Aboriginal Australian Cultural Overview
An overview of the cultures and customs of Aboriginal Australian people.
Aboriginal Australians are the indigenous people of mainland Australia and several islands, the inheritors of a continent-spanning network of tribes, languages, and cultures.
Aboriginal Australians once occupied all of the Australian continent and many of its islands, including Tasmania. A separate ethnic and linguistic group, the Torres Strait Islanders, are culturally distinct. The original Aboriginal Australians are thought to have migrated to the continent some 50,000 years ago. Their descendants spread across the landscape, where they adapted to different ecosystems. From rocky deserts and scrubland to lush rainforests, their communities flourished, grew, and changed over thousands of years.
Geography and Demographics
Climate and Landscapes: Primarily temperate forests, arid deserts, and tropical rainforests
Major Population Centers: Northern Territory, New South Wales, and Queensland, Australia
Total Population: 798,400 (2016 est., including Torres Strait Islanders)
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History
Aboriginal Australians represent one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. Their ancestors likely arrived on the continent about 65,000 years ago after migrating through Asia from Africa. There, they diversified into hundreds of separate cultures with shared spiritual, social, and economic elements. Major change came less than 250 years ago, when British prisoners and colonists arrived in southeastern Australia to establish a new settlement. With more and more new arrivals, indigenous groups faced the gradual loss of their land and families through disease, displacement, addiction, and violence. In recent decades, community activists have worked to increase the rights and representation of Aboriginal people within the larger society of Australia.
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Daily Life
The traditional lifestyles of Aboriginal people have varied by time and place. The majority of indigenous people, however, led a nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Because of Australia’s warm climate, many tribes had little need for advanced clothing or housing. In wetter areas, families might live in domed huts, while others slept under natural features or beside campfires. Men primarily hunted and fished; women gathered shellfish, small animals, and edible seeds or plants. This simple and sustainable way of life required only a few hours of labor per day. Later, the arrival of European settlers and a monetary economy pushed Aboriginal Australians to the fringes of their own lands. Today’s indigenous people may live in rural or urban areas. The extent to which an Aboriginal person practices older customs is generally a question of personal preference.
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Society
Aboriginal Australian societies traditionally organized through a kin-based system spread over vast territories. The tribes they formed tracked kinship to determine marriage eligibility and land rights among largely nomadic peoples. Their languages tended to be fluid due to the belief that names should not be recycled. Most disputes were resolved by elders within a community, who consulted laws passed down between generations.
When settlers reached Australia in the 18th century, the structure of these societies began to break down under intense outside pressure. Aboriginal children were educated away from their families and faced discrimination as adults. Today, much of Aboriginal Australian activism is focused on strengthening family ties and advocating for greater representation in Australian politics and industry.
Major Languages: English and approximately 120 surviving indigenous languages
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Economy
The ancient economies of Australia supported subsistence lifestyles, but trade and crafts still played an important role in their societies. Some groups, for example, are known to have traded with South Asia for thousands of years. Because many families were nomadic, they valued sharing, tools, and valuables that could be worn. Popular goods included ochre, pearls, foods, and items such as didgeridoos. European settlers introduced new technologies but also disrupted the longstanding economies of indigenous people. This led to a period of widespread poverty among Aboriginal Australian communities. Although they have since gained greater economic rights, disparities of wealth still exist between indigenous communities and Australia as a whole.
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Beliefs
Aboriginal Australians have followed a wide variety of religious practices over the course of thousands of years. Most of their cultures, however, share a common belief in the Dreamtime and the Dreaming. The concepts and practices surrounding these beliefs are closely held and generally reserved for members of their communities. They reflect the creation of the land and its people in the Dreamtime, a timeless origin of the world and the laws that guide it. The Dreaming can be thought of as another layer of reality, which tells the story of the land to those who recognize it. Respect for the deceased, nature, and the long history preserved through the Dreaming remain important aspects of Aboriginal Australian culture today.
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Arts & Music
The arts of Australia’s indigenous people represent a continuous tradition millennia in the making. Their most visible arts are rock paintings, often added to and maintained on a generational scale. These paintings typically depict historical events or Dreamtime stories. Storytelling in general may be considered the major art of Australia’s indigenous cultures. Dreaming stories and folklore may be accompanied by music, dance, or sand paintings. The traditional instrument for this purpose is the didgeridoo, crafted from the hollow trunks of eucalyptus trees.
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References
Bourke, Colin, Eleanor Bourke, and Bill Edwards, eds. Aboriginal Australia: An Introductory Reader in Aboriginal Studies. University of Queensland Press. 1994.
Broome, Richard. Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788. Allen & Unwin. 2010.
“Census: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population.” Australian Bureau of Statistics, Commonwealth of Australia, 27 June 2017, www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/MediaRealesesByCatalogue/02D50FAA9987D6B7CA25814800087E03?OpenDocument.
“Indigenous Australian Languages.” Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, AIATSIS, 7 Aug. 2018, aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/indigenous-australian-languages.
Clarke, Francis Gordon. The History of Australia. Greenwood Press. 2002.
“The World Factbook: Australia.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 6 June 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html.
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