Aboriginal use of resources

The Aborigines were hunters and gatherers who defined the seasons according to the changing availabilities of fish, animal and food-plant resources. They hunted kangaroos, wallabies, bandicoots, possums, lizards, other animals, and birds with spears, boomerangs and stone axes. They constructed fish traps in creeks and rivers, and speared fish with specially designed spears. They dug yams and other plant roots with digging sticks, collected a wide range of fruits, vegetables, seeds and leaves, and took honey from the native bees. Their camps were sometimes frequented by native dogs (dingoes) and the minimally symbiotic relationship which occasionally developed between man and the camp dingo was the closest that they came to animal domestication.

They exerted some control over their surroundings by firing the vegetation, but their greatest skills lay in their acute observation and understanding of the environment, of the plants, fish, birds, insects, animals and seasons and of the varied sources of water. These were subtle skills learnt through constant observation and practice and passed on from generation to generation. They could not be acquired quickly and easily, or even appreciated fully, by newly arrived Europeans with their totally different attitudes, background and culture. In fact, no technique, plant or animal from the hunting and gathering culture of the Aborigines was used by the new settlers in the development of their own agricultural systems .[3]

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering