Artifacts of Darug Indigenous Australians - Essay Example

Sur 25 July, Anthropology Introduction: Considering the world records, it has been obtained that there are around 370 million indigenous people spread across 70 countries. Their history reflects on them been evicted of their lands and having no access to the needful resources depending on the places they live in. They suffer the greatest disadvantages in the world. These are the people who originally lived in some region before the times of colonization or a nation’s transformation, and possess different culture, tradition and language. Several studies have been and are still being conducted on these people to determine their sufferings as well as their struggle with the nature on which they are highly dependent (Shah). The present study has chosen the Darug Indigenous Australians for learning on what they say about their culture, tradition, their history, as well as their social situation. Darug Indigenous Australians: The Traditional Culture: The Darug society is known to be the traditional owners of Western Sydney. The culture of the society is prosperous in religious implication. The individuals of the group are associated through relationships based on connections and a secure relationship with the location in which he or she was born. These relationships were associated with their responsibilities towards their lands, communities, plants and animal lives. The elders of the group had the charge of teaching these responsibilities to the newer individuals. The customs, ceremonies and conduct of the Darug were regulated by the aboriginal laws. The tradition and culture of the society reflected that only the needful for survival was to be taken from the nature. Women were in charge of collecting the fundamental foods, while men did the hunting and wild jobs (The Darug - Traditional Owners of Western Sydney). When the Europeans started settling in the West of Sydney, the Darug were not acknowledged to have any former rights. These people struggled both to protect their lands, the nature as well as their traditions and culture. The Aboriginal people suffered severely with their lands and children being taken away from them thereby not providing them with their rights. Today these people are known to regroup again realizing their kinship connections and relationships (The Darug - Traditional Owners of Western Sydney). The Darug were the largest group of Aboriginal people in the Sydney who resided from the coast across the Blue Mountains. These people spoke a common language although there are variants in the dialects that they used. They focused a lot on keeping the available resources abundant that was highly reflected in the manner they treated plants and animals. The economy of these people depended on the sources available to them. People residing along the coast had the coastal resources to make use of and they shared important contact across the coast among themselves. Thus the available resources were shared among them that were part of their traditional culture (Aboriginal People of the Sydney Region). The Darug: History and Colonization Experience: Several years the Darug lived a life that was regulated by the Aboriginal laws and the people lived in harmony with singing and dancing being parts of their lives, and relationships being given the most significance as far as kinships were concerned. It was with the arrival of the Europeans that their lives changed. People were already affected with a virus of smallpox much before these two cultures had met and then the arrival of the Europeans added to the situation. Initially although the Darug had been behaving very well even though they met the strangers yet that stage did not stay for long (Tobin). It was in the year 1788 in the month of November that Governor Phillip started establishing a new settlement at Parramatta. With these act, several farms and families followed entry into the regions and the land of the Darug were gradually taken. Although the Darug continued to live on the lands, they had started feeling the pressure from the Europeans taking their places. Several attempts have been made by the group depending on the Aboriginal laws to protect themselves and their land and with the pressures rising from the Europeans these protective measures also started increasing. There were wars that affected the people with fear and violence for several years (Tobin). However, gradually there was a change in the relationships since the Aboriginal people started being dependent on the Europeans for food, shelter as well as clothing. They also started working on the farms that no longer belonged to their own lands. Governor Macquarie had tried to take several measures to bring the Darug to an order, however, the new styles of living and habits were not suitable to these people and the suffering existed. With their children being taken away, the situations worsened and the relationships shattered (Tobin). The Darug: The Present Social Situation: The people of the Darug society are not provided with their lands in their home country even in the present times. Some of these people long for their homes so that they can be capable of maintaining their kinship relationships. They are constantly trying to gather and unite with the people of their community. Gradually they are able to find their native relations and hence their kinships. However, they had to face a lot of troubles in this regard since they were not allowed to speak their language and the rites and rituals were looked upon as unorthodoxy. In the present times, there is an environmental crisis prevailing in Sydney. The water in the country has become unfit for purposes of swimming and clouds of pollution are visible from the Blue Mountains. The plants and wildlife are on the verge of becoming extinct. Thus the land has significantly required the need to learn to respect the values and relationship associations that prevailed on the land among the Darug that they are still struggling to find back (The Story of the Darug Aboriginal People). Conclusion: From the above study, an understanding on the condition of the Darug could be made where it is clear that the indigenous groups of people are made to suffer severely since they experience colonization and are thrown away from the original homelands. The Darug too experienced the same and till now they are struggling to find lands in the home country and to unite with their kinship relationships that they believed in the most with the spiritual rites and rituals that they used to follow when their lives were in harmony. References 1) “Aboriginal People of the Sydney Region”, aabr, 2010, July 25, 2012 from: http://www.aabr.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=74 2) Shah, Anup, Rights of Indigenous People, globalissues, 2010, July 25, 2012 from: http://www.globalissues.org/article/693/rights-of-indigenous-people 3) “The Darug - Traditional Owners of Western Sydney”, nsw, n.d., July 25, 2012 from: http://www.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/upload/iklrx62797/The_Darug.pdf 4) “The Story of the Darug Aboriginal People”, geocities, 2001, July 25, 2012 from: http://www.geocities.ws/darug_allowan/story.html 5) Tobin, Christopher, The Dharug Story, n.d., July 25, 2012 from: http://www.darug.org.au/Darug%20files/STORIES/DARUGSTORY.pdf Read More