Byron Bay

Then there was the Entertainment laid on at the hostel.  The day we arrived there was a blues guitarist who I would have appreciated more if I hadn't been knackered.  Later on in the week there was Aboriginal dancing which was very interesting, especially when I compared it to the Maoris I'd seen in Rotorua.
 
Aboriginal dancing is not warlike at all.  The whole point of it seems to be educational, passing on the knowledge about how to hunt animals, how to recognise signs and how track bees.  I'm not kidding - they really DO this.  Basically the aborigines can actually catch bees.  If this weren’t amazing enough as it is, then they tag it (bush bees don't have stings which makes this somewhat easier) then they let him go and follow him to the hive where they raid the colony for "sugar-bag" - wild honey.  

You'll note I've been paying too much attention to "Bush Tucker Man" again.  But the whole bush tucker thing fascinated me.  My main question – which I still don’t understand – is how did the aborigines work all this stuff out?  Often when Les Hiddins was walking around the bush he would say things like, "Yew can eat this feller 'ere - but it's actually very poisonous.  Yew can only eat 'im if you first boil it, mash it up, hit it with a stick, wash it in riverwater, cook it and then bury it in the ground for six months..."
 
This seems like a hell of a thing to work out by trial and error.
 
ABORIGINE 1: Okay - I've pulped this root, you can eat it now.
ABORIGINE 2:  Wait a minute - didn't grandad die in agony after eating the root when someone had just 
                          pulped it?
ABORIGINE 1:  No, but I washed it first.
ABORIGINE 2:  And did you hit it with a stick?
ABORIGINE 1:  Yes.
ABORIGINE 2:  Well... okay then.  (He eats.)  Aieeeeee!  (He dies.)
ABORIGINE 1:  Okay!  Still poisonous!  I hope someone was taking notes there.
 
So most of the aboriginal dances consist of guys hopping around mimicking kangaroos and so forth to describe their behaviour.  We also learned that the Aboriginal name for a kangaroo is "bunda" which actually does sound a lot more like an animal that hops if you think about it.  And the didgeridoo is actually called a "yeraki" - the name didgeridoo was given to it by Europeans who heard a tribe of Aborigines singing the phrase "didgeridoo" through it over and over.  The guy who told us all this was very interesting but then spoiled it a little by going on into a "the white man ruined everything" rant.  Historically, it may be true, but it still p*sses me off as a racist generalisation.