3.1.

2
Indigenous peoples’
relationships with outdoor
environments
• Before arrival of the Europeans
 Arrival of the First Australians
“Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”
Indigenous communities have the view that their occupation of Australia has been continuous- that is,
they have been here so long that they consider that they have always been here.
This phrase goes a long way to describe Indigenous connection to Country.
To put their occupation into perspective:
300K Evolution of a homo sapiens
30-50k Humans domesticate dogs
10k Tasmania becomes an island
7-10k Development of agriculture
4K End of the ‘stone age’ – Africa, Europe, Asia and most of the Americas
3k Arrival of the Dingo in Australia
750 y Last major human migration (Polynesian settlement of New Zealand)
1606 William Janszoon (Dutch Captain) arrives on WA coast-
Terra Australis incognita starts to appear on European maps
Indigenous Peoples’ of Victoria

• How many of these are you

familiar with?
• Why these groups?
• Our focus environment for
this year is the Australian
Alps – Can you identify the
group/groups most relevant
to our studies?
Indigenous Relationships

Perceptions
What Indigenous peoples’ thought about OE

Interactions
What Indigenous peoples’ did/do with the OE

Impacts
What happens as a result of any relationship (either perception, interaction or
both!)
 Indigenous relationships with the environment
Key Details:
There are some key terms that relate to Indigenous
relationships that reoccur throughout our studies.
Country
The term often used by Indigenous
peoples to describe the lands,
waterways and seas to which they are
connected. The term contains complex
ideas about law, place, custom,
language, spiritual belief, cultural
practice, material sustenance, family
and identity.
Kinship
An Indigenous person’s
relationship and responsibilities to
other people, to their Country and
to natural resources.
Dreamtime
‘The Dreaming’ is more than a mythical past; it
prescribes the connection as Aboriginal people
with the spiritual essence of everything around us
and beyond us. Dreaming stories are not in the
past, they are outside of time – always present and
giving meaning to all aspects of life.
 Indigenous Perceptions
The perceptions of Indigenous peoples have of their land developed over an incredibly long
period of time, and the way we characterise their perceptions now are the result of trial and
error, mistakes and successes, over tens of thousands of years.
Indigenous communities across Australia are, and were, incredibly diverse. There were hundreds
of languages spoken across Australia that shared some common links but were all uniquely
different.
Indigenous perceptions are closely connected to their spirituality, sometimes called the
Dreaming (also known as the Dreamtime).
Indigenous Australians have established effective ways to use and sustain resources, heavily
influenced by their belief that their ancestors are part of the landscape they have lived in for
thousands of years.
 Key Perceptions

Oral History- the passing of knowledge and beliefs through Elders and the use of
story, song and traditional dance.

Art- oral culture is strongly complimented by cave paintings and rock art to record
thoughts, ideas, events and histories.

Belonging- Rather than ownership, indigenous peoples operate in a system of

belonging within the land- they are a part of the environment they live in and not
separate from it.

Totemism- A way of culturally and spiritually valuing aspects of nature.

Groups/individuals are assigned a particular plant/animal that they have to care for-
this gives them a great sense of connection to and responsibility for the environment.
 Key Perceptions

Lifestyle- Pre-settlement way of life helped fuel connections to Country and the land.
They lived completely in an environment- every success or failure was linked to this
belief- seeing themselves as custodians and caretakers.
There was no disconnect between land and people because they were permanently ‘in’
the environment and depended on it for survival.

Caring for Country- Deep connections with the land reinforced the perception that
the land was simultaneously their protector and something to be protected.
 Indigenous Interactions
Hunting and Gathering Fire-stick farming
Consistent and repeated use of fire to
The hunting of meat and other useful
modify the landscape.
useful materials, and gathering of
edible plants.
Agriculture
Mobility Plant domestication, sowing, irrigation,
harvesting and storing of foodstuffs.
Indigenous life on Country fits into
three distinct categories:
Sedentary, semi-sedentary and mobile.
Sacred Sites
A site that is given some kind of special
recognition or significance
 Interactions – Hunting and Gathering
Hunting and gathering refers to a community or society that hunts animals for meat
and other useful materials, and gathers wild fruits, nuts, vegetables, roots, grasses
and other edible plants.
• Hunting and gathering tasks were often divided on a gender basis.
- Men undertook the hunting
- Women and children spending time gathering
• What was hunted depended on where they were and what types of plant, fish
and animal species were present in these areas. We have good evidence for the
hunting of species like kangaroos, wallabies and other mammals, emus,
crocodiles, lizards and snakes, fish and eels.
• Gathering would have included a huge range of edible plants, many of which we
now recognise by the term ‘bush food’.
 Interactions – Mobility
The majority of Aboriginal people who didn’t live in arid regions were not nomadic
(or mobile).
Most Traditional Owners lived on Country - their own tribal lands.
• Communities would move around in a ‘clan’ made up of extended family groups
and utilise its resources for food and shelter as required according to the season.
They lived lightly on the land, meeting and trading with other clans of their tribe.
• They moved with clear knowledge of their geographical boundaries, sacred sites
and territorial rules.
Ie: If an animal being hunted was moving to a different area, a clan would move
to follow it. Or, maybe due to seasonal weather change, they would move to
improve the clans level of comfort.
 Interactions – Mobility
• Early European records show that many Indigenous communities moved from
place to place, erecting shelters and structures as they travelled. Sometimes
these structures were substantial buildings that were returned to and reused
every year.
• Some communities lived in permanent ‘camps’ in places that had favourable
resources and climates.
• Communities can be thought of as:
Mobile Semi-sedentary Sedentary
Communities that move Communities that move Communities that remain
across large distances to from one location to in a single location with
many different locations another within Country in plenty of year-round
within Country regular cycles resorces
 Interactions – Fire-stick farming
Indigenous use of the environment over thousands of years was intrinsically
sustainable, ensuring it thrived and remained healthy. Indigenous peoples’ used fire
across the entire continent to manage the environment- often referred to as fire-
stick farming.
• Fire-stick farming – the consistent and
repeated use of fire to clear vegetation and
create open forests to ensure food for
people and wildlife.
• This practice evolved over a millennia. They
used low intensity, small area fires. Areas
were selectively burnt in cooler seasons,
keeping the fire close to the ground, clearing
undergrowth and encouraging new growth.
 Interactions – Fire-stick farming
Fire-stick farming was used to:
• Reduce fuel loads – less risk of major fires
• Create grassland – favourable for yams, grains and kangaroos
• Improve access – making it easier to move across Country
• Maintain a pattern (Mosaic) of vegetation – providing a variety of niches for
different species
• Encourage development of useful plants – cooking, medicines, signalling and
spiritual reasons
• Hunting – using the fire drive
Constant burning produced ‘cool burns’- meaning limited fuel helped limit the
severity of the fire. Land was only burned when necessary and the practice held
spiritual significance as it was seen as caring for the Country that their ancestral
spirits resided in.
 Interactions – Fire-stick farming
How do we know?
“…and they are seldom seen without fire, or a piece of wood on fire, which they carry with them
from place to place, and in their canoes…”
Governor Phillip (1788)
“…there was another instrument in the hands of these savages which must be credited with
results which it would be difficult to over-estimate. I refer to the fire-stick; for the blackfellow
was constantly setting fire to the grass and trees, both accidentally and systematically for
hunting purposes.”
E. M Curr (Victorian grazier, mid 1800’s)
“…Aborigines burnt landscape continually and, when there was sufficient fuel to carry fire, fires
burnt unchecked. Fire intensities were relatively mild even on extreme days because the fuels
were light.”
Cheney (Analysis of indigenous fire management, 1993)
 Interactions – Agriculture
There is growing evidence supporting that many Indigenous communities practised large-scale and long-
term forms of agriculture.
This is supported from the eyewitness accounts of early European settlers and explorers, describing
communities practicing plant domestication, sowing, irrigation, harvesting and storing of food stuffs.

…the native women were spread out over the plain as far as the
eye could see, collecting Murnong… I inspected their bags on
return and each had a load as much as she could carry. George
Robinson, Chief Aboriginal Protector of Port Phillip, 1841

Budj Bim eel traps,

Gunditjmara Land.
 Interactions – Sacred Sites
All societies have sacred places, Indigenous communities are no exception- we
commonly call these sacred sites.
These places had many purposes to Indigenous Australians, such as:
• Burial of their elders and significant clan members.
• Sites of initiation ceremonies of boys and girls into adulthood.
• Conservation zones- Sites set aside to preserve precious resources or even the
breeding grounds of some species of animals.
• Meeting places- areas that were set aside specifically for large gatherings
Many sacred sites forbade hunting, effectively acting like a conservation zone where
particular species were protected. This indicates a smart and sustainable use of
resources.
 Indigenous Impacts
Indigenous lifestyles are typically recognised as being low impact or minimal
impact.
Their relationships have definitely resulted in changes to outdoor environments
over time.
Their practices developed to be ‘sustainable’, allowing them to pass their
knowledge on from one generation to the next – over thousands of years!
Very little physical evidence exists of their incredibly long association with this
country. Things like: Scarred trees, rock-art sites, midden, stone hut walls, stone
fish and eel traps.
OR is there?...
 • The Australian
Impacts - Fire bush today is the
result of the
cessation of fire-
stick farming.
• Continued use of
fire over
thousands of
years would have
helped reenforce
selection for fire
tolerant species.
 Impacts – The Dingo
Indigenous communities of northern Australia are known to have traded with other peoples
to the north (Indonesia and New Guinea) over thousands of years.
• DNA analysis estimates dingo arrival in Australia between 4700 and 18,000 years ago.
• Indigenous communities came to value dingos and helped foster their dispersal across
the country. Their importance was linked to:

o Hunting aid o Warmth o Pets (emotional attachment) o Ritual food source

• Being introduced, dingos impacted native species.
NOTE:
• Fossil record shows the
The arrival of this Thylacine as present in
guy spelled the Victoria 3000 years ago.
end for this guy… • Sea level increase (18k
years ago) prevented dingo
crossing to Tasmania.
 3.1.2
Indigenous peoples’
relationships with outdoor
environments
• After the arrival of Europeans
 Indigenous Relationships since European arrival
Historic estimates place the indigenous population at between 300,000 to 950,000
people around the time of European colonisation.
These communities didn’t just dissappear when Europeans arrived- they continued
and survived through to current day.
As the European population grew, it expanded, needing more resources and land for
agriculture.
European expansion came at the expense of Indigneous
peoples.
Indigenous relationships with the Australian
environment were changed as they came into
permanent contact with Europeans.
 Indigenous conflict with Europeans
Encounters with European settlers often led to conflict- this differed from place to place but
often followed similar themes:
• European practice of Land ownership - Indigenous communities were encouraged to
move, often forcibly removed and dispossessed of their lands.
• Movement on Country - movement was discouraged by roads, fences and other
permanent structures.
• Prevention of firestick farming - Europeans saw this as dangerous to their homes and
farms.
• Loss of sacred sites - sometimes accidently, other times deliberately destroyed.
• Introduced species - sheep, cattle and croplands changed the environment.
• Unwelcome dingo - farmers targeted the dingo as they perceived it as a threat.
• Deliberate killings - European landowners, police corps and government authorities, even
other indigenous groups.
Impact of European arrival - Example
Before Europeans arrived in the 18th century, the
grasslands and rocky hillsides of Victoria had been
covered in murnong; it grew so thick that from a distance
it seemed to form a blanket of ­yellow. For the peoples
who lived in south-eastern Australia over tens of
thousands of years, including the Wurundjeri, the
Wathaurong [wathaurong], Gunditjmara and Jaara ... [this
and many other natives species were very important food
sources]. But by the 1860s it was as good as extinct,
making its retreat into cemeteries and ­sidings, places
where either the dead were resting or the living kept away,
and knowledge of the plant was lost to ­generations of
Aboriginal people.
 Indigenous conflict with Europeans
Many of these continued into the recent past- as more remote communities were first
discovered and then forced to assimilate to the new European-like society that was
forming in Australia.

This debate has been heated in recent decades. Much discussion has arisen about the way
that contemporary generations of Australians should feel about the often violent and brutal
colonial past.

While this goes beyond the scope of our studies, it is important to have a balanced
approach that includes recognition of the faults and failures of past generations, as well as
their strengths and successes.
 3.1.2 -
Pre-colonisation Post-colonisation
Summary
• Spiritual connection
• Land ‘as mother’
Perceptions • Ancestors live in features of the land Largely the same!
• People are ‘part’ of the land- not
separate to it

• Hunting/gathering
• *Cessation of fire-stick farming
• Movement through Country
• Change in movement through Country
Interactions • Fire-stick farming
• **Changed land use
• Sacred sites
• Agricultural practices

• Generally low impact (sustainable)

• *Development of what we see and think
• Hunting may have contributed to
of the ‘bush’ today
megafauna extinction
Impacts • Dingo introduction
• **Soil compacted by sheep and cattle
• Disease and conflict (massacres)
• Fire use- shaping and changing the
environment