Blackfellas and Whitefellas: the Concepts of Domain and Social Closure in the Analysis of Race-Relations

In presenting data on social relations between Aborigines and Whites at a north Australian Aboriginal settlement, this paper develops the concepts of domain and social closure as important in the study of power and race-relations. Previous Australian studies in this area have not treated adequately, the substantive nature and theoretical significance of spatial and social separation between Aborigines and Whites. I argue that Aborigines retain some autonomy within a ‘Blackfella domain’, through effecting a form of exclusionary social closure.     

Negritos, Australian aborigines, and the "proto-sundadont" dental pattern: the basic populations in east Asia, V.

Five evolutionarily significant dental traits were identified from a B-square distance analysis of nine crown characters recorded for several populations of East Asia and Oceania. Intergroup variation in these traits distinguishes three major divisions of the Mongoloid dental complex: sundadonty, sinodonty, and the dental pattern of Australian Aborigines. The Australian crown features may be characterized as having high frequencies of evolutionarily conservative characters. Negritos, one of the probable representatives of indigenous inhabitants of Southeast Asia who may have shared a common ancestor with Australians, possess the more derived sundadont dental pattern. As far as the five crown traits treated here are concerned, Australian dental features may be described as conforming to a "proto-sundadont" dental pattern, applying Turner's terminology. This pattern may represent a microevolutionary step prior to the emergence of the sundadont and sinodont patterns.     

Gene flow from the Indian subcontinent to Australia: evidence from the Y chromosome

Phenotypic similarities between Australian Aboriginal People and some tribes of India were noted by T.H. Huxley during the voyage of the Rattlesnake (1846-1850). Anthropometric studies by Birdsell led to his suggestion that a migratory wave into Australia included populations with affinities to tribal Indians. Genetic evidence for an Indian contribution to the Australian gene pool is contradictory; most studies of autosomal markers have not supported this hypothesis (; and references therein). On the other hand, affinities between Australian Aboriginal People and southern Indians were suggested based on maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA. Here, we show additional DNA evidence in support of Huxley's hypothesis of an Indian-Australian connection using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and short tandem repeats (STRs) on the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY). Phylogenetic analyses of STR variation associated with a major Australian SNP lineage indicated tight clustering with southern Indian/Sri Lankan Y chromosomes. Estimates of the divergence time for these Indian and Australian chromosomes overlap with important changes in the archaeological and linguistic records in Australia. These results provide strong evidence for an influx of Y chromosomes from the Indian subcontinent to Australia that may have occurred during the Holocene.     

Longing For Belonging: A Critical Essay on Peter Read's Belonging

In the light of the dispossession and oppression of Aboriginal peoples, a growing number of Australians seriously doubt that non‐indigenous peoples, unlike Aborigines, belong in this country. Peter Read's Belonging: Australians, Place and Aboriginal Ownership (2000) is evidence both of its author's avowal of this position and his very personal quest to find a shared belonging that is both meaningful and legitimate. Employing conceptual devices concerning displacement transported from his former work Returning to Nothing: The Meaning of Lost Places (1996) Read offers in Belonging a formula by which some settler Australians can achieve re‐emplacement within indigenous landscapes. Sceptical about how useful the notion of a shared belonging might be and dubious about the formula for belonging that Read offers, this paper provides both a critical analysis of Belonging's conceptual framework and sketches an alternative model, according to which all Australians might appropriately aspire.     

Further data on the incidence and segregation of genetically determined electrophoretic variants of human red cell NADH diaphorase.

Human red cell NADH diaphorase isozyme patterns have been examined in 3,060 unrelated Australians of European origin, by starch gel electrophoresis. 26 people with variant isozyme patterns were encountered: 12 were phenotype Dia 2-1 and 13 were Dia 4-1. A new variant isozyme pattern (Dia 7-1) was identified. No variants were identified in 100 Melanesians and 70 Australian Aborigines.     

A comparison of the incidence of minor nonmetrical cranial variants in Australian aborigines with those of Melanesia and Polynesia

The incidence of 30 minor non-metrical cranial variants in Australian Aborigines discussed in a previous publication is compared with incidence in crania from Melanesia and Polynesia. With the qualification that the sample sizes from Melanesia and Polynesia are rather small, the data indicate that the differences between Australia and Melanesia and Polynesia exceed those between the three areas into which Australia was divided. The area of Australia made up of the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia has more association with Melanesia than Polynesia as expected, while the more southern regions of Australia have more association with Polynesia than Melanesia perhaps by migrations from Asia. Because the southern Australian Aborigines are now largely extinct, it seems difficult to prove this.     

Genetic studies of human apolipoproteins. XVIII. Apolipoprotein polymorphisms in Australian Aborigines

A tribal aboriginal community, the Mowanjum, from the Kimberley region in Western Australia has been screened to determine the extent of genetic variation in the products of genes coding for apolipoproteins, which are intimately involved in lipid metabolism. Of the seven systems tested, APOE and APOH revealed common structural variations, but their distribution patterns are significantly different from those found in European populations. Australian Aborigines were found to be unique because they have no APOE*2 and APOH*3 alleles and have strikingly high frequencies of the APOE*4 (26%) and APOH*1 (13%) alleles. The contrast in variation observed at these apolipoprotein loci between Australian Aborigines and Europeans not only makes these loci useful genetic markers in biologic anthropology studies but also provides a unique opportunity to investigate the role of genetic-environment interaction in determining interpopulation differences in cardiovascular disease risk factors.     

The roles of coastlines, people and fire in the development of heathlands in northeast Tasmania

Abstract. Pollen analysis of a core taken from a reed marsh in northeastern Tasmania near Bass Strait highlights the interplay between climatic changes, sea level rises and the effects of Aborigines during the Holocene. Prior to 10,000 bp the region formed part of the Bassian landbridge which connected Tasmania to the Australian mainland. Vegetation at that time was characterized by shrubby grasslands with a very sparse tree cover. After 9000 bp, Eucalyptus forests prospered until about 6000 bp. A combination of salt spray from a stabilizing mid-Holocene coast, the progressive effects of soil podsolization and burning by Aborigines, eventually favoured the replacement of grassy Eucalyptus forests by Allocasuarina with an increasingly heathy understorey. The treeless heaths dominated by dwarfed Allocasuarina which presently dominate the area are regarded as part of a degradation sequence in which the above factors are implicated.     

Variation of minor non-metrical cranial variants in Australian Aborigines

1254 Australian Aboriginal crania from various parts of Australia were classified for 30 minor non-metrical variants. Australia was split into various regions, and using statistical methods which give mean overall measures of difference between regions, some regional differences were found. Of the 30 variants used, it was found that 10 of them accounted for about 90% of the variation, and so much of the discussion was restricted to them. The regional differences in cranial morphology appeared, so far as could be assessed, to culminate in two extreme populations: one in the north and the north-west of the continent, and the other in southeastern Australia. The relationship of these findings to the two main theories on the origin and composition of the Aborigines is discussed. The first considers that the Aborigines represent a homogeneous population with no significant regional variation, and the second, that they are a product of hybridization between two or more racial groups. Based on the cranial data given, and other published work, it is considered that, as yet, we have insufficient evidence to favour one of these theories at the expense of the other.     

Rain,prey and predators: climatically driven shifts in frog abundance modify reproductive allometry in a tropical snake

To predict the impacts of climate change on animal populations, we need long-term data sets on the effects of annual climatic variation on the demographic traits (growth, survival, reproductive output) that determine population viability. One frequent complication is that fecundity also depends upon maternal body size, a trait that often spans a wide range within a single population. During an eight-year field study, we measured annual variation in weather conditions, frog abundance and snake reproduction on a floodplain in the Australian wet-dry tropics. Frog numbers varied considerably from year to year, and were highest in years with hotter wetter conditions during the monsoonal season (“wet season”). Mean maternal body sizes, egg sizes and post-partum maternal body conditions of frog-eating snakes (keelback, Tropidonophis mairii, Colubridae) showed no significant annual variation over this period, but mean clutch sizes were higher in years with higher prey abundance. Larger females were more sensitive to frog abundance in this respect than were smaller conspecifics, so that the rate at which fecundity increased with body size varied among years, and was highest when prey availability was greatest. Thus, the link between female body size and reproductive output varied among years, with climatic factors modifying the relative reproductive rates of larger (older) versus smaller (younger) animals within the keelback population.     

The Watinglo mandible: A second terminal Pleistocene Homo sapiens fossil from tropical Sahul with a test on existing models for the human settlement of the region

This paper analyses a fossil human mandible, dated to circa 10 ka, from Watinglo rockshelter on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. The fossil is metrically and morphologically similar to male mandibles of recent Melanesians and Australian Aborigines. It is distinguished from Kow Swamp and Coobool Creek male mandibles (Murray Valley, terminal Pleistocene) by being smaller and having different shape characteristics, as well as smaller teeth and a slower rate of tooth wear. It pairs with the Liang Lemdubu female (Late Glacial Maximum, Aru Islands) in suggesting that the morphology of the terminal Pleistocene inhabitants of tropical Sahul was gracile compared to their contemporaries within the southern Murray drainage. An explanatory scenario for this morphological contrast is developed in the context of the Homo sapiens early fossil record, Australasian mtDNA evidence, terminal Pleistocene climatic variation, and the possibility of multiple entry points into Sahul.     

Drought and Distress in Southeastern Australia

Droughts may increase the risk of mental health problems, but evidence suggests a complex story with some groups being vulnerable while others are not. Previous studies from Australia have found associations with suicide, depression and distress that vary by age, gender and remoteness. Understanding the effects of drought on mental health is important because drought is predicted to be more intense in some areas in the future. We investigated the associations between drought and distress in a survey of rural Australians by age, gender and farming status. We collected distress data using a survey of 5312 people from across the state of Victoria, Australia, in 2015. Respondents completed the Kessler 10 (K10) Psychological Distress Index, and demographic and general health data were collected. We linked a climatic drought index to the locality of residence of respondents. Associations between distress and drought were analyzed using multivariable regression models with interactions by age, gender and farming occupation. Parts of Victoria were in drought in 2015. Drought duration was associated with higher distress in younger rural women (aged 40–54: odds ratio 1.18 per inter-quartile range increase in drought duration) but not older rural women or men. This pattern did not vary between farmers and non-farmers. Drought was associated with increased distress, but this differed between subgroups. Our results suggest that supporting younger women may be particularly important, and understanding ways older Australian rural women cope may enable us to build adaptive capacity and resilience.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Religious Consciousness. By G. S. Ghuyre The World of the First Australians. By R. M. and C. H. Berndt Elkin, A. P. (1964): The Australian Aborigines and How to Understand Them. Angus & Robertson The Basis of Human Evolution. By Bertram S. Kraus. Harper and Row The Jaguar's Children: Pre-Classic Central Mexico. By Michael D. Coe Masterpieces in the Museum of Primitive Art. Published by the Museum of Primitive Art The Paths of Culture: A General Ethnology. By Kay Birket-Smith Senufo Sculpture from West Africa. By Robert Goldwater The John and Dominique de Memil Collection. The Art Forms of Polynesia. By Archey Gilbert Profiles in Ethnology: A Revision of a Profile of Primitive Culture. By Elman R. Service     

Environmental relationships of floristic variation in the alpine vegetation of southeast Australia

Abstract. Australian alpine vegetation is confined to the southeast of the continent and the island of Tasmania. It exhibits strong geographic patterns of floristic variation. These patterns have been attributed to variation in edaphic conditions resulting from geographic variation in substrate, climate and glacial history. This edaphic hypothesis is tested using floristic and environmental data from 166 quadrats distributed throughout the floristic and geographic range of Australian alpine vegetation. Environmental vector fitting in three-dimensional ordination space, the number of significant environmental differences between all pairs of 17 floristic groups and overall statistical analyses of the environmental differences between communities suggest a primacy of climatic variables over edaphic variables in explaining the broad patterns of floristic variation. Continentality, summer warmth, summer rainfall and winter cold all provide a better statistical explanation of floristic variation than the most explanatory of the edaphic variables, extractable P. The environmental variables that best discriminate the groups at each dichotomy of the divisive classification of the floristic data are largely climatic at the upper two levels, with edaphic, topographic and biotic variables being generally more important than climatic variables at the lower levels. Many of the edaphic variables that were most important in discriminating dichotomous groups were relatively insignificant in the broader analyses, suggesting that it is important to partition large data sets for environment/floristic analyses. The results of such partitioning show that the environmental factors most important in influencing floristic variation in alpine vegetation in Australia vary by location and geographic scale.     

'Owner' and 'Managers': Ritual Cooperation and Mutual Dependence in the Maintenance of Rights to Land

Introductory comments concern the duality of some Australian Aboriginal social organi-zations, particularly with respect to ritual action and the enunciation of rights to land. Ethnographic data are presented from the north of Western Australia. Aborigines in this region own land which they inherit and members of a patri-moiety realize their rights in land through subsequent ritual performances. However, members of their opposed patrimoiety who are also land owners play an indispensible role in any ritual action, so that members of both moieties are dependent upon one anothelr in the exercise of rights to land. Further data are provided which show the complex ritual and social relationship between four landowners in the region. It is concluded that the four men are mutually dependent in matters relating to their land. Consequently, Aborigines in the region stress the joint ownership and sharing of land, rather than their independence.     

Book Reviews*

Book Reviewed in this article Outline of a Theory of Practice. Pierre Bourdieu. Richard Nice Evolution and Ecology: Essays on Social Transformation. Edited by Julian H. Steward, Jane C. Steward and Robert F. Murphy Urban Anthropology: The Cross-Cultural Study of Complex Societies. Richard Basham The Economic Status of Australian Aborigines. Jon C. Altman and John Nieuwenhuysen ‘Whitefella Business’: Aborigines in Australian Politics. Edited by Michael C. Howard Aborigines and Change: Australia in the Seventies. Edited by R. M. Berndt Kulinma: Listening to Aboriginal Australians. H. C. Coombs Taim Bilong Mani: The Evolution of Agriculture in a Solomon Island Society. John Connell Agricultural Project Design and Evaluation in an Island Community. Alan Bollard. Zum Beispiel Samoa. Götz Mackensen Peasants and Politics: Grass Roots Reaction to Change in Asia. Edited by D. B. Miller. Edward Arnold Sherpas Through Their Ritual. Sherry B Code and Custom in a Thai Provincial Court. David M. Engel Thailand: A Rice-Growing Society. Edited by Yoneo Ishii Migrants of the Mountains: The Cultural Ecology of the Blue Miao (Hmong Njua) of Thailand. William Robert Geddes Farmers in the Forest: Economic Development and Marginal Agriculture in Northern Thailand. Edited by Peter Kunstadter, E. C. Chapman and Sanga Sabhasri Early Palaeolithic in South and East Asia. Edited by Fumiko Ikawa-Smith Advances In Andean Archaeology. Edited by David L. Browman Simulation Studies in Archaeology. Edited by Ian Hodder Evolutionary Models and Studies in Human Diversity. Edited by Robert J. Meier Aboriginal Sign Languages of the Americas and Australia Principles of Visual Anthropology. Edited by Paul Hockings Tiv Song. Charles Keil Coyoteway. A Navajo Holyway Healing Ceremonial. Karl W. Luckert Spider Woman Stories: Legends of the Hopi Indians. Selected and Interpreted by G. M. Mullett Folklore in the Modern World. Edited by Richard Dorson     

Myth and Ontology in Aboriginal Australian Society

Time Before Morning: Art and Myth of the Australian Aborigines . Louis A. Allen .
Australian Aboriginal Mythology . L. R. Hiatt , ed.
The Australian Aborigines: A Portrait of Their Society . Kenneth Maddock .     

Australian Snakes Do Not Follow Bergmann’s Rule

Bergmann’s Rule (i.e., the tendency of body size to increase with decreasing environmental temperature) was originally explained by a mechanism that is unique to endotherms. Nevertheless, geographic variation of body size of ectotherms, including snakes, is increasingly studied, and some claim that the rule should apply to ectotherms, or to thermoregulating ectotherms. Such studies usually focus on assemblages or on species in a region, but mostly ignore species’ ecological and biological traits when seeking biogeographic patterns. We examined the relationship between environmental temperatures and body size of 146 Australian snake species. We examined this relationship while considering the effects of ecological traits (activity time and habitat use), climatic variables which are thought to influence snake body size, and shared ancestry. Our finding suggest that Bergmann’s Rule is not a valid generalization across species of Australian snakes. Furthermore, ecological traits greatly influence the relationship between snake body size and environmental temperature. Body size of fossorial species decreases with environmental temperature, whereas body size of nocturnal, surface active species increases. Body size of diurnal, surface active species is not related to environmental temperature. Our results indicate that lumping all species in a clade together is misleading, and that ecological traits profoundly affect the geographic variation of snake body size. Though environmental temperature generally does not exert a strong selective force on snake body size, this relationship differs for taxa exhibiting different ecological traits.     

High pattern intensity indices and ridge counts from the Milne bay district of Papua-New Guinea and their bearing on the origin of the Australian Aborigines

A population sample from the Milne Bay district of Papua-New Guinea was found to have extremely high pattern intensity indices and total ridge-counts. These fell into the range of certain Australian Aboriginal tribes, and so argue for a possible connection between this region of Melanesia and the Australian Aborigines, although equally strong connections with other regions of Melanesia are known.     

QTL mapping reveals a striking coincidence in the positions of genomic regions associated with adaptive variation in body size in parallel clines of Drosophila melanogaster on different continents

Latitudinal genetic clines in body size are common in many ectotherm species and are attributed to climatic adaptation. Here, we use Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping to identify genomic regions associated with adaptive variation in body size in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster from extreme ends of a cline in South America. Our results show that there is a significant association between the positions of QTL with strong effects on wing area in South America and those previously reported in a QTL mapping study of Australian cline end populations (P < 0.05). In both continents, the right arm of the third chromosome is associated with QTL with the strongest effect on wing area. We also show that QTL peaks for wing area and thorax length are associated with the same genomic regions, indicating that the clinal variation in the body size traits may have a similar genetic basis. The consistency of the results found for the South American and Australian cline end populations indicate that the genetic basis of the two clines may be similar and future efforts to identify the genes producing the response to selection should be focused on the genomic regions highlighted by the present work.