ABORIGINAL MATERIALS
Aboriginal people used a great variety of tools, utensils and weapons as they hunted, fished and gathered plant foods and small animals. Some technology was simple with the item being made, used for its purpose and then thrown away. Others needed more complex methods of making them like heat and pressure to set sap and fibres to determine the shape, flexibility and durability of the item.
Australia contains many different climates and environments, but the basic pattern of Aboriginal life was the same. Small groups moved with the seasons over their territory. All the tools, utensils and weapons made by the Aboriginal people were adapted to the environment in which they were used. They were developed over many generations and made from readily available materials like:
stone woodbarkvineplant fibreresinshells
hair sinewbonesteeth
Important materials not found in local areas were traded, exchanged or given as gifts. Some of these materials were:
ochrepearl shells some stones waxes resins
Many trade networks existed throughout Aboriginal Australia, allowing raw materials , tools, utensils and weapons to travel thousands of kilometres from their origins.
A basic range of tools, utensils and weapons were used by all Aboriginal people. These included:
- Tools for cutting and chopping
- hatchets, knives
- Tools and utensils for digging
- Containers for collection and storage
- Fighting weapons
- Hunting weapons and equipment
- clubs, spears and boomerangs
- Netting and trapping equipment
- Musical instruments
- Ceremonial objects
- Food processing equipment
- mortars and pestles
- Materials for cooking food
- Fire-making elements
The importance of some items depended on the different hunting and gathering methods used across the country.
In the making of weapons and utensils, conservation methods became a part of the process. For instance a section of tree trunk was cut out to make a shield and large burls were removed to make bowls and carrying dishes. Roots from hardwood trees were dug up, cut and removed while the rest of the root system was left so trees could continue growing.
In parts of Australia, Aboriginal people used animal or human hair for fibres for various uses. The making of animal and vegetable fibres required a lot of skill and knowledge. The fibre was used to make string or rope to make baskets to use as carrying bags, ceremonial mats and objects, fish nets and traps.
Aboriginal technology varied from region to region. Fish traps made of stones were used in some coastal groups, while groups living in the interior areas used river weeds as traps, or toxic plants to stun fish so they could be caught. Some other groups used a lot of different traps, spears, harpoons and other ways of hunting fish and other seafoods.
Aboriginal people begin at a very early age to learn the skills required for living in their environment. Girls and Boys go with women on food gathering trips and learnt how to read many signs in their country – direction, seasonal patterns, and what was classified as food and medicine, where to find it, when it was available and how to prepare it for human use.
- What were some of the natural materials used by Aboriginal people to hunt, for ceremonies, dress and for gathering food?
ANSWER:
- What were some of the materials that were traded and exchanged?
ANSWER:
- Now follow these instructions:
TABLEINSERT TABLE
NUMBER OF COLUMS2
NUMBER OF ROWS12
Put the heading in column1 “Natural material used”
Put the heading in column 2 “Reason why used”
See the example below and fill out the table with 10 materials Aboriginal people used.
e.g.
NATURAL MATERIAL USED / REASON WHY USED- STONE FLINTS
- How did Aboriginal people use conservation e.g. cutting trees?
ANSWER:
- Give some examples of Aboriginal technology used before Europeans came? E.g. fish traps etc.
ANSWER: