earth science

Indigenous Australian seasons

Indigenous Australian seasons is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Indigenous Australian seasons rather than just read about it. In short: Indigenous Australian seasons are classified differently from the traditional four-season calendar used by most western European peoples. Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people have distinct ways of dividing the year up.

Key takeaways

Indigenous Australian seasons belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Indigenous Australian seasons to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Indigenous Australian seasons from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Indigenous Australian seasons are classified differently from the traditional four-season calendar used by most western European peoples. Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people have distinct ways of dividing the year up. Naming and understanding of seasons differs among groups of Aboriginal peoples, and depends on where in Australia the group lives. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO have both worked with various groups to produce information about a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander seasonal calendars.

Background Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples observe the position of the stars in the sky and follow water, plant and animal cycles as ways of identifying seasonal phenomena. The seasonal calendars of different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural groups demonstrate an understanding of the interdependence and interrelationships amongst living things. They use their calendars to predict seasonal changes and weather patterns to determine the availability of particular resources or the timing of journeys. The calendars vary according to geographic location, ecological context and cultural interpretation. Specific biotic events, often referred to as bio-indicators, can occur locally or over great distances, enabling accurate predictions of seasonal changes. For instance, the appearance of particular insect species may be an indication that the wet season is approaching, indicating that it is time to harvest yams. Observations of cyclical animal behavioural patterns are also important, for example when the D'harawal people of the Sydney basin area hear the mating cries of tiger quolls, the lillipilli fruit has started to ripen. Once the fruit starts falling, it is a sign for the people of this country to begin their annual journey to the coast, to seek out other seasonal resources. Seasonal calendars continue to be used by many groups today. The publication of First Nations' calendars has revealed the immense scientific knowledge held by the respective communities and has informed Western scientific understandings across a wide range of disciplines, for example, botany, zoology, ecology, meteorology and many more.

BOM and CSIRO resources The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and the CSIRO have both worked with various groups to produce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander seasonal calendars. BOM has produced an interactive map, and both BOM and the CSIRO have also documented the seasonal calendars of many Aboriginal groups in detail. Both sites provide downloadable and printable posters showing each group's calendar.

Some Aboriginal seasons

North coast – Yolngu seasons

The Yolngu, the Aboriginal Australians of north-east Arnhem Land, identify six seasons. Non-Indigenous people living in the Top End usually identify two: the wet and the dry. (Arguably, the build-up period between dry and wet is coming to be identified as a distinct third season.) The six Yolngu seasons, and their characteristics, are:

Central – Anangu Pitjantjajara seasons The Anangu Pitjantjatjara of northern South Australia and the southern part of the Northern Territory live in central Australia. Examples of some of their seasons include:

South-western Australia– Noongar seasons

Noongar seasons do not follow a rigid cycle; timing is dependent on subtle changes in the weather with wind, rain and temperature. The cycles are part of katitjin-bidi ('knowledge trails') that lead groups to reliable sources of food and water. The seasons are named as follows by the Whadjuk Noongar people of Perth:

Torres Strait Islands seasons In the Torres Strait Islands, the seasons are associated with the way the wind blows and changes in the environment. The four seasons based on the wind are known as Kuki, Zey (Zei in Masig) and Nay Gay (Nai Gai in Masig) and Sager (Zoerr):

During Kuki, from January until April, the strong north-west winds (strong winds) and bring the wet season (monsoon). From May to December it is Sager/Zoerr, when the south-east trade winds blow, and the weather is dry. Southerly winds blow at different and unpredictable times during the year, and these times are known as Zey/Zei. During Nay Gay/Naigai, from October through to December, northerly winds predominate, bringing high heat and humidity. The people of Masig (otherwise known as Yorke Island), known as the Masigalgal, are part of the Kulkulgal nation of the central Torres Strait. The timing and duration of these four seasons varies from year to year, and Masig islanders observe signs in the winds, weather, sea life, plants and animals that tell them when one season is expected to change to another. Community celebrations, hunting, gardening and cultural activities are based around this annual cycle of resource availability and renewal.

References

Sources

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Indigenous Australian seasons

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Indigenous Australian seasons claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Indigenous Australian seasons before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Indigenous Australian seasons ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Indigenous Australian seasons

In research: Indigenous Australian seasons appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Indigenous Australian seasons in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Indigenous Australian seasons is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Australian Aboriginal bushcraft, Australian Aboriginal words and phrases, Climate of Australia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Indigenous Australian seasons outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Indigenous Australian seasons in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Indigenous Australian seasons means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Indigenous Australian seasons out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Indigenous Australian seasons in simple terms?

Why does Indigenous Australian seasons matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Indigenous Australian seasons?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Indigenous Australian seasons.