Australia
Gatherers
Aborigines were limited to the range of food occuring naturally in their area, but they knew exactly when, where and how to find everything edible. But food was not obtained without effort. In some areas both men and women had to spend from half to thirds of each day hunting or foraging for food.
Inland, the quest for water was a life and death matter. Aborigines survived where others would perish. They knew where the water holes and soaks were in their area. They drained dew, and obtained water from certain trees and roots. They even dug up and squeezed out frogs, which store water in their bodies.
Within the clan grouping, all speaking the same language, or the same dialect, small bands of families carried out their daily living as a group. They moved around their clan country, from place to place, depending on the season and the availability of food. In coastal areas, and the more fertile parts of the continent, groups were relatively static, because food was readily obtainable, but in the desert areas vast tracts of land could support only a few people, and these had to travel long distances in their endless quest for food.
That necessity to be mobile meant that Aboriginals could afford only those possessions that were essential to their way of live. Many belongings were multipurpose - like the coolamon, a curved wooden dish, which was used to dig, to carry water or the baby, to toss seeds or collect the plant food gathered daily by the women.
Vocabulary
| Word | Translation | Word | Translation |
| range | das Angebot | to occur | vorkommen |
| edible | essbar | to obtain | erhalten |
| effort | die Anstrengung | forage for food | suchen nach Nahrung |
| quest | die Suche | matter | die Sache |
| perish | zu Grunde gehen | to drain | abschöpfen |
| dew | der Tau | certain | bestimmt |
| to dig up | ausfindig machen | to squeeze out | ausdrücken |
| daily | täglich | availability | die Verfügbarkeit |
| coastal areas | Küstenareale | fertile | fruchtbar |
| relatively static | relativ seßhaft | readily | sofort |
| obtainable | erhältlich | vast tract | riesiges Gebiet |
| necessity | die Notwendigkeit | to afford | sich erlauben |
| possession | Besitz | essential to | wesentlich für |
| belongings | der Eigentum | multiporpose | mehrzwecksmäßig |
| curved | gebogen | dish | die Schüssel |
| to dig | graben | to toss | säen |
| seeds | die Samen | to gather | anhäufen |
