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INDEX ***Timelines Project*** Seasonal Calendars *** Observations *** Freebies *** Why? *** Links When Australia
was colonised by Europeans, they imposed on the landscape their
4 familiar seasons: summer, autumn, winter and spring. For the
modern Australian who travels to work in a car, spends the day
inside a building and watches television at night, these seasons
are sufficient. There are a number of differences between the
south-eastern coast of Australia and the Have you worked out what your seasons are? Email your findings to [email protected] for inclusion on this page.Three seasons for Port Stephens. (Submitted by Michael Smith [email protected]) The year definitely does not start in January; it starts in SPRING. SPRING (from the first week in September to the second week in November) is marked by a profusion of colour in the bush as millions of buds burst. The driest time of the year, the days get noticeably longer, the westerly winds dissipate and the wind starts to blow from the north-east. Plants and animals breed. SUNNY lasts till the second week of May. Each day at 11 am the wind starts to blow from the north-east. Occasionally a strong wind blows from the south. Wildflowers are plentiful at the start of this season, but by the end there are very few to be seen. Days are warm. COOL occupies the rest of the year. This is the time of highest rainfall. The wind blows furiously from the west. Days and nights are cool. For a graphics-rich explanation of the TOMAREE SEASONAL CALENDAR download this PDF (316kb) document. The 6 phases of the year for the lower Hunter region in general are: (Submitted by Kevin McDonald) [email protected] * PRE-SPRING (AUGUST) (1 month): when nature is "waking up"; many wildflowers start to bloom; birds begin to nest; often very windy (westerlies) * SPRING (SEPTEMBER into OCTOBER) (about 1 month): when the activity of pre-spring intensifies; weather is often unsettled; bird nesting at its peak * SUMMER (from OCTOBER through to FEBRUARY, inclusive) (about 5 months): the long, hot, dry summer; wildflowers have set their fruits to survive the extreme heat; cicadas sing; humans wilt * PRE-AUTUMN (March) (about 1 month): a period of high humidity and rain * AUTUMN (April, May) (about 2 months): generally a calm, pleasant period * WINTER (June, July) (about 2 months): cold weather; some mists and frosts; rarely some snow on Barrington Tops
Walabunnba Calendar details http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/walabunnba/index.shtml Yanyuwa Calendar Gulf of Carpenteria, showing five seasons. (Wet season cyclone period from Nov to May). Details http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/yanyuwa/index.shtml
Aboriginal people living on the Crocodile Islands of Arnhem Land generally recognise six major seasons. Details http://www.hent.org Dhuludur - the prewet season. "The fires are small and isolated now. The winds are mixed up, each blowing at different times, often within the same day. The male thunder shrinks the waterholes and the female thunder brings the rain called Dhuludur. Barra'mirri - the growth season. "Heavy rain comes every day and the plants grow quickly. Soon there is heavy growth throughout the whole bush." Mayaltha - the flowering season. "There is very little bush food. There are a lot of plants that flower, bright sunny days and sometimes rain." Midawarr - the fruiting season. "The grasses are forming seeds. It's the season of fruiting plants and the east wind signals the beginning of the time of abundant food." Dharratharramirri early dry season. " The nights are cool and there is mist early in the mornings. Large. flocks of mudlarks arrive and the southeast wind, Buluna, swings further south to become the wind Dharratharra. " Rarrandharr the main dry season. "The warm south east wind blows as the pandanus fruit begins to fall to the ground. As soon as the stringybark tree flowers, snakes lay their eggs and all types of honey can be found. A SEASONAL CALENDAR FOR THE MELBOURNE AREA Details http://home.vicnet.net.au/~herring/seasons.htm Six Seasons Late Summer, February - Mid March Early Winter, April & May Deep Winter- June, mid July Early Spring - Mid July, August True Spring- September, October High Summer November, December, January The Yaraldi (of the Murray River and the Lakes, South Australia) distinguished four seasons: riwun (spring, the time of growth and mating) from August to October; luwadang (summer, the time of warmth) from November to January; marangani or marangalkadi (autumn, the time of Crow) from February to April; and yutang
(winter, the time of the cold) from May to July. The seasons
were distinguished by the growth of particular plants, the appearance
of various creatures and alterations in the weather. Marangani
was the name of Crow, an important figure in mythology and one
whose season coincided with the juxtaposition of certain stars.
Like spring, autumn was a time when men felt the urge for women,
as did the mythic Crow himself-but it was not the spontaneous
feeling apparent in spring. Between summer and autumn the kulgu-maii
(hot or burning north winds) blew, as did the p'reiga-maii
(south tidal wind) which moderated in early autumn. In spring,
the cold east pilbiangk blew making it virtually impossible
to catch fish. Following closely was the narangateri (the
blow-rain) with strong west winds from about the end of August
to October. When the north-east walkandi (so named after
the term used for the up-river people) warm winds blew, it was
summer and large quantities of fish could be caught. Rough gales
worked around from the west, and when they were not the narangateri
(strong west winds during spring), they were called mirilki.
The krungkun (roaring equinoctial gales) were also termed
narangateri. At the beginning of this period, when people
heard the roaring, they would say to one another, 'Mura nangangil
krungkun anganein?' (What's that roaring at us?), 'Ilu
maul narangateri!' (That's the west wind!) This signalled
the time to go inside their huts, to pile wood on their fires,
to construct windbreaks around them and to make themselves warm
with skin cloaks and rugs. During this cold period people would
stay inside their huts for most of the day, going out for water
only when there was a lull; they had already stored away food
which would last them for a short while. Karloan mentioned that
when the old men considered it was time the narangateri
abated, they would go out at night to examine the makaril (moon).
If it appeared clearly, the gale would recede shortly. In his book The Dreamtime, Charles Mountford says, "The Aborigines have developed a calendar, based on the movement of the heavenly bodies, the flowering of certain trees and grasses, the mating of the local birds, and the arrival of migrant ones. All these signs are related to the food-cycles on which their living depends". A century ago Alfred
Howitt commented that the Bigambul
people of the Macintyre and Gwydir River
region measured seasonality by the flowering of trees. "The
seasons are reckoned by the Bigambul according to the time of
year in which the trees blossom. For instance, yerra is the name
of a tree which blossoms in September hence that time is called
yerra-binda. The Apple tree (Angophora) flowers
about Christmas time, which is niga-binda. The
ironbark tree flowers about the end of January which they call
wo-binda. They also call this time, which is in
the height of summer, tinna-koge-alba, that is
to say the time when the INDEX ***Timelines Project*** Seasonal Calendars *** Observations *** Freebies *** Why? *** Links |
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