Australian Aboriginal culture

Australian Aboriginal culture includes a number of practices and ceremonies centered on a belief in the Dreamtime and other mythology. Reverence and respect for the land and oral traditions are emphasised. Language and other groupings exhibit a range of individual cultures. Australian Aboriginal art has existed for thousands of years and ranges from ancient rock art to modern watercolour landscapes. Aboriginal music has developed a number of unique instruments. Contemporary Australian Aboriginal music spans many genres. Aboriginal peoples did not develop a system of writing before colonisation, but there was a huge variety of languages, including sign languages.

Oral tradition

Cultural traditions and beliefs as well as historical tellings of actual events are passed down in Aboriginal oral tradition, also known loosely as oral history (although the latter has a more specific definition). Some of the stories are many thousands of years old.

In a study published in February 2020, new evidence produced by using a form of radiometric dating showed that both Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanoes erupted at least 34,000 years and up to 40,000 years ago.[1] Significantly, this is a "minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria", and also could be interpreted as evidence for the Gunditjmara oral histories which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of the oldest oral traditions in existence.[2] An axe found underneath volcanic ash in 1947 was also proof that humans inhabited the region before the eruption of Tower Hill.[1]

Beliefs

See also: Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology

Aboriginal Australians' oral tradition and spiritual values build on reverence for the land and on a belief in the Dreamtime, or Dreaming. The Dreaming is considered to be both the ancient time of creation and the present-day reality of Dreaming. It describes the Aboriginal cosmology, and includes the ancestral stories about the supernatural creator-beings and how they created places. Each story can be called a "Dreaming", with the whole continent is criss-crossed by of Dreamings or ancestral tracks, also represented by songlines.[3]

There are many different groups, each with their own individual culture, belief structure and language.

• The Rainbow Serpent is a major ancestral being for many Aboriginal people across Australia.
• Baiame or Bunjil are regarded as the primary creator-spirits in South-East Australia.
• Dingo Dreaming is a significant ancestor in the interior regions of Bandiyan, as Dingo formed the songlines that cross the continent from north to south and east to west.[4]
• The Yowie and Bunyip have their roots in Aboriginal mythology.

Sacred sites

Aboriginal people that some places are sacred, owing to their central place in the mythology of the local people.[5]

Customary law

Main article: Australian Aboriginal customary law

The words "law" and "lore" are commonly used interchangeably: "law" was introduced by the British, whereas "lore" relates to the customs and stories from the Dreamtime, which has been passed on through countless generations through songlines, stories and dance. Learned from childhood, lore dictates the rules on how to interact with the land, kinship and community.[6]

Arnhem Land

See also: Yolngu § Yolŋu culture, law and mythology

The complete system of Yolngu customary law is the "Madayin", which embodies the rights and responsibilities of the owners of the law, or citizens (rom watangu walal, or simply rom). Madayin includes the rom, as well as the objects that symbolise the law, oral rules, names and song cycles, and the sacred places that are used to maintain, develop and provide education in the law.[7] Rom can be roughly translated as "law" or "culture", but it embodies more than either of these words.[8] Galarrwuy Yunupingu has described Rom watangu as the overarching law of the land, which is "lasting and alive... my backbone".[9]

It covers ownership of land and waters and the resources within this region; it controls production trade; and includes social, religious and ethical laws. These include laws for conservation and farming of flora and fauna. Observance of Madayin creates a state of balance, peace and true justice, known as Magaya.[7]

Rom includes bush crafts such as basket-weaving and mat-making, and stories which teach history, hunting, spear-making, gathering food, building shelters and rafts, various rituals, and taking care of others.[10]

"Rom" is a word and concept shared by at least one of the nearby peoples, the Anbarra, who also perform a Rom ceremony.[11][12]

Ceremonies and sacred objects

Australian Aboriginal Ceremonies have been a part of Aboriginal culture since the beginning, and still play a vital part in society.[13] They are held often, for many different reasons, all of which are based on the spiritual beliefs and cultural practices of the community.[14] They include Dreaming stories, secret events at sacred sites, homecomings, births and deaths.[15] They still play a very important part in the lives and culture of Aboriginal people. They are performed in Arnhem Land and Central Australia with the aim of ensuring a plentiful supply of foods; in many regions they play an important part in educating children, passing on the lore of their people, spiritual beliefs and survival skills; some ceremonies are a rite of passage for adolescents; other ceremonies are around marriage, death or burial. Most include dance, song, rituals and elaborate body decoration and/or costume. Ancient Aboriginal rock art shows ceremonies and traditions are still continued today.[16]

Ceremonies provide a time and place for everyone in the group and community to work together to ensure the ongoing survival of spiritual and cultural beliefs. Certain stories are individually "owned" by a group, and in some cases dances, body decoration and symbols in a ceremony pass on these stories only within the group, so it is vital that these ceremonies are remembered and performed correctly. Men and women have different roles, and are sometimes appointed as guardians of a sacred site, whose role it is to care for the site and the spiritual beings who live there, achieved partly by performing ceremonies. The terms “men’s business” and “women’s business” are sometimes used; neither have greater spiritual needs or responsibilities than the other, but jointly ensure that sacred practices are passed on. Men often conduct ceremonies, but women are also guardians of special knowledge, hold great spiritual power within a group, and conduct ceremonies. Participation in ceremonies can also be restricted by age, family group, language group, but are sometimes open to all, depending on the purpose of the ceremony.[14]

Right of access to songs and dances pertaining to a specific ceremony belong to a certain defined group; some may be shared with people outside the community, but some are never shared. There is a wide range of songs, dances, music, body ornamentation, costume, and symbolism, designed to connect the body with the spiritual world of the ancestors. Ceremonies help to sustain Aboriginal identity as well as the group's connection to country and family.[14]

Examples of ceremonies

• A bora is an initiation ceremony in which young boys (Kippas)[17] become men.
• The Bunya feast held in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast of Queensland is well-known. Representatives from many different groups from across southern Queensland and northern New South Wales would meet to discuss important issues relating to the environment, social relationships, politics and Dreaming lore, feasting and sharing dance ceremonies. Many conflicts would be settled at this event, and consequences for breaches of laws were discussed.[14]
• Burial practices differ from group to group. In parts of Northern Australia, there are two stages of burial. After the body has been on an elevated platform, covered with leaves and branches, long enough for the flesh to rot away from the bones, the bones are collected, painted with ochre, and dispersed in various ways.[13]
• A corroboree is a ceremonial meeting for Australian Aboriginal people, interacting with the Dreaming and accompanied by song and dance. They differ from group to group, and may be sacred and private.[3]
• An ilma is both a public ceremony or performance of the Bardi people, and the hand-held objects used in these ceremonies.
• The inma is a cultural ceremony of Aṉangu women of Central Australia, involving song and dance and embodying the stories and designs of the tjukurrpa (Ancestral Law, or Dreamtime). The ceremony carries camaraderie, joy, playfulness and seriousness, and may last for hours. There are many different inma, all profoundly significant to the culture.[18][19][20]
• A Pukamani, or Pukumani, is a burial ceremony of the Tiwi Islands, which lasts for several days around the grave of the deceased about six months after their death. Elaborate funerary posts known as tutini are erected around the grave before the ceremony, and dancers dance and sing around the posts.[21][22]
• The ROM (or Rom - see previous section) ceremony, involving songs, dances, and artefacts, which involve presenting other neighbouring communities with decorated totem poles, with the intent of establishing or re-establishing friendly terms with them; a form of diplomacy. The process of making and decorating the poles can extend over weeks, and involves successive sessions of song and dance, culminating in the ceremony where gifts are exchanged.[12][23] In April 2017, a four-day festival to mark the Rom ceremony was attended by about 500 people at Gapuwiyak School, in north-eastern Arnhem Land. It was planned to hold the event each term.[10] Historian and writer Billy Griffiths wrote in his award-winning book Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia (2018), of the Rom ceremony as an "extension of friendship" and "ritual of diplomacy", of which the "full significance ... has yet to be appreciated by the Australian public. At the heart of this symbolic act is a gift – of song and dance and cultural knowledge, but it comes with obligations. The acceptance of such a gift enmeshes the recipients into a continual process of reciprocity".[24]
• A smoking ceremony is a cleansing ritual performed on special occasions.
• Tjurunga (or churinga) are objects of religious significance by Central Australian Arrernte groups.
• Walkabout is a rite of passage journey during adolescence, often mis-applied.
• A welcome to country is a ritual now performed at many events held in Australia, intended to highlight the cultural significance of the surrounding area to a particular Aboriginal group. The welcome must be performed by a recognised elder of the group. The welcome ceremony is sometimes accompanied by a smoking ceremony, music or dance.

Musical instruments and other objects

The didgeridoo originated in northern Australia, but is now used throughout the continent. Clapsticks, seed rattles and objects such as rocks or pieces of wood are used; in a few areas, women play a drum made from goanna, snake, kangaroo or emu skin.[14]

Healing

Further information: Bush medicine

Traditional healers (known as Ngangkari in the Western desert areas of Central Australia) are highly respected men and women who not only acted as healers or doctors, but also generally served as custodians of important Dreaming stories.[25]

Cultural burning

Cultural burning, identified by Australian archaeologist Rhys Jones in 1969, is the practice of regularly and systematically burning patches of vegetation used in Central to Northern Australia to facilitate hunting, to reduce the frequency of major bush-fires, and to change the composition of plant and animal species in an area. This "fire-stick farming", or "burning off", reduces the fuel-load for a potential major bush fire, while fertilising the ground and increasing the number of young plants, providing additional food for kangaroos and other fauna hunted for meat. It is regarded as good husbandry and "looking after the land" by Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory.[26]

Music

Further information: Indigenous Australian music, didgeridoo, and Indigenous_rock § Australia

A didgeridoo, or yidaki

Aboriginal people have developed unique musical instruments and folk styles. The didgeridoo is often considered the national instrument of Aboriginal Australians; however, it was traditionally played by peoples of Northern Australia, and only by the men.

It has possibly been used by the people of the Kakadu region for 1500 years. Clapping sticks are probably the more ubiquitous musical instrument, especially because they help maintain rhythm. More recently, Aboriginal musicians have branched into rock and roll, hip hop and reggae. Bands such as No Fixed Address and Yothu Yindi were two of the earliest Aboriginal bands to gain a popular following among Australians of all cultures.

In 1997 the State and Federal Governments set up the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) to preserve and nurture Aboriginal music and talent across all styles and genres from traditional to contemporary.

Art and crafts

Main article: Indigenous Australian art

Australian Aboriginal art has a history spanning thousands of years. Aboriginal artists continue these traditions using both modern and traditional materials in their artworks. Aboriginal art is the most internationally recognizable form of Australian art. Several styles of Aboriginal art have developed in modern times including the watercolour paintings of Albert Namatjira, the Hermannsburg School, and the acrylic Papunya Tula "dot art" movement. Painting is a large source of income for some Central Australian communities such as at Yuendumu.

Basket weaving has been traditionally practised by the women of many Aboriginal peoples across the continent for centuries.[27][28][29][30]

Astronomy

Main article: Australian Aboriginal astronomy

A depiction of the Emu in the sky, which is an Australian Aboriginal constellation consisting of dark clouds rather than stars. The time of year in which the Emu in the sky stands upright in the evening marks the time when emu eggs are ready to be collected.

For many Aboriginal cultures, the night sky is a repository of stories and law. Songlines can be traced through the sky and the land. Stories and songs associated with the sky under many cultural tents.[31]

Traditional recreation

An Indigenous community Australian rules football game

The Djabwurrung and Jardwadjali people of western Victoria once participated in the traditional game of Marn Grook, a type of football played with possum hide. The game is believed by some commentators, including Martin Flanagan,[32] Jim Poulter and Col Hutchinson, to have inspired Tom Wills, inventor of the code of Australian rules football.

Similarity between Marn Grook and Australian football include jumping to catch the ball or high "marking", which results in a free kick. Use of the word "mark" in the game may be influenced by the Marn Grook word mumarki, meaning "catch".[33] However, this is likely a false etymology; the term "mark" is traditionally used in Rugby and other games that predate AFL to describe a free kick resulting from a catch,[34] in reference to the player making a mark on the ground from which to take a free kick, rather than continuing to play on.[35]

There are many Indigenous ALF players at professional level, with approximately one in ten players being of Indigenous origin as of 2007.[36][37] The contribution of the Aboriginal people to the game is recognized by the annual AFL "Dreamtime at the 'G" match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between Essendon and Richmond football clubs (the colors of the two clubs combine to form the colours of the Aboriginal flag). .

Testifying to this abundance of Indigenous talent, the Aboriginal All-Stars, an AFL-level all-Aboriginal football side competes against any one of the Australian Football League's current football teams in pre-season tests. The Clontarf Foundation and football academy is just one organisation aimed at further developing aboriginal football talent. The Tiwi Bombers began playing in the Northern Territory Football League and became the first all-Aboriginal side to compete in a major Australian competition.

A popular children's game in some parts of Australia is weet weet, or throwing the play stick. The winner throws the weet weet furthest or the most accurately.[38]

See also

• Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA)
• Black Theatre (Sydney)
• Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
• Indigenous Australian art
• Indigenous Australian literature
• Jindyworobak Movement, a white Australian artistic movement inspired by Aboriginal culture.
• Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures
• Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages – a digital archive of literature in endangered languages of the Northern Territory
• Yaama Ngunna Baaka, 2019 festival consisting of a series of corroborees

References

1. Johnson, Sian (26 February 2020). "Study dates Victorian volcano that buried a human-made axe". ABC News. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
2. Matchan, Erin L.; Phillips, David; Jourdan, Fred; Oostingh, Korien (2020). "Early human occupation of southeastern Australia: New insights from 40Ar/39Ar dating of young volcanoes". Geology. doi:10.1130/G47166.1. ISSN 0091-7613.
3. "Rainbow dreaming [ceremonies explained]". Aboriginal Incursions. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
4. Andrews, M. (2000) 'The Seven Sisters', Spinifex Press, North Melbourne, p. 428
5. "Sacred sites". Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
6. "The Law and the Lore". Working with Indigenous Australians. 19 February 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
7. "About Yolngu". Nhulunbuy Corporation. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
8. "Yolŋu Rom (Law and Culture)". Yidaki Story. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
9. Yunupingu, Galarrwuy (July 2016). "Rom Watangu". The Monthly. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
10. "Gapuwiyak School celebrates Yolngu Rom". Department of Education. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
11. Long, Andrew Stawowczyk (1995), "1 transparency : col. ; 5.5 x 5.5 cm.", [Portrait of unidentified Anbarra people performing Rom ceremony...], Collection of photographs taken at opening of 'It's about friendship' - Rom, a ceremony from Arnhem Land exhibition at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 5 January 1995., nla.obj-147351861, retrieved 29 January 2020 – via Trove
12. "ROM: An Aboriginal ritual of democracy". Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Blurb of 1986 book by Stephen Wild. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2020. The first ROM ceremony, a 'ritual of diplomacy', performed outside Arnhem Land was held when the Anbarra people...presented a Rom to AIATSIS in 1982.CS1 maint: others (link)
13. "Aboriginal ceremonies". Indigenous in Style. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
14. Aboriginal Ceremonies (PDF) (Report). Resource: Indigenous Perspectives: Res008. Queensland Government and Queensland Studies Authority. February 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
15. "Aboriginal Culture: Aboriginal Cultural Ceremonies". Mbantua Fine Art Gallery and Cultural Museum. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
16. "Traditional Aboriginal Ceremonial Dancing". Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
17. "Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland". Retrieved 30 June 2010.
18. Lindsay, Kirstyn (4 May 2017). "Tjungu Festival 2017: Anangu Senior Women share law and understanding of coming together". NITV Radio. SBS. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
19. "Inma (dance and song) performance". Tjanpi Desert Weavers. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
20. "IY2019: Saving language through Dreaming story". Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
21. "Burial - Pukumani, Tiwi Islands". The Australian Museum. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
22. "Being Tiwi: the work of 9 artists from the Tiwi Islands - Stories & ideas". MCA Australia. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
23. Caruana, Wally (4 August 2014). "Art and object". AIATSIS. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
24. Robinson, Scott (12 December 2018). "The archaeologist as hero in Billy Griffiths' Deep Time Dreaming". Overland. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
25. Traditional Healers of Central Australia: Ngangkari. Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Women's Council Aboriginal Corporation. 2013. Magabala Books, Broome, WA, pp. 15-19.
26. Kakadu Man, by Big Bill Neidjie, Stephen Davis, and Allan Fox, 1986, ISBN 0-9589458-0-2
27. "About weaving". Maningrida. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
28. "History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander textiles". archive.maas.museum. 9 April 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
29. Mills, Vanessa (21 July 2011). "Weaving magical baskets and sharing Aboriginal knowledge". ABC Kimberley. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
30. "Ngarrindjeri basket weaving". Sustainable Communities SA. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
31. Peter D'Arcy (1994). Margo Sutton (ed.). The Emu in the Sky: Stories about the Aboriginals and the day and night skies. The emu in the sky is shown in the dark space between stars° - The Emu. The National Science and Technology Centre. pp. 15, 16. ISBN 978-0-64618-202-5.
32. Martin Flanagan, The Call. St. Leonards, Allen & Unwin, 1998, p. 8 Martin Flanagan, 'Sport and Culture'
33. "Early History". Footystamps.com.
34. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
35. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
36. "Australian Game, Australian Identity:(Post)Colonial Identity in Football". Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, Monash University. 2007. p. 10. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013.
37. "Australian rules football and improving Indigenous relations". The Roar. 22 May 2013.
38. "Weet weet" (PDF). Australian Sports Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.

Further reading

• Indigenous Australian culture travel guide from Wikivoyage
• ENGAGING - A Guide to Interacting Respectfully and Reciprocally with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, and their Arts Practices and Intellectual Property (Australian Government: Indigenous Culture Support)