Indigenous Weather Knowledge

For years now the BoM have had this link to Indigenous Weather Knowledge in the far bottom right corner of their home page. I have not noticed the content change over time.
Issues around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (ATSIP) are much in the news lately with the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, the meeting at Uluru and talk of Constitutional Recognition, Treaties and special ATSIP representative bodies. I get the impression that ATSIP political content does not change much over time either – the main theme can be boiled down to – we want more money.
Do not read beyond here if you might be offended by views not in favour of Constitutional Recognition and Treaties.

Starting at the beginning it seems that the forbears of ATSIP peoples were migrants arriving here via a land bridge to Asia during the period of lowered sea level ~midway through the last ice age – ~45,000 years ago according to research in recent news.

While the vast majority of Homo sapiens made progress towards what we term “civilisation” over the last several thousand years – the ATSIP peoples maintained their long standing stone age lifestyles with an Olympian detachment. The wheel never rolled on their lands, metals were not utilised while similarly agriculture long established in the outside world did not penetrate.

Jumping forward now to the last several hundred years when European navigators and East Indies traders were blundering around the great southern land – all we can say with certainty is that little lasting contact was made with ATSIP peoples.

When Captain Cook arrived and stuck the Anglo flag in southern soil – there must have been resulting ATSIP disussion about the odd visitors in widespread coastal areas with ripples of information extending inland.

Fairly quickly after Cook the First Fleet arrived and the Sydney penal colony was set up. Over decades the several colonies were established and the ATSIP lands were explored, invaded, occupied and settled by Anglo Celt and European peoples. The ATSIP population was seldom sufficient or well enough organised to resist this process and no doubt many wrongs were committed by the invaders. By the standards of the day the Anglo Celt invaders did not treat ATSIP as badly as colonised people were sometimes treated in other places. And let us not kid ourselves that pre-European ATSIP life would have been some idyllic “bed of roses”. Life would have been short and brutish for many, the weak would have been harmed and dominated by the strong.

Over thousands of years the entire tapestry of the development of civilisation on planet earth is typified by invasions and colonisation by the strong and efficient while the weaker & dispossessed parties have generally been treated badly by our modern standards and had little recourse to right historic wrongs.

The 1901 Federation of the colonies into the political entity Australia saw the adoption of a written constitution that does not mention ATSIP and I suppose this says something about the lack of sufficient political influence by ATSIP in those distant and very different days.

The presence of this highly effective substance ensures the best standards of medical procedures are provided at low cost. shop viagra this page Though there are some psychological causes behind it, but few biological factors also play great role behind order cheap viagra it. Possible Treatments to Deal with ED viagra no doctor Full Articles: This is one of the first and foremost medicines for erectile dysfunction (ED) for many years, but it now seems like antidepressant medications are doing more harm than good. Kamagra is a drug regularly used to treat erectile brokenness and manages the issue with the pill viagra deeprootsmag.org immense measure of proficiency that does not imply that this prescription can be taken without restorative supervision. During much of the 20th Century ATSIP people were mostly in the background of Australian politics but of course many had intermarried with the dominant Anglo/European group and many were working and building a life in the new Australia. ATSIP affairs gained in prominence post WWII culminating in 1967 with the +90% yes vote in the referendum. Northern Teritory ATSIP stockmen learnt to use the strike weapon against Vesteys and gained national attention for their cause. In the 90’s the landmark Mabo case changed the administration of land in Australia for ever. I have always puzzled how the rights and wrongs around a few fly-speck gardens on small islands could be extrapolated instantly to vast unoccupied areas of Australia. But thats the left infested legal system for you.

For decades now Govt spending on ATSIP per capita has outstripped welfare spending on the rest of the population but there is still much talk about the need to “close the gap”.

I look at ATSIP issues through a lens where for decades I have been hoping that increased Govt spending on ATSIP plus the increasing income from land rights would lead to the following sorts of “close the gap” outcomes.
Reduction in proportion of ATSIP on benefits
Improvement in ATSIP health benchmarks
Improved Education results
Higher rates of School attendance
Lower rates of Family violence
A reduction in violent crime and drugs in communities dominated by youth gangs.

Fast forwarding to today around the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum and we are bombarded by media to approve Constitutional Recognition and further softened up to accept the notion of treaties and special ATSIP representative bodies. The propaganda by the GreenLeft media is constant, skilful and taking the ABC as an example permeates all news and current affairs programs.

My view on Constitutional Recognition (CR) is that any changes will be re-interpreted by the left riddled legal system and we will end up with unintended consequences. The thought of multiple treaties is just a recipe for an enriched ATSIP industry and as I recall there was a representative body a while back named ATSIC – but that was abolished amid claims of corruption and disfunction. I heard Noel Pearson recently on TV claiming to have the answers but hey he could not run a school on Cape York.
Stopping here because this has run on too long now. I have not addressed “the intervention” or the stolen generation – some would say rescued generation.

11 thoughts on “Indigenous Weather Knowledge”

  1. “Recognition” ends up defining two tribes. Them and us.

    Why cant we all just be equal and inclusive?

    The promoters of this are entirely focused on the heavily funded schemes, associations, special interest projects that will follow.

    The “people” will get kicked to the kerb once again while the connected make off with the loot.

    By the way I was born here too. I am indigenous to this place.
    I also never stole anyone, killed anyone or oppressed anyone.
    What about me?

  2. Much has been made of the settlers killing aborigines. However, settlers were speared by aborigines, as happened at Ryde, NSW, in 1805, when a forebear of my wife and the wife of another settler were speared and died, while having a Sunday picnic.
    Both sides of these stories need to be told.

  3. Warwick, agree mostly. My take on the 1967 referendum was that the 90% odd answer the question “should aborigines be counted” in the affirmative ie that they should be treated as any other Australian. I would suggest that at least 70% of those had no thought that aborigines should get better treatment than any other disadvantage citizen no matter what their origin. If the people thought at the time that aborigines & islanders would get land rights which excluded other citizen the referendum may not have succeeded.
    My belief is that Australians will be wary of lies from politicians and any more than a clause which says something like “There was an indigenous population in Australia tens of thousands of years before Europeans first sighted the continent” will be defeated.

  4. Brave comments in this PC world, Warwick.
    One thing for sure Warwick, the ATSIP people would not have to have worried about harming the Great Barrier Reef during half their time here. It would have been all coastal plain.

  5. The Aboriginal community should take some responsibity for the ‘stolen generation’. Remember, only children of mixed heritage were ‘taken’. Back before 1970, ‘yella bellies’/’yella fellas’ were often excluded from traditional Aboriginal ceremonies and sometimes shunned by Aboriginal groups.
    In fact, when Dexter Daniels wrote up a list of demands for the Aus Govt to take into account in 1966, there was no mention of children being stolen. See here for the resolution.
    indigenousrights.net.au/__data/assets/image/0011/398450/i999_l.jpg
    One should read Frank Hardy’s book ‘The Unlucky Australian’ to get some insight into Aboriginal attitudes in the early 1960s.

  6. Sadly the green/Left have comprehensively captured Australia’s judiciary and government departments so the ATSIP victim industry will presumably continue to grow larger for the foreseeable future.
    From the BoM Indigenous Weather Knowledge link we read:
    “The main weather event of this era was an ice age which arrived approximately 20 000 years ago and lasted for some 5000 years. During which time the average temperatures fell by 10º C, rainfall decreased, and cold, dry winds blew across the land.”
    My understanding is the Eemian inter-glacial commenced around 125k years ago, the peak may have been around 20k years ago but for much more than 5k years, around 60k years, average temperatures were more than 6 deg C colder than today. So it appears these primitive people were able to survive in these conditions without the protection, warmth and comfort of modern civilization. Interesting that the BoM and their ilk would have people believe that with all the comforts of modern society civilization is at risk of catastrophe should the average temperature rise by more than 2 deg C?

  7. Warwick, your readers may find this interesting.

    Title: The Passing of the Aborigines (1938)
    A Lifetime spent among the Natives of Australia
    Author: Daisy Bates, C.B.E. (1859?-1951)

    gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400661.txt

    I make a point of getting my history from first hand accounts. Not least because of how much gets airbrushed away as inconvenient for later narratives.

  8. Here is a story that was all over media for a few days in mid-May. No end of highly paid health experts pontificating.
    Aviation fuel sniffing in Arnhem Land sparks health emergency warning 15 May 17
    www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-15/aviation-fuel-sniffing-on-elcho-island-a-public-emergency/8521020

    Obviously a serious health and youth crime issue that needs solving. I would have thought a 24/7 roster of dads, big brothers and uncles could have prevented youths from accessing the AvGas. But the article says the solution was a security patrol paid by the Govt in Darwin!!! No doubt at great cost. Reminded me of the famous Bill Leak cartoon.
    There must be some remote communities that are success stories. Where the “gap” is being closed. It would be useful to learn about what is working at those places.

  9. Greetings! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know
    how to make your site mobile friendly? My weblog looks weird
    when viewing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might
    be able to fix this problem. If you have any suggestions, please
    share. Appreciate it!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.