Origins of the aboriginal worldview. Cross fertilisation of ideas

Early Europe was divided into a series of nations/states primarily as an accident of physical geography. Mountain passes or seas provided natural barriers allowing peoples to form communities and develop languages and ideas in isolation. As the natural barriers were conquered or one people invaded or traded with another, ideas travelled and groups of people learned from each other.

As the environments of most countries had some elements in common, ideas from outside groups were more or less easy to adopt or adapt.

The opportunities for cross-fertilisation of ideas made Europe the home of the industrial revolution. Gunpowder, stirrups and even the humble wheelbarrow were all originally developed in China. Gutenberg was credited with first using moveable type for printing, though the Chinese had even done that before; double-entry book keeping was developed in Italy; the steam engine born in England.

Western ‘advancement’ did not, in any real sense, arise spontaneously in a genetically superior people: In Europe, people advanced technologically because they had the right resources, environments and opportunities to learn from each other.

Before colonisation, Aboriginal trade routes criss-crossed the Australian mainland, bringing coastal people into contact with Indonesians, Malaysians, and Chinese as well as sealers, whalers, and even the odd maritime explorer or two. We use the expression ‘trade-routes’ but this might be a misrepresentation of their function in Aboriginal culture.

For Aboriginals, bartering ensured the availability of some essentials, but its functions were co-operative and social rather than a source of income.

Where ideas available from outsiders were not taken up before colonisation, it was because there was no possibility of applying those ideas.

Aboriginals were not too stupid to try new ideas; for example, once it became clear whitefellas weren't going to take their strange animals and bugger off, Aboriginals had been very quick to build their own pens and herd stock into them.