b'Dec 2022 Trackwatch.qxp_Trackwatch Layout 17/12/20229:50 pmPage 7 Club SpotlightLearning About AboriginalCulture As You TravelKimberley paintings.Prior to European settlement in most developed areas for cities and reliable food source and an abundanceAustralia, there were an estimated agriculture now. With abundant food of highly sought-after trade items. The750,000 Aboriginal inhabitants in sources, very sophisticated non reliability of food allowed the buildingpossibly as many as 400 nations. The nomadic societies developed in those of stone based houses in small familyculture of the Aboriginal and Torres areas. An excellent example of the settlements. The people who lived inStrait Islanders is the oldest on earth, complexity of the societies is the the arid lands, developed hunterthe current research suggests well over Gunditjmara people and the Budj Bim gatherer techniques and trading routes65,000 years. Most of the pre settle- landscape in southwestern Victoria. that enabled survival in the veryment population was in the temperate Complex aquaculture systems ensured challenging environment. I would highlyregions of the continent that are the that the Gunditjmara had a constant recommend that travellers have a copyof the Aboriginal Australia map.Produced by the Australian Institute ofAboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderStudies, the map shows the majorlanguage or tribal group areas. As four-wheel drive travellers thereare many ways we can learn aboutand even experience traditionalAboriginal culture. Remember that allthe land we travel through was or still isAboriginal land. Much of the land isunder native title. If you travelextensively in outback Australia, youwould be used to applying for permitsto transit Aboriginal land. Land inAustralia falls into several ownershipcategories; freehold, pastoral leases,crown leases, public land, native titleSampling bush tucker on cultural tour day trip from Batton Hill at the and land in Aboriginal trust.northern end of the Hay River Track. Approximately 40% of Australia isTRACKWATCHDECEMBER 2022 5'