Donations

History

Why old theories on Indigenous counting just won’t go away

My Australian-educated friends tell me they were taught at school that all Aboriginal people only counted one, two, three, four and 'many' ... there is abundant evidence of complex Aboriginal number systems extending to high numbers.
 
So why do some people believe the generalised view that all Aboriginal people can't count beyond four when there is abundant evidence to the contrary?
 

'Star Stories of The Dreaming' - Canberra Premiere

Star Stories of the Dreaming - Canberra premiere

MEDIA ALERT: Details on the Canberra Premiere of 'Star Stories of The Dreaming' will be held at 6.30pm on Wednesday 1st June 2016 at the Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive, McCoy Circuit, Action, ACT
In the lead up to the Canberra premiere of Star Stories of the Dreaming Ghillar Michael Anderson Euahlayi Lawman and knowledge holder speaks briefly about the associated Law. [node:read-more:link]

Proposed development at Deebing Creek mission site would 'destroy our people'

Winyirin (Dooley) Bin Bin the Travelling Lawman who coordinated his countrymen on a pastoral strike from 1942 to 1946

Dooley Bin Bin - Pilbara Strike

The Aboriginal Pilbara Strike.

At the meeting of tribal leaders Winyirin Bin Bin was nominated, in his absence, to work with a non-Aboriginal social reformer, Don McLeod, as a representative of the inland’s Aborigines.

'Dooley' and his kinsman Clancy McKenna sought a minimum wage of thirty shillings per week for Aboriginal station-hands and planned a mass withdrawal of labour if the request were refused. [node:read-more:link]

A search for ancestors leads to the most infamous leader of Aboriginal Massacres

PS: The McMillan electorate was renamed in 2016

Angus McMillan, a Scottish Highlander was credited with founding Gippsland in Victoria by leading hunting parties to track down and massacre groups of First Nations people. He became a hero in Vic and NSW, and is still seen as a heroic explorer. Here is a sample of plaques, monuments and statues made in his honour.

First Royal Commission on atrocities against Aboriginal prisoners - WA 1905

Frontier history North West Australia 2005

Chain gangs and slave labour in Australia" width="690" height="300" border="0">
Notice the tin mug placed in strategic places on the tin wall behind the prisoners - if one wanted a drink or go to the toilet the whole gang would have to go with them. In some cases, people were chained next to a member of a tribal group that is culturally inappropriate to even to speak to, never-loan the different customs and language barriers. It's no wonder they had difficulty fitting into their own family group when they were 'lucky' enough to return to their home. [node:read-more:link]

Canada: Ditching the Papal Bull(shit) and sovereignty

On May 1, 2016, First nations people from Canada organised a Long March to Rome and met with Pope Francis and requested him to rescind the Papal “Bulls of Discovery”. he Papal Bulls of Discovery are an important piece of a larger idea in international law, called the Discovery Doctrine, which holds that when European nations “discovered” non-European lands, they gained special rights over that land, such as sovereignty and title, regardless of what other peoples live on that land. [node:read-more:link]

Aboriginal Smoke Signalling and Signalling Hills in Resistance Warfare

Aboriginal Signalling

Signalling hills and lookouts were of immense importance for Aboriginal groups. They were often pivotal landmarks in the Songlines landscape, major means of communication and education, and tools for co-ordinated hunting or fishing. Their importance is reflected in some Aboriginal place names, for instance Nildottie in South Australia, which actually meant "smoke signal hill."

Aboriginal signalling lookouts are of interest for the role they seem to have played in co-ordinating resistance activities. [node:read-more:link]

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - History