Aboriginal cultures of Western Australia

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Before the arrival of Europeans, the land now known as Western Australia was home to a diverse range of traditional Australian Aboriginal cultures, spread across numerous language groups, many of which remain today. [1] The border delimiting Western Australia from South Australia and the Northern Territory was drawn by the British colonists, at the 129th meridian east, [2] without regard to the boundaries of existing Aboriginal groups. Consequently Aboriginal cultural groupings are not limited by it; some "Western Australian" Aboriginal groups extend across the border into other states.

Contents

Bioregions and culture groups

Broadly speaking, it has been found that traditional Aboriginal cultures can be linked to major drainage basins [3] and to the IBRA system of Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia. [4] : 42  [note 1]

Thus the Noongar people, occupying the South Western Coastal Division Number VI, circumcising cultures of the Yamatji people are associated with the Indian Ocean Division Number VII, the Kimberley peoples with the Timor Sea Division Number VIII and the Desert Groups of the Interior are associated with the Western Plateau Division Number VIII. Within these broad areas of cultural similarity smaller traditional cultures were closely adapted to the requirements of a bioregion, as it was from these sites that Aboriginal people drew their sustenance. Thus for example, the Binjareb people took their name from Binjar, a Noongar word meaning wetland and made extensive use of these and the surrounding tuart banksia woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain. Throughout Western Australia, Aboriginal people were not just passive recipients of the bounty of these natural environments, but actively took a role in the creation and maintenance of these biogeographic regions, through hunting practices, firestick farming, [5] fish trapping and other means that broadly maintained the flora and fauna of their region.

Kinship groups found in Western Australia

This section gives an overview of Australian Aboriginal kinship groupings within Western Australia, with boundaries based on Norman Tindale's 1974 map, as published in Western Australia: An Atlas of Human Endeavour (1979) by the Government of Western Australia. [6] [ better source needed ]

  • Perth type: Matrilineal moieties and totemic clans. Patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Amangu, Yued, Whadjuk, Binjareb, Wardandi, Ganeang and Wiilman.
  • Nyakinyaki type: Alternate generational levels similar to Western Desert type, with patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Ballardong and Nyakinyaki.
  • Bibelmen type: Patrilineal moieties and patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Bibulman and Mineng.
  • Wudjari type: similar to Nyakinyaki except they have named patrilineal totemic local descent groups.
  • Nyunga type: similar to Wangai with two endogamous named divisions (Bee-eater and King fisher), in which marriage took place within one's own division but children were in the opposite, modified from the Western Desert system. Includes Nyunga.
  • Nganda type: Patrilineal totemic local descent groups, no moieties or sections. Includes Nganda and Nandu.
  • Inggadi-Badimaia gtype: Sections not well defined, Patrilineal totemic local clans grouped into larger divisions. Includes Inggada, Dadei, Malgada, Ngugan, Widi, Badimaia, Wadjari, and Goara.
  • Djalenji-Maia type: Sections correlated with kin terms, Matrilineal descent groups. Includes Noala, Djalenji, Yinigudira, Baiyungu, Maia, Malgaru, Dargari, Buduna, Guwari, Warianga, Djiwali, Djururu, Nyanu, Bandjima, Inawongga, Gurama, Binigura and Guwari.
  • Nyangamada type: Sections with indirect matrilineal descent, with patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Bailgu, Indjibandji, Mardudunera, Yaburara, Ngaluma, Gareira, Nyamal, Ngala, and Nyangamada.
  • Galamaia-Gelago type: Like Nyunga, but practising circumcision. Includes Galamaia, Ngurlu, Maduwongga, and Gelago.
  • Mirning type: Patrilineal local totemic descent groups, No moieties or sections. Similar to the Western Desert type. Includes Ngadjunmaia, Mirning.
  • Garadjeri type: As for Nyangamada. Includes Garadjeri, Mangala, Yaoro, Djungun, Ngombal, Djaberadjabera, and Nyulnyul.
  • Bardi type. Patrilineal local descent groups, no moieties or sections. Includes Warwar, Nimanburu, Ongarang, Djaul Djaui.
  • Ungarinyin type: Patrilineal. Includes Umedi, Wungemi, Worora, Wunumbul

Impact of colonisation

Aboriginal traditional cultures have been greatly impacted since the colonisation of Australia began. During the late 19th and early 20th century it was assumed that Aboriginal Australians were a dying race and would eventually disappear. [7]

While Aboriginal populations in Western Australia did decline until the 1930s, they have since increased.[ citation needed ] Today, all Aboriginal cultures have been impacted by degrees of marginalisation and exclusion from participation in the dominant culture of Australia. This has resulted in higher than average rates of infant mortality, and lower life expectancy, education and rates of employment.[ citation needed ]

191 Aboriginal languages have been documented in WA, [1] but as of 2016 only 31 were spoken. [8]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The IBRA system is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian Government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. It was developed for use as a planning tool, for example for the establishment of a National Reserve System

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References

  1. 1 2 "AustLang". AIATSIS Collection. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  2. ↑ Porter, John (1990). Longitude 129 Degrees East, and Why it is not the Longest, Straight Line in the World (PDF). Canberra, A.C.T.: Australian Surveyors Congress (32nd). Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  3. ↑ Mulvaney, Derek John and Johan Kamminga, (1999), "Prehistory of Australia" (Smithsonian)
  4. ↑ Fourmile, Henrieta (May 1996). MAKING THINGS WORK: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER INVOLVEMENT IN BIOREGIONAL PLANNING CONSULTANT'S REPORT. Canberra: Biodiversity Unit, Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  5. ↑ Jones, R. 1969. Fire-stick Farming. Australian Natural History, 16:224
  6. ↑ N.T. Jarvis (Ed) Western Australia: An Altlas of Human Endeavour 1829-1979. Education Committee, WAY 79. Education Department of Western Australia. 1979: Page 32.
  7. ↑ McGregor, Russell (1997). Imagined destinies : aboriginal australians and the doomed race theory, 1880-1939. Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press. ISBN   0522847625.
  8. ↑ "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages are strong, supported and flourishing". Australian Government Productivity Commission. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

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