An Indigenous Society of Australia
Introduction
Every aspect of the indigenous societies of Australia was greatly disrupted by colonization that brought with it western knowledge. Their ways of life and kinship structures were greatly traumatized. Some indigenous societies have been greatly affected, some have been dislocated and some lost their original language since they never got the chance to pass it down to generations. Indigenous societies have changed with no doubt; some of these changes can be attributed to the presence of Europeans and the actions of the colonizers. Their actions destroyed the life that existed in pre colonial Aboriginal family. Over time these indigenous societies have adjusted in various ways. The indigenous people of West of Australia, the Nyungar have found a way to reinstate the relationships they held dear and created a system of knowledge that involved caring for families and relationships this has greatly helped them survives long after colonization.
The Nyungar community of South West Australia is still alive and dynamic after so many years. British colonization had a great impact on the continuity of the culture of this indigenous society. Colonization led to loss of land, break up of families where children were taken from their parents and massacres that ended the lives of many in these society leading to loss culture and its original language (Stocker, Collard, & Rooney, 2016). Before colonization Australia had several hundred indigenous groups, each group had its own political and legal system and traditions that defined them (Hunt, 2013). Children from the Nyungar were taken from their mothers at a tender age. As a result of this a whole Generation of Nyungar failed to learn their culture and tradition, instead they were forced to learn the domestic education that was introduced by the colonizers.
Despite all these the Nyungar society has not lost its identity and cultural values. Members of the society have done their best at protecting and reclaiming their culture from multiple sources. They have reclaimed their former ceremonial practices, their ways of land management and their original language. With time indigenous Knowledge systems have come to be recognized alongside western knowledge but western knowledge always has an upper hand. The relationship between these two systems is conflictual but has the potential to collaborate in the future (Stocker, Collard, & Rooney, 2016). The system that was developed by the Nyungar society for caring for families and relationships included action such as acknowledging the spirit of space, putting relationships first by rebuilding family and social relationships.
After western knowledge had disrupted their culture. Members of the society came together for a cultural traditional practice, they agreed to attempt a cultural practice even without enough knowledge to start and in the process they learned the knowledge that was needed for such cultural practices. In the process of rebuilding their culture the younger members of the society consulted with the elders of the society bearing in mind that elders are people who can provide cultural and landscape information (Stocker, Collard, & Rooney, 2016).
Traditional Australian inhabitants who are the indigenous people have a different relationship with the land compared to the relationship modern westerners have with land. To them a country means a cultural landscape. The perspective of the Nyungar has challenged the western meaning of a country which is a standing stock of resources. Traditionally, the Nyunger managed the country on a communal basis and on the intimate knowledge of the country. The two most important kinds of relationships are between the land and the people and the relationship that exist among the people (Kinnane, 2005). These relationships are the center of the sphere. Western knowledge had a deep and far ranging effect on the indigenous people of Australia. These effects included loss of land, separation of family and friend which ruined the two most important forms of relationships that these people held closely.
Telling of stories has been one of the ways of this society. Storytelling has allowed the Nyungar to pass on knowledge for centuries. A story for them can be a means of conversation, a way to make an inquiry. They are making sure that the stories that are being told by their elders are shared and retold in order to keep the culture alive for generations to come. Since the Europeans arrived on their land, the landscape of the land has changed drastically as a result of urban development. Land was reclaimed from the seas and this changed the shorelines, building and trees replaced dunes, the Nyungar who are the people who owed the land before the settlement of the British have concluded that they cannot be able to return the land to what it was originally but that can try and give it a glimpse of what it looked like (Stocker, Collard, & Rooney, 2016).
In present days the cultural memories of the Nyungar are being reconstructed by stories. These stories include accounts of the ice age and how it came to an end after rise in the seas levels that led to drowning of the land. These stories have shown how this society made meaning of sea level rise, this society has managed to keep this meaning even long after western knowledge came and defined rise of sea level differently (Collard, and Palmer, 2008). The society has managed to reclaim and rebuild its culture through interactions that are based on contemporary and traditional research praxis.
Conclusion
All aspects of the indigenous communities were disrupted by colonization, western knowledge systems were imposed on them and as a result of this they lost their culture but some of the indigenous societies managed to keep its culture and adjusted overtime long after western knowledge was imposed on them. The Nyubgar society has managed to keep its culture by developing a system of knowledge that involved caring for families and rebuilding relationships that have helped them survive and keep their culture and traditions. Story telling is one of the ways that has allowed the Nyungar to pass down knowledge for thousands of years, trying to make the land look like what it was before westerners came and used their knowledge to reclaim land from the sea thus disrupting the shape of the shoreline. The culture of the Nyungar has survived long after.
References
Collard, L. and Palmer, D., 2008. Looking for the residents of Terra Australis: the importance of Nyungar in early European coastal exploration. In: P. Sutton, P. Veth, and M. Neale, eds. Strangers on the shore: early coastal contacts in Australia. Canberra: National Museum of Australia, 181–197.
Hunt, J. (2013). Engaging with Indigenous Australia-exploring the conditions for effective relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Kinnane, S., 2005. Indigenous sustainability: rights, obligations and a collective commitment to country. In: J. Castellino and N. Walsh, eds. International law and indigenous peoples. Leiden: Martinus Nijoff, Vol. 20, 195–224
Stocker, L., Collard, L., & Rooney, A. (2016). Aboriginal world views and colonisation: implications for coastal sustainability. Local Environment, 21(7), 844-865.
