2.2.5
The many peoples of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Australia
As modern Australians, we are a multicultural people, as were Deep Time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. The exact number of Aboriginal languages spoken when Europeans arrived in Australia is unknown. But it is believed that there were approximately 250 separate language groups, and at least another 700 different dialects . The spread of people across the vast continent of Australia and into the Torres Strait Islands took thousands of years. People settled in very different natural environments and developed unique cultural traditions, customs and languages. Languages were linked to the songlines, sacred sites and the ancestral beings of the Dreaming.
SkillBuilder discussion Communicating 1. What is illustrated in the SOURCE3 map of Australia? 2. What does the map show about the number of language groups of Australia? 3. How do you think the
map shows links between language and land?
SOURCE3 Map showing the language groups of Australia. Each separate group identified on the map may also contain within it smaller and dialect groups. The language map shows the strong links between language, land and culture.
Did you know? The first sea voyages to Sahul, the combined
continent of Australia and New Guinea, would have been one of the longest and most dangerous sea voyages ever made. This journey would have been the first time that human beings travelled beyond the massive single land mass that covered modern Africa, Asia, Europe, western Indonesia and the Americas. The coastline these first seafarers landed on would eventually be drowned by rising sea levels.
2.2 SkillBuilder activity USING HISTORICAL SOURCES Dreaming stories contained information that became maps, assisting people to make their way across vast distances. As people travelled along the songlines they would recite the stories connected to the landscape to help them remember directions and features of Country. 1. Research a Dreaming story that explains the creation of a particular place. 2. Identify the location explained in the story. 3. Explain how the story represents the geographical features of Country. 4. Analyse the story you researched in question 1. How does the story show the powerful connection between Dreaming beliefs and the detailed knowledge of Country held by Aboriginal Peoples?
22 Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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