Clothing+-+Ingvild



The Aboriginal Australians were often seen by early settlers to be naked. Some tribes are known to have worn a belt around their middle. The belt was made of hair, animal fur, skin or fibre and they used it to carry tools and weapons. The Europeans didn’t like the nakedness of the Aborigines, so they forced them to add a flap in front of the belt. During the winter the Aborigines used cloaks made of animal skin. They wore them during day and used them as blankets at night. From the 1830’s some [|Governors] gave English blankets to the Aborigines. The blankets were not as warm as skin cloaks and many Aboriginies caught influenza and [|bronchitis]and died of these diseases.

During the colonization individual settlers gave the Aborigines their old clothes (called slops). So the people were often observed wearing clothes such as army or navy jackets, trousers, blouses, etc…

Tattoo The Aborigines ‘decorated’ their bodies with personal decorations ([|tattoos]) that included symbols, messages and design on their arms, legs and upper body - especially before ceremonies. The symbols were not random; they were symbols that said messages and they represented the individuals or information about the tribe. The Aborigines often used fat from animals to cover their bodies to protect them from insects like [|mosquitoes]

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