Australian Aboriginal culture varies throughout the
continent and people from different regions have different Ancestral
Beings, different tools, weapons, basketry and different art styles.
Since the arrival of Macassan (Indonesian) on northern Australian shores
after 1700 AD, and later European colonisation in 1788, Aboriginal
culture has evolved and changed further.
This site looks at how Aboriginal culture
was at the time of European arrival, beginning with the record of a man
who was shipwrecked in 1846 and survived 17 years with Aborigines in
northern Queensland. This account is combined with images from the same
region taken from the 1890s. Click on “Regional
Studies” to see how people lived at this time. These images are
available in the book, 17 Years Wandering Among the Aboriginals,
which can be purchased here on line.
Later in 2007 early accounts and images from the
Kimberley in Western Australia and from Central Australia will be added
to this site.
Australian Aborigines are renowned for
their bush survival skills. One such skill is the ability to make fire
simply from rubbing two sticks of wood together. This is an ancient
skill which modern man has lost.
The publication, Making Fire, has both ethnographic
details on Aboriginal and other indigenous people’s fire making
methods, and is a practical guide teaching how to really achieve this
skill.