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The Australian Aboriginal counting system was used together with
message stick A message stick is a graphic communication device traditionally used by Aboriginal Australians. The objects were carried by messengers over long distances and were used for reinforcing a verbal message. Although styles vary, they are generally ...
s sent to neighbouring clans to alert them of, or invite them to,
corroboree A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration, or of a warlike character. A word coined by the first British settlers in the Sydney area from a word in the ...
s, set-fights, and
ball games This is a list of ball games and ball sports that include a ball as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points. Ball games Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, including: *Bat-an ...
. Numbers could clarify the day the meeting was to be held (in a number of "moons") and where (the number of camps' distance away). The messenger would have a message "in his mouth" to go along with the message stick. A common misconception among non-Aboriginals is that Aboriginals did not have a way to count beyond two or three. However, Alfred Howitt, who studied the peoples of southeastern Australia, disproved this in the late nineteenth century, although the myth continues in circulation today. The system in the table below is that used by the
Wotjobaluk The Wotjobaluk are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. They are closely related to the Wergaia people. Language R. H. Mathews supplied a brief analysis of the Wotjobaluk language (now known as Wergaia), describing what he ...
of the Wimmera (Howitt used this tribal name for the language called
Wergaia The Wergaia or Werrigia people are an Aboriginal Australian group in the Mallee and Wimmera regions of north-Western Victoria, made up of a number of clans. The people were also known as the Maligundidj (in the Wotjobaluk language) which mea ...
in the AIATSIS language map). Howitt wrote that it was common among nearly all peoples he encountered in the southeast: "Its occurrence in these tribes suggests that it must have been general over a considerable part of Victoria". As can be seen in the following tables, names for numbers were based on body parts, which were counted starting from the little finger. In his manuscripts, Howitt suggests counting commenced on the left hand.


Wotjobaluk counting system

:: A similar system but with one more place was described by Howitt for the
Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm ( Melbo ...
, speakers of the
Woiwurrung The Woiwurrung, also spelt Woi Wurrung, Woiwurrong, Woiworung, Wuywurung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin alliance. The Woiwurrung people's territory in Central Victoria extended from north o ...
language, in information given to Howitt by the elder
William Barak William Barak, named Beruk by his parents, (1823 – 15 August 1903), the "last chief of the Yarra Yarra tribe", was the last traditional ngurungaeta (elder) of the Wurundjeri-willam clan, the pre-colonial inhabitants of present-day Melbourne, ...
. He makes it clear that once counting has reached "the top of the head. From this place the count follows the equivalents on the other side."


Other languages


See also

*
Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm ( Melbo ...
* Alfred Howitt


References


Bibliography

*Howitt, A.W. 1904. The native tribes of south-east Australia. London: McMillan and Co. Reprinted. 1996. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. pp696-699 describe the system in Wotjobaluk, while p700-703 describe the Wurundjeri system. {{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Aboriginal Enumeration Australian Aboriginal words and phrases Numerals