Indigenous AustraliansBy Katie Watson

Traditional welcome

Aboriginal flag

Black = The people Red: The earth Yellow: The Sun

Aboriginal people

• The word Aboriginal means “original inhabitants” in Latin (where many of our words come from)

• They migrated from Asia 30,000 years ago when they could walk across what is now an ocean.

• There are 400,000 Aboriginal people in Australia (2% of our population)

• Before the British arrived in Australia 223 year ago Aboriginal people lived off the land

The Dreamtime

• The Dreamtime = the beginning of time

• Pass down stories to the younger generations

• Aboriginal people believe that ancestors who have died turn into mountains, and rocks.

• A Dreamtime story:

http://australianmuseum.net.au/movie/How-the-water-got-to-the-plains

Our Dreamtime story

• Lets write our own Dreamtime story.

• What will we write about?

Aboriginal culture

• They loved art, dance and songs.

• In art they used to sculpture thing, do rock and bark paintings, make baskets and do beadwork.

• Their traditional dance is called the corroboree http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMFkViuQMGU&feature=related

• They love to play the didgeridoo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g592I-p-dc

Bush Tucker

• Bush tucker link:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~bangercc/bushtuckerlist.html

Where they live

• Australia as we know it:

Where they live

• Australia as the Aboriginal people know it:

How they live

• Aboriginal people know the time of day by listening to bird sounds, watching the shadows and following the path of the sun.

• Aboriginal people know the time of the year by temperature, plant life, animal movements and environment factors. Calendars and clocks are not needed.

Aboriginal homes

• Aboriginal shelter link:

http://www.aboriginalenvironments.com/index.html?page=39084

Activity

• Think about what materials Aboriginal people would have had available to them.

• Design your own home using only what you can find in the bush.

• Write down:

1. What you will use

2. Why you chose these materials

3. How you will make it

4. Draw what it would look like