigenous fought back at the Europeans
They hunted livestock (cattle and sheep)
Burnt down settlements and other infrastructure
Engaged in violent combat, often raiding when not expected

21. Relationships
Contemporary

22. Perceptions Remain mostly the same as they have always been
Still strong spiritual connection to the land
Continue to care and protect the environment. See themselves as the ‘custodians’ of the land - the care takers.
Still have a deep respect and great understanding of how environment works- with many of this being passed down through generations of elders.
Still act in sustainable way through some of the interactions that they have. Eg. Land managers work closely with govt. organisations to pass on their knowledge of Australian environment

23. Interactions Most places very different to pre-European Settlement
Much of their traditional land and foods no longer exist
Mabo made a very big change to indigenous land rights (1992 Native Title rights)
Another example of a change in traditional Indigenous interactions would be their work in the cultural and heritage protection sites that are important to indigenous Australians.
Education roles that contemporary Indigenous Australians now undertake in society- work with Parks Victoria or other to educated about Indigenous history.

24. Impacts
Aboriginal people continue to push for more sustainable use of the natural environment
Aboriginal people are actively involved in conservation movements (Jabiluka uranium mine)
Aboriginals continue to fight for reconciliation – recognition of native title & that they are the traditional owners of the land

25. Health, Education & Social Issues
Many contemporary indigenous communities are suffering from poor physical and mental health, low income, lack of education, alcohol and drug abuse and other social issues.
Some of the factors leading to this are a reduction in access to land and scared sites, relocation of communities and a loss of traditional practices.

26. Australians experiencing stress