AUSTRALIA - Summary

In Australia in the twelfth century, the Aboriginal culture flourished. Though they did not build, the Aboriginal' creativity centered around art: they endowed every landmark with sacred significance and celebrated it with rituals. The journeys of ancestors were retraced again and again over centuries; a physical pilgrimage through artistic celebrations. The Aborigines' universal language was art. For forty thousands of years they created paintings in galleries of rock intended to be overlaid by other artists over time.

Aborigines left their mark on the land in other subtle ways. Fire was a core technology, and they used it to modify the wilderness by burning sections and clearing it for grazing animals. Fire sticks were used to chase animals out of their burrows. They did not cultivate crops, but instead gathered foodstuffs offered up by the land. Aboriginal culture developed a detailed and crucial knowledge of what was edible and exactly where it was to be found. Aboriginal society survived in isolation until Europeans began to colonize in the 18th century.