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November 18, 2022 Follow the Sugar

Australia: Home to One of The Oldest Surviving Indigenous Cultures

There are two groups of First Nations people that became the indigenous people of Australia: the Aboriginal Australians and the Melanesian Torres Strait Islanders.

During the Ice Age, New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania were a single landmass; Aboriginals are believed to be the same group that comprised the initial wave of migration out of Africa as the Melanesians about 70,000 years ago. 

one of the indigenous people of Australia looking into camera
An Aboriginal man, one of the indigenous people of Australia. Credit: Pete Turner/Getty Images

The people who would become known as ethnic Melanesians settled in Papua (New Guinea) as well as the Torres Strait, a landform between New Guinea and Australia. The people who would become known as Aboriginals continued traveling until they arrived on the modern day mainland of Australia as well as the eastern landmass of Tasmania.

Once the ice melted, Papuans and Torres Strait Islanders were separated from mainland Australian Aboriginals and Aboriginal Tasmanians by the Pacific Ocean. This natural border caused the Melanesians and Aborigines to develop into two genetically distinct ethnic groups. 

While the Torres Strait Islanders sustained their agrarian societies with the help of trade with New Guineans, the Aboriginals lived in isolation from the rest of the world for over 50,000 years and formed one of the world’s oldest civilizations.

Torres Strait Islander woman, one of the indigenous people of Australia looking into camera
A Torres Strait Islander woman, one of the indigenous people of Australia. Credit: Encyclopedia Brittanica

According to the indigenous Dreamtime worldview, ancestral spirits inhabited the earth creating life and turning into natural phenomena like trees and rivers once they were done.

This goes hand in hand with the idea of timelessness, no true idea of past, present and future or beginning and end; they are on the earth and will become part of the ancestors. a spirit created the Earth and entrusted humans to treat animals and nature in a respectful manner; after death, humans transition from Earth to the spiritual realm. 

The Aboriginals enjoyed complex kinship and belief systems and a fisher, hunter, and gatherer lifestyle that sustained their communities without depleting or destroying the environment. They neither domesticated animals nor widely engaged in traditional agriculture.

Because the continent was so abundant in natural resources, the indigenous people in Australia only had to work a few hours a day to sustain themselves. They spent the rest of their time in leisure, pursuing creative pastimes such as dance, song, art, and storytelling.

This post is part of my series on the history and culture of the Oceanic region. To learn more, check out this post.

Categories: Follow the Sugar

Previous Post: « World War II and Melanesian Self-Determination
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Welcome to my blog! My name is Sharila, and I love all things food. I have a particular interest in the cuisines of the African Diaspora. I feature the food, books, and cultures of African descended people across the globe. Join me!
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