Thread: Balinese Australia

Bali is like an Australian beach with less drugs. In the past, it seems, Australia was a Balinese beach - or maybe a Java beach. Before Muslims ran the last Javanese Majapahit kings out of town and off to Bali, Indonesia was a Hindu country with Sanskrit language . Wealthy Indian rulers and Brahmin priests used gold , as at Angkor Wat, and in 14th century Indonesian gold-miners sailed to Philippines. A golf figurine from that era was excavated and is now held in US.
Legends in east Australia say that foreigners arrived. Bundjalung people of the Yamba-Brisbane region say a ship came from Ngareenbeil, which is Old Balinese for your beloved countrymen. Of the 4 people, 2 had Balinese names. (Ref: Dr Darma Putra. School of Languages. U Qld). The other names are Sanskrit language: Mamoon meaninguncle ; and Gaminyah the one who walks. Gaminyah became a goanna. The 3 others spread out and gave laws and languages to Aboriginal countries. (Ref: The Three Brothers legend. "Australian Dreaming' J Isaacs. Cam.
"Papers of Marjorie Oakes" AIATSIS Canberra.)
The legend is in several blogs, such as Lismore City Council: Heritage.
There is evidence that Sanskrit : Indonesian language was used for names of Aboriginal tribes, legends, places and ceremony, linked to Hindu religion and Vedic traditions. The area is from Arnhem Land to Kangaroo Island SA. with a strong connection to the Darling and Murray rivers.
If anyone is at all interested, then I will rave on.
(or otherwise shut up).

The Aborigines loved the Balinese, medium rare, not overcooked.

Originally Posted by aussiefree2ride

The Aborigines loved the Balinese, medium rare, not overcooked.

I know I should not be laughing at this comment right now, but I find a wicked little snicker of laughter coming from my lips.

Not because of the content but your ability Aussie to open a can of worms right on top of your own head. You must have twenty foot wide shoulders. lol.

The Australian aboriginies had been trading with people from the Indonesian archipelago for centuries before Europeans set foot on the continent.

What's your point?

There's also some evidence that there was settlement in northern Australia and intermarriage between Moluccans and indigenous people.

The standard opinion is that Indonesian ships didn't come south from Cape York. There are about 600 Indonesian words in north Australian languages but religious influence by Hindus and Muslims is thought to be small.
A settlement by a group of Hindu Javanese or Balinese in NSW is not seen as factual. But it appears there was widespread cultural influence along the east coast and west along the Darling- Murray rivers. This resulted in Vedic-style legends and Sanskrit-Balinese names for tribal spiritual matters. So east Oz was in effect a Hindu branch of Indonesian Sanskrit kingdoms. The Indian world of SE Asia.

Originally Posted by slipperyfish

I know I should not be laughing at this comment right now, but I find a wicked little snicker of laughter coming from my lips.

Not because of the content but your ability Aussie to open a can of worms right on top of your own head. You must have twenty foot wide shoulders. lol.

Hey Slippery, my shoulders are only ten feet wide, and they`re sagging right down to the ground. Did you know that the Aborigines invented Chinese takeaway?

No didn't know that, thought Europeans blew away both of them.

Hindu means people of the Indus or people of India, and it's a Muslim term not dating from before the Islamic invasion of India and Indonesia...
There's no doubt about Macassan settlements around Broome, or trade with the Piditjara and Yolngu ppl... As for any link btwn the legends of the Dreaming, there's no reason for the two religions not to have been separate strands of the same original...
The biggest obstacle to claims of later contact between Hindu Bali and Australia/New Guinea is lack of a common language...

Originally Posted by tok3z

Hindu means people of the Indus or people of India, and it's a Muslim term not dating from before the Islamic invasion of India and Indonesia...

Islam did not invade Indonesia but the conversion to Islam in Indonesia (and Malayasia) took several generations.

Islam was brought across by Indian and Arab traders.