The usage of Bark in Aboriginal lives
by Vanessa Yang
1. Shelter Building
1.1. The design and technology of shelters differed according to differing seasons and climates. Ceremonial function and family grouping size also effect the diversity of Australian shelters.
1.2. Aboriginal housing mostly consisted of simple shelters made from a framework of straight branches, then covered with leafy branches or sheets of bark.
1.3. One type of simple bark shelter consisted of bending or folding a length of bark and burying the ends into the ground to fix them.
1.4. See more at: http://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/housing.shtml
2. Bark Painting
2.1. Bark Painting is a very important way to communicate in Aboriginal culture and everyday life. It used for the purpose as books in nowadays.
2.2. The earliest record of bark painting was during 1800 to 1804 where a French artist saw and recorded the craft etched on a bark standing over a grave.
2.3. The material of choice is the bark from Stringybark (Eucalyptus tetradonta). The bark must be free of knots and other blemishes. It is best cut from the tree in the wet season when the sap is rising. Two horizontal slices and a single vertical slice are made into the tree, and the bark is carefully peeled off with the aid of a sharpened tool. Only the inner smooth bark is kept and placed in a fire. After heating in the fire, the bark is flattened under foot and weighted with stones or logs to dry flat. Once dry, it is ready to paint upon. (Wikipedia)
2.4. See more at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark_painting
3. Watercraft and Canoes
3.1. Bark canoes were made by Aboriginal people for travelling, fishing and collecting eggs.
3.2. Only swamp she-oak ('Casuarina glauca'), bangalay ('Eucalyptus botryoides') or stringybark ('Eucalyptus agglomerata' and 'Eucalyptus acmeniodes' were used to make canoes, because they have large dominant trunks and thick fibrous bark. The tree species are common throughout Australia.
3.3. This type of canoe was constructed from a single piece of bark that was removed from a tree trunk using ground-edged hatchets and wooden mallets. The bark was softened with fire and folded and tied at both ends with plant-fibre string.
3.4. See more at: http://australianmuseum.net.au/indigenous-bark-canoe-from-new-south-wales#sthash.HcdkYT1q.buXEl7vu.dpuf
4. Food Preparation
4.1. Ground Oven
4.1.1. The Aboriginal people would make ground ovens by digging a hole in the ground. Paperbark or palm tree leaves would then be put down to line the heated pit. Meat and vegetables were laid in the hollow with dirt and leaves on top.
4.2. Pounding
4.2.1. The roots in plants were pounded to get rid of the awful taste that they had. The Aboriginals would pound the roots with a stone or a strong bark. The bad taste was reduced when the root was pounded.