Aborigine of Australia. Australian aborigines photo

Before the Dutch, who were the first to set foot on the shores of Terra australis incognita, the natives of Australia, representatives of the oldest civilization on the planet, appeared. The indigenous population was not very friendly to the Europeans, who since then “frequented” to New Holland, as the discoverer Willem Janszon called it.

Even Ptolemy drew this mainland on his map. The astronomer, astrologer and geographer was convinced that somewhere in the south there is a piece of land inhabited by people, and its name is Terra australis incognita - “Unknown southern land”. This is the name of Australia for a long time appeared on the maps, exciting the minds of explorers, drawing navigators into the temptation. Only at the beginning of the 17th century (1606) Ptolemy's guesses were confirmed.

Australian Aboriginal lifestyle

According to one version, the natives of Australia appeared on this land 40-60 thousand years ago. Some scientists are sure that the mainland, from which Tasmania and New Guinea, was inhabited 70 thousand years ago. The Aborigines of Australia can be considered the first navigators, because they arrived on the continent by sea.

Typical appearance of an Australian aborigine

For 40 thousand years, the way of life of the Australian Aborigines has not changed much. If you are not Europeans who gradually settled the territory of Australia, the indigenous inhabitants of the continent would still not know about the existence of writing, television and radio. In fairness, it should be noted that in the heart of the "aboriginal" territories - a magical and mysterious outback, the aborigines of Australia have not changed their ancient habits.

Ritual rites of the Australian aborigines

Almost 17% of Australian Aboriginal people live in this barren and arid area, the largest settlement is 2,500 people. There are no schools here, a few children are taught by radio, and medical assistance has been provided to residents only since 1928.

What do Australian Aborigines look like?

If you look at the photos of the natives of Australia, you can see dark-skinned people with a mop of lush curly hair and a wide base of the nose. The front of the skull has a slightly convex shape. The Australian Bushmen, as the indigenous inhabitants of the green continent are sometimes called, are very frail, but muscular.

australian aborigines- Bushmen

Interesting fact. If you look at photos of natives living northeast of Australia, in the Solomon Islands, then almost 10% of them are blond with very dark skin. Why? "Tried" European sailors? Special gene? Scientists have argued a lot, but only recently it has been proven that the hair color of these Aborigines of Australia was indeed influenced by a genetic mutation thousands of years ago. Blond Europeans have nothing to do with it.

Photos of the natives of Australia clearly confirm that they can be considered three separate races. In the province of North Queensland live the most ancient representatives of the Australoid race - the aborigines of the Barinean type, distinguished by the most dark color skin.

Scarification - characteristic appearance australian aboriginal body ornaments

The valley of Australia's largest river, the Murray, is inhabited by aboriginal Australians of the Murray type. These are people of medium height with a very extensive hairline on the head and body. Scientists believe that they belong to the second wave of migrant seafarers.

Boomerang is a traditional weapon of the Australian aborigine.

In the north of the green continent live the tallest Aborigines of Australia, belonging to the third wave of immigrants. Their skin is darker than that of the Murrays, the vegetation on the body is practically absent, and the mop of hair is also not very dense.

What languages ​​do the Australian aborigines speak?

The language of the natives of Australia by the time the first Europeans landed on the shores of the green continent consisted of 500 dialects. They could well be considered their own dialects or even separate languages, they were so different from each other.

Australian aborigines are characterized by a lean, wiry build and tall stature.

Today, each of the Australian Aboriginal tribes has its own language. His melody is not like any of the European, Asian or African. On this moment linguists have more than 200 dialects. The vast majority of them exist only in oral speech, writing is developed only among a few tribes.

Traditional Australian Aboriginal dances - imitation of the habits of animals

Interesting fact. Almost all Australian Aboriginal tribes speak English. In 2007, for the indigenous population of the green continent was opened TV channel, which is broadcast in the language of Shakespeare. There are so many adverbs that this is the only acceptable option.

Shrines and customs of the aborigines of Australia

The main object of worship of all Australian Bushmen - sacred mountain Uluru. "Concurrently", this is the most mysterious place of the green continent. Aborigines of Australia consider (height - 348 m) - the door between the worlds. Scientists believe that the age of the local shrine is 6 million years. Naturally, there are several names for the rock. Europeans call it Ayres Rock or Ayres, and excursions to the holy site are very popular.

Sacred mountain for the Australian Aborigines - the "heart of Australia" Mount Uluru

Near Uluru, to this day, Australian Aborigines perform their rituals. According to legend, climbing to its top is a sacrilege that can bring on a person the wrath of the spirits inhabiting other world, and ancestors who have passed the "Eternal Period of Dreams". It is worth noting that several accidents that have occurred with "wicked" tourists fully confirm this fact.

Decorative and applied art of Australian aborigines

The main invention of the natives of Australia is boomerangs. It is believed that only a true warrior can control this hunting weapon. Especially for tourists on the east coast of the green continent (the town of Tzhapukai), the indigenous people created some kind of national park for tourists, where "inept" foreigners are taught how to handle the original weapons of all Australian tribes. In words it is easy, but in reality it is not so easy. The flight speed of a heavy boomerang can reach 80 km per hour. I didn’t calculate the strength of the throw, swung it wrong - a blow to the head can have serious consequences.

Australian Aboriginal Music

The music of the Australian aborigines is ritual, everyday and ethnic chants. In the tribes inhabiting the northern regions of the green continent, individual singing to the accompaniment of percussion instruments. In the south and in the central part of Australia - group singing.

Australian Aboriginal traditional pipe - didgeridoo

Many musical instruments Aboriginal Australians have sacred (sacred) meaning. This is a magical buzzer, the material for which is stone and wood, with sacred signs applied to them. The sounds that she makes can hardly be called very pleasant to the ear.

In 2-3 hours, an Australian aborigine can provide himself with food while in a desert area - giant worms and insect larvae are eaten

The boomerang is a weapon invented by the Australian aborigines.

The didgeridoo is considered a spiritual instrument, on the creation of which nature itself has worked. This is a tree trunk (eucalyptus or bamboo), the core of which is completely eaten away by termites. Its length varies from 1 to 3 m. Other names for the termite instrument are yedaki and didieridoo. The instrument is decorated with totem drawings of a certain Australian Aboriginal tribe.

Aborigines, wild tribes that once inhabited Australia are the indigenous inhabitants of this continent. Now they make up only 1% of the total population. Australian Aborigines settled the young continent 40-64 thousand years ago. Scientists believe that they arrived here from Asia. Prior to colonization, Australian Aborigines lived by gathering, fishing and hunting. These wild tribes did not know weaving, pottery, metalworking.

But on the other hand, they created a very deep and interesting system of mythology and related art. Australian Aboriginal works of art include mainly household utensils and religious objects.

The wild tribes of Australia, its indigenous inhabitants, in our time have received part of the territories as property. Tourists are not allowed to enter some areas. In their tribes, they lead an ancient primitive way of life, like their ancestors for many centuries in a row.

Modern Australian Aborigines.

The "time of dreams" in the mythology of the Australian Aborigines is the basis of all their traditional beliefs and worldviews. "Time of dreams" for them is the era when everything that was created appeared. The time when the earth appeared, all living beings, rain, wind, rivers ... Australian aborigines believe that in a spiritual aspect, as a continuation life experience(transmigration of souls), and also bearing in mind the special, innate feeling of unity with the earth, "Time of Dreams" continues today. Therefore, the expulsion of natives from the land of their ancestors for them is tantamount to expulsion from the "Time of Dreams", deprivation of the sacred connection with the ancestors, roots and faith in life. equates to spiritual death. It is no secret that magical rites are common among many peoples.

Tours to the giant monolithic rock are the most popular among travelers. Aborigines of Australia call it Uluru, the white population - Ayers Rock. The Aboriginal name means a place that gives shade or a meeting place. At sunset, Uluru turns bright orange. Its outlines resemble an alien spaceship. The height of Uluru reaches 350 meters, the length is up to 3 meters, and the width is a little more than 1.5 meters. It must be said that representatives of the Australian aborigines are sympathetic to the fact that annoying tourists, for some reason, are not only interested in their sacred rock, but they also strive to climb it. Recently, at the foot of Uluru, they even discovered Cultural Center and paved the route around the cliff.

Another popular tour among visiting tourists is the small town of Alice Springs in the McDonnell Mountains. Tourists who come here in September witness a very unusual regatta - Henley-on-Todd. Competitions are held between rowers in boats that do not have a bottom. Watching the participants of the regatta, hurrying to the finish line on boats without a bottom along a dry channel, you begin to look at many things in this amazing country in a new way and cease to be surprised at many things.

Modern Aborigines, short video for 5 minutes:

An interesting film about the life of the natives: "Tracks of the Hunter by the Hunter's Path". It turns out there are still natives keeping their traditions. I recommend to look. In short then a white man and part-time award-winning cinematographer Larry Gray embarks on a perilous journey through Northern Territory Australia. He travels barefoot and armed only with a spear. And most importantly, he learns to survive in the wild from his friend, aboriginal and hunter Peter Daetzhinga.

Another film about the culture and traditions of the indigenous people of Australia: ABORIGENIC DREAMTIME. From the Riddles of Antiquity cycle. (Ancient Mysteries. Aboriginal Dreamtime)

Survive at any cost. Kimberley - Australia. There are no natives in this film, but it is full of traces of them. From this film you can understand in what harsh conditions the natives had to survive.

And to finish off, a few more old black and white photographs.

Europeans, having settled at the end of the XVIII century. in Australia, called the local population aborigines from lat. ab origene - from the beginning. Since then, the word "aboriginal" means a native, the first settler of the region. Regarding the origin of the Australian Aborigines, scientists have no consensus. Some believe that the Aborigines settled in Australia about 40 thousand years ago, having reached there from South-East Asia. In 1707, the Englishman James Cook declared the east coast of Australia an English colony.

England began to exile convicts there, and in the 19th century. the first immigrants followed the exiles. Colonization was accompanied by the extermination of indigenous people, deprivation of their ancestral lands and displacement to unfavorable areas far from hunting grounds and water sources. Europeans carried epidemics that mowed down the local population, which had not developed immunity to unfamiliar diseases. As a result, approx. 90% of the natives died - from hunger, thirst, disease, and also as a result of clashes with the colonialists. Soon, the surviving natives began to be driven into reservations - special settlements in remote desert parts of the continent, where outsiders were not allowed.

Even in the censuses, the natives were not taken into account. Only in 1967, as a result of a popular referendum, the indigenous people were recognized as citizens of the country and received the right to free movement. Some of the tribes have preserved the traditional way of life: in the endless search for water and food. But most live in cities. As a rule, the natives are very poor. The reason for this is unemployment, the lack of the necessary level of education and professional skills. In the 1980s the natives launched a struggle for the return of the territories taken from them by the colonialists. So, in 1982, the natives of the Murray Islands, an archipelago in the Torres Strait that separates Australia from Pa-pua New Guinea, filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Australia. They opposed the principle on the basis of which whites settled Australia in the 18th century - the lands discovered by the colonizers were considered no man's land and became the property of the state that captured them. In 1992, the Supreme Court of Australia considered the claim of the aborigines and recognized their rights to Australian territory.

Aborigines believe that the world was created by their first ancestors, among whom were people, animals, the sun and the wind. The creation of the world among many tribes is called by the same word as the dream, and the era of creation is known as the "time of dreams." Aborigines composed many songs and myths about him. The events of that legendary era are also depicted in rock paintings.

In Australia, 11.5% of the territory is occupied by protected parks. There are more than 2,000 national parks and reserves in the country. Among them are the Nambang National Park, where the main attraction of the country is located - fields of petrified remains of an ancient forest; Northern Territories Wild Animal Park; Leamington National Park, etc.

Australian Aborigines, that is, the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, whose number now stands at about half a million people, live mostly in areas of the northern half of the mainland remote from cities. Until recently, the existence of the First Nations who inhabited Australia was under threat. With the beginning of European colonization, epidemics came to their lands, displacement from their native lands and uncontrolled physical destruction. The British, having come to new lands and considering the tribes living there for the most primitive people, not far from the monkey, without ceremony slaughtered them with whole villages. By 1921, their number had fallen to 60 thousand people, while by the time the Europeans discovered Australia, there were about 1 million of them.

But in the 20th century, the Australian government became concerned about the problems of the indigenous population, reservations began to be created, public finances were allocated and donations were collected, so that, given the high birth rate, now their numbers have increased dramatically.

Scientists single out the Australian Aborigines as a separate Australian branch of the Australoid race. Outwardly, these are tall people with black wavy hair, large protruding superciliary arches, a large nose with wide nostrils and deep-set eyes. They are distinguished by very large teeth, an elongated skull with very thick skull bones, and extremely dark pigmentation of the skin and eyes. Among the natives there are natural blondes, this is a mutation that has been fixed as a result of isolation. Initially, they were attributed to the Negroid race, but later genetic research proved their closeness to Mongoloid race and the maximum remoteness of kinship with Negroids.

In their better times Australian Aborigines were engaged in gathering, hunting and fishing. They were not engaged in agriculture or other productive economy, they did not have a written language, laws, social hierarchy. They did not build cities and large settlements, did not engage in handicrafts. Australians lived in groups, based on a common language and family ties. Only the related Tasmanians had a more primitive cultural and material environment. The spiritual and religious side of the life of the indigenous population was more developed. Hundreds of scattered tribes spoke their own languages ​​or dialects, had rich oral traditions and an extensive mythology.

Indigenous Australians united in about 400 ethnic groups, spoke several hundred dialects, grouped into 26 language groups. The aboriginal tribes of southern Australia developed special language gestures as an alternative form of communication with speakers of other languages. Also, sign language was used in special cases of taboo speech. The richness of myths and traditions among different tribes have much in common, stand out common lines stories and characters. They developed their own system of ideas about the world, in which, in addition to the real world around us, there is also a world of dreams where the spirits of ancestors live. In the sky these worlds meet, and the movements of the Sun, Moon and stars may depend on the actions of ancestors or living people. Aborigines paid special attention to the starry sky and the movements taking place on it, but at the same time they did not use celestial objects either for navigation or for calendar readings. Structurally, the society consisted of communities, led by elders and hereditary leaders. There were initiations - special rites that preceded the entry of young men and women into adult life. Severe restrictions on marriage were based on a complex system of kinship. funeral rites included cremation, which was invented in Australia earlier than anywhere else.

Unfortunately, the new Australians, white settlers, paid little attention to the indigenous population. Even when the era of hard labor development of the mainland passed and scientists from Europe began to gather in the cities, there was no special attitude to the collection and analysis of materials on the aspects of the life of indigenous peoples. Therefore, much knowledge about the culture and heritage of the Australian Aborigines is now irretrievably lost. Modern descendants Aboriginal people have almost completely lost their traditional ways of life support, are focused on state and charitable assistance and keep religious traditions. Aboriginal people were recognized as citizens of the state of Australia with the corresponding rights and obligations only in 1967. At present, movements for the preservation of cultural identity are developing in modern Australia, lands are allocated in collective ownership for protection cultural heritage, the National Aboriginal Television operates, and lessons in the study of Aboriginal languages ​​are held. You can see with your own eyes how the natives live and get to know their culture better by visiting

Is in the world amazing country, which is entirely located on one mainland - this is the mysterious and so distant Australia. Many are interested in when the first people appeared there and what nationalities live there today? The population of Australia is very heterogeneous, and representatives of different nationalities from all continents of the Earth live there in peace and harmony.

East is the most favorable place

The population of Australia, according to modern standards, is very small. As shown by the last census, which was conducted three years ago, 23 million 100 thousand people live on this hot continent today. In fact, this is a little more than in one and only Moscow.

At the same time, people were distributed unevenly across the mainland. After all, the climate in this area is very harsh. More than half of all lands are occupied by hot deserts and semi-deserts, where it is almost impossible to live. In these places, the population density of Australia is extremely low - there is only one person per square kilometer.

But the eastern coast of the continent is very favorable for people to live - the climate there is milder and more even. There, the population density of Australia is already ten times higher. There are ten people per square kilometer.

metropolitan cities

Despite the small population of Australia, there are million-plus cities in this country. This is Sydney, where more than three and a half million people live, Melbourne - three million and one and a half million Brisbane.

The rest of the people live in small towns and rural-type settlements. The main population of Australia lives in metropolitan areas. villagers it's only 10 percent. However, farming in this country is very developed. Products Agriculture Australia is not only fully self-sufficient, but also exports.

local natives

The indigenous population of Australia are the Aborigines who still live somewhat apart in the northwest of the mainland. Interestingly, the Aboriginal tribes live in the 21st century according to the laws of the Stone Age. Their children do not receive education, people do not know what the modern calendar is, what the days of the week and months are called. In their everyday life they do not use metal and iron objects. According to scientists, indigenous people of this country is perhaps the most ancient on our planet.

Aboriginal tribes live apart. Representatives of each tribe have their own dialect and clear rules of life. They preserve their traditions, which are rooted in the depths of centuries. Only in 1967, the indigenous people were given equal rights with the alien white population of Australia. But many tribes prefer to stay on reservations, which are not very suitable for a full human life.

Interestingly, before the arrival of white people to the mainland, the indigenous population did not know what cattle breeding was. After all, all livestock - sheep, cows, bulls - was imported from other countries. Prior to this, the natives knew only one large mammal - the kangaroo, which is a symbol of this distant country. The natives did not engage in agriculture either because of the harsh climate. They lived mainly by hunting and fishing.

Inevitable assimilation

The authorities of the country are very concerned about the preservation of the culture and traditions of the natives. However, assimilation inevitably occurs. After all, natives are not required to live in places that were strictly assigned to them until 1967. Many have changed from a nomadic lifestyle to an urban one and are quite happy with it. Due to the fact that living conditions have improved significantly, there has been a surge in the birth rate among the indigenous population.

Aborigines began to gradually merge into modern life. In 2007, the country's authorities even created a special television channel for indigenous peoples. True, it broadcasts in English. Because it is impossible to broadcast for all tribes, there are too many dialects and dialects.

Currently, the number of indigenous people in Australia is small - only 10 thousand people. But on the other hand, they are very fond of demonstrating their traditions, their way of life, their way of life. Many tribes willingly host numerous tourists. They show their ritual rites, demonstrate dances, perform sacrificial dances.

Instead of prison - link

Australia is often referred to as a prison paradise. This unflattering definition has its own historical justification. IN XIX-XX centuries British prisoners are fabulously lucky - many of them prison sentences replaced by a reference to the most distant continent of the planet. The very first settlement of this territory was forced. And it was the thieves, murderers, swindlers and embezzlers of Great Britain who began to develop these deserted lands. Gradually, sheep breeding began to develop here, which began to make a profit. The living conditions of the people improved from year to year. And then already Australia became a tempting country for many poor people of Great Britain. They were sure that on the hot mainland they would be able to live richer and more satisfying. And already in 1820 the first volunteers went to Australia.

Gold lured thousands of emigrants

And then there was a sensation at all - gold deposits were discovered on the mainland, and people began to massively move there in search of wealth. In 10 years, the population of Australia has increased to one million people.

The Germans also showed up. The first emigrants from Germany were participants in the 1848 revolution. They were persecuted in their homeland, but here they could live in peace.

Already in the middle of the 20th century, the composition of the population of Australia was very heterogeneous, and the number of people living on the mainland increased 6 times. Today, the British, Germans, Irish, New Zealanders, Greeks, Chinese, Dutch, Italians, Vietnamese live here.

They are still going

Since the century before last, the inhabitants of the entire planet have known that they are expected in distant Australia and that it is good to live there. Interestingly, emigration to this sultry, but very hospitable country continues to this day. According to statistics, it is Australia today that holds the palm for receiving emigrants. More than 150 thousand people annually change their place of residence for permanent registration on the Green Continent. They have every chance to quickly get a job and join such a heterogeneous Australian society that in a few generations their grandchildren will say: "I am an Australian!"