Thorne, Lynn. 2008. Word-of-Mouth Advertising Online and Off: How to Spark Buzz, Excitement, and Free Publicity for Your Business or Organization -- With Little or No Money. Ocala: Atlantic Publishing Group.

 

Waller, David S. 2012. “‘Truth in Advertising’: The Beginning of Advertising Ethics in Australia.” Journal of Mass Media Ethics 27 (1): 46-56. doi: 10.1080/08900523.2011.606002.

Evidence suggests that the first Aboriginal peoples to migrate to Australia arrived between 65000 and 45000 years ago, travelling partially by foot across the frozen glaciers of the last ice-age and then by means of boat to arrive on the continent. The first archaeological evidence of Aboriginal settlement is dated as 65000AD with an axe grinding stone being found in Kakadu National park in the Northern territory. Followed by the finding of two rock shelter sites in the Northern territory which have been dated as 56000AD, there is evidence in these sites of the crafting of stone tools. Much like their modern descendants prior to colonisation, the early aboriginal inhabitants of Australia lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, sustaining themselves by harvesting local roots and vegetables, as well as hunting the vast array of megafauna native to the region. The Aboriginal people of Australia developed various technologies to assist their hunting and harvesting dependant on their geographical location, examples of this would include desert tribes manufacturing spear tips from hard stone, while coastal tribes would create spear tips from fish bone.

Some examples of Aboriginal Australian technology

The boomerang: Perhaps the most well known technology utilised by the Indigenous Australians. Designed as a tool for hunting and skirmishes with other tribes, the boomerang was designed to fly in a curved pattern and return to the thrower. While other cultures manufactured similar thrown weapons, the boomerang is a uniquely Aboriginal invention.

The Woomera: Designed to allow extra leverage while throwing a spear, acting as an extension of the human arm. This tool was commonly crafted using hardwood with a notch cut or stone placed at the end.

Canoes: These watercraft were made from light buoyant bark and commonly used as an easy means of crossing small bodies of water such as lakes, lagoons or large rivers.

The humpy: A form of temporary shelter fashioned from bark and branches supported by the trunk of a large tree, these small dwellings were most commonly utilised by the nomadic tribes in times of heavy rain and flooding.   

The 500 nomadic Aboriginal tribes of Australia practice an intricate social and religious system centred around kinship and a strong connection to the earth and their ancestral spirits. Each tribe’s clan structure is centred around a system anthropologists refer to as moiety from the Latin word Medius, meaning half. Each member of an Aboriginal tribe is divided into one of two moieties, which they believe is decided by their ancestral spirits based upon their mother or father’s moiety, as well as their generation. Complimenting this is totems, the next level of kinship among Aboriginal tribes. Everyone within a tribe has 4 totems, 3 of which are assigned to them at birth based on their clan, nation and family, the fourth totem is determined by the person’s strengths and weaknesses. The totems assigned to a person determined what roles and duties a person holds within the tribe, as well as determining their code of conduct. The third and final level of kinship is skin names, which determines how individuals within the tribe and outside the tribe should interact, as well as showing the individual’s bloodline. The skin name system works as a cycle of 16-32 names, for example in a patrilineal system (taking from the father’s side), should the father’s skin name be the third (three) in the cycle, the children’s name will be the fourth (four) of the cycle. This then means that all other “four” children in the tribe are considered siblings and all “threes” take the role of parents. This system worked to ensure the stability of the tribe, meaning that if a biological parent passed away, the child was not left without a guardian. These systems of kinship form the foundation of Aboriginal society and serve as proof of the deep emotional and spiritual connection between members of the community up to this very day.

The Aboriginal religious system and creation story lives through the medium of art, song, dance and story, it was not until the arrival of the British that this intricate system was compiled into books. The dreaming or “Tjukurrpa” started with the ancestral spirits walking the earth many years ago at the time of its creation, creating animals, plants, rivers and mountains as they went. Additionally, the ancestor spirits determined the relationships between tribes and nations. After their job was done the spirits turned themselves into the animals, plants, rivers and mountains they created. Many tribes hold different variations of the creation story, an example of this comes from the Gaguju people from Northern Australia 

“Life started when a creator woman called Warramurrungundjui came out of the sea and gave birth to the first people and gave them the languages. She carried with her a digging stick and a dilly bag holding yams, waterlilies and other important plants. She planted the food and created waterholes with her digging stick on the ground. Other creator beings appeared...After completing her creative act, Warramurrungundj turned herself into a rock.”

 

The dreaming is not a distant story discussed and remembered by Aboriginal people, it is as alive and growing as the trees, animals and rivers that dot the land, forever a reminder of the ancestral spirits that live through these objects and creatures. Though the creation story changes from tribe to tribe, each variation holds the common emphasis on the importance of kinship, connection and preservation of the earth and the duty to keep the dreaming alive through art, word of mouth, song and dance. 

 

A ‘social event’ can be defined as an event planned for a set time and place with a fixed capacity, which requires advertising across different forms of media.

 

Objective is to maximise the profit.

 

Targeted advertising is important in the developed market.

 

“Media … play a vital role in the success of targeting efforts.” p. 1001