THE PROCESS OF THE YEAR AMONG ABORIGINES OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Abstract

central and south coast of New South Wales has been the subject of considerable attention from prehistorians and has yielded rich evidence of Aboriginal occupation. There are also many casual observations of economic activities. Some reports of the Aborigines of this area conclude that the population was semi-sedentary, others see it as having been highly mobile (Megaw & Wright 1966:44). Bowdler (1970) regards the sites in the Sydneysouth coast region as representative of a single economy, archaeological variations reflecting the dietary changes of a group of people constituting a single sub-culture who are nomadic in their quest for food. This is also the approach adopted by Lampert who gives primacy in the generalized economy to specialized fishing activities. He sees no reason for coastal people to forsake a seashore existence (1970a: 130). Yet a review of recent literature is inconclusive as an aid in formulating propositions on the influence of economic activities on Aboriginal settlement and the direction any movement might take. It seems worthwhile to generate an independent hypothesis based on observations of variables affecting the activities of coastal hunter gatherers generally and the environmental conditions of the central and south coast of N.S.W. particularly. This proposition when evaluated against both archaeological and ethnographic data appears to stand. I find it useful to express the proposed model in systematic form for it symbolizes processes and activities which can be seen to be a system in themselves as well as forming a part of a complex of systems both social and environmental. As a system the components are related in a casual network of interaction. Although quite different patterns of settlement may be observed for various coastal hunter gatherer societies in different parts of the world, all exhibit regularity in their economic system. A review of ethnographic and/or archaeological sources for a sample of hunter gatherer societies exploiting principally coastal and/or estuarine resources in their subsistence activities1