Australian martial arts.

[Former castleva]

Now I doubt there are many to speak of,if only due to historical constraint but the thought crosses my mind.
Are there? Any evidence of them existing (having existed) ?

[blooming lotus]

i HAVE BEEN IN aUSTRALIA FOR ABOUT 2MTHS NOW. i KNOW THE ABORIGINALS HAVE BROLGA AND EMU AND POSSIBLELY EVEN SNAKE.....i WAS ON A LONG TRAIN JOURNEY RECENTLY AND GOT TO STUDYING PASSING KANGAROOS,,,I DON'T KNOW IF KANGAROO STYLE EXISTS..BUT THEY ARE GREAT BOXERS!!! ALSO GOOD JUMPERS...I'M SURE I CAN USE THEIR FLOW

[Former castleva]

OK.Thanks...
Are you OK?

[blooming lotus]

PEACHY THANKS

[Toby]

I don't know of any FC. I've heard that at one stage (ca. 20000? 10000? 5000? years ago) the aborigines were the most advanced race on earth. They had developed various tools to help their lives. Maybe they lacked hand to hand combat skills in favour of weapons? I know spears were (and still are) a favoured weapon. Tribal punishments are still occasionally inflicted on perpetrators (spear to thigh). Spears were also used in battle, e.g. intertribal and against white men, but we all know how that went. They also had a thing called a woomera, which was a long bit of wood that acted as an extension of the arm so you could throw the spear harder, faster and further. Like a hard sling.

Of course, there's also the famous boomerang. I doubt they were ever as good as modern boomerangs (either the tools themselves or the throwers). I do know that modern boomerangs are scary . Me and my friends were into them a few years ago. One friend had a fairly large one (probably over a foot long for each "arm") and it spun very fast and very heavy. There was no way you would try to catch it, and you didn't want to get hit by it. It also had a decent range. All this is gathered from memory, so it may be a bit off.

[Former castleva]

I see.Thanks for sharing.

The way it appears to me is that if they ever had any system,they would not have left little trace of that.
After all,it´s just a while ago (relatively speaking) that Europeans washed ashore&before that,all conflicts must have been intertribal.

[Toby]

I gather intertribal conflict was pretty much exclusively spear throwing.

[Toby]

One more thing - the Aboriginal tribes were not particularly nomadic, nor did they have any means of easy travel. No horses, camels, vehicular travel. So there were huge differences between tribes. The most obvious difference was language. I think there were 100s (1000s?) of Aboriginal languages. Other differences were due to environmental factors e.g. those near the coast vs those in the desert. Also those in the north (hot) vs those in the south (cold). They were the most advanced race at one time (i.e. 5000, 10000 or 20000 years ago) but then they sort of froze at that point and didn't experience any of the advances that the rest of the world did. So e.g. before 200 odd years ago, they would never have seen a wheel. So there were major cultural differences between tribes that may have precluded the development of martial arts. No cities, no buildings, no wars (except minor tribal conflict). Combine all these with the advent of European man and alcohol. Alcohol decimated the Aboriginal culture, and continues to do so. Things like language have all but died out because younger people aren't interested in the knowledge their elders have. Also, very short average lifespans (< 50?) mean there are few "elders" to pass on the knowledge.

[quiet man]

If you attack an Aborigin, he may hit you with a pair of twin didgeridoos.