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Publisher: E.F. FlanaganPublication date: 1888Subjects: EthnologyAustralian aboriginesAboriginal AustraliansAborigines, AustralianHistory / Australia ... Read more

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This is an engaging study of the stories of racial awakening in Australia that marked the coming of the wind of change. Through rigorous research, the author shows how supporters of Indigenous Australians and their struggles for equality pushed Australia into the 60s literally and figuratively. The book also puts the Australian experience of the 60s into an international perspective, portrayed as unique but not in isolation. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"The Plight and the Culture of Australian Aborigines with Photos"
"Aborigines of Australia: Illustrated with Photographs", by Olga Hoyt 1969.Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., N.Y., ISBN 72-81754.HC128/122 pgs. Gossary 2 pgs. Index 4 pgs.40 B&W illus./photographs. 9 ½" x 7".

A fine book, an adult level treatise encompassing 15 chapters describing the life of Australian Aborigines who first inhabited Australia more than 25,000 years ago, Peoples who when "discovered" by the Dutch in 1623 and thence again by Capt. James Cook in 1770 who then took possession of their lands in the name of Gt. Britain, were looked upon as "Barbarians" and "Unfriendly Natives" and described as "still living in the Stone Age".

The author does a worthy job in describing their original living status of numbering 300,000 and their decimation to some 10%, and having gone from having all of Australia as "their Land", they eventually were given 353 Governmental "Reserves" on 190,000,000 Sq. Miles. More recently, c. 1950, provisions were made for their medical care, education, food, lodging and some work opportunities with some pay in various trades or industries as mines, ranching and agriculture.In general they are better off than 50 years ago when embittered killings on both sides were rampant as both sides sought to keep their lands.In all likelihood, the Aborigines will be assimilated as a Race despite attempts to maintain full-blooded Tribal status on the Reservations.In many ways this reflects the same generalplight as American (Native) Indians.

Quite importantly, the author addresses the cultural life of the Aborigines, their religions, "the Dreaming Time", Societal Structures, Childhood and Adolescence/Puberty of Girls and Initiation of Boys from Childhood into Warriors via triad of initiation rituals completed as they became 20-something.Excellent sections are given on gaming & herbal gatherings, tools as spears and boomerangs,marriage-birth-deaths, music-song-dance-art, and an exposition of what the future brings to these Aborigines - described as a discrete race of moderately tall, proudly erect, muscular black-skinned peoples with their discrete numerous dialects and totemism.The illustrations are superb.The movie "Australia" makes the reading of this book most timely for those wishing to learn more of these Peoples.

finis ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Characterized by a simple technology and a complex socioreligious system, the Mardudjara have survived with much of their traditional culture intact. The Mardu culture challenges common assumptions about the relation between technology and progress. This edition describes changes as the Mardu adapt to social, economic, and political realities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

"Stone Age in the 21st Century"
"The Mardu Aborigines: Living the Dream In Australia's Desert", by Robert Tonkinson. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Fl., 2nd edition, 1991 ISBN: 0-03-032282-0.SC 204/182 pgs.Ref. cited 12 pgs. Glossary 2 pgs., Index 6 pgs. 9 ¼" x 6 3/8".Included are c. 20 excellent B & W photographs & a half-dozen or so maps and drawings.

This book, written as a case study in cultural anthropology (with George & Louise Spindler, Standford University as general editors), is a purely scholarly article with reading that becomes dense as it explores the Mardu ("mardu = peoples"), Aborigines of the Western Desert who comprise a linguistic group in the area of Lake Disappointment, i.e. the western side of the Gibson Desert,studied by the author in the 1960's.

The book has 7 chapters that cover their origin, spiritual imperative (The Dreaming), Ecology, social imperative (kinship), life cycle-totemism, birth & initiation rites, ageing, marriage, death, the religious life, living "The Dream", and Europeans and the Mardu response (1900-1990).Tonkinson provides a good description of Mardu behaviorisms and a critical examination of their philosophical outlooks upon their social interactions, members of the group, strangers, the affected (handicapped), nudity, sex, virtual absence of perversions, and fascinating description of "yurndiri"and "wirla ngarnda", as termed by the author "aggressive sulking".

These Stone Age peoples, muscular and proud, of a discrete racial group, found themselves rather abruptly confronted by masses of European immigrants, the Australians, whose novel, crude but energetic pioneering spirits were clearly contrary to the Mardu's societal structures, mores, and religious tenants, -- they seemed to offer little hope for survival.As in many contemporary societies worldwide, ruinous inconveniences as alcohol, TV, cell phones and the like continue to wreak havoc to this now fragile social group.Some headway was been made under the "Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act of 1976 and the Aboriginal Lands Trust of 1972 (Western Australia) but this is regarded by some as too little and too late.

finis

excellent to learn about the aboriginal culture
I used the book for an tourism Assignment. I must say it supplied sufficient information form me and it was a choice book to read.Thanks very much it was choice.

This is a highly informative and fascinating book.
One of the most comprehensive and descriptive treatises on a complex hunter and gatherer society, which until recently was still pursuing a traditional lifestyle, largely unaffected byEuropean influences. Although scholarly in intent, this work is eminently readable as it takesone deeply into the world of an ancient culture, and most particularly intothe fascinating religious life of the Mardu Aborigines of Australia'sWestern Desert, one of the world's very last frontiers.A truly exquisiteethnography, a must read for those interested in human ingenuity insurviving and thriving in one of the world's most difficult environments. I highly recommend this extraordinary account, for its empathy and deepappreciation of the human condition. ... Read more