How kangaroo got his Tail

 

How Wombat got his flat snout

 

* In recent years there has been increased interest in the Australian Aboriginals whose culture we started to preserve only when we were in danger of losing it. It is important that white Australians should appreciate the wealth of imagination displayed in Aboriginal legend. Their imagination produced tales (like the sample shown below) both beautiful and amusing.

 

 

Myth adapted from A.W. Reed's Aboriginal Stories of Australia (Reed Books PTY LTD), 1988

 

   

1. Everyone knows what a kangaroo is and looks like but see how much you know about other aspects of Aboriginal Australia. Say if the statements in the chart below are TRUE or FALSE according to what you know.

Why do this? This may bring a chance to get to know Australian Aboriginal culture better and will switch you into the right atmosphere before reading the fable below.

1.- The Didjeridoo is an unstopped piece of bamboo hollowed by the termite ants about four or five feet long (1 and a half meters). The player blows into the instrument in trumpet fashion. It is often used as an accompaniment to song and dance. It is also used in ceremonial functions.

True False

2.- Aborigines in Australia are the oldest culture in the world

True False

3.- All aborigines speak the same language, which is not English

True False

4.- Since Aborigines did not live in towns, had no government, no roads, no crops, etc. the British who colonized Australia thought they were only "occupying" the land but did not own it. Aborigines have had to fight for their land rights till today.

True False

5.- Aborigines have always worn clothes in their tribes

True False

6.- Termites was a favorite food of the aborigines

True False

7.- When the Europeans arrived in Australia some Aborigines quickly learned to speak English while the Europeans themselves often struggled to speak even a few Aboriginal words

True False

8.- Uluru (also called Ayer's rock) is the biggest rock on earth and a sacred place for Aborigines. These days tourists climb to its top as a challenge.

True False

9.- Among Aborigines it is customary to record traditional stories on books. Each tribes keeps its own record of traditional tales

True False

10.- Boomerangs were used by aboriginal children in their games

True False

 

 

Ayer's rock at daybreak by L Bobke

 

Tourists climbing Ayer's rock (helped by a rail)


If you would like to see more pictures of Australia by L.Bobke please click here; for pictures on other Australian animals than Kangaroos or Wombats click here; to see a picture gallery on didgeridoos click here or otherwise click here to hear some mp3 files with these special musical instruments; for information about aboriginal art click here; and for general info on history, art, etc., click here or on the A to Z Encyclopedia on Aboriginal Information

 

 

 
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