Aboriginal Australian Society
A brief look at traditional and modern Aboriginal Australian social customs.
There is no standard Aboriginal Australian society. Across the continent, cultures have grown, evolved, and scattered again over thousands of years. Their societies possessed different languages, lifestyles, and customs despite a shared heritage. As a general rule, however, the basic social unit of pre-colonial Australia was tribal. Tribes consisted of a group of related families, each controlling food and water rights in a certain territory. Their languages were not always fixed, sometimes changing rapidly within one or two generations. Groups came together when food was abundant, such as for fish migrations or plant harvests. Marriages could be arranged by parents, through simple request, or by elopement. Tribes determined marriage eligibility through complex kinship systems, or skin groups. Families tended to stay together for several generations, and everyone contributed as he or she was best able.
Laws existed in the eternal Dreaming, a place beyond space and time but closely tied to them. These fundamental laws were passed down to children by their elders through stories, songs, and art. They guided community behavior and relationships with nature, discouraging actions like theft, murder, and selfishness. They were not universal, and every family group had its own specific customs. Typically, elders resolved disputes within a tribe. Inter-tribal conflicts were sometimes handled through a violent ‘payback’ system of warfare. They could also be ended peacefully during large gatherings.
By 1770, there were an estimated 400 tribal groups living in Australia. British colonization soon pushed these tribes into a new kind of social structure. Colonial laws clashed with native customs, and both sides expected compliance from the other. As Australian settlers encroached on indigenous lands, violence broke out. Aboriginal people faced both formal and vigilante justice for any kind of resistance. Massacres and the removal of children from their families were common. After it became a nation, Australia’s government continued to discriminate against indigenous people. Children attended schools meant to strip them of their cultural identity, against the will of their parents. They matured into a white society that rarely wanted them and indigenous communities they did not fully understand.
This removal of children from their families weakened Aboriginal societies but did not destroy them. Their wages, generally below the minimum, were paid instead to government bank accounts. Workers received only a fraction of what they earned. Australia at last recognized its native people as citizens in 1967. Discriminatory laws, such as those barring Aboriginal people from purchasing alcohol, are still enforced. Meanwhile, older tribal laws and customs are still practiced in many areas. This can at times take place outside the Australian justice system. Negotiating these cultural differences has proven challenging for Australian courts.
Since the 1970s, the basic political unit of indigenous people has been the land council. Hundreds of councils now work to represent traditional territories and the families within them.
Further Reading
Learn More About Aboriginal Australian Culture
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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.
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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