Writing: Tuesday

We are going to be revising informative texts this week.

Our driving question for this text is: How have the Aborignal andTorres Strait Islander Peoples influenced the environment in Australia?

The first step in writing an informative is gathering information.

Use the information below and take notes on any new learning. If youdon’t have access to a device we have provided you with a transcript ofthe clip.

- Indigenous sustainable living and farming habits (video)

Aboriginal Australia (transcript)

For Aboriginal Australians, nature’s influence truly governed life anddeath. Exposed to the elements, the Indigenous people relied on floraand fauna species to provide food. They depended on natural resourcesto provide shelter, food and water sufficient for them to survive today.TheIndigenous people related to nature as if it was a mother figure, thesource of their existence, a provider of nurture, resources and comfort,and supportive of their lives.

Living off the land made them mindful of taking too much, where there’dbe nothing left for tomorrow. There was also no way of preserving anexcess of collected resources in the outback and bush. Their continuedsurvival evolved, achieving a delicate balance, at the centre of which

was the land. The relationship of Aboriginal Australians with the landwas one of mutual dependence. Plants and animals were assistedthrough their life cycles by human activities including distributing seedsand young animals to new areas, and burning off old vegetation. Theland flourished under the custodianship of the people, and then peopledeveloped skills and cultural practices based on their spiritual ties withthe natural world.

The Indigenous Australians developed a range of strategies to ensuretheir survival in Australia. These included moving from one area toanother to avoid resource depletion. In central Australia, nomadism wasa way of life, a necessary way to ensure that food and water was alwaysavailable. On the east coast, mobs moved according to the seasonalpatterns. On the land they hunted kangaroos and wallabies for food, onthe coast and inland waterways they constructed traps to catch fish.Aborigines were careful to save water to preserve resources while theywere abundant.

Drought was an ever present threat. To find water in times of drought,Aborigines would track their movement of grazing animals to find newwaterholes. In times of drought, when certain species of plants wereunder threat, the people would carry seeds from one place to another,thus ensuring the wide dispersal of the more useful species.

Today we continue the ancient Indigenous practice of using controlledgrass fires to limit bushfire hazard and promote the germination of newtrees and plants. The seed pods of some species of trees actuallydepend upon fire to force the hard shells to open, releasing seeds for anew generation of trees. Conservationists have also adopted thetechnique of introducing young animals to new areas, to ensure thesurvival of animal species. Indogenous people practiced this strategy forthousands of years to restock their old hunting grounds before theymoved on to new areas.

In Summary:● For indigenous Australians, nature governed life and death.

● Their continued survival meant using their environment insustainable ways.

● Their relationship with the land was one of mutual dependence● Some of the practices employed by tradition Aboriginal Australians

included:- Moving from place to place according to seasons or an availability

of food and water- Saving water- Transplanting seeds- Controlled burning

Notes: