Define the following terms:
HarmoniousExhibiting accord in feeling or action. Having component elements pleasingly or appropriately combined
Characterized by harmony of sound. |
InterconnectednessThis is part of the terminology of a worldview which sees a oneness in all things. A similar term, interdependence, is sometimes used instead, although there are slightly different connotations.
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SustainabilityFor nonrenewable resources the depletion of the nonrenewable resources should
require comparable development of renewable substitutes for that resource. |
Biodiversitythe variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular
habitat, a high level of which is usually considered to be important and desirable. |
State where witjuti grubs may be found and what they look like, and suggest why they are described as being very nutritious.
The witujuti grub is generally only found in central Australia. They can be found in the root system of the Witchetty Bush although not every bush will yield them. They have also been known to be found in the Bloodwood Tree.
Witchetty grubs, for instance, are an ideal survival food, being rich in protein and energy. Witchetty grubs are also valuable sources of vitamin B1 and the essential minerals potassium, magnesium and zinc. |
Identify one important difference in the way that traditional Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander people obtained food.
Animals such as the goanna and witchetty grubs, were eaten by Aboriginal Australians. Fish and shellfish are culinary features of the Australian coastal communities. Examples of Australian native plant foods include the fruits: quandong, kutjera, muntries, riberry, Davidson's plum, and finger lime. Torres Strait islander's ate many of the same foods but also participated in cannibalism.
Outline why early settlers would have benefited from learning some of the traditional bush tucker skills.
Australia has a unique and harsh climate that is difficult to understand. Early settlers do not have knowledge of the Australian's soils worth and cannot comprehend how to use their plants in a place with such a different climate to their own. It would have benefitted settlers to learn of edible plants and where to grow their vegetation.
Describe how Aboriginal Australians living in arid areas find enough water to survive.
A lot of Australia is covered by desert or semi-arid land. Indigenous Australians survived in this dry continent for thousands of years. They survived by finding water using different methods. Sometimes there is a lot of water underground. Some groups of Indigenous Australians dug wells and tunnels to find this water. If a group was moving away from a water supply, animal skins were made into bags that could carry water. Aboriginal people looked at where birds and animals found water. They followed dingos to rock pools or watched where ants went underground. They also knew that where they were lots of trees then there must be some water underground.
Identify some reasons that have contributed to dugongs becoming endangered.
The Dugong gets hurt by boats or drowned by getting trapped in fishing nets. The Dugong is threatened by coastal development and poor catchment management
leading to siltation and the loss of seagrass beds. Isolated Dugong populations are vulnerable to local extinction as a result of losing seagrass beds after
stochastic events such as floods or cyclones. The Dugong is also threatened by incidental mortality in commercial gillnets, entanglement in shark nets and
collisions with boats.
leading to siltation and the loss of seagrass beds. Isolated Dugong populations are vulnerable to local extinction as a result of losing seagrass beds after
stochastic events such as floods or cyclones. The Dugong is also threatened by incidental mortality in commercial gillnets, entanglement in shark nets and
collisions with boats.
Dugongs feature in the creation stories of many Indigenous peoples across northern Australia. Find out moreabout one of these stories.
This story is called “Tin Juddah” in the Kalkadoon language which means “Swim”.
Long, long ago the dugong lived on the land and walked among all the other animals. He was a large animal and could not run but could only walk slowly. He lived on the plains and used to eat grass all day long and he never used to drink as he got his water from the grass he ate. After many years of drought and no rain the grass did not grow and the dugong had to travel further and further every day to feed himself. One night for the first time in his life the dugong went to sleep hungry and thirsty as he could not find enough grass to please his appetite. It was in his dreams that he decided the next day he would travel north out of Kalkadoon country and up to the Gulf country where the grass would be more plentiful. The dugong travelled for days and days and found the grass was not growing any better here so he kept on travelling north. Finally he reached the great ocean and could see at the waters edge some beautiful green sea grass and so he began to eat and eat. While the dugong was busy eating he did not notice a big wave that crashed on the sand and washed the dugong into the sea. While he was being washed further out and under the water he realised he could swim very well and hold his breath for a long time so instead of panicking he dove down deeper and continued to eat. When he had finished eating he swam to the surface and taking a deep breath continued to swim underwater. After many years of living in the sea the dugong’s arms and legs turned to flippers and a tail and even though he still needs to breathe air and still moves very slowly he is happy knowing his grass will always grow. Click here to see the website. |
Outline three possible hypotheses for the extinction of Australia's megafuana.
When humans first arrived in Australia around 60,000 years ago, they found a continent covered in rainforest, much of which had existed for 100 million years. In addition to rainforest, the continent was populated by megafauna that included the Diprotodon, a wombat-like marsupial the size of a car and the Megalania, a crocodile sized lizard that hunted on land. Within 20,000 years of humanity’s arrival, most of the rainforest was gone and the megafauna was extinct.
1. Megafuana were wiped out by climactic changes that humans did their best to prevent with fire management.
"The research found no evidence of humans being involved in the accumulation of fossils in the catchment at the time of deposition, but is perfectly consistent with their decline being caused by increasing aridity...So it's most likely that Australia's giant kangaroos and other megafauna in this area were driven to extinction by the hands of Mother Nature."
-Gilbert Price
2. On the other hand, as human induced climate change caused the rains to fail, it was impossible for humans to remain in balance with the ecosystem. When Australia had been fertile, their population densities had been high and may have been in balance with megafauna. When the ecosystem collapsed, they used their skills of adaptation to hunt megafauna to extinction
3.Humans hunted megafuana to extinction.
1. Megafuana were wiped out by climactic changes that humans did their best to prevent with fire management.
"The research found no evidence of humans being involved in the accumulation of fossils in the catchment at the time of deposition, but is perfectly consistent with their decline being caused by increasing aridity...So it's most likely that Australia's giant kangaroos and other megafauna in this area were driven to extinction by the hands of Mother Nature."
-Gilbert Price
2. On the other hand, as human induced climate change caused the rains to fail, it was impossible for humans to remain in balance with the ecosystem. When Australia had been fertile, their population densities had been high and may have been in balance with megafauna. When the ecosystem collapsed, they used their skills of adaptation to hunt megafauna to extinction
3.Humans hunted megafuana to extinction.
Outline two reasons why Aboriginal people used to set fire to the vegetation and
explain why it was important for Aboriginal people to burn only some areas of land and leave other areas unburnt.
Burn-offs or small, cool fires were thought to be used by Aboriginal people both for hunting and for the prevention of larger fires. They raze grass and other fuels, ideally eliminating the chances of a larger fire igniting. Early European settler records show that Aboriginal mobs were familiar with fire. They wrote about patches of smoke regularly appearing in the distance in certain times of the year. Aboriginal people would only burn certain areas to prevent larger fires whereas the other areas were not seen as a threat and left for food and other supplies.
Explain why having rules about the seasons during which certain animals could be hunted and plants harvested contributed to the sustainability of the lifestyle of Indigenous Australians.
Animals can only be hunted during seasons that animals had children or had plenty of food. Plants were only to be harvest in the seasons their fruits were ripe to ensure that a complete cycle could be done every year. This was necessary so as not to affect the growth or populations in plants and animals.
Explain why growing and harvesting the fruit of plants that are native to Australia may be more sustainable than growing introduced species such as orange or apple trees.
Growing and harvesting native Australian plants is easier than growing and harvesting introduced plants. Native plants thrive in the climate of Australia, whilst introduced plants require fertilisers and climate control to grow.
Create a restaurant dish using bush tucker.
Ingredients
- 4 x 150g duck breasts
- 1 bunch water cress
- 1 hot chilli, chopped
- 4 serves shiitake mushrooms
- 4 serves enoki mushrooms
- 1 paperbark roll
- 1 teaspoon Alpine Pepper
- 30g Illawarra Plum Sauce
Directions
Preparation:15min ›
Cook:20min ›
Ready in:35min
- Use a cast iron or camp oven, line it with damp paperbark and set over a medium heat with the lid on.
- Crust the duck breast with Alpine pepper.
- When the camp oven has heated enough to fill with smoke, place the duck breast inside for about 15~20 minutes or until the juices just run clear when the breast is pricked with a skewer.
- Remove from the camp oven and rest in a warm place for 5 minutes this will help redistribute the juices in the meat.
- Slice the duck into thin slices.Slice shiitake mushrooms and tease apart the enoki. Wash the watercress.
- Place the cress in the centre of the plate and alternately, layer the mushrooms and duck. Garnish with the chilli and enoki mushrooms or some deep-fried vermicelli. Finish with the Illawarra plum sauce and serve with extra sauce to the side.