search the website...

If you intend to regularly use, or even if you simply want to have a look the AusAnthrop database, it is a condition that you read this page and that you become familiar with the concepts and terms.

History of the database:

AusAnthrop is a database I started to compile a couple of years ago. Originally, the database was based on Tindale's Aboriginal Tribes of Australia published in 1974, from which I retyped tribal names, alternative names and places of location.

Since then, the database has been considerably expanded and modified. When reading ethnography on Aboriginal Australia, I usually entered a certain type of information into the database. Later language codes from the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (AIATSIS) and from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) were included. Moreover, some alternative language names and spellings from N. Thieberger's Australia's Languages: Australian Indigenous Languages Information Stacks (AIATSIS, 1994) where included (thanks to N. Thieberger allowing me to use some of his material).
Other modules, which are not online yet, include kinship terminologies and social categories. The project is now to expand the database to contemporaneous issues and involve indigenous peoples and organisations in its development, so that it may become a useful reference and research tool.

What is the database all about?

The database does not replace AIATSIS's Mura database (AIATSIS web site), which is probably the most important source for finding published and unpublished material relevant for issues and research in Aboriginal Australia. It's aim is rather different.
The historical, linguistic and anthropological literature on Aboriginal Australia has one negative characteristic (which is probably not solely an Australian feature): it is over-crowded with a variety of names for tribes, groups, languages, dialects, nations and so on. Let us take a concrete example. The central Australian tribe or nation Alyawarre, appears in the literature as follows:
IliauraIlliauraIlyowraAliawaraJaljuwaraYalyuwaraand so on.
One can easily see that between Yalyuwara and Alyawarre, there is a rather important difference, and it is not always easy to understand about which tribe, group or language the author is effectively writing. The various names used in the literature for a group, tribe or language that are usually understood to point to an identical social entity are called alternative names here. They may not be accurate, they may not even be recognised by the peoples themselves, but they have been used, and as such it is important to know and understand to whom or what they are pointing. This is one of the main tasks of the database.

What does the database contain?

More than 600 Australian Aboriginal tribes or nations make the body of the database, containing 600 base records. Because it is not always easy to determine which one of the alternative names is the right name for a social unit, these records have been arbitrarily named using Tindale's original nomenclature (with some modifications).
It is important to understand that the record name may not be the accurate tribal or language name, but that it simply is a convention in the database. Most relevant is the AIATSIS name, which is given in the database as well, and which is the usually accepted official name for a group.

The database currently contains about 10000 alternative names that are distributed among the 600+ records. It also contains places or locations (towns, rivers, mountains etc.) that were given in the literature for this record. Bibliographic references are linked to most records. A simple map of Australia points to the approximate location of the group. It also contains language classification and names, etc.

How can I access the AusAnthrop database and what does it cost?

The use of the database is currently free and unrestricted. This however, may change in the future, depending on trafic and use.

The information provided in the database may not be accurate for indigenous social organisation and land tenure, but is a window to how these groups were sometimes depicted in the past. The database and the information provided should not be used as evidence of any sort in relation to indigenous issues such as land claims, native title, royalty payments etc. No claim of liability of any sort that is directly or indirectly related to the AusAnthrop database may be formulated against the author of the database, AusAnthrop and its web site.

Users can leave comments in the database for each record. You are encouraged to do so. However, if you leave a comment, you have to provide your real name, and your comment has to concern the page you are viewing. Comments must not be offensive and must obey legislation. The AusAnthrop site is tracking IP numbers of users and we will take action against misusers.

For accessing the database, it is a condition that you have understood and that you do agree with the above description and terms. By clicking the I Accept button below, you confirm that you accept and understand these terms.