I spent much of yesterday reading a book by Bruce Pascoe called "Dark Emu". It is one of several books I have ordered so that I can start to educate myself on Aboriginal history. Dark Emu is a best seller and many here have probably already read it. But those who have not may be interested in what Pascoe has written.
After Terra Nullius was widely declared to be rubbish and Aborigines were recognised to have occupied virtually all of Australia, they were dismissed as being rather worthless itinerant hunter gatherers of no fixed address and with no tenable right to the land. Bruce Pascoe went back to the original contemporaneous notes made by a large number of
explorers who came into contact with Aborigines during their inland explorations as they sought out grazing land for cattle and sheep. Pascoe then drew on other sources to paint a credible picture of Aboriginal society and Aboriginal economy during the 1800's.
Far from being nomadic hunter gatherers, Australian Aborigines lived in fixed communities and were expert in landscape and soil management. They grew crops of native grasses, rices and yams and stored their excess produce, which was frequently plundered by the
explorers. They were perhaps the first people in the world to bake bread and knew how to smoke fish and meat as
well as preserving a large range of other foods. They managed native livestock. They were expert in aquaculture and one of their remaining fish traps is thought to be the oldest man made structure on the planet.
They made very large fish and bird nets which were observed to be the equal of anything seen in Europe and their women were capable of the most exquisite needlework.
They built houses in a range of materials from bark, turf and other materials over complex timber frames, to a form a wattle and daub, to full
rock structures. These houses were clustered into permanent villages which were often
home to between 1,000 and 3,000 people. They also built larger structures for community purposes. They built wells by using fire to excavate
rock, improving and deepening these wells over generations.
The evidence is that they were not naturally warlike, but respected the territory and customs of other clans and tribes. They usually carried tools, rather than weapons. Their society, Pascoe concludes, was highly structured and the concept of land ownership was not known to them. They were custodians. They met for gatherings of hundreds of people who were fed over a period of several weeks and they traded far and wide.
All of this was observed by many early
explorers and described it in their diaries, usually in the most demeaning terms imaginable. These
explorers were funded by folks who were after suitable grazing land and news that the land was already occupied by a thriving and
well ordered society was kept from their masters and certainly from the press.
As Aboriginal lands were occupied by sheep and cattle, the yam beds were eaten out and the carefully maintained fields of kangaroo Grass and other native grains were gobbled up by livestock. The previously cultivated soil was trampled down and became relatively unproductive. Aboriginal villages were burned.
This is a fascinating read. I found myself feeling ashamed of my own ignorance and felt a new appreciation of the need for reconciliation for what Europeans have visited on the world's oldest continuing society and culture.
Keith