Aborigines

As to the Australian Bureau of statistics there are 517.000 (2006) Aborigines, which is 2,6% of Australia's population.

63% of Aborigines live in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria; 28% in Western Australia and the Northern Territory; and only 9% in Tasmania and Australian Capital Territory. 32% of all people in the Northern Territory are Aborigines. The percentage of Aborigines in all other parts of Australia is 4% or less.

First people arrived to Australia between 42.000 and 48.000 years ago. It is estimated that they arrived from what is now southeast Asia. Those people were hunter-gatherers.

Aborigine holding a boomerang

The same as the one of Aborigines today their oral culture and spiritual world were based on the Dreamtime.The Dreamtime or The Dreaming includes a number of inter-related stories (myths) explaining Aboriginal origin and culture. There are at least four aspects of The Dreamtime - the beginning of all things, the life and influence of the ancestors, the way of life and death and sources of power in life.

There are about 100 Aboriginal languages. But only 20 of these have larger number of speakers. The most widely spoken Aboriginal language is Kriol. Some other Aboriginal languages are Yolngu with around 6000 speakers, Arrernte with around 3000 speakers and Warlpiri with around 3000 speakers.Most Aborigines today speak standard English and and Aboriginal English which is their unique version of English language.

Music plays very important role in both everyday life and sacred ceremonies of Aborigines.Their music can be divided into three groups.

The first and largest one is used in sacred ceremonies. It is performed in a particular place and for particular purpose.

The second type of music is the semi-sacred. Songs of such type are, for example, sung by men, while women danced, during the initiation ceremony of boys.

The third type of Aboriginal music include entertainment music. Very good example of the entertainment music is the corroboree where a group of men dance for up to three or four hours while the women and children sing.

The most popular musical instrument used by Aborigines is didjeridu (didgeridoo) or yidaki.Experts think that didjeridu is less than 1000 years old. The name djeridu is not that old. It was first used in 1926 by Herbert Basedown. He used the word didjeridu to somehow describe the sound of instrument.

didjeridu - Aboriginal musical instrument

The didjeridu is made from a log. The maker hollows out the log by fire or termites. Some didjeridus are made from bamboo. A mouthpiece of wax or resin is moulded to narrower end of the instrument.

The inside diameter is about 30 mm at the end which player puts in his mouth, and about 50 mm at the opposite end. The length of Didjerido (usually 100-160 cm) influence the sound.

Aborigines count in rather interesting way. Let's take for example Pitjantjatjara people of the Central Australian Desert.

They have a word for one, two and three; the word for four is two-two, five is three-two, and six is three-three. They usually don't go beyond six. For them there is no need to go beyond this. Any number after six for them is treated as "many".