Talk:Walkabout

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Rberggren.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 12:36, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

commonly-held belief
"...the commonly-held belief..." So, is it not an accurate belief? 70.20.160.41 (talk) 00:10, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Stub
Can someone please put a stub tag on this article? --Flashflash; (talk) 22:36, 14 December 2008 (UTC)
 * It is done. Wise dude321 (talk) 03:47, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

NPOV Issue with 'Australia' Reference?
This may just be me, but I think the "adamantly insisted" phrasing implies that it was not a wise decision on Nullah's part. "chose to go" or something equally NPOV would be preferable, right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.236.193.203 (talk) 09:18, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

"adamantly insisted" seems about right to me in view of the objection of his mother substitute to the walkabout. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Smday (talk • contribs) 00:07, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Walkabout disambiguation page. This should be a disambiguation page, with this article renamed Walkabout (aboriginal ritual) Petepetepetepete (talk) 11:34, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Mundane white society
It seems to me that one may easily take exception to the final sentence of this article: "For white society who's existence may be more mundane; In failing to recognize and prioritize their spiritual needs only partake in walkabout when it is forced upon them in form of depression and mental illness."

To call white society's very existence "mundane" isn't acceptable ("may be more mundane" is subjective). Furthermore, failure of recognition or prioritization of spiritual needs (implying spiritual needs are present and unfulfilled) is a bold and incorrect statement. 101.167.112.200 (talk) 09:09, 22 December 2014 (UTC)

Oops. I accidentally that entire segment before reading the talk for not having citations and making claims absolutely contradicting all other information in the article. The 'spiritual' woo aspect was applied later by a travel author trying to cash in on the noble savage epithet. So it was inherently racist to both 'white' and indigenous persons.

Also, an unrelated quip to the IP above; you said, "failure of recognition or prioritization of spiritual needs (implying spiritual needs are present and unfulfilled) is a bold and incorrect statement." I would argue that there needs to be a proof that human beings _have_ a spiritual need, or a spirit at all, or heck any evidence of anything supernatural across this wide world would sate my protestation on that ground. But as yet I have not found any evidence that a 'spiritual need' exists. Nor a spirit. Nor anything supernatural. So never fear, the offending paragraph has been removed. When you encounter something that seems daft and written like op ed with no citations and contradicting actual cited portions of the article it's perfectly acceptable to be bold and remove it. BaSH PR0MPT (talk) 02:04, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 10:10, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Public Perception
This section is FULL of run-on sentences and thus grammatically nonsensical statements. Perhaps someone more familiar with the topic can clean it up a little bit? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gibbousmoon100 (talk • contribs) 09:58, 21 May 2016 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid we need a translator of "social learning English". This:
 * The potential rise for the complexity of temporary mobility of traditional origins within modernization is prevalent in current Australian society for the transition of indigenous cultures from traditional activities toward modernity has given rise to growing recognition of the importance of traditional practices.
 * defies my more mundane sciency bent.


 * And I say "social learning" in place of other ways of describing the products of fuzzy thinking and expression from some schools of social sciences. This next is from "grant writing" 101:
 * The idea that there may be other more contemporary factors in temporary mobility alters the course of research conducted.
 * Shenme (talk) 17:36, 21 July 2018 (UTC)

The real meaning of 'walkabout'
It's very likely that this 'indigenous temporary mobility' is a concocted distraction from the real meaning of 'walkabout'. My hypothesis is that the real meaning is a cultural tradition in which individuals in the indigenous community are provided an opportunity to learn crucial life skills, specifically, the skills of self-sufficiency, mental, spriritual, physical, which strengthen the individual to peak potential which, in turn, enables the individual to become a highly productive member of the community, with the ability to resist authoritarian tricks/traps/baits, and the ability to help others achieve self-sufficiency. The width/depth of benefits are tremendous. My hypothesis concludes with the concocted distraction mentioned above being propagated to preserve authoritarian structures of domination/submission. 67.174.0.209 (talk) Rtdrury (talk) 04:53, 15 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your input. I fell you should be aware that your hypothesis cannot we included in the article, unless you have reliable sources for your information that is not original research. Ashmoo (talk) 11:08, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

Uncited material in need of citations
I am moving the following uncited material here until it can be properly supported with inline citations of reliable, secondary sources, per WP:V, WP:CS, WP:IRS, WP:PSTS, WP:BLP, WP:NOR, et al. This diff shows where it was in the article. Nightscream (talk) 16:36, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Nonsense
This article is nonsense from beginning to end. The term "walkabout" refers to the practice of Aborigines, employed on pastoral stations, returning to traditional bush life during the wet season. JQ (talk) 10:05, 2 March 2024 (UTC)

Definition
Howeverf, non-Aboriginal employers did not fully understand the abrupt leaving and returning as a valid reason for missing work. The reasons for leaving may be more mundane than originally thought: workers who wanted or needed to attend a ceremony or visit relatives did not accept employers' control over such matters.

Temporary mobility
Youth is the time of the traditional "walkabout" rite of passage, which marks the transition into adulthood.

Public perception
This lack of understanding led to the term "walkabout" being used in a derogatory manner to explain unplanned and unexplained trips. Those that participate in walkabout, typically aboriginals from the Outback areas, have been labelled as transients, nomads, or drifters.

The idea that there may be other more contemporary factors in temporary mobility alters the course of research conducted.

Aboriginal Australians make up the majority of the population in the Outback - up to 90% in some areas. The Outback covers more than three quarters of Australia’s landmass. Indigenous temporary mobility is characterised by familial and cultural obligations and conflicts. It is intentionally confined to Australian territories of ancestral belonging, typically in the Outback. These periods of mobility are typically ceremonial. These periods of mobility are unrelated to and often unseen by mainstream Australia not of Aboriginal beliefs. They often reflect and show disinterest in, or alienation from, the state.

For Aboriginal people in Central Australia, mobility is embedded in cultural practice as people’s ceremonial journeys—Walkabout—followed dreaming tracks or songlines that linked sacred sites. These sites are often water sources or resource-rich places and are becoming important economically as well as spiritually.