137:, on the backs of which were designs deeply incised, more or less geometric in form. Sometimes with a stick, or with his finger, he would point to each well or rock hole in turn and recite its name, waiting for me to repeat it after him. Each time, the group of old men listened intently and grunted in approval – "Eh!" – or repeated the name again and listened once more. This process continued with the name of each water until they were satisfied with my pronunciation, when they would pass on to the next. I realized that here was the most important discovery of
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On the diggings, a hue and cry was raised over this alleged murderous attack and a party was quickly organised to set out and teach the
Blackfellows a lesson – for daring to protect their water. Mustering what guns they could, the punitive party went out to what later became known as Skull Creek, and
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Without delay Long, with the aid of a shovel, proved the existence of a soak of sweet water, from which he replenished his supplies...Only a few days later in the same place, another prospector had the same
Blackfellow bailed up, threatening to shoot him unless he revealed a source of water. This was
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For a white man the difficulty in this country is that there is no way in which he can find the wells and soaks unless he does so by chance, and certainly nothing to indicate that the well is there, nor as a rule, even when the terrain and at least its superficial geological formation, the lie of the
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In the 1930s, when H. H. Finlayson made his journeys through the desert by camel, he noted that a gelded male camel, after a hard three-and-a-half-day journey in intense heat without water, drank 150 litres (33 imperial gallons) by actual measure without stopping, and fifteen minutes later, another
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The man took the throwing stick he was carrying and worked it into the sand. He then broke off a hollow reed and, placing it in the hole he had thus developed, lay down on his stomach and appeared to suck up something through the reed. His companion repeated his movements before they quietly moved
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recorded that they had run down
Aboriginal residents with camels and captured and chained them to compel them to reveal their secret sources of water. This action left a lasting impression on Aboriginal residents of desert regions, who would have handed accounts of this down through successive
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A lifetime of experience, backed by the traditional knowledge that is handed down from generation to generation, enables these people to judge, without having to visit a well that they know, whether it will still contain water and whether, if dry, with the sides fallen in and the well full of
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Just before we left, the old men recited to me the names of more than fifty waters – wells, rockholes and claypans ... this, in an area that the early explorers believed to be almost waterless, and where all but a few were, in 1957, still unknown to the white man. And on the eve of our going,
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This sheds light on the resentment built up among the
Aboriginal population against explorers for the exploitation and, by enlarging well entrances and digging out springs, the devastation of their precious water supplies to satisfy camel teams.
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Wells were covered to keep them free from fouling by animals. This involved blocking the well with dead branches and uprooted trees. When the wells fell into disrepair, people would bail the well, using the coolamon to throw
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certainly not an untypical bush encounter. However, interrupted by yet another prospector riding a camel. The
Blackfellow took advantage of the confusion and threw a spear into the bush and escaped.
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rush, the
Blackfellows tried to keep their meager water supplies hidden from the knowledge of white prospectors since their horses and camels quickly exhausted the limited soaks.
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McLeod relates a story told to him by an old prospector by the name of Long, observing an
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in the desert, being the most dependable source in times of
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Soakages were traditionally important sources of water for
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283:, vol. 128, part 1 (March 1962), pp. 1–14, –157, 262-278.
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810:Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council
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419:People from politics and public service
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270:, Nelson Publishing, Melbourne, 1975.
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34:, or soak, is a source of water in
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185:During the time of the
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49:Aboriginal water source
1302:Geography of Australia
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892:Fire-stick farming
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424:Performing artists
217:Bindibu Expedition
36:Australian deserts
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492:Enumeration
401:Individuals
366:Communities
232:Groundwater
133:) produced
131:Tjapanangka
74:native well
1296:Categories
1099:Prehistory
1022:Visual art
975:Didgeridoo
887:Fibrecraft
862:Bush bread
728:Mass media
655:Placenames
532:Marn Grook
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386:Victorians
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248:References
175:Don McLeod
45:or creek.
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1121:Black War
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457:Astronomy
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242:Soak dike
237:Waterhole
156:Warburton
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877:Coolamon
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211:See also
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160:Carnegie
66:coolamon
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567:Seasons
517:Kinship
482:Deities
472:Country
449:Culture
439:Writers
353:Peoples
227:Claypan
179:Pilbara
83:wrote:
70:woomera
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198:on...
111:cement
1322:Water
1274:Voice
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1198:Crime
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970:Dance
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917:Soaks
902:Humpy
693:ATSIC
107:slush
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995:Rock
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857:Buka
777:TSRA
562:Riji
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158:and
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68:or
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30:A
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