Visitors to Northern Australia: Debating the History of Indigenous Gambling

Was gambling introduced to Indigenous Australians1 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 ATSIC (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Islander Commission). 2002. Review of Electoral Systems. Canberra, ATSIC. [Google Scholar]; Mansell, 2003 Mansell, M. 2003. “Citizenship, assimilation and a treaty”. In Treaty, Edited by: McGlade, H. 5–17. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. [Google Scholar]) has been used to include all Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples. 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.