Where Land and Water Meet: A Cultural Exploration of Australian Aboriginal Livelihood in Response to Environmental Changes

Name of Author : Li Chen

Abstract: This study aims to explore the Aboriginal Australian livelihoods in agriculture and aquaculture in relation to traditional cosmologies. In recent decades, the effects of environmental changes, particularly devastating droughts, bushfires, floods, and the industrialisation have accelerated the loss of wild habitats in Australia. Meanwhile, the impending food shortage caused by the salinization of agricultural lands and the extinction of ocean species is forcing the country to become heavily dependent on imports. At the same time, other countries have constrained exports of farming products to meet their domestic food supply in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an environmental context, this study investigates the Australian Aboriginal contributions to crop cultivation, abalone fishing and pearling both before and since European settlement. Based on the previous studies of Australian wetland cultures, market vegetable gardening and aquaculture in Western Australia, this paper applies the approaches of textual analysis, archival analysis, and discourse analysis to understanding indigenous views and practices of ecology. The paper echoes the eco-cultural view of human relations with nature by rethinking the wisdom of Aboriginal Australian livelihood in response to the challenges of environmental change and degradation. The title „where land and water meet? origins from Rod Giblett?s book Postmodern wetlands: Culture, history, ecology. His understanding of Aboriginal ecological philosophy underpins my study of the potential contributions of traditional natural cultures to the resolutions of globalised environmental issues

Keywords : Australian Aboriginal, Livelihood, Indigenous Cosmology, Agriculture, Aquaculture

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