Aboriginal Technology and Tools on Kangaroo Island

A great variety of tools, weapons and utensils were used to gather plants for food, fibres and medicine as well as to hunt animals for food and clothing. In the manufacture of these tools and weapons rocks such as obsidian and quartz were attached to wood to create excellent cutting edges. These rocks in fact produce a cleaner, smoother cutting surface than steel. To attach the stones resins were used.

People used a range of equipment that included:

• netting and trapping equipment
• digging sticks
• cutting and chopping tools
• hunting and fighting equipment e.g. spears, boomerangs, clubs
• equipment to prepare food e.g. grinding stones
• containers eg bowls (coolamons)

Some of these were only used in certain parts of Australia e.g. the returnable boomerang was unknown to Aborigines in the north and centre of Australia.

The spear thrower is known in some parts of Australia as the woomera. It was designed to increase greatly the distance a spear could be thrown, acting as a first order lever. In some areas such as tropical rainforests and Tasmania they were never used.

If any customers are at all interested in Indigenous history you should recommend the South Australian Museum as it has the largest Aboriginal cultural exhibition in the world. Therefore it can also be used as a valuable resource.

Bibliography and Recommended Resources

• Bostock, L, 1990 'The Greater Perspective', Special Broadcasting Service
• Butler, K, Cameron, K & Percival, B 1995 'The Myth of Terra Nullius, Invasion and Resistance -the early years', Board of Studies
• Horton, D (ed) 1994 'Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia', Aboriginal Studies Press
• Jonas, B & Langton, M 1994 'The Little Red, Yellow and Black (and Green and Blue and White) Book', AIATSIS.
• Mattingley, C. & Hampton, K. 1988, Survival in Our Own Land: 'Aboriginal' experiences in 'South Australia' since 1836, Aboriginal Literature Development Assistance Association Inc. Adelaide.
• Ngurunderi;An Aboriginal Dreaming'. 1989.Adelaide:South Australian Museum.
• The Kaurna Seasonal Trail Excursion - Teachers' Handbook'. 1985.Adelaide:Aboriginal Community College Inc.
• The Kaurna People;Aboriginal People of the Adelaide Plain's. 1989.Adelaide:Education Department of South Australia.

Wild Guide

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Kangaroo Island Travel Guide

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