Visitors to Northern Australia: Debating the History of Indigenous Gambling

Abstract

Was gambling introduced to Indigenous Australians1 by British colonists in 1788 or was it introduced by Macassan fishermen much earlier? Using a variety of literature resources, it is argued that Indigenous Australian gambling did exist in regions along Australia's northern coastlines in pre-colonial times due to the influence of Macassan fishermen. Using an anthropological model, the adoption of card games and gambling is seen as an adaptive response to changes in the lives of Indigenous Australians. It is also argued that Binde's (2005) four conditions for predicting the presence of gambling in traditional societies are not reliable indicators for predicting gambling by Indigenous Australians in northern Australia in pre-colonial times.

Acknowledgement

The author is undertaking PhD studies supported by an APA scholarship and from the Centre for Gambling Education and Research, a top-up scholarship.

Notes

1. The author is aware of deliberations around titles used to describe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Alternative terms such as Indigenous, Aboriginal, Koori and Murri are in common use. For consistency, the term Indigenous Australians (ATSIC, 2002; Mansell, 2003) has been used to include all Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples.