1971 School Magazine

The silk in the cocoon has been produced by the silkworm moving its head in a figure of eight motion three hundred tfrousand times and has spun a thread of unbroken length for over one and a half miles. Silk is the finest material in the world still, althoueh not the most expensive. Many synthetic threadi have been developed and many natural fibres experimented with but none can match the fineness and beauty of silk. The worm which produces the fibre is constantly being developed and the mulberry itself is also being improved so that silk will remain the best fibre in the world.

The thread produced to anchor the silkworm, the floss is coarsei than the inside matterial. The first laver of the cocoon is heavily covered with natural eim and sticks closely together. This is natural as at ihe beginning the silksacs would be overflowingwilh substaice t'ittite near the end they would be practically emptY. During the processing of the silk,.the raw silk is dipped ii soapy water just under boiling point- This ,..,ioutt the natural gum which constitutes a lot of the weight of the sitt<. At this stage- the silk will readily ibsorb other substances to make up for the loss of the gum, much commercial silk is dipped in a tin mixturelo make up the lost weight also this is the stage where the silk is white and has the glossy sheen silk. The early days of Australian history were full of exciting oi.utt.n..s, but the most interesting, I believe] were . . . the contacts between the aborigines and the white men. Here I shall describe a variety of aspects concerning the relationship between these two races from 1788 until 1850- As the fleet neared the Australian coast in 1788, they observed a group of natives on the shore who were howling and threatening the colonists with sticks and siones, Their way of life seemed most peculiar to the white men. They lived in miserable mia-mias made of bark, and no more that three feet high and these were situated near to water. All the na'iiues were naked and each man had a piece of eight inch stick run through his nostrils, and his upper front tooth missing, as a result of initiation. They ate lizards, grubs, ants, turtle eggs, plant roots, grass seeds and repliles. :When water *as scarce, they collected dew, obtained water from tree roots or dug frogs from the ground and squeezed out the water which was stored inside them. They were organized into different tribes, each with different dialects, customs and patterns of living depending on their environments. All, however, were s.mi-nom-.di. hunters who wandered across the land for food and carrying with them all of their possessions. On walkabouts, the females each wore a net or basket around her shoulders weighing up to seventy pounds and containing stone tomahawks, nets, bonis, crystals and water vessels. These formed a hump behind each woman's back on which her child iested. On the whole, the tribes, usually consisting of one hundred and fifty to two hundred natives, kept to themselves, but they could meet for trading purposes or on ceremonial occasions. Smaller hordes, headed by elders, at times moved to areas where food was more plentiful, but they never broke away from their tribe completely, and always returned for religious ceremonies.

Christine Armstrong

The Sir Samuel Griffith History Essay Competition l,lr. o4ln,igines anJ ilr. '-ltUlit. J/1., 17ss-t B5o

The aborigines considered themselves a part of nature, and niture and the universe were thought to be inter-related and all functioning in unison' From childhood, the women trained the children to observe habits of animals, to recognize places where edible srubs. roots and berries would be found, and how to tind direction from the stars. Men taught the boys tto* to make and use a variety of weapons, and after initiution, they were told by the elde-rs about the laws, legends and sacred places of the tribe' With the arrival of the Europeans, the way of life of the aborigine was upset. They were alarmed by the ,tru.rg. langfrage and c^ustoms, and the ways in which ih.rt"*ttitt"*Jn took over their lands and hunted and shot their companions. The European-s s99n became dlsgusted with ihe filth, flies and stench which always sur?ounded the aborigines, yet-they. admired the naUves; still and ingeiruity in obtaining food' Men ,n""t.d fish from thJrocks with their woomeras with s'reat accuracv. whiie the women did line fishing from Euno.r. Also'the English admired the way in which nrt. una fishing hnJs were woven out of bark and how their fish 6ooks were ground out of shells with rough stones. As well, the aborigines use.d stone axes to riake notches in trees to climb quickly to the top oi io enturge holes to catch squirrels, opossums and kangaroo .its. Too, the whites observed with interest ihe "aborigines' effitient system of smoke .signals and the way t[ey constructed their temporary homes' In the late 18th century, it was fashionable to think of natives as noble people, unharmed by civilization. They were so frequently romanticized in this way that an aborigine n-ame-d Bennelong,- who had been captured so that his language could be learnt, was sent to England. There he was exhibited as an example of uncoirupted^ huma^nity- Ho.wever he could noi be an example of this, for the aborigines' prevlously peaceful attitude changed considerably ifter the firs1 contact with white men.

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