Aboriginal Australia

Aboriginal asrtist

• Aboriginal Australia has developed as a network of separate, independent “nations” distinguished by 250 language groups and over 700 dialects. Aboriginal Australia, therefore, is one of the most linguistically diverse places on the planet.
• Australia’s Indigenous population is made up of Aboriginal people of the mainland and the people of the Torres Strait Islands.
• Torres Strait Islanders are Indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands which are part of the State of Queensland. They are Melanesians, and regarded as being distinct from other Aboriginal peoples of the rest of Australia.
• Aboriginal law covers a body of spiritual, cultural and social knowledge, bound together by social and religious obligations. Aboriginal people cannot change laws because they did not make it, their laws were made by spiritual ancestors in the Dreamtime.
• Aboriginal art varies from language group to language group, from the cross hatching style on bark in Arnhem Land to the contemporary dot painting on canvas in the western desert.
• The Olary region of South Australia is home to what is believed to be the world’s oldest known art – rock engravings – created around 43,000 years ago.
• The boomerang and the didgeridoo are two objects most closely associated with Australia’s Aboriginal peoples. Used for hunting and commonly thought to always return, not all boomerangs are designed to come back.
• The didgeridoo, a deep-toned woodwind instrument is at the heart of much Aboriginal music. Originating in Northern Australia it is ideally made using eucalypt branches hollowed out by termites.
• Traditional Aboriginal food, known as bush tucker, sustained Australia’s original inhabitants for millennia.
• Bush tucker such as bush tomatoes, Illawarra plums, quandongs, lilli pillies, muntari berries, wattle seeds, Kakadu plums and bunya bunya nuts has gone mainstream as Australian chefs are experimenting more and more with its unusual and delicate flavours.

The world’s most ancient living culture, Australia’s Indigenous people, have a continuous history spanning more than 50,000 years. Theirs is the oldest story on Earth, providing an irrevocable understanding of the birth of our land, its cragginess, spirituality and wonder.

Aboriginal art

Aboriginal Australia is a living legacy of spiritual knowledge, understanding of land, culture, people and the connectedness of all things shared through rituals, art, dance, music, secret stories and journeys into the mysteries known as Dreamtime, the time when ancestral spirits came to Earth and created the landforms and all life. The landscape today is a map of the spirits’ journeys and stories created thousands of years ago.

It is also possible to stroll on a beach, walk a bush track or wander down a road and find some of the world’s most ancient art in a library of rock carvings, petroglyphs and paintings, some dating more than 43,000 years.

You can take your other senses on a 50,000 year journey too; hunt and cook, or simply taste ‘bush tucker’ the native foods of our Aboriginal people – hear the chants and incantations of their ancient stories, or marvel at the modern expression of their culture through dance, theatre, film and exhibitions.

A visit to Australia is an opportunity to experience a culture like no other.

Uniquely Australian

• Take the time to view ancient rock engravings and paintings as well as explore magnificent bush. When you immerse yourself in the world’s oldest culture, make sure you keep your eyes open when you travel our vast continent as our landscape offers an outdoor gallery of ancient art and storytelling dating back more than 50,000 years.
• Witness ceremonies, dance and song dating back thousands of years when you join in the many festivals that are celebrated each year. And you don’t have to go far. Festivals are held in many capital cities but if you are seeking a bit more adventure, head inland to rural Australia or offshore to the Torres Strait Islands.
• Experience the most modern interpretations of ancient stories told by groups such as the Bangarra Dance Theatre, which has performed in some of the world’s leading venues.
• Visit sites and important spiritual centres with local Aboriginal guides who will tell you stories about the Dreaming and demonstrate bush survival skills taught to them by their grandparents which have been handed down through the generations.
• Taste the world’s oldest cuisine and head to a market, buy some bush tucker ingredients and cook up a storm. Perhaps try some bunya bunya nuts in your satay sauce; a stewed quandong with some wattle-seed ice-cream for dessert and some bush tomatoes in your salad. You can also opt to eat Indigenous foods in gourmet restaurants that specialise in emu, kangaroo and other unique Aussie flavours.
• Support Indigenous tourism entrepreneurs and help create sustainable employment in many areas where there are relatively few opportunities. This enables families and communities to stay on their land, in areas where they have their roots and kinship ties. Many individuals, families and communities are welcoming visitors to share their way of life, learn about their culture and hear their stories, reinforcing pride in their cultural heritage.

Performers at Garma Festival

The term ‘Indigenous’ refers to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the tourism businesses that showcase these cultures. Aboriginal people are the Indigenous population who live on the mainland of Australia.