Aboriginal People and Their Plants

[SunChaser]

Aboriginal People and Their Plants

By Philip A. Clarke

Read this really interesting book on the relationship between the aboriginals and there plants a while ago. Thought I'd post a thread about it, since I feel this book gave me a far better understanding of there culture than anything else I've read about them over the net and seen on doco's and current affair shows. Also I couldn't remember the author and a few people here wanted me to send them a link. 

It also cleared up a lot of misconceptions I've always had about the aboriginals, like how I always thought they didn't farm there land, when infact the aboriginals probably farmed the land more extensively than we do today. It was just that they had a different method, which was fire stick farming.

A lot of people think they just went in there and burnt the land just before the heat kicked in. But in reality they were constantly burning as they walked the land and since they always walked the same paths and at anytime of the year there were food sources and sacred areas that couldn't be burnt, there fires were actually very carefully structured and controlled. 

They say a tribe could tell if there were stangers in the area up to 80 km away, just from the direction of the smoke. So fire was also used as a form of long distance communication.

Anyway, i highly recommend this book if you have any interest in the way aboriginals viewed and used there plants and also how they made the land work for them in general.

http://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/isbn/1877058513.htm

peace

[stiched up]

thanks for the link ;)

[dbbard]

Cheers

[occidentalis]

I bought this book a couple of years ago but I was very disappointed. There are no botanical names given which makes it pretty much impossible to actually go out and find the plants with any confidence, and also makes it a dead end for any deeper research and the level of detail given is often very lacking. The photos are also really nothing special.

Thanks for your positive review though jabez, glad you got something out of it!

btw if anyone wants to buy my copy, make me an offer ;).

[del]

hi, excuse my lack of posts in this forum, but i have read a great book on traditional indigenous culture. Donald Thomson in Arnhem land. The guy was an anthropoligist who lived with the peoples of arnhem land. He did an amazing job of documenting all aspects of their daily life without any of the eliteist english scince crap that accompanies most other work from this time. lots of great photos in it as well.if anyone has read any other great books of similar content I would love to know.

cheers del

[Mt.B]

I bought this book a couple of years ago but I was very disappointed.

Can you (or anyone) suggest any books that you've come across that would be better? This is a subject I'm interested in though have yet to find a book that has a general consensus on it being any good! Any leads would be welcomed.

Thanks!

Edited June 10, 2010 by Mt.B

[Guest svarg26]

one time watching nitv. a show that had the indigenous people of wallaroo teaching two white girls to live off the land.

i remember the elder saying "observe everything" and as they walked he would point out what was edible. the girls finally

started to apply what they were taught and when they finished their journey, the elders were so happy they cried.

a show that every australian should watch. very informative.

[Moses]

remembera program years ago where they took old aborigine to find his friend the last true nomadic living aborigine and his wife(found them quite i'll) but the old guys was absolutely digusted at the state of the tracks and stopped the car occasionally and started burn-offs. he explained that the grass grows back which attracts the animals to the feed so they can be hunted.