Technology of the Aboriginal Tasmanians

The technologies that Tasmanians used were very simple but effective. The cutting tools such as knives and axes were produced with the types of rocks that would give sharp, strong and durable edge. The knives were mostly used for such work as skinning animals or sharpening spears, and the axes were mainly used to cut bark for constructing canoes.

               Aboriginal Tasmanians had three preferred weapons for either hunting or fighting. The three preferred weapons were spears, Waddy, and the throwing stone.

When making spear, the most important step was to select the perfect branches for spear making. After, they gently heat the wood with fire to make the wood harder, and finally cut the wood sharper with stone knife. These spears could be thrown with deadly accuracy over 40 meters.

The Waddy was essentially a club that could also be thrown. It was a short, thick stick 60-70 cm long, and Waddy was used in battle and also to kill larger animals such as seals.

 The last weapon was the thrown stone. This is simply throwing a stone at a target, and Baudin, in 1802, noted that a group of Tasmanians on the shore outranged his gun with the thrown stone.

               The fire was also an important factor to survive for Aboriginal Tasmanians as well. Tasmanians carried fire around with them on their travels, even in the short distance. If the fire died for some reason, they were able to use the friction method to create a new fire.

               The string and rope was an important material to survive, and they always carried string and rope around with them along with fire. The string was used for making baskets, water buckets, and sewing skins together. Also, string was used for making bark canoes that were used to travel around the coast.

               The most common form of housing used was a hut made of bark which the French scientist La Billardiere described. However archaeological research showed that more than 20,000 years ago, Tasmania lived in deep caves when the climate was much colder.

               The Tasmanian Aboriginal’s bark canoes were made from the bark of the stringy bark tree or the bark of the paper bark tree. The canoes varied in size and it could carry from one to nine people over distance of several kilometers in the open sea.

Source:
"Tasmanian Aboriginal History." Tasmanian Aboriginal History. N.p., n.d. Web. Oct. 2013. .

Tasmanian Aboriginals Cultural Heritage

The Aboriginal people managed and modified the land of Tasmania by using fire. To find food, they use a method called "fire stick farming" in which they would set fire to the land which would, in turn, support the fresh growth of bushes and grass. The fresh growth of grass and bushes would attract a large gathering of animals, then the Aboriginals would be able to catch their dinners easier than going hunting although they are hunter-gatherers. Their fires were not very large and widespread but were controlled. Their burning of the land created a diverse environment and a mosaic pattern. Their fire stick farming also drastically changed the landscape, turning bushes into grass due to them opening up the forest canopies.

Due to the diverse and authentic way the Aboriginals changed their landscape, the Aboriginals had a rich and assorted diet. Also, the tribes that lived on the coast of Tasmania were also able to consume marine species that were rich in protein and vitamin C. They consumed plants such as fern tree roots and grass; as well as animals including: kangaroo, wombat, possum, wallaby, emu, hen, oyster, mussel, and crayfish. The Aboriginals were very innovative as well. The Kangaroo apple, which is a tomato-like fruit that is toxic when it is not ripe, was be buried in the sand for to ripen before being eaten.

As well as being innovative with hunting and gathering, the Aboriginals used the land for many different purposes. Ochre is a very important clay to the Aboriginals that contains mineral oxides.  Once Ochre was found, it would be ground on a grinding stone to turn it into a fine powder. When ochre was burned, the color increased and the impurities were filtered out. Ochre was highly valued and traded between others. Tasmanian Aboriginal people used ochre for rituals as a facial accessory and when they were mourning the loss of a member of the tribe. Ochre was also used for artwork on the body. To achieve the correct color, it was mixed with blood or saliva depending on the color intended. Then, the mixture would be sprayed from the mouth to decorate another's body.

Spongelite and Darwin are both types of highly siliceous stone material which come from only one location on the West Coast of Tasmania. The spread of these two rocks prove how important trade was to the Aboriginals. In addition to Ochre and tools being traded, they also made cultural trades with other tribes. The Aboriginals interacted with other tribes and learned their dances and traditions.   Also, they traded their territory to other tribes and allowed them to use their hunting grounds.

The Aboriginal language is very different. There were approximately 600 to 700 different Tasmanian Aboriginal tribes and each tribe had its own language, territory, social system, and laws. Across all of these tribes, approximately there were 200 different variations of the language. Examples of languages that are still know today are: Yolngu with approximately 6000 speakers; Arrernte, approximately 3000 speakers; and Warlpiri approximately 3000 speakers.

Source:
"Australian Aboriginal Art." Aboriginal Art Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. .

What caused the extinction of the Aboriginal Tasmanians?

It is a common belief that the extinction of an indigenous population is caused by the settling of the area by European settlers. The extinction of the Aboriginal Tasmanians is unique in that it was not caused by white settlers, but instead by their hostile habits, customs, and the harsh climate in which they lived.

The Aboriginal Tasmanians could change from friendly to openly hostile because of a slight offense. They were a society of hunters and warriors that gave them a clear advantage in warfare when fighting with new settlers. While they were superior to the settlers from a fighting perspective, they lived in tribes that were not unified and could be hostile to each other. Also, the warlike nature has caused many complications relating to childbirth. One issue is that only the tribe's elders are able to have a wife/wives, so if a younger member of the tribe takes one of the women as his wife, their would be infighting in the tribe. Another big problem is that when a pregnant women could no longer keep up with the tribe, the tribe would abandon her with a small supply of food. If the woman and the child survive childbirth, they would have to wander through the harsh terrain in search of their tribe and hope that they wouldn't be found by another tribe. If the woman and newborn were found by another tribe, they would likely be killed then possibly eaten. This warrior mentality would help the Aboriginal Tasmanians fight invaders but cause more harm to them than good.

The Aboriginal Tasmanians had many customs that could easily lead to death. They would not wear clothing from birth to death and instead coat themselves in layers of mud, grease, charcoal, and red ochre. The lack of hygiene would lead to any scratch or cut becoming infected and spreading. They would hold rituals for protection that involved a person being cut by a stone, after which the cut would most likely become infected. They also had very unhealthy eating habits. They would gorge themselves and eat entire animals in one sitting. One example is just two men eating a whole seal. They would not waste any part of the animal, except for the fur and feathers that would be burned off by the fire. The men would usually eat the meat, flesh, bones, eyes, and brain. The women were not treated as equal to the men and would get the worst parts of the bone, organs, and gristle that was left.  The customs of the people would lead to death through poor hygiene and poor eating habits.

Another reason the Aboriginal Tasmanians died out is because of the harsh climate they lived in. Tasmania's climate is often cold but the summer days are extremely hot. The temperature causes the indigenous people to never bathe because the cold nights would kill them if they lost their layer of grease and charcoal on their skin. Any hazardous weather would also cause sickness and harm to the indigenous people because many were nomadic. Many died to exposure to the elements because they lacked a home or a permanent shelter. This harsh climate would be the demise of many indigenous people even before white settlers came to the area.

The harsh climate combined with the hostile habits and customs of the Aboriginal Tasmanians lead to their extinction more than the introduction of white settlers. The indigenous people of Tasmania were dying out even before white settlers started colonizing Tasmania. While many would blame European settlers for the extinction of the Aboriginal Tasmanians, the real cause was the warlike nature of the people, the harmful customs, and the unforgiving climate they lived in.

Source:
Patricia Cobern, "Who really killed Tasmania's aborigines?" Wicked Dox, May 6, 2007 http://wickeddox.blogspot.com/2007/05/who-really-killed-tasmanias-aborigines.html

The Modern Day Struggle of the Descendants

This article from 2002 gives an account of what happened to the Tasmanian Aborigines but more importantly it deals with how their descendants are living today. Due to the genocide that happened on Tasmania in the 19^th century, the descendants of the aborigines were treated as ordinary black citizens. If they tried to say they were aborigines they would simply be told that Tasmanian aborigines no longer existed. It would be extremely disheartening to be told that your ethnicity no longer exists. That is what descendants were told until the 1970s. For the last thirty years, they have been fighting to get their heritage and their identities back. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s corrupt policies hindered the uniting of the aborigines. The TAC was broken up in the 1990s because of their corrupt nature and replaced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (Atsic). Atsic had a different approach to finding the true descendants of the Aborigines. They made it so the only way someone could vote in the Atsic elections was if they had exact documentation tracing their lineage back to the aborigines. The aborigines from the mainland did not have a lot of written documentation so they could not vote in Atsic elections and they would not be recognized as Tasmanian Aborigines. It is awful that the mainland descendants were at a disadvantage. The number of voters in Atsic elections decreased dramatically. Now the question is who is actually a Tasmanian Aborigine?

Source:
Flanagan, Richard
2002. The Lost Tribe. The Guardian. October 12.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/14/australia.features11