Steele,

If you had a good memory you'd remember that I posted a bit about possum skin clothing and Aboriginals (part/semi) and the wearing of modern possum cloaks by a pretentious Green MP who didn't care a jot that animals were killed to provide her with her moment in the limelight.

How about addressing the freedom that Aboriginal women are now entitled to as Australian citizens; still denied to some unfortunate women and young girls who are trapped in the timewarp of tribal law.

Dear mhaze,

Sorry mate, haven't I been paying you enough attention.

I was deliberately unspecific with my original post. It would have been nice if one of you lot would have sprung to Murdoch's defense. His papers certainly made it sound like it was a big deal not some fossil fuel sponsored organisation of expats handing out made up gongs.

But the conversation has turned elsewhere.

And here you are once again trapped in an ideology so far that there is not a single gracious bone in your body. You can not accept there might be any parts of the Aboriginal lifestyle that has anything redeeming about it. This is despite early settlers, certainly in this neck of the woods referring to the local tribes as intelligent, with good humour and a physical condition which was markedly superior to most classes of Englishmen.

The pox ridden lot which got dumped on these shores were representative of the poverty and disease ridden slums which were a feature of English cities across the length and breadth of the British Isles. Aborigines here were well nourished, virtually completely disease free and in remarkably good physical condition in comparison.

The drink sodden colonies rampant with child prostitution and rebellion were certainly no advance on what was here by any stretch of the imagination.

For you to claim otherwise shows you to be an unlettered fellow with few redeeming qualities.

Dear Is mise,

Nah sorry, missed that one. Possum skins are not available in Australia. Those used by Kulin nation representatives are NZ skins where the animal is a serious pest.

Dear loudmouth2,

Mate once again you are talking out your backside. Why does sovereignty depend on whether the land was or wasn't cultivated. It doesn't.

Tribal groups had separate languages and highly designated boundaries to their territories. There are pictures of white surveyors marking the exact same trees that were marked by Aborigines for this very purpose.

It was their estate and by all accounts it sustained them very well. Tribal boundaries were generally highly respected. There was very strong sense of ownership and stewardship of specific areas.

Steele,

"Nah sorry, missed that one. Possum skins are not available in Australia. Those used by Kulin nation representatives are NZ skins where the animal is a serious pest"

Pest or not, the fact remains that a person, a Green, wore the skins of hunted and killed animals to make a political point.

I forgot to thank you for those excellent links, thanks.

We use foxskin rugs on the beds in winter and they are quite warm, I shoot a lot of foxes and like to make use of them.

Dear Is Mise,

You wrote: "I forgot to thank you for those excellent links, thanks."

My pleasure. I trust you found them interesting.

Another indigenous practice picked up by Europeans was the use of bark shelters. Locals showed the newcomers how to remove slabs of bark for homes and for the first decade or so it was the primary means of shelter for colonists. Locals were employed collecting bark in large quantities but the resource was seriously depleted within the first few decades. Use of the low slung traditional mia mias was also popular with prospectors, often preferring them to tents in some seasons.

Anyway a book I feel gives some excellent insights into Aboriginal life at least in Western Victoria was written by James Dawson. You can either read it or even download it here:

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52770478/view?partId=nla.obj-129741670#page/n0/mode/1up

The volcanic plains of the Western District did not yield the possum numbers like the lands of the Kulin nation around Port Phillip By but they were still a feature.

The use of animal fat baked into the skin afforded protection from the cold and rain.

“The aborigines are very fond of anointing their bodies and their hair with the fat of animals, and toasting themselves before the fire till their skin absorbs it. In order to protect their bodies from the cold, they mix red clay with the oily fat of emus, - -which is considered the best – or with that of water fowls, or toasted eel skins, and rub themselves all over with the mixture. Owing to this custom very little clothing is necessary.”

It is not hard to imaging how without access to traditional sources of skins, shelter and fat being given blankets and European clothing hastened the dreadful toll of respiratory infections which claimed so many.

Anyway I found lots of insights within it.

Hi Issy,

"wearing of modern possum cloaks by a pretentious Green MP who didn't care a jot that animals were killed"

At the time of your post Issy, I pointed out the same fact Steele has, that"; "Possum skins are not available in Australia. Those used by Kulin nation representatives are NZ skins where the animal is a serious pest." Again you were being dishonest in not mentioning that fact, so another PORKY AWARD is coming your way.

What about your good mate and top notch shooter, the wombat killer Tony Azzi. Azzi killed wombats and other native fauna on his New South Wales property. Did you get that old car of yours from Tony on a special deal?

Another good mate of Issy's is the elephant killer, Shooters and Hooters Party MP Fat Bob Ballsup. The NSW Shooters and Fishers MP Robert Borsak has boasted he shot and ate an endangered elephant in Africa during a hunting trip. I can believe that Fat Bob did eat an elephant, all of it, on his own in one sitting, the glutinous slob! Rumour has it Fat Bob wanted a Elephant skin cloak made for himself from the poor animals hide, but there wasn't enough skin to fit around Fat Bob! Fat Bob thinks he'll shoot a Whale next time to get a cloak for himself.

Ken Wyatt, (Liberal Party) Minister for Indigenous Australians wore a possum skin cloak when taking the oath of office. Are you going to accuse Ken Wyatt of political point scoring?

cont