The impact of periodic drought on Aboriginal life and history - a note

Interesting piece in The Conversation (6 October) by Kathryn Allen, Alison O'Donnell, Benjamin I. Cook, Jonathan Palmer and Pauline Grierson, "Megadroughts helped topple ancient empires. We’ve found their traces in Australia’s past, and expect more to come".  The article includes a link to a 2016 paper that I had not seen that attempts to construct  a 1013 year rainfall chart for the Williams River in the Hunter Valley - Carly R. Tozer, Tessa R. Vance, Jason L. Roberts, Anthony S. Kiem, Mark A. J. Curran and Andrew D. Moy, "An ice core derived 1013-year catchment-scale annual rainfall reconstruction in subtropical eastern Australia", Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 1703–1717, 2016, www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/20/1703/2016/ doi:10.5194/hess-20-1703-2016.

Attempts to reconstruct Aboriginal history over the long period of human occupation of Sahul then the later Australian continent including my own for the broader New England tend to focus on broader trends such as the impact of the Last Glacial Maximum and the subsequent emergence of the Holocene. While this is inevitable,  it is easy to ignore the significant impact on Aboriginal life of major changes within periods including long mega droughts and subsequent wet periods. 

If we take the Murray River as an example, I'm working from memory here, Mulvaney notes the evidence of periodic malnutrition in skeletal remains. Here we have relatively small territories with substantial populations dependent upon drought exposed riverine resources. On New England's western slopes and plains the pattern of life seems clearly affected by periodic droughts. 

I haven't worked all this through. For the moment, this is just a note for further thought.  

Taree's first eisteddfod, 1913

The Kurri Kurri choir who won the chief choral contest at the 1913 Taree eisteddfod (Photo  MidCoast Stories via the ABC)
Interesting piece by the ABC's Emma Siossian, Taree's first eisteddfod in 1913 was an impressive feat of logistics and planning.

As Heritage website  MidCoast Stories co-founder Penny Teerman noted, music festivals were popular in the early 20th century. In 1912, a limited but successful festival was held in Taree. This provided the impetus the following year for the formation of the Manning River Musical Festival Society - Penny calls it the Taree Musical Society but Trove searches suggest that it had a broader title  - to put on a larger event with multiple activities. This was a considerable success with multiple performers and a large number of spectators. 

The Leichhardt Boy's Choir performed in Taree during 1913..(Photo  MidCoast Stories via ABC)

I will leave you to read the story but wanted to make a few comments from my perspective as an historian of the broader New England. 

I was not sure about the use of the word eisteddfod. I think that the first named eisteddfod was put on in Ballarat in 1855 by Welsh miners attracted to the new gold fields, but widespread use of the name as opposed to musical festivals came later. I checked Trove, and the name eisteddfod was indeed used

Transport difficulties limited the scope of major events. On the North Coast where river transport was possible, events would draw along river routes. As the railways spread, they provided a means of drawing in a broader audience or group of participants. The 1913 Taree eisteddfod followed the opening of the railway. Participation still focused on surrounding areas but broader participation was possible, We can see this in 1913: participants came from regional areas linked by the railway but participation from the more distant Leichardt Boys Choir was also possible if more expensive

I noted the Kurri Kurri Choir. Music was an important form of shared entertainment on the coal fields. The number of attendees at band performances is a sign of just how popular local band music was.