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Folk Song Migration in Aboriginal South Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Catherine J. Ellis
Catherine J. Ellis*
Affiliation:
University of Adelaide, Australia*
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Extract

Folk song migration in Aboriginal South Australia is a difficult subject to cover. There is great confusion over migration theories in Australia. No one as yet has provided conclusive evidence regarding the place of origin of the present aboriginal people, nor indeed of whether they are an homogeneous people or descendants of several racially and culturally distinct groups. But a study of the music of South Australia does make possible some suggestions, since distinct styles and their direction of diffusion can be seen.

The various hypotheses about the coming of the aboriginal to Australia seem to differ depending on the aspect being covered by the particular researcher concerned. The theory put forward by Birdsell and Tindale is probably the best known. They based their theory on the classification of the blood groups of people from various regions, and believe that there were three separate migratory waves into Australia.

Type
The Migration of Folk Music
Information
Journal of the International Folk Music Council , Volume 19 , 1967 , pp. 11 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © International Council for Traditional Music 1967

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Footnotes

page 11 note *

In the absence of the author this paper was read by Mr. Peter Crossley-Holland. The full analysis on which it was based has been published by Catherine J. Ellis in Miscellanea Musicologica, Vol. I (Adelaide 1966), pp. 137-190.

References

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Id., 1966. “Aboriginal Songs of South Australia,” Miscellanea Musicologica: Adelaide Studies in Musicology, Vol. I. (Libraries Board of South Australia in association with The University of Adelaide.)Google Scholar
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