Pre 1803: Aboriginal Technology
Introduction
Tasmania has been occupied by Aboriginal people for at least 45,000 years. Around 12,000 years ago, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait and the peoples of Lutruwita, the Palawa, became isolated from the rest of mankind for several thousand generations. Survival in a harsh landscape required a sophisticated understanding of the land and use of appropriate technology. This technology included the use of fire, making tools and mining ochre. The introduction of European technology led to a loss of Aboriginal technology. This section is a start in understanding that technology.
Tasmanian Aboriginal Technology
When the first aborigines ventured to the future island of Tasmania, the Ice age was receding, but the central plateau was still an ice sheet with glaciers descending to lower levels. They were hunters and gatherers attracted by the rich hunting grounds of the region. They used sandstone overhangs and limestone cave systems to shelter from the icy winds.
Tools were made from wood, bone and stone. The leg bones of animals were sharpened into points for making holes in skins and sewing together for cloaks and foot covers. A glassy material, tektite, was collected from a meteorite crater site north-east of Macquarie Harbour. This favourite material was sometimes refined into small sharp cutting and scraping tools.
The people used grease from several animals to coat their skins as a waterproof layer and for warmth against the extreme weather conditions.
They constructed watercraft out of rolls of bark and reeds tied together with a network of fibre cord. These vessels enabled them to access offshore islands to harvest seal and mutton bird rockeries.
In cold windy areas the people lived in large domed huts constructed of boughs and lined with sheets of bark, skins or feathers. Being warmer, coastal region families lived in arched windbreaks around their camping grounds close to rocky shore platforms and water supplies.
They practised a number of ways of disposing of their dead, with cremations, entombments in hollow trees and burial in coastal sand dunes.
Ochres were mined, crushed, ground and mixed with grease to paint their bodies and to draw symbols inside tombs. Tasmanian ochre ranges in colour from white through yellow to red. Its uses include colouring wood craft products, tie-dyeing, and other crafts and arts. Though ochre was mined from sites throughout Tasmania, the most celebrated source is Toolumbunner in the Gog Range of NW Tasmania
They used fire for cooking, warmth, tool hardening, clearing vegetation from pathways and to encourage new growth for wildlife and keep pathways open.
Their toolkit comprised stone, wood, fibre, seaweed and shells fashioned into hammers, spears, waddies, spatulas, digging sticks, and also scraping, grinding, cutting and skinning tools.
Complex groupings of engravings were pecked and abraded on sandstone, laminated siltstone, basalt and granite outcrops.
Basket making is a traditional craft. Baskets had many uses, including carrying food, tools, shells, ochre, and eating utensils. Basket-like carriers were made from plant materials, kelp, or animal skin. The kelp baskets or carriers were used mainly to carry and serve water. Plants were carefully selected to produce strong, thin, narrow strips of fibre of suitable length for basket making.
Author: Bruce Cole August 2023
References:
Cameron, Patsy, Aboriginal Life Pre-invasion, Companion to Tasmanian History, 2005, Aboriginal Tasmanian's, Wikipedia 2023
