Australian Aborigines: Resources

Welcome to my first post covering the Australian Aboriginal Resources we used for our mini unit study.

Australian Aboriginal Resources: Who are the Aboriginals?

Firstly, we did a bit of research about the Aboriginal race….

Aborigines describe the people indigenous to Australia.  The Aborigines were thought to have migrated from Asia some 30000 years ago, making them the oldest continuous living culture on earth.

A very spiritual race, their oneness with the land is of huge importance.  From canyons to rocks, beaches to rivers and sun to moon, they all have their own creation stories.  This close relationship between humans and the land is the crux of the very heart of the Aborigines.

Australian Aboriginal Resources: Where in the world do they live?

Next, we pulled out our huge map we made and found Australia:

Australian Aboriginal Resources: The Aboriginal Flag and its Significance

Lastly, we looked at the Aboriginal flag.  I really enjoyed learning about the Aborigines flag and the meanings behind the colours and shapes used.  We used felt and a hot glue gun to create our own flag:

We learnt that:

• the black represents the Aboriginal people of Australia,
• the red represent the red soil, the red ochre and the spiritual relationship of the Aboriginal people with their land
• and the yellow represents the life-giving and protective sun.

Australian Aboriginal Resources: Books

And lastly, we collected all the books I had around the house about the Australian Aboriginals.  This was to be a fairly short unit, maybe a term or so long, and the resources reflect this.

•  Australia ABCs- A Book about the People and Places of Australia and Australia:

I read these to the younger two, whilst the older ones read it for themselves.

• Stories for the Billabong

Stories from the Billabong was probably the book we used the most.  I love reading myths from each nation we study.  Myths get to the heart of a people, I think, and reflect clearly the priorities of those people.

I read a story out each day during our morning meeting.  All five children enjoyed the mythical stories.  I also had A7 narrate back to me what she remembered a bit later on the day.  She loves anything to do with nature and really retained these stories well.

• Songlines

The Songlines (Vintage Classics) written by Chatwin, is one of the few books I could find written about the Aboriginals by a person who had travelled alongside the Aborigines.  It was primary evidence, a first person account of Chatwin’s explorations of the ancient songlines (invisible pathways criss-crossing Australia, connecting communities).  I read a chapter from Songlines each day.  We haven’t finished it yet.  When we do, I will write a review:

• Red Sand, Blue Sky

The final read was for the older children to read to themselves, although I ended up also reading it to the littles:

Red Sand, Blue Sky (Girls First!) is an adventure story about a girl from Melbourne who meets and befriends and Aboriginal girl.  Much is learnt about the Aboriginal culture as the two girls take on a rescue mission to expose the person who is robbing a sacred Aboriginal site.

Further Resources

If you’d like more ideas for studying the Australian Aboriginals do take a look at my other posts on the subject:

1) Australian Aboriginals Dress-Up

2) Australian Aboriginals Cave Art and Stone Carvings

3) Australian Aboriginals The Platypus and Dot Art

4) Australian Aboriginals Boomerang and Didgeridoo

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