Woomera (spear-thrower)

Information about Woomera (spear-thrower)

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The woomera in this picture is the wooden object at left
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Mokare with spear and woomera, another woomera lies at his feet.
A woomera is an Australian Aboriginal spear-throwing device. It has been described as "the most efficient spear-throwing device ever"[1]. Similar to an atlatl, it enables a spear to travel much further than arm strength alone. It is still used today in some remote areas of Australia. The name woomera comes from the Eora people who were the original inhabitants of the Sydney area. It has a similar function to the atlatl but uses different construction methods and materials.

As with spears and boomerangs, woomera were traditionally only used by men. Some woomeras, especially those used in the Central and Western Australian deserts, were multi-purpose tools. They were often shaped like long narrow bowls and could be used for carrying water-soaked vegetable matter (which could later be sucked for its moisture, but wouldn't spill) as well as small food items such as little lizards or seeds. Many woomeras had a sharp stone cutting edge attached to the end of the handle with black gum from the spinifex plant. This sharp tool had many uses – and was commonly used for cutting up game or other food, cutting wood, and so on. The woomera could be used as a shield for protection against spears and boomerangs. Some boomerangs were deliberately made with a hook at one end designed to catch onto the edge of a woomera or shield, which then caused the boomerang to swivel around and hit the enemy.

The woomera was traditionally decorated with incised or painted designs which gave a good indication of the owner's tribal or clan group.

In the Arrernte language the device is called a Amirre.

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Capital Canberra

Largest city Sydney
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Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. The term includes both the Torres Strait Islanders and the Aboriginal People, who together make up about 2.5% of Australia's population.
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SPEAR (Stanford Positron Electron Asymmetric Ring) is a collider at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. It began running in 1972, colliding electrons and positrons with an energy of 3 GeV.
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An atlatl (from Nahuatl atlatl [ˈ'aʔtɬatɬ]; in English pronounced [ˈɑːtˌlɑːtɫ̩][1]
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Iora or Iyora) simply means "here" or "from this place". Local people used this word to describe where they came from to the British. "Eora" was then used by the British to refer to those Aboriginal people.
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Sydney
New South Wales

Location of Sydney within Australia

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345.
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An atlatl (from Nahuatl atlatl [ˈ'aʔtɬatɬ]; in English pronounced [ˈɑːtˌlɑːtɫ̩][1]
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boomerang is a simple wooden implement used for various purposes. It is primarily associated with Australian Aborigines, but other forms are found amongst peoples of North East Africa, Arizona and southern California Native Americans and in India.
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Anthem
Advance Australia Fair [1]


Capital Canberra

Largest city Sydney
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desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation. Deserts are defined as areas that receive an average annual precipitation of less than 250 mm (10 in). In the Köppen climate classification system, deserts are classed as (BW).
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Spinifex may refer to:
  • Spinifex, a genus of grass that grows in coastal areas of Australia
  • Spinifex, Triodia, a hummock grass of arid Australia, covering twenty per cent of the Australian continent. Although not technically Spinifex, it is commonly referred to as such.

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SPEAR (Stanford Positron Electron Asymmetric Ring) is a collider at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. It began running in 1972, colliding electrons and positrons with an energy of 3 GeV.
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boomerang is a simple wooden implement used for various purposes. It is primarily associated with Australian Aborigines, but other forms are found amongst peoples of North East Africa, Arizona and southern California Native Americans and in India.
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Arrernte (or Aranda) is a language or group of closely related languages spoken in and around Alice Springs (Mparntwe in Arrernte) in the Northern Territory, Australia.
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Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B-P, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement.
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Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. The term includes both the Torres Strait Islanders and the Aboriginal People, who together make up about 2.5% of Australia's population.
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Lists of Indigenous Australians by occupation and historic contribution.

Various indigenous Australian cultures consider the reference of deceased persons - whether in name or in image - to be taboo.
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List of Indigenous Australian group names contains names and collective designations which have been applied, either formerly or in the past, to groups of Indigenous Australians.
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Torres Strait Islanders are the indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, part of Queensland, Australia. They are Melanesians culturally akin to the coastal peoples of Papua New Guinea.
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Numerous Indigenous Australians have been notable for their contributions to politics, including participation in governments and activism in Australia. Others are noted for their public service, generally and in specific areas like law and education.
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Numerous Indigenous Australians and noted sportspeople.

Athletics (track and field)

  • Cathy Freeman
  • Nova Peris-Kneebone
  • Patrick Johnson

Australian rules football

  • Barry Cable
  • Graham "Polly" Farmer
  • Jeff Farmer
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Numerous Indigenous Australians are noted for their participation in, and contributions to, the visual arts in Australia and abroad.
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  • Ian Abdulla
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Comedy

  • Mark Bin Bakar -- actor & comedian

Dance

  • Stephen Page
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Film, television and theatre

  • Kylie Belling -- actor
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Numerous Indigenous Australians are notable for their contributions to Australian literature and journalism.

Literature

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This is a list of Indigenous Australian musicians.

Solo artists

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Aboriginal Australia contains a large number of tribal divisions and language groups, and, corresponding to this, a wide variety of diversity exists within cultural practices. There are some similarities between cultures however.
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Dreaming may refer to:
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The Dreaming or Altjeringa (also called the Dreamtime), a sacred 'once upon a time' [1] time out of time in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.
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Indigenous Australians can be classified into about 400 separate language groups, each of which has a distinct culture. For this reason it is incorrect to classify any attribute as universal to them as a whole.
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Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Aboriginal culture. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Australia.
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