Man, Past and Present

by A. H. Keane

Physical Type.

Baldwin Spencer says "In the matter of personal appearance while conforming generally to what is known as the Australian type, there is considerable variation. The man varies from, approximately, a maximum of 6 ft. 3 in. to a minimum of 5 ft. 2 in.... As a general rule, few of them are taller than 5 ft. 8 in. The women vary between 5 ft. 9 in. and 4 ft. 9 in. Their average height is not more than 5 ft. 2 in. The brow ridges are strongly marked, especially in the man, and the forehead slopes back. The nose is broad with the root deep set. In colour the native is dark chocolate brown, not black. The hair ... may be almost straight, decidedly wavy—its usual feature—or almost, but never really, frizzly.... The beard also may be well developed or almost absent[966]." The skull is dolichocephalic with an average cranial index of 72, prognathous and platyrrhine.

Australian Origins.

There has been much speculation with regard to the origin of the present Australian race. According to Baldwin Spencer "There can be no doubt but that in past times the whole of the continent, including Tasmania, was occupied by one race. This original, and probably Negritto[967] population, at an early period; was widely spread over Malayasia and Australia including Tasmania, which at that time was not shut off by Bass Strait. The Tasmanians had no boats capable of crossing the latter and [it is assumed that their ancestors] must have gone over on land[968]."

Subsequently when the land sank a remnant of the old ulotrichous population "was thus left stranded in Tasmania, where Homo tasmanianus survived until he came in contact with Europeans and was exterminated." He had frizzly hair. "His weapons and implements were of the most primitive kind; long pointed unbarbed spears, no spear thrower, no boomerang, simple throwing stick and only the crudest form of chipped stone axes, knives and scrapers that were never hafted. Unfortunately of his organisation, customs, and beliefs we know but little in detail[969]."

It is now generally held that at a later date an immigration of a people in a somewhat higher stage of culture took place; these are regarded by some as belonging to the Dravidian, and by others, and with more probability, to the Pre-Dravidian race. J. Mathew[970] suggests that "the two races are represented by the two primary classes, or phratries, of Australian society, which were generally designated by names indicating a contrast of colour, such as eaglehawk and crow. The crow, black cockatoo, etc., would represent the Tasmanian element; the eaglehawk, white cockatoo, etc., the so-called Dravidian." Baldwin Spencer does not think that the moiety names lend any serious support to the theory of the mixture of two races differing in colour. He goes on to say "Mr Mathew also postulates a comparatively recent slight infusion of Malay blood in the northern half of Australia. There is, however, practically no evidence of Malay infusion. One of the most striking features of the Malay is his long, lank hair, and yet it is just in these north parts that the most frizzly hair is met with[971]."

Evidence from Language and Culture.

As concerns linguistics S. H. Ray says "There is no evidence of an African, Andaman, Papuan, or Malay connection with the Australian languages. There are reasons for regarding the Australian as in a similar morphological stage to the Dravidian, but there is no genealogical relationship proved[972]." No connection has yet been proved between the Australian languages and the Austronesian or Oceanic branch of the Austric family of languages, first systematically described by W. Schmidt[973]. The study of Australian languages is particularly difficult owing to the very few serviceable grammars and dictionaries, and the large number of very incomplete vocabularies scattered about in inaccessible works and journals. The main conclusion to which Schmidt has arrived[974] is that the Australian languages are not, as had been supposed, a mainly uniform group. Though over the greater part of Australia languages possess strong common elements, North Australia has languages showing no similarities in vocabulary and very few in grammar with that larger group or with each other. The area of the North Australian languages is included in a line from south of Roebuck Bay in the west to Cape Flattery in the east, with a southward bend to include Arunta (Aranda), interrupted by a branch of southern languages running up north down Flinders and Leichhardt rivers[975]. The area contains two or three linguistic groups, best distinguished by their terminations which consist respectively of vowels and consonants, the oldest group; vowels alone, the latest group; and vowels and liquids, probably representing a transition between the two.

In South Australia, though differences occur, the languages possess common features both in grammar and vocabulary, having similar personal pronouns, and certain words for parts of the body in common. Linguistic differences are associated with differences in social grouping, the area of purely vowel endings coinciding with the area of the 2-class system and matrilinear descent, while the area of liquid endings is partly coterminous with the 4-class system and (often) patrilinear succession.

Four successive Immigrations.