Australian Aboriginal People
were clever making and using tools and weapons.
They were the first people in the world to use stone tools to grind
seeds, and also to introduce ground edges on cutting tools.
Aboriginal weapons by Steve Evans via Flickr.com
Aboriginal Weapons Used in Different Parts of Australia
Australia is a
large country covering many different regions from tropical rainforests
to snowy mountains and dry deserts. So the conditions, food resources,
hunting and weapons varied between the different tribes depending on
where in Australia they lived. Desert
people would use stone tools and wooden weapons while the
coastal tribes would often make their tools and weapons of fish bones.
But despite the differences in materials they used, they all had
similar tools and weapons.
What Aboriginal Weapons and Tools Were Used
The usual tools included knives, axes, scrapers and digging sticks. The
usual weapons were spears, shields, clubs and boomerangs.
Knives were made of bones or stones. They were made sharp, and they
were used as tools as well as weapons when killing animals. Shields
were used to protect themselves, either against the animals they were
hunting, or in a battle against other people. Shields were made out of
a single piece of timber, and some of them were decorated. Spears were
made either of wood or bone, and they were used to kill animals while
hunting.
Returning Boomerang and Other Australian Aboriginal Boomerangs
Hunting boomerangs were much larger (up to 2 metres) than the
boomerangs we throw for fun today. Aboriginal
people
did have recreational boomerangs as well, they are the boomerangs that
come back to the thrower. Hunting boomerangs won’t come back. They are
too heavy, they were thrown at kangaroos
and emus
to cut their necks or legs, and in the hunting
action there was no time to watch the boomerang to come back. It was
one throw, then they went and picked the boomerang up later. Boomerangs
could also be used as means of communication when far away from
each other in the field. Holding up a boomerang in a
certain way in the air could have a meaning, and they could also be
clapped against each other, making a noise that had a message, just
like clapping sticks, that were more commonly used for that purpose.
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