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What's the difference between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander?

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First Nations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Indigenous, Indigenous Australian, Aboriginal, First Australians, Blackfella or Blak. What's the appropriate term?

As with all language, the meaning and use of these words has changed throughout history. They are tied to the context and politics of the time. But what's the appropriate term? There's no unanimous view, but some terms are considered more appropriate to use than others. It's helpful to understand why that's the case.

Below we explain the terms and provide some context and guidance. But ultimately it's important to respect what individuals, families, or communities prefer, and allow them to define what is appropriate. This could mean you need to ask people what they prefer, particularly when you are building relationships with new communities or individuals.

First Nations people

In recent years, 'First Nations People' has emerged as a name that recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the first peoples of Australia.

First Nations recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the sovereign people of this land. It goes further than 'First Australians' as it recognises various language groups as separate and unique sovereign nations. It is widely used to describe the First Peoples in Canada and other countries across the globe. Over recent years, the use of this term has grown in popularity. It is a better choice than many outdated and offensive terms described below. For these reasons, it is the preferred language of Common Ground.

I am not an Aboriginal, or indeed Indigenous, I am ... [a] First Nation's person. A sovereign person from this country. - Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Anmatyerr woman from Central Australia.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups prefer to be known by these titles over any others.

'Aboriginal' and 'Torres Strait Islander' refer to different groups of peoples. Aboriginal refers to the original peoples of mainland Australia. Torres Strait Islander refers to the original peoples of the 274 islands located north of Australia, in the Torres Strait.

The term Aboriginal has been in the English language since at least the 19th century. It was formed from the 16th century term, Aborigine, which means "original inhabitants". It derives from the Latin words 'ab' (from) and 'origine' (origin, beginning). The word was used in Australia to describe the original people of the land as early as 1789. Since colonisation it has been used as the common name to refer to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

However, when referring to either 'Aboriginal' or 'Torres Strait Islanders', it's important to include 'people' at the end. Without referring to 'people', the terms could be considered adjectives, and not humanised.

Aborigine

The term ' Aborigine' was commonly used up until the 1960s but is now regarded as outdated and inappropriate.

This is partly because the word 'Aborigine' is a noun, which is dehumanising. 'Aboriginal' is an adjective sometimes used as a noun. The distinction is important as the term 'Aboriginal' recognises that there are hundreds of diverse Aboriginal groups and languages throughout the nation, not just one mob. 'Aborigine' also has strong ties to colonial Australia, and the injustices inflicted upon First Nations people from that time on.

Indigenous

In Australia, ' Indigenous ' has become a popular, catch-all term to describe First Nations people. While this can be practical, it is important to recognise why some people take issue with this approach.

The true definition of 'Indigenous' means 'belonging or occurring naturally in a particular place' (Oxford Dictionary). It is used throughout the globe to describe all First Peoples (native people) and even flora and fauna. Because of its global and broad use it does not respect the unique and diverse cultures of First Nations people. It is not specific to people, and it also risks reducing multiple, distinct cultures into a single group.

But context is important. For example, many well-regarded First Nations leaders, academics and organisations use the term 'Indigenous' or 'Indigenous Australians'. If the audience you serve is confident that you understand and are respectful of the diverse, rich cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it is still appropriate to use the term.

Indigenous Australian

'Indigenous Australian' is a term that has become more widely used over the last few years. It is commonly used in political and government contexts. However, there are individuals and communities who find this term offensive as it refers to the colonial state of 'so-called Australia'. Without reference to the sovereignty of First Nations people it can be considered to be problematic.

First Australians

In recent years, 'First Australians' has emerged as a name that recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the first peoples of Australia.

The words 'Aboriginal' and 'Indigenous' fail to represent the unique cultures of Australia's First Nations groups, while using the name 'First Australians' can overcome this. However, like with 'Indigenous Australians', some people take issue with the reference to 'Australia' as it compromises sovereignty for the people that existed before 'Australia' came to be.

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Community Terms

Black

The word 'blacks' often appeared in colonial media in the headlines of negative stories about First Nations people. This term is considered outdated and highly offensive by many people across Australia.

The word 'black' is used though, by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people amongst ourselves. However, many would find it offensive for a person who is not First Nations to use this expression. The context of the use of this term is integral to deeming how appropriate its use may be.

Blak

A term more recently being used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, Blak reflects a reclamation of Blackness. Tracing the use of this term is challenging, but it is believed to have stemmed from US hip-hop culture. While this term is one that can be seen across community contexts, it is often community-specific and non-Indigenous people may not be invited to use this term in different contexts.

Blackfella

Taken from early colonial language used by non-Indigenous people, this term has recently seen a reclamation across many First Nations communities who are working to make it our own term, rather than one imposed upon us. First Nations people often use 'Blackfella' amongst ourselves, but non-Indigenous people (whitefellas) should be very careful using the term as it is colloquial and subject to context, so some people might take offence.

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Local terms

There are also terms used by First Nations people to describe people from a particular region. If you are referring to people within a particular region, it might be appropriate to use the local term. Some are listed below.

Anangu - people from South-West Central Australia. Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Nyangatjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra nations.

Koorie - from New South Wales and Victoria, some parts of Tasmania.

Murrie - from Queensland and some parts of New South Wales.

Nunga -from the southern region of South Australia.

Noongar - from the South-West region of Western Australia.

Palawa - from Tasmania.

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Check out the You Can't Ask That video clip, which asks Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for their opinion on the most appropriate terminology to use.

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First Nations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, or Indigenous?

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There are different words used to refer to First Nations people and these words have changed over time. Ultimately it's important to respect what individuals, families, or communities prefer, and allow them to define what is appropriate.. Learn more about this from Common Ground.

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I can use this resource to teach about cultural diversity:

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WINNER, 2020 CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS, EVE POWNALL AWARD FOR INFORMATION BOOKS SHORTLISTED, 2020 AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS, BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN (AGES 7-12) SHORTLISTED, 2020 NSW PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARDS, PATRICIA WRIGHTSON PRIZE FOR CHILDREN'S LITERATURE SHORTLISTED, 2020 ADELAIDE FESTIVAL AWARDS FOR LITERATURE SHORTLISTED, 2020 INDIE BOOK AWARDS, CHILDREN'S
Bruce Pascoe has collected a swathe of literary awards for Dark Emu and now he has brought together the research and compelling first person accounts in a book for younger readers. Using the accounts of early European explorers, colonists and farmers, Bruce Pascoe compellingly argues for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer label for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. He allows the reader to see Australia as it was before Europeans arrived - a land of cultivated farming areas, productive fisheries, permanent homes, and an understanding of the environment and its natural resources that supported thriving villages across the continent. Young Dark Emu - A Truer History asks young readers to consider a different version of Australia's history pre-European colonisation.

Praise for Young Dark Emu

"...this book should be required reading for all - it is a gift of knowledge we should all be grateful for."
- Australian Geographic Explorers

"This elegant, accessible and beguilingly informative book should be required reading."
- Katharine England, Adelaide Advertiser

"Stunningly presented in striking shades of ochre, orange, black and white, this seminal book invites young readers to contemplate a different picture of Aboriginal culture and the concept of terra nullius."
- Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder, The Canberra Times

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WINNER, 2020 AUSTRALIAN BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION KIDS' READING GUIDE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER, 2020 CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS, EVE POWNALL AWARD FOR INFORMATION BOOKS SHORTLISTED, 2020 AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS, BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN (AGES 7-12) SHORTLISTED, 2020 NSW PREMIER'S

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Not so much a resource for this stage though I have an understanding that diversity exists. Different Aboriginal people will have different cultural characteristics including beliefs, customs and ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing. Like any student, it's about knowing the student and how they learn (AITSL Standard 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5).

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This is an excellent map to use to demonstrate to students the many different language groups in Australia. If there are indigenous or Torres St Island people in class, they can share their cultural identity/language group and share their experience.

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Different students state their clan/identity/location/groups at assembly. This means the the wider community of students understand that indigenous identity is different for each of our indigenous students which is acknowledged in a public forum.

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STAGE ONE
What are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander spiritual and belief systems?

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"Aboriginal spirituality is defined as at the core of Aboriginal being, their very identity. It gives meaning to all aspects of life including relationships with one another and the environment. All objects are living and share the same soul and spirit as Aboriginals. There is a kinship with the environment. Aboriginal spirituality can be expressed visually, musically and ceremonially." (Grant, 2004)

Part of listening, learning and living in respectful relationship with one another involves seeking to understand Indigenous spirituality, which is fundamental to many Indigenous people's identity and worldview.

Someone with extensive knowledge of this topic is Indigenous Elder, Graham Paulson. Graham is the first ordained Indigenous Baptist pastor in Australia, and now has over 50 years of experience living and working in remote, rural and urban contexts. Drawing on his experience and his deep knowledge of Indigenous Australian cultures, Graham Paulson explains several core aspects of Indigenous spirituality.

1. Aboriginal spirituality is animistic

In an animistic world every thing is interconnected, people, plants and animals, landforms and celestial bodies are part of a larger reality. In this world, nothing is inanimate, everything is alive; animals, plants, and natural forces, all are energised by a spirit. As such, humans are on an equal footing with nature; are part of nature and are morally obligated to treat animals, plants and landforms with respect.

In this world, the invisible and the visible pulse with the same life and the sacred is not separated from the secular, they are interconnected and interactive. But also in this world, the unseen spiritual forces are stronger and hold sway over all nature.

A healthy respect for the power of spirit forces is learned from early childhood, particularly in relation to religious or social taboos. These spiritual forces are believed to have the power to make rain, foster natural growth, assist in hunting and food gathering and even to the finding of spouses or partners. It is also believed that they have the power to act against the wishes of people if the correct ceremonies and/or rituals are not practised or observed. And it is believed that crossing the boundaries of social taboos will also incur their wrath.

2. Aboriginal spirituality is a cosmogony

Cosmogony is a theory or story of the origin of the universe. Aboriginal cosmogony begins at the 'Dreamtime'. This is the time before the world was shaped the way we know it to be now.

Hidden in the sky, in the sea and under the surface of the earth are dreamtime heroes, also called creation ancestors, who are part human, in terms of their emotions and intellect, part animal bird or reptile, in terms of their physical shape, and part super-human in terms of their power and their creative ability. At some point in the dreaming they emerged from their hidden worlds and as a result of their actions and inter-actions they shaped the world as we have it today.

3. Aboriginal spirituality is earthly

Vicki Grieves (2009) explains:
"These ancestors created order out of chaos, form out of formlessness, life out of lifelessness, and, as they did so, they established the ways in which all things should live in interconnectedness so as to maintain order and sustainability. The creation ancestors thus laid down not only the foundations of all life, but also what people had to do to maintain their part of this interdependence-the Law. The Law ensures that each person knows his or her connectedness and responsibilities for other people (their kin), for country (including watercourses, landforms, the species and the universe), and for their ongoing relationship with the ancestor spirits themselves."
4. Aboriginal spirituality is totemic

A totem is a natural object, plant or animal that is inherited by members of a clan or family as their spiritual emblem. Totems define peoples' roles and responsibilities, and their relationships with each other and creation.

Totems are believed to be the descendants of the Dreamtime heroes, or totemic beings. Dreamtime heroes are linked to space and place. The places from which they emerged and travelled, and inter-acted with other spirit-beings, all become associated with the particular hero or heroes and are valued according to the importance of that part of creation to the local tribal group.

Each clan family belonging to the group is responsible for the stewardship of their totem: the flora and fauna of their area as well as the stewardship of the sacred sites attached to their area. This stewardship consists not only of the management of the physical resources ensuring that they are not plundered to the point of extinction, but also the spiritual management of all the ceremonies necessary to ensure adequate rain and food resources at the change of each season.

A typical boy's story might begin before he is even born. As his mother becomes conscious of his first movement in the womb she immediately has to take note of the area so that the infant will become identified with the spirit of the particular area in which she is located. This is based on the belief that the spirit of that area has energised the infant in the womb and the child becomes inextricably linked with the spirit associated with the dominant creation of that place, as his conception totem.

5. Aboriginal spirituality is oral

At the point of birth the child has allocated to him the appropriate birth totem. He automatically receives a skin totem and a clan totem. His spiritual responsibility in life will be to learn the songs and dances, and how to perform the ceremonies, that are associated with those totems so as to energise the relevant spirit within those parts of creation. As each clan family walks their country the law of averages ensures that different people become associated with different parts and the whole area will ultimately be cared for.

6. Aboriginal spirituality is hierarchical

This aspect of Aboriginality is not very well understood by many people in traditional communities today let alone urban communities. The gaining of power by the acquiring of traditional and ceremonial knowledge is an experience only reserved for the initiated whose personality and character satisfy their traditional elders.
Author: Rev. Graham Paulson

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Aboriginal spirituality | Australians Together

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"Aboriginal spirituality is defined as at the core of Aboriginal being, their very identity. It gives meaning to all aspects of life including relationships with one another and the environment. All objects are living and share the same soul and spirit as Aboriginals. There is a kinship with the environment.

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Stage 1 The Importance of the Land to Indigenous People

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Stage 1 The Importance of the Land to Indigenous People

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Connection to Country

For many Indigenous people, land relates to all aspects of existence - culture, spirituality, language, law, family and identity. Rather than owning land, each person belongs to a piece of land which they're related to through the kinship system. That person is entrusted with the knowledge and responsibility to care for their land, providing a deep sense of identity, purpose and belonging. This intimate knowledge of the land and ways of relating to it are also reflected in language, including many words and concepts that have no English equivalent. This deep relationship between people and the land is often described as 'connection to Country'.

"The land and the people are one, 'cause the land is also related," explains Dhanggal Gurruwiwi, a Galpu Elder from Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory. "In our kinship system, as a custodian I'm the child of that land," she says.

The way we treat land matters

The relationship between many Indigenous people and the land is one of reciprocity and respect - the land sustains and provides for the people, and the people sustain and manage the land through culture and ceremony. Because of this close connection, when the land is disrespected, damaged or destroyed, this can have real impact on the wellbeing of Indigenous people.

"(The land) is our life", says Andrew Johnson, a community member from Lajamanu in the Northern Territory. "If they come and destroy our land and our sacred site, that takes away our life too." Djapirri Muninggirrity, from Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory, says simply, "Without the land, we are nothing."

Honouring the sacred relationship with land is just as important for Aunty (Rev) Janet Turpie-Johnston, a community leader in Melbourne, Victoria. She asks all of us, "How are we ultimately going to honour this relationship with the very thing, the very earth, the very waters, the very air, the very sky, that gives us life and existence?"

Disconnection from Country

When non-Indigenous people begin to understand the importance of land for Indigenous people, we can begin to understand why dislocation from land has had such devastating effects on many Indigenous people and cultures; for many Indigenous people, colonisation did more than steal their land, it stole their very identity. Despite this history, today, many Indigenous people today maintain a close connection to their Country.

Living together on this land

Warlpiri Elder, Jerry Jangala, explains that unlike the western attitude towards land which sees it as something to be privately owned, many Indigenous people believe that land is for everybody. The land welcomes all people and offers us its provision. However, we're required to respect the land in return. Honouring this reciprocal relationship with the land is central to Indigenous culture and is a concept important for all people living in Australia today.

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The importance of land | Australians Together

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For many Indigenous people, land relates to all aspects of existence - culture, spirituality, language, law, family and identity. Rather than owning land, each person belongs to a piece of land which they're related to through the kinship system.

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Science has integrated Aboriginal perspectives of stars and the night sky into the Y10 Space Unit. This resources was used to incorporate the messages and understanding. Students were also asked to view the night sky themselves to make links to the Aboriginal culture.

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Astronomy didn't start with the Greeks. Thousands of years earlier Aboriginal people scanned the night sky, using its secrets to survive the Australian landscape.

During the Dreaming, a blind man lived with his wife in the bush. Every day he told his wife to go out and hunt for emu eggs for him to eat. Even though his wife tried hard to please her husband, he was always angry with her, telling her that the eggs were too small.

One day while she was out hunting, she came across some very large emu tracks. She thought of her husband and how angry he got, and followed the tracks all the way to the nest. She found a huge emu there and threw stones at it to get at the eggs, but it stood up and ran towards her and killed her.

The blind man became hungry and worried about his wife. He felt around the camp until he came across a bush with some berries on it and ate some of them. Suddenly he could see. He made some spears and a woomera and set off to find his wife. He followed her tracks and finally saw the huge emu and the body of his wife. He speared the emu and banished its spirit to the Milky Way, where it can still be seen today.
- a story from Papunya, Northern Territory

If you look up into the sky tonight, you can still spot the Emu in the Sky. You've almost certainly been looking at it all your life, but you've probably never seen it.

The Emu is stretched across one of the most familiar objects in the night sky, the Milky Way. Look closely at the the Southern Cross and you'll see its head as a dark smudge tucked near the bottom left hand corner of the constellation. Its neck passes between the two pointer stars, and its dark body stretches the length of our luminous galaxy.

The Emu in the Sky has featured in Aboriginal storytelling for thousands of years.

Many different language groups have their own interpretation of the Emu's heavenly fate, along with a rich and diverse range of stories about mallee fowl, parrots, fish, stingrays, hunters, men, women, girls and boys.

Once you hear these stories, the night sky will never look the same again. And it's not just stories you'll find - Aboriginal astronomy contains a map to understanding, surviving and living in harmony with this great southern land.

Dark patches in the skyUnlike Greek celestial tradition, which focuses almost exclusively on stars, Aboriginal astronomy focuses on the Milky Way and often incorporates the dark patches between stars.

The Emu in the Sky, a story common to many Aboriginal groups, is an example of this - its body is made up of the dark patches in the Milky Way. The Boorong people saw the same dark patches as the smoke from the fires of Nurrumbunguttias, the old spirits. The Kaurna people saw the Milky Way - called Wodliparri or hut river - as a large river where a Yura (monster) lives in the dark patches.

To the Ngarrindjeri people, the dark shape formed by the Southern Cross is the stingray Nunganari and the pointers are Ngarakani, or sharks.

First astronomers

Aboriginal people have been described as 'the world's first astronomers'.

The Yolngu people in Arnhem Land, for example, have dreaming stories that explain tides, eclipses, the rising and setting sun and moon and the changing positions of rising stars and planets throughout the year.

In one of their stories, Walu the sun is a woman who lights her fire every morning and scatters red ochre across the clouds, creating dawn. She then carries her torch across the sky, creating daylight. At the end of the day, she descends, puts out her fire, and travels underground through the night back to her morning camp.

CSIRO astrophysicist Ray Norris has been gathering and listening to Aboriginal stories about the night sky across the country.

One of his favourites is the Yolngu story of the three brothers in a canoe in the Djulpan constellation (known in Greek mythology as Orion the Hunter). The three stars in Orion's belt are the brothers sitting side by side, with the stars Betelgeuse and Rigel marking the front and back of the canoe. The stars in Orion's nebula represent a fish, and the stars of Orion's sword mark out a fishing line trailing behind the canoe.

"I love it because it actually looks like a canoe when you see it," says Norris.

There are many stories about the Orion constellation right across Australia, and they are nearly always about a group of men hunting or fishing, says Norris. Often they are following a group of young women, represented by the stars in the Pleiades cluster in the constellation Taurus.

Surprisingly, these stories are very similar to Greek mythology, in which Orion pursues the Pleiades sisters across the sky.

Orion's nemesis, Scorpius, is also depicted as a scorpion in some Aboriginal stories.

For example, one Yolgnu story tells of Bundungu the scorpion, who is gathered with his people along the banks of the Milnguya (Milky Way) with their relatives the Baripari (quoll) and Wahk (crow).

"It's that sort of thing that fascinates me, the way that different cultures arrive at the same conclusions," says Norris.

A celestial serpent Aboriginal dreaming stories may help locate astronomical events - in time and in space - says Duane Hamacher, a PhD student from Macquarie University.

Hamacher is gathering Aboriginal stories of comets and meteors - often described as the glowing eye of a celestial serpent flying across the sky - and seeing whether he can use them in conjunction with Google maps to locate the site of previously undiscovered impact craters, like the one at Wolf Creek in Western Australia.

He has found a story about 'a star falling from the sky and causing fire, death and destruction' from a place about 100 kilometres outside of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory which seems to correspond with a large, circular structure he has found on Google maps.

"I've got my fingers crossed. When we look at it, it's heavily eroded, which suggests it's millions of years old, but still, if we were able to find an impact crater based on a dreaming story, then that's quite significant."

The sky as a calendar

Aboriginal people would have had a very practical reason for their interest in astronomy: the sky is a calendar that indicates when the seasons are shifting and when certain foods are available, says Roslynn Haynes, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales and author of Explorers of the Southern Sky, a history of Australian astronomy.

"Constellations appearing in the sky, usually at sunrise or sunset, were very important. They helped [Aboriginal people] predict what was happening in the world around them," says Haynes.

For example, at different times of the year the Emu in the Sky is oriented so it appears to be either running or sitting down. Depending upon its position people in the western desert knew it was time to hunt for emus or collect their eggs.

When Scorpius was visible in the evening sky towards the end of April people of Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria knew the wet season was over and the dry south-easterly wind marimariga would soon begin to blow.

The Boorong people in north western Victoria looked to the mallee fowl constellation, Neilloan (Lyra), to tell them when they should harvest the bird's eggs. When Neilloan appeared in the north-west sky around April, they knew the birds would be preparing their mound-like nests. The disappearance of Neilloan in late September or early October meant it was time to start gathering.

"All of these things were very important as food sources," says Haynes.

While the night sky had a very practical use for Aboriginal people, it was also valuable spiritually, as a means of reinforcing culture and community, says Haynes.

"[Objects in the sky] had stories attached to them to do with the values and morality of the community. So when constellations appeared, the stories were told and those lessons would be ingrained in the younger people."

"They were interested in the holistic view that it gave them of the world, that the heavens were as close to them as the surrounding earthly environment."

Keeping the Aboriginal night sky alive

Much of the richness of the Aboriginal night sky has already disappeared, says Norris.

"Some cultures have been so badly destroyed that it's impossible to see what's left, and you just have fragments."

Even the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land, who still perform initiation ceremonies to pass the knowledge on, are finding that Aboriginal astronomy doesn't fit easily into the 21st century world.

"It's disappearing very quickly," says Norris. "You have people who don't actually want to go to all the initiations, they'd rather go to uni."

Norris says the Yolngu people are addressing this problem, actively discussing within the community about how to keep their culture alive while still giving their children the opportunities they deserve.

Meanwhile, researchers are turning to journals and papers of early white Australians, such as explorers, missionaries and early anthropologists, as well as archaeological sites, to unearth long-forgotten records of Aboriginal astronomy.

For example, Norris and Hamacher are recording information from a rock site near Geelong in Victoria that seems to line up with the summer and winter solstices - a sort of Australian Stonehenge.

It's important to preserve these stories and artefacts as evidence of the interest the world's first astronomers had in the night sky, says Norris.

"We're all used to Aboriginal art, didgeridoo and dancing, and often people don't appreciate the depth and complexity and intellect that goes into [Aboriginal stories]."

Haynes agrees Aboriginal astronomy can help all Australians think differently about the world - in particular, to consider the intricate connections between living things and the environment.

"Ecology is a very important way of thinking about the world. In a way, that's what Aboriginal astronomy does, although it draws in the sky as well as the earth, so you have an interconnected universe."

Find out moreFor more information about the stories featured in this article please check out the following websites:

Australian Aboriginal Astronomy

Astronomy and Australia's Indigenous People

Tags: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-culture, aboriginal-language, astronomy-space, planets-and-asteroids, stars

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Astronomy didn't start with the Greeks. Thousands of years earlier Aboriginal people scanned the night sky, using its secrets to survive the Australian landscape. During the Dreaming, a blind man lived with his wife in the bush. Every day he told his wife to go out and hunt for emu eggs for him to eat.

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What is the connection for Aboriginal People to country/place?
What is their responsibility and how is this witnessed?

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Stage 2 Students can learn about the different language groups by jigsaw; choosing two language groups to research. This could be done in groups so a class chart can be complied. Similarities and differences discussed. other resources could be introduced.

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Stage 2 Students can learn about the different language groups by jigsaw; choosing two language groups to research. This could be done in groups so a class chart can be complied. Similarities and differences discussed. other resources could be introduced.

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https://www.commonground.org.au/learn/connection-to-country

https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/indigenous-culture/the-importance-of-land/

http://sharingculture.info/the-importance-of-land.html

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Reading this article and understanding the different terms for Family kinship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples'

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Kinship is at the heart of First Nations society. A person’s position in the kinship system establishes their relationship to others and to the universe, prescribing their responsibilities towards other people, the land and natural resources. Traditional kinship structures remain important in many F…

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At assembly, indigenous students say kya so the wider community hears a small piece of their language.

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Land

Land means different things to non-Indigenous and Aboriginal people. The latter have a spiritual, physical, social and cultural connection. Land management and care are vital for Aboriginal health and provide jobs. Many Aboriginal artworks tell about the connection between people and their land.

Wishing you knew more about Aboriginal culture? Search no more.

Get key foundational knowledge about Aboriginal culture in a fun and engaging way.

This is no ordinary resource: It includes a fictional story, quizzes, crosswords and even a treasure hunt.
Stop feeling bad about not knowing. Make it fun to know better.
Sold! Show me how No, thank you

What does land mean to Aboriginal people?

Key take-away: The land owns Aboriginal people and every aspect of their lives is connected to it.

Non-Indigenous people and land owners might consider land as something they own, a commodity to be bought and sold, an asset to make profit from, but also a means to make a living off it or simply 'home'. They 'develop' land, as if it was unfinished or raw.

For Aboriginal people the relationship is much deeper. Palyku woman Ambelin Kwaymullina explains:

"For Aboriginal peoples, country is much more than a place. Rock, tree, river, hill, animal, human - all were formed of the same substance by the Ancestors who continue to live in land, water, sky. Country is filled with relations speaking language and following Law, no matter whether the shape of that relation is human, rock, crow, wattle. Country is loved, needed, and cared for, and country loves, needs, and cares for her peoples in turn. Country is family, culture, identity. Country is self."

They have a profound spiritual connection to land. Aboriginal law and spirituality are intertwined with the land, the people and creation, and this forms their culture and sovereignty.

The health of land and water is central to their culture. Land is their mother, is steeped in their culture, but also gives them the responsibility to care for it. They "feel the pain of the shapes of life in country as pain to the self".

Aboriginal languages described intimately the land and the culture of the people who spoke them. That is why the removal of Aboriginal people from their ancestral lands has been so disastrous because the loss of country leads to loss of that language and culture.

Living in a city has its own challenges. "I often wonder how to connect with my country when I'm in the city," wonders Aboriginal dancer and choreographer Francis Rings. "For many Indigenous people it's a visceral connection; you look beyond the buildings and concrete and feel a sense of belonging," she says.

We cultivated our land, but in a way different from the white man. We endeavour to live with the land; they seemed to live off it.
- Tom Dystra, Aboriginal elder

Story: The Lost Girl

The girl had lost her way. She had wandered far from the Mothers, the Aunties and the Grandmothers, from the Fathers and the Uncles and the Grandfathers. She had hidden in the shadow of a rock, and fallen asleep while she waited for her brothers and sisters to find her. Now it was night, and no one answered when she called, and she could not find her way back to camp.

The girl wandered, alone. She grew thirsty, so she stopped by a waterhole to drink, and then hungry, so she picked some berries from a bush. Then the night grew colder, so she huddled beneath an overhanging rock, pressing herself into a hollow that had trapped the warm air of the day. Finally she saw a crow flying in the moonlight, flapping from tree to tree and calling 'Kaw! Kaw! Kaw!'. The girl followed the crow. She followed him through the trees and over the rocks and up the hills, until at last she saw the glow of her people's campfires in the distance.

The people laughed and cried at once to see that the girl was safe. They growled at her for her foolishness, and cuddled her, and gave her a place by the fire. Her little brother asked her if she had been afraid; but the girl said - 'How could I be frightened? I was with my Mother. When I was thirsty, she gave me water; when I was hungry, she fed me; when I was cold, she warmed me. And when I was lost, she showed me the way home.'

This story is available as a children's book of the same name.

"The land owns us"

Most texts use 'custodians' or 'owners' when referring to Aboriginal peoples' relationship to their lands. Aboriginal peoples' preference can be very personal - some reject being an owner, others accept the term.

It is tricky to find appropriate words to express their intimate relationship, as John Christophersen, deputy chair of the Northern Land Council, knows all too well.

"We're not custodians, we're not caretakers," he says. "We weren't looking after [the land] for somebody else to come and take [it] away. We were the owners. And occupiers. And custodians. And caretakers."

An Elder explains

Bob Randall, a Yankunytjatjara elder and traditional custodian of Uluru (Ayer's Rock), explains his connectedness to the land and how every living thing is connected to every other living thing.

3 different views of land

You wouldn't believe that these three quotes all refer to the same site at James Price Point on Western Australia's Kimberley coast:

Unremarkable beach.
- Colin Barnett, Premier, Western Australia

'Major' heritage site.
- WA Department of Aboriginal Sites ('major' is the Department's highest category)

Secret Aboriginal men's business site.
- Goolarabooloo Aboriginal people

Land sustains Aboriginal lives in every aspect, spiritually, physically, socially and culturally. The notion of landscape as a second skin is central to every Aboriginal art form, whether it be theatre, dance, music or painting.

Without their connection to land Aboriginal artists cannot create. "Living and working or creating in the land of their birth is vital for an artist's connection to country," says Edwina Circuitt, manager of the Warakurna Art Centre in Western Australia. Maintaining this connection is vital to pass on important stories to younger generations.

When walking on country, Aboriginal woman Melissa Lucashenko sees another dimension beyond the obvious. "We see the world that white people see but we are also seeing a mythic landscape at the same time, and an historic landscape," she says. "White people see Rotary parks and headlands; we see sacred sites. And we are looking at bush food." Aboriginal law and life originates in and is governed by the land. The connection to land gives Aboriginal people their identity and a sense of belonging. Ambelin Kwaymullina explains how law is the basis to everything we see today:

"The Ancestors taught the peoples the ways of living in country, and these ways were called Law. It was Law that sustained the web of relationships established by the Ancestors, and the web of relationships established by the Ancestors formed the pattern that was life itself. This pattern − being life - is everywhere; it exists in a single grain of sand, and is formed again by millions of grains coming together to make desert; it is in spinifex and crow and rock and human and every other shape of life; and is created anew when these shapes come together to form country; and when all country comes together to form a continent." Country was, and still is to many, a place of learning. "We know everything there; the trees, animals, plants," explains Djawa Timmy Burarrwanga, an Aboriginal Elder from Arnhem Land. "It's like a bush library for us, and often a bush university too. It's there that we study and understand, and have learnt about the land and the care of that land over thousands of years. We can read it like a GPS. It's been handed down by our ancestors."

But if we don't sustain the land, when we only take and not give back, we are destroying this library:

"It's just like a big book to us. This whole land. Now, over the years, people been taking - like tearing pages out of our book so there's bits and pieces getting lost... You know, if we take out the centre part of our country, you know we've taken out a whole guts of our book, we're tearing it right out... It would be hard for teaching to carry on after that point."

In the learning borne of country is the light that nourishes the world.
- Ambelin Kwaymullina, Aboriginal lawyer

The land is my backbone... I only stand straight, happy, proud and not ashamed about my colour because I still have land... I think of land as the history of my nation.
- Galarrwuy Yunipingu, Aboriginal musician

In white society, a person's home is a structure made of bricks or timber, but to our people our home was the land that we hunted and gathered on and held ceremony and gatherings.
- Nala Mansell-McKenna, Youth Worker, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre

Story: "Money don't mean nothing to me"

Jeffrey Lee could have become a millionaire. But he decided not to.

Jeffrey is a senior custodian of the land know as Koongarra. The French energy company Areva was seeking to activate its mineral lease to extract 14,000 tonnes of uranium from the site.

Instead of accepting millions in mining royalties Mr Lee approached the federal government with an offer to incorporate the land into the Kakadu National Park.

"When you dig 'em hole in that country, you're killing me," he told reporters. "Money don't mean nothing to me. Country is very important to me." For him it was more important to protect the sacred sites and burial sites in the country he is responsible for.

Jeffrey works as a ranger in the park and hopes the extension will bring more visitors to the area and create further employment for Aboriginal people.

"Traditional owners will be doing stuff on country," he said, adding that it was important to preserve land for future generations so non-Indigenous Australians could learn about Aboriginal culture.

The Koongarra deposit is only 3 kilometres from Nourlangie Rock, one of the most visited attractions in Kakadu.

Not all Aboriginal people oppose land development

With their intimate connection to land Aboriginal people could be perceived as strongly opposed to any land development.

The opposite is true. A national survey of Aboriginal land owners found in 2007 that although custodial responsibilities and land care were their first priority, nearly all land owners strongly supported economic development.

Their goal is ultimately self-sustainability, but a lack of financial support and the ability to access it prevent many to reach this goal.

Arguments in favour of development

Development brings benefits. When properly negotiated many development deals can bring benefits packages worth millions for Aboriginal people.

Grab an opportunity. Resource developers only have that much patience. If a development proposal is not approved within a certain time, they take their dollars elsewhere.

Get some whitefella money. Aboriginal people working on pastoral properties were often paid in food and clothes, or not at all. This experience is still fresh in their memory, so the prospect of getting some money "back" from the white man is tempting.

Develop Aboriginal future. Land development agreements can play a vital role in helping Aboriginal people determine the course of their future.

Arguments against development

Government, not land should provide for needs. No other Australians but Aboriginal people seem to have to give up their assets to receive bare essentials like housing, health, education.

Protect the land. Many developments impact the environment, pollute it or leave behind a mess of waste and destruction. Protecting the land and its sacred sites is more important than developing it.

Case study: The biggest native title deal in Australian history

In May 2011 traditional owners in Western Australia voted overwhelmingly to allow a gas plant be built at James Price Point, 60 kms north of Broome, in exchange for projects and benefits worth 1.5 billion.

The Goolarabooloo and Jabirr Jabirr people relinquished 1.5% of their native title interests in what WA Premier Colin Barnett described as "the most significant act of self-determination by Aboriginal people in the country".

The settlement then was the largest single native title settlement in Australia's history.

The package included cash, employment and housing benefits, education, training initiatives, support for rangers and contracting opportunities.

However, prior to the decision the Premier had started moves to compulsorily acquire the land if no compromise was found.

Spiritual connections

Their spiritual and cultural connection to the land obliges Aboriginal people to look after cultural sites which are 'living museums' of their ancestors and include

Dreaming sites,

archaeological sites,

water holes,

burial grounds.

Ceremonial activities help them renew or rebuild their spiritual connection to the land and the sacred sites they look after.

Today access to traditional lands can be gained when native title is recognised, but gaining this title is a lengthy, costly and complex process.

Non-Indigenous people have problems understanding the close relationship with land. When Aboriginal people try to educate about what the land means to them they often are "hit with this hurtful phrase 'the land doesn't belong to you Aboriginal people, it belongs to all of us." It is one of the "most hurtful comments" that they have to endure.

"Aboriginal cultural heritage places are an essential part of our library," explains Tasmanian Aboriginal activist Jim Everett. "[They hold] not only material evidence of our ancestors' lifestyles, influenced by ice ages, isolation, climate changes and eventually colonisation, but also a spiritual connection to country and the identity of place and spiritual belonging."

"Destruction is like ripping pages from our library books, it is like cutting the hearts of our people, cutting our identity and our cultural philosophy that sustains our spiritual connectedness to country."

Many Aboriginal people's connection to the land has been severed during the time of the Stolen Generations. They have lost their traditional connection. Aboriginal author and academic Stephen Hagan estimates that about 70% of the people he has spoken to do not have "the faintest idea" of their connection to country.

It's like the love for your mum and dad.
- Natasha Neidje, grand-daughter of Bill Neidje, about the love for the land, Kakadu National Park

If you belong there your country will find a way to call you back. Country needs to be remembered, needs to be listened to, needs to know that we can still speak its language.
- Aboriginal elder in TV series Double Trouble

Story: "He and the sea were one"

Jan Brown remembers her cousin, Edward 'Ted' Beresford Buchanan, and his relationship to the sea.

"He was the only man I knew who could go fishing with no bait. He would just pick up a crab, crack it open and throw it on his line and come home with a bag full of fish.

It was as if he and the sea were one. He could tell me where the fish were travelling. He could tell the tides by the moon, and he could tell when there was bad weather coming and warn all the fishing mates not to take their boats out because the storm was going to hit at, say, exactly 5.30pm."

Before Bed

Most nights before bed
I retreat outside
to savour the beauty
that soothes my mind.

Stars stain the sky
scattered all around
I peer into the darkness
observing every sound.

The call of an owl
the distant croak of a frog
the squeaking of a bandicoot
as it scurries past a log.

The symphony of insects
whose song fills the air
the whisper of a westerly
that flows through my hair.

A mother and her joey
briskly bound away
these sounds hold more meaning
than what words can ever say.

Moonshine protrudes
the sparse shifting cloud
a river of lilac
streams to the ground.

I bathe in this brilliance
a smile on my face
grateful to the spirits
for maintaining this place.

By Jonathan Hill, Old Erowal Bay, NSW. Read Aboriginal poems.

The Wood Wide Web
Trees communicate with each other through the air and via an underground trading system of roots, bacteria and fungal threads. This is known as the Wood Wide Web. Trees also care for other trees, notifying each other of threats or feeding sugars to an injured fellow tree.

An estimated 15 billion trees have been cleared in the Murray-Darling Basin alone since European settlement.

Homework: Lessons we need to learn

Experts say that Australia has not looked after its environment well enough since invasion and instead prioritised commerce.

What do you think is the number one cause of extinction? Is it habitat destruction or pollution?

Find statistics that support the claim that Australia is a leader in mammal extinctions.

Research Australian environmental legislation and find evidence that it only assesses a single development at one place at one time.

Views are slowly changing. One expert, Professor Lesley Hughes, a climate scientist working at Macquarie University, concludes:

"We need to stop seeing humans, jobs and the economy as separate from the environment. Without a healthy environment, we can't exist. It's our life support system."

Compare this view with Aboriginal peoples' view of land. Are there similarities?

What is still missing from this view?

If you had the power to tell the government what it needs to do, what would you tell them?

What does land mean to Aboriginal people?

Key take-away: The land owns Aboriginal people and every aspect of their lives is connected to it.

Non-Indigenous people and land owners might consider land as something they own, a commodity to be bought and sold, an asset to make profit from, but also a means to make a living off it or simply 'home'. They 'develop' land, as if it was unfinished or raw.

For Aboriginal people the relationship is much deeper. Palyku woman Ambelin Kwaymullina explains:

"For Aboriginal peoples, country is much more than a place. Rock, tree, river, hill, animal, human - all were formed of the same substance by the Ancestors who continue to live in land, water, sky. Country is filled with relations speaking language and following Law, no matter whether the shape of that relation is human, rock, crow, wattle. Country is loved, needed, and cared for, and country loves, needs, and cares for her peoples in turn. Country is family, culture, identity. Country is self."

They have a profound spiritual connection to land. Aboriginal law and spirituality are intertwined with the land, the people and creation, and this forms their culture and sovereignty.

The health of land and water is central to their culture. Land is their mother, is steeped in their culture, but also gives them the responsibility to care for it. They "feel the pain of the shapes of life in country as pain to the self".

Aboriginal languages described intimately the land and the culture of the people who spoke them. That is why the removal of Aboriginal people from their ancestral lands has been so disastrous because the loss of country leads to loss of that language and culture.

Living in a city has its own challenges. "I often wonder how to connect with my country when I'm in the city," wonders Aboriginal dancer and choreographer Francis Rings. "For many Indigenous people it's a visceral connection; you look beyond the buildings and concrete and feel a sense of belonging," she says.

We cultivated our land, but in a way different from the white man. We endeavour to live with the land; they seemed to live off it.
- Tom Dystra, Aboriginal elder

Story: The Lost Girl

The girl had lost her way. She had wandered far from the Mothers, the Aunties and the Grandmothers, from the Fathers and the Uncles and the Grandfathers. She had hidden in the shadow of a rock, and fallen asleep while she waited for her brothers and sisters to find her. Now it was night, and no one answered when she called, and she could not find her way back to camp.

The girl wandered, alone. She grew thirsty, so she stopped by a waterhole to drink, and then hungry, so she picked some berries from a bush. Then the night grew colder, so she huddled beneath an overhanging rock, pressing herself into a hollow that had trapped the warm air of the day. Finally she saw a crow flying in the moonlight, flapping from tree to tree and calling 'Kaw! Kaw! Kaw!'. The girl followed the crow. She followed him through the trees and over the rocks and up the hills, until at last she saw the glow of her people's campfires in the distance.

The people laughed and cried at once to see that the girl was safe. They growled at her for her foolishness, and cuddled her, and gave her a place by the fire. Her little brother asked her if she had been afraid; but the girl said - 'How could I be frightened? I was with my Mother. When I was thirsty, she gave me water; when I was hungry, she fed me; when I was cold, she warmed me. And when I was lost, she showed me the way home.'

This story is available as a children's book of the same name.

"The land owns us"

Most texts use 'custodians' or 'owners' when referring to Aboriginal peoples' relationship to their lands. Aboriginal peoples' preference can be very personal - some reject being an owner, others accept the term.

It is tricky to find appropriate words to express their intimate relationship, as John Christophersen, deputy chair of the Northern Land Council, knows all too well.

"We're not custodians, we're not caretakers," he says. "We weren't looking after [the land] for somebody else to come and take [it] away. We were the owners. And occupiers. And custodians. And caretakers."

An Elder explains

Bob Randall, a Yankunytjatjara elder and traditional custodian of Uluru (Ayer's Rock), explains his connectedness to the land and how every living thing is connected to every other living thing.

3 different views of land

You wouldn't believe that these three quotes all refer to the same site at James Price Point on Western Australia's Kimberley coast:

Unremarkable beach.
- Colin Barnett, Premier, Western Australia

'Major' heritage site.
- WA Department of Aboriginal Sites ('major' is the Department's highest category)

Secret Aboriginal men's business site.
- Goolarabooloo Aboriginal people

Land sustains Aboriginal lives in every aspect, spiritually, physically, socially and culturally. The notion of landscape as a second skin is central to every Aboriginal art form, whether it be theatre, dance, music or painting.

Without their connection to land Aboriginal artists cannot create. "Living and working or creating in the land of their birth is vital for an artist's connection to country," says Edwina Circuitt, manager of the Warakurna Art Centre in Western Australia. Maintaining this connection is vital to pass on important stories to younger generations.

When walking on country, Aboriginal woman Melissa Lucashenko sees another dimension beyond the obvious. "We see the world that white people see but we are also seeing a mythic landscape at the same time, and an historic landscape," she says. "White people see Rotary parks and headlands; we see sacred sites. And we are looking at bush food." Aboriginal law and life originates in and is governed by the land. The connection to land gives Aboriginal people their identity and a sense of belonging. Ambelin Kwaymullina explains how law is the basis to everything we see today:

"The Ancestors taught the peoples the ways of living in country, and these ways were called Law. It was Law that sustained the web of relationships established by the Ancestors, and the web of relationships established by the Ancestors formed the pattern that was life itself. This pattern − being life - is everywhere; it exists in a single grain of sand, and is formed again by millions of grains coming together to make desert; it is in spinifex and crow and rock and human and every other shape of life; and is created anew when these shapes come together to form country; and when all country comes together to form a continent." Country was, and still is to many, a place of learning. "We know everything there; the trees, animals, plants," explains Djawa Timmy Burarrwanga, an Aboriginal Elder from Arnhem Land. "It's like a bush library for us, and often a bush university too. It's there that we study and understand, and have learnt about the land and the care of that land over thousands of years. We can read it like a GPS. It's been handed down by our ancestors."

But if we don't sustain the land, when we only take and not give back, we are destroying this library:

"It's just like a big book to us. This whole land. Now, over the years, people been taking - like tearing pages out of our book so there's bits and pieces getting lost... You know, if we take out the centre part of our country, you know we've taken out a whole guts of our book, we're tearing it right out... It would be hard for teaching to carry on after that point."

In the learning borne of country is the light that nourishes the world.
- Ambelin Kwaymullina, Aboriginal lawyer

The land is my backbone... I only stand straight, happy, proud and not ashamed about my colour because I still have land... I think of land as the history of my nation.
- Galarrwuy Yunipingu, Aboriginal musician

In white society, a person's home is a structure made of bricks or timber, but to our people our home was the land that we hunted and gathered on and held ceremony and gatherings.
- Nala Mansell-McKenna, Youth Worker, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre

Story: "Money don't mean nothing to me"

Jeffrey Lee could have become a millionaire. But he decided not to.

Jeffrey is a senior custodian of the land know as Koongarra. The French energy company Areva was seeking to activate its mineral lease to extract 14,000 tonnes of uranium from the site.

Instead of accepting millions in mining royalties Mr Lee approached the federal government with an offer to incorporate the land into the Kakadu National Park.

"When you dig 'em hole in that country, you're killing me," he told reporters. "Money don't mean nothing to me. Country is very important to me." For him it was more important to protect the sacred sites and burial sites in the country he is responsible for.

Jeffrey works as a ranger in the park and hopes the extension will bring more visitors to the area and create further employment for Aboriginal people.

"Traditional owners will be doing stuff on country," he said, adding that it was important to preserve land for future generations so non-Indigenous Australians could learn about Aboriginal culture.

The Koongarra deposit is only 3 kilometres from Nourlangie Rock, one of the most visited attractions in Kakadu.

Not all Aboriginal people oppose land development

With their intimate connection to land Aboriginal people could be perceived as strongly opposed to any land development.

The opposite is true. A national survey of Aboriginal land owners found in 2007 that although custodial responsibilities and land care were their first priority, nearly all land owners strongly supported economic development.

Their goal is ultimately self-sustainability, but a lack of financial support and the ability to access it prevent many to reach this goal.

Arguments in favour of development

Development brings benefits. When properly negotiated many development deals can bring benefits packages worth millions for Aboriginal people.

Grab an opportunity. Resource developers only have that much patience. If a development proposal is not approved within a certain time, they take their dollars elsewhere.

Get some whitefella money. Aboriginal people working on pastoral properties were often paid in food and clothes, or not at all. This experience is still fresh in their memory, so the prospect of getting some money "back" from the white man is tempting.

Develop Aboriginal future. Land development agreements can play a vital role in helping Aboriginal people determine the course of their future.

Arguments against development

Government, not land should provide for needs. No other Australians but Aboriginal people seem to have to give up their assets to receive bare essentials like housing, health, education.

Protect the land. Many developments impact the environment, pollute it or leave behind a mess of waste and destruction. Protecting the land and its sacred sites is more important than developing it.

Case study: The biggest native title deal in Australian history

In May 2011 traditional owners in Western Australia voted overwhelmingly to allow a gas plant be built at James Price Point, 60 kms north of Broome, in exchange for projects and benefits worth 1.5 billion.

The Goolarabooloo and Jabirr Jabirr people relinquished 1.5% of their native title interests in what WA Premier Colin Barnett described as "the most significant act of self-determination by Aboriginal people in the country".

The settlement then was the largest single native title settlement in Australia's history.

The package included cash, employment and housing benefits, education, training initiatives, support for rangers and contracting opportunities.

However, prior to the decision the Premier had started moves to compulsorily acquire the land if no compromise was found.

Spiritual connections

Their spiritual and cultural connection to the land obliges Aboriginal people to look after cultural sites which are 'living museums' of their ancestors and include

Dreaming sites,

archaeological sites,

water holes,

burial grounds.

Ceremonial activities help them renew or rebuild their spiritual connection to the land and the sacred sites they look after.

Today access to traditional lands can be gained when native title is recognised, but gaining this title is a lengthy, costly and complex process.

Non-Indigenous people have problems understanding the close relationship with land. When Aboriginal people try to educate about what the land means to them they often are "hit with this hurtful phrase 'the land doesn't belong to you Aboriginal people, it belongs to all of us." It is one of the "most hurtful comments" that they have to endure.

"Aboriginal cultural heritage places are an essential part of our library," explains Tasmanian Aboriginal activist Jim Everett. "[They hold] not only material evidence of our ancestors' lifestyles, influenced by ice ages, isolation, climate changes and eventually colonisation, but also a spiritual connection to country and the identity of place and spiritual belonging."

"Destruction is like ripping pages from our library books, it is like cutting the hearts of our people, cutting our identity and our cultural philosophy that sustains our spiritual connectedness to country."

Many Aboriginal people's connection to the land has been severed during the time of the Stolen Generations. They have lost their traditional connection. Aboriginal author and academic Stephen Hagan estimates that about 70% of the people he has spoken to do not have "the faintest idea" of their connection to country.

It's like the love for your mum and dad.
- Natasha Neidje, grand-daughter of Bill Neidje, about the love for the land, Kakadu National Park

If you belong there your country will find a way to call you back. Country needs to be remembered, needs to be listened to, needs to know that we can still speak its language.
- Aboriginal elder in TV series Double Trouble

Story: "He and the sea were one"

Jan Brown remembers her cousin, Edward 'Ted' Beresford Buchanan, and his relationship to the sea.

"He was the only man I knew who could go fishing with no bait. He would just pick up a crab, crack it open and throw it on his line and come home with a bag full of fish.

It was as if he and the sea were one. He could tell me where the fish were travelling. He could tell the tides by the moon, and he could tell when there was bad weather coming and warn all the fishing mates not to take their boats out because the storm was going to hit at, say, exactly 5.30pm."

Before Bed

Most nights before bed
I retreat outside
to savour the beauty
that soothes my mind.

Stars stain the sky
scattered all around
I peer into the darkness
observing every sound.

The call of an owl
the distant croak of a frog
the squeaking of a bandicoot
as it scurries past a log.

The symphony of insects
whose song fills the air
the whisper of a westerly
that flows through my hair.

A mother and her joey
briskly bound away
these sounds hold more meaning
than what words can ever say.

Moonshine protrudes
the sparse shifting cloud
a river of lilac
streams to the ground.

I bathe in this brilliance
a smile on my face
grateful to the spirits
for maintaining this place.

By Jonathan Hill, Old Erowal Bay, NSW. Read Aboriginal poems.

The Wood Wide Web
Trees communicate with each other through the air and via an underground trading system of roots, bacteria and fungal threads. This is known as the Wood Wide Web. Trees also care for other trees, notifying each other of threats or feeding sugars to an injured fellow tree.

An estimated 15 billion trees have been cleared in the Murray-Darling Basin alone since European settlement.

Homework: Lessons we need to learn

Experts say that Australia has not looked after its environment well enough since invasion and instead prioritised commerce.

What do you think is the number one cause of extinction? Is it habitat destruction or pollution?

Find statistics that support the claim that Australia is a leader in mammal extinctions.

Research Australian environmental legislation and find evidence that it only assesses a single development at one place at one time.

Views are slowly changing. One expert, Professor Lesley Hughes, a climate scientist working at Macquarie University, concludes:

"We need to stop seeing humans, jobs and the economy as separate from the environment. Without a healthy environment, we can't exist. It's our life support system."

Compare this view with Aboriginal peoples' view of land. Are there similarities?

What is still missing from this view?

If you had the power to tell the government what it needs to do, what would you tell them?

Land management improves health
Research confirms that Aboriginal people caring for the land improve the health of both themselves and the land. Four land ...

Aboriginal land management & care
Modern First Nations land care methods are very different than traditional methods but address issues such as greenhouse gas ...

Cool burns: Key to Aboriginal fire management
When Aboriginal people use fire to manage country they consider a plethora of parameters. Read why cool fires are key and ...

Books

Sweet Water - Stolen Land

Sweet Water - Stolen Land interweaves the destinies of two families, black and white, in this powerful, cinematic frontier ...

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Land means different things to non-Indigenous and Aboriginal people. The latter have a spiritual, physical, social and cultural connection. Land management and care are vital for Aboriginal health and provide jobs. Many Aboriginal artworks tell about the connection between people and their land.

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Integration of Aboriginal historic practice for the care of the land and it relevance in today's fire prevention and biodiversity preservation.

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How Indigenous fire management practices could protect bushland | Australian Story

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Stage 1

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Wanju Wanju Kaartdijin Noongar - Welcome to Noongar Knowledge

Kaartdijin in Noongar means 'knowledge'. Noongar people have lived in the south-west of Western Australia for more than 45,000 years. The aim of the Kaartdijin website is to share the richness of our knowledge, culture and history in order to strengthen our community and promote wider understanding.

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Kaartdijin in Noongar means 'knowledge'. Noongar people have lived in the south-west of Western Australia for more than 45,000 years. The aim of the Kaartdijin website is to share the richness of our knowledge, culture and history in order to strengthen our community and promote wider understanding.

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Catching Teller Crow is a novel aimed at students aged 14+.  One of the central themes is about the strength and resilience Aboriginal get from knowledge and celebration of their ancestry and past.  Frequently, this is voiced as a power to "endure".

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A totally addictive ghost story, crime story and thriller, told half in prose and half in verse, from two of the most exciting Aboriginal voices in Australia.

WINNER: 2019 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Young Adult

Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since she died. Her dad, a detective, is the only one who can see and hear her - and he's drowning in grief. But now they have a mystery to solve together. Who is Isobel Catching, and what's her connection to the fire that killed a man? What happened to the people who haven't been seen since the fire? As Beth unravels the mystery, she finds a shocking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another.

Told in two unforgettable voices, this gripping novel interweaves themes of grief, colonial history, violence, love and family.

' Catching Teller Crow is an up-to-the-minute tale that goes straight to the heart of Australia's darkest history. Through poetry and story, with great sensitivity, the Kwaymullinas pick up and deal with subjects most authors in this country find too hot to touch. Terrible crimes lie at the centre here; viewed through the eyes of young women of unquenchable spirit, they can be approached, examined, and ultimately solved. This novel will turn gazes in the right direction, and make the caw of every crow more resonant.' MARGO LANAGAN

'A ghost story as well as a psychological thriller, Catching Teller Crow seamlessly weaves together the poetic and the everyday. A magnificent and life-giving novel.' JUSTINE LARBALESTIER

'A touching and original story about a dad who is learning how to grieve and a girl learning how to be dead. Together they work to solve the crimes denting holes in a small town. A richly informed novel by a deadly duo.' ELLEN VAN NEERVEN

'Distinctly Australian...A highly anticipated novel, Catching Teller Crow can be compared to Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones and E Lockhart's We Were Liars. This book will have a broad readership.' Karen Wyld, Books + Publishing, 5 STARS

'Combining taut, intricate thriller with ancient Indigenous tales and the darker side of Australian history, this is a deeply poignant and original novel.' The Guardian, UK

'An #ownvoices story that empowers its female heroines, giving them pride in their lineage and power in remembering.' STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews, US

'Superbly crafted.' The White Ravens list, International Youth Library Foundation, Germany

Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina are a brother-sister team of Aboriginal writers who come from the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. They've worked together on a number of short novels and picture books. Catching Teller Crow is their first joint young adult novel. They believe in the power of storytelling to create a more just world.

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A totally addictive ghost story, crime story and thriller, told half in prose and half in verse, from two of the most exciting Aboriginal voices in Australia. WINNER: 2019 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Young Adult Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since she died.

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Learning to integrate different language groups and terminology into Biology and animal classification.

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What does it mean to be culturally competent?’ by Rhonda Livingstone, ACECQA, 2014.
www.wehearyou.acecqa.gov.au/2014/07/10/what-does-it-mean-to-be-culturally-competent/

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Outdoor Education Assessment: Pick one Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person who you believe has made significant contributions to Australian history. Deconstruct and analyse the statement; ‘How the past continues to influence the present and the future’.

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Stage 3 How languages are implemented today ie re-introduction of indigenous language in schools, town names and meanings, (eg significance of 'up' in town names - Gnowangerup, Pingarup; land marks, regions in Australia. eg Uluru

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Stage 3 How languages are implemented today ie re-introduction of indigenous language in schools, town names and meanings, (eg significance of 'up' in town names - Gnowangerup, Pingarup; land marks, regions in Australia. eg Uluru

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Investigation of this could include a deconstruction of the varying nations; spending the time to identify the richness of culture across respective Aboringal & Torres Strait Islander groups, so that an awareness develops of the nuances between each.

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Learning to incorporate radiocarbon dating to provide knowledge that Aboriginal people existed here 60'000 years ago.

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Aboriginal History;
The Stolen Generation
Sorry Day

Uluru Statement of the Heart

Exploring the impact of colonisation, and the continued impact it has on Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders today.

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Education resources for schools teachers and students - ABC Education

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ABC Education has 5000+ educational games, videos and teaching resources for schools and students. Free Primary and Secondary resources covering history, science, English, maths and more

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How do we accomodate these ways at Iona in teaching and learning?

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How do we accomodate these ways at Iona in teaching and learning?

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Stage 2 In groups, students to research a dreamtime story from a particular kinship system which demonstrates connection to and responsibility towards other people, land and natural resources.

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Stage 2 In groups, students to research a dreamtime story from a particular kinship system which demonstrates connection to and responsibility towards other people, land and natural resources.

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https://dreamtime.net.au/dreaming/story-list/

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The images that I paint are spiritual images. I believe that the spirits have blessed me with a gift that I must share. This gift I have is in my paintings. They are fractal images, a representation of Chaos and Order, of Yin and Yang, of Sunrise and Sunset, of Hot and Cold, of Light and Dark, of Young and Old, of Black and White and of Right and Wrong. The colours speak of Rainbow Spirits, Woman and Man. This world and this universe is a living entity. This entity was divided into two, Male and Female.

It is the beginning of chaos, a simple formula yet all encompassing. The two starting points meet at a crossroad. Left for woman and right for man. They are images that transport you back in time and at the same time they entertain and effect the modern mind. The images are not meant to be full representations of sacred cultures, but a baby's view of the world. Painting each painting is like being inside a mind of a conceptual being as it creates itself with me being the channel, the artist with whom they enter this world.

With each painting comes a Certificate of Authenticity, the complete interpretation of the story, my profile and a photograph of me with the work.

My paintings are available through the galleries listed or directly from me.

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Aboriginal Dreamings & Stories - Walangari Karntawarra

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The images that I paint are spiritual images. I believe that the spirits have blessed me with a gift that I must share. This gift I have is in my paintings.

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Students can look at an example of  the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Community   and examine their connection  and knowledge to the land and the way in which they look after the land.

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Education resources for schools teachers and students - ABC Education

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ABC Education has 5000+ educational games, videos and teaching resources for schools and students. Free Primary and Secondary resources covering history, science, English, maths and more

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What were and are, the impacts of colonisation?
What were the ways in which Aboriginal people demonstrated resilience?

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Learning to integrate the diverse conditions and methods of Aboriginal People used to live, farm and hunt through various climatic factors of Australia.

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Warwick Thomson's film 'The Beach' forms a useful representation of a unqiue way of life.  To quote Thomson: "If you need to start looking after yourself, and you need to start getting stronger, land, for Aboriginal people, is obviously your first point of call".

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What are Aboriginal ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing?
What are the unique ways in which these are expressed by Aboriginal people?

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Noongar of Beeliar - Swan River

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Don't know how to identify the difference between the two significant groups.

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 Stage 2: Dance Case Study - Yr 11 - Bangarra/Stephen Page

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 Stage 2: Dance Case Study - Yr 11 - Bangarra/Stephen Page

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Students analyse Bangarra and Artistic Director Stephen Page; they analyse how Aboriginal culture is explored through dance (stories, cultural practice and dance technique). They explore the significant contribution Bangarra and Stephen Page has made to society.

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YEAR 11 ATAR TASK 8 Case Study 2 Bangarra

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Stage 2- Unit 2 French Yapa le petit aborigène d'Australie 

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Stage 2- Unit 2 French Yapa le petit aborigène d'Australie 

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A book related to Dreamtime, the everyday life in a village...

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Explain the special connection that Indigenous people have to the Swan River

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Stage 2
Look at the Uluru statement of the heart

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Re-telling of Drover's Wife by indigenous author

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Re-telling of Drover's Wife by indigenous author

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Full of fury and power, Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson is a brave reimagining of the Henry Lawson short story that has become an Australian classic. But it is so much more than just a retelling. It is a story of the harshness of the world we live in, especially the world Molly lived in in 1893. It’s a story of a woman’s strength and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

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Pollution of rivers can have spiritual impacts as well as ecological impacts

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Nyoongar calendar

Nyoongar country spans from Leeman in the northwest to beyond Cape Arid in the southeast, in the southwest of Australia. The Nyoongar calendar includes six seasons.

Birak

First summer
December-January

Makuru

Winter
June-July

Permission to use the Nyoongar seasonal calendar is granted by "South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council".
Research and content by Jason Barrow.

In the southwest of Australia, the Nyoongar seasonal calendar includes six different seasons in a yearly cycle

These are Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang. Each of the six seasons represents and explains the seasonal changes we see annually. The flowering of many different plants, the hibernation of reptiles and the moulting of swans are all helpful indicators that the seasons are changing.

The Nyoongar seasons can be long or short and are indicated by what is happening and changing around us rather than by dates on a calendar. Aligning Nyoongar seasons with Western calendar months can provide an overview of a typical year.

This six season calendar is extremely important to Nyoongar people, as it is a guide to what nature is doing at every stage of the year, as well as understanding respect for the land in relation to plant and animal fertility cycles and land and animal preservation.

For more information on Nyoongar culture visit

Disclaimer

Please be aware that there are different ways to spell Nyoongar (e.g. Nyungar, Nyoongar, Noongah) and Nyoongar words. Nyoongar language, like all traditional languages in Australia is an oral language. Throughout this calendar, we have maintained the spelling as Nyoongar, and we respectfully include all people in the southwest

Nyoongar seasons

Navigate back up to the calendar overview with the links at the end of each season.

Birak-season of the young
First summer: December-January
Mosaic burning time.

The lifestyle for the Nyoongar communities during Birak

Birak season sees the rains ease up and the warm weather really start to take hold. The afternoons are cooled by the sea breezes that abound from the southwest. This was the fire season, a time to burn the country in mosaic patterns.

An almost clockwork style of easterly winds in the morning and sea breezes in the afternoon, meant that traditionally this was the burning time of year for Nyoongar people.

They would burn the country in mosaic patterns for several reasons including fuel reduction, increasing the grazing pastures for some animals, to aid in seed germination for some plants and for ease of mobility across the country.

As for the animals, there are many fledglings now venturing out of nests, though some are still staying close to their parents. Reptiles are looking to shed their old skin for a new one.
Birak - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
With the rising temperatures and the decreasing rainfall, it's also time for the baby frogs to complete their transformation into adulthood.
Second summer: February-March
Bunuru-season of adolescence

Coast living and fishing time.

The lifestyle for the Nyoongar communities during Bunuru

Black swan by Luke Shelley

Bunuru is the hottest time of the year with little to no rain. Hot easterly winds continue with a cooling sea breeze most afternoons if you're close to the coast. Therefore, traditionally this was, and still is, a great time for living and fishing by the coast, rivers and estuaries. Because of this, freshwater foods and seafood made up major parts of the diet during this time of year.

Bunuru is also a time of the white flowers with lots of white flowering gums in full bloom, including Jarrah, Marri and Ghost Gums.

Another striking flower that is hard to go past is the female Zamia ( Macrozamia riedlei). Being much larger than that of its male counterpart, the huge cones emerge from the centre of the plant with masses of a cotton wool like substance.
Bunuru - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
As the hot, dry weather continues the seed upon the cones change from green to bright red, indicating they're ripening and becoming more attractive to animals, particularly the emu, that will eat the toxic fleshy outer.
Autumn: April-May
Djeran-season of adulthood

Ant season.
Time to repair housing and shelter.

The lifestyle for the Nyoongar communities during Djeran

Djeran season at last sees a break in the really hot weather. A key indicator of the change of season is the cool nights that once again bring a dewy presence for us to discover in the early mornings.

The winds have also changed, especially in their intensity, with light breezes being the go and generally swinging from southerly directions (i.e. southeast to southwest). Many flying ants can be seen cruising around in the light winds.

Djeran is a time of red flowers especially from the Red flowering gum ( Corimbia ficifolia), as well as the smaller and more petite flowers of the Summer Flame ( Beaufortia aestiva). As you travel around the Perth area, you may also notice the red 'rust' and seed cones forming on the male and female Sheoaks ( Allocasuarina fraseriana). Banksias start to display their flowers, ensuring that there are nectar food sources for the many small mammals and birds that rely upon them.
Djeran - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Traditionally, foods at this time of year included the seeds that had been collected and stored for treatment from the Zamia last season along with the root bulbs of the Yanget (Bullrushes), fresh water fish, frogs and turtles.
Winter: June-July
As the season progresses, the nights will become cooler and damper along with some cool and rainy days which also means that traditionally mia mias (houses or shelters) were now repaired and updated to make sure they were waterproofed and facing in the right direction in readiness for the deep wintery months to come.

Makuru-season of fertility

Time to move inland
More food available.

The lifestyle for the Nyoongar communities during Makuru

Raven by Luke Shelley

Makaru sees the coldest and wettest time of the year come into full swing. Traditionally, this was a good time of the year to move back inland from the coast as the winds turned to the west and south bringing the cold weather, rains and occasionally snow on the peaks of the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges.
Makuru - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
As the waterways and catchments started to fill, people were able to move about their country with ease and thus their food sources changed from sea, estuarine and lake foods to those of the lands in particular the grazing animals such as the kangaroo. As well as a food source, animals provided people with many other things. For example, 'Yongar' or kangaroos not only provided meat but also 'bookas' (animal skin cloaks that were used as the nights became much cooler). Nothing was left; even the bones and sinews were used in the manufacturing of bookas and for hunting tools such as spears.
First spring: August-September
Makuru is also a time for a lot of animals to be pairing up in preparation for breeding in the coming season. If you look carefully, you might now see pairs of 'Wardongs' (ravens) flying together. You also notice these pairs not making the usual 'ark ark arrrrrk' that these birds are well known for when flying solo. Upon the lakes and rivers of the Southwest, you'll also start to see a large influx of the Black Swan or 'Mali' as they too prepare to nest and breed.

Flowers that will start to emerge include the blues and purples of the Blueberry Lilly (Dianella revoluta) and the Purple Flags (Patersonia occidentalis). As the season comes to a close, you should also start to notice the white flowers of the weeping peppermint (Agonis flexuosa) as the blues start to make way for the white and cream flowers of Djilba.

Djilba-season of conception

Transitional time of year
Flowers starting

The lifestyle for the Nyoongar communities during Djilba

Djilba season is a time to look for the yellow and cream flowers starting en mass.

Djilba is a transitional time of the year, with some very cold and clear days combining with warmer, rainy and windy days mixing with the occasional sunny day or two.

This is the start of the massive flowering explosion that happens in the South West. This starts with the yellow flowering plants such as the Acacias. Also colours that are around at this time of year are creams, combined with some vivid and striking blues.
Djilba - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Traditionally, the main food sources included many of the land based grazing animals as in the season before. These included the Yongar (kangaroo), the Waitj (emu) and the Koomal (possum).
Second spring: October-November
As the days start to warm up, we start to see and hear the first of the new borns with their proud parent out and about providing them food, guiding them through foraging tasks and protecting their family units from much bigger animals, including people.

The woodland birds will still be nest bound, hence the swooping protective behavior of the Koolbardi (Magpie) starts to ramp up and if watched closely, so to do the Djidi Djidi (Willy Wag Tails) and the Chuck-a-luck (Wattle Birds) to name a couple of others.

As the season progresses and the temperatures continue to rise, we'll start to see the flower stalks of the Balgas (Grass Trees) emerging in preparation for the coming Kambarang season.

Kambarang-season of birth

Transformational time of year
Flowers abound

The lifestyle for the Nyoongar communities during Kambarang
Kambarang - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
During the Kambarang season, we see an abundance of colours and flowers exploding all around us. The yellows of many of the Acacias continue to abound, along with some of the Banksias and many other smaller delicate flowering plants including the Kangaroo Paw and Orchids. Also during this time the Balgas will also start to flower, especially if they've been burnt in the past year or closely shaved.

One of the most striking displays of flowers to be seen during this season will be the "Mooja", or Australian Christmas Tree ( Nuytsia). The bright orang/yellow flowers serve to signal the heat is on its way.

For the animals, October is also the most likely time of the year that you'll encounter a snake as the reptiles start to awaken from their hibernation and look to make the most of the warm to assist them in getting enough energy to look for food. It's also a time that many young families of birds will be singing out for their parents to feed them. Koolbardies (Magpies) will also be out protecting their nests and their babies.

Many things are undergoing transformation with the warm change in the weather.

Longer dry periods accompany a definite warming trend.

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The Indigenous meteorology of Australia, knowledge on weather, calendars and climate.

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What resources are available for me to learn to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives
in the mathematics curriculum.

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Stage 2 - Curtin University offer a free Noongar language course online via EDX - https://www.edx.org/course/noongar-language-and-culture

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Stage 2 - Curtin University offer a free Noongar language course online via EDX - https://www.edx.org/course/noongar-language-and-culture

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What's the difference between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander?
Why do we use the word 'Aboriginal' when referring to both groups?
Where are the Torres Strait Islands located?
What does mentioned diversity look like? Diversity in what?

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What does it mean to be a custodian?
How do we see that special connection to country?
What is involved in caring for country?

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How is spirituality understood?
How is creation explained?
Why do people get sick and how do they get better?
What stories are related to the land, sea, sky and waterways?

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What is the local language group of the land on which I live/work?
Where are the Aboriginal students in my class/school from?
What are the characteristics of these language groups and how are they the same/different?

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What does it mean to be Aboriginal?
How is knowledge constructed/transferred/held?
What knowledge is valued?
How do learners learn?
What 'ways of doing' are unique to Aboriginal peoples?

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What does the concept of country/place mean?
What does colonisation really mean?
What are the historical impacts on Aboriginal people?
What are the contemporary impacts on Aboriginal people?
How are they linked?
What stories of resilience come from this country/place?

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What is a nation?
What are the characteristics of a nation?
Who defines a nation?
How are the perimeters of a nation defined?
How do nations relate/interrelate?

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Stage 2 - Signage throughout the college could incorporate  Noongar language translations.  

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Stage 2 - Signage throughout the college could incorporate  Noongar language translations.  

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stage 2
Look at resources regarding ‘closing the gap’

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The MAST program
https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/approach2/indigenous_res_culture_and_maths.pdf

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Research Pre-colonial aboriginal people's agricultural practices

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A NEW WAY OF WORKING TOGETHER

Closing the Gap acknowledges the ongoing strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in sustaining the world's oldest living cultures.

Closing the Gap is underpinned by the belief that when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a genuine say in the design and delivery of policies, programs and services that affect them, better life outcomes are achieved. It also recognises that structural change in the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is needed to close the gap.

All Australian governments are working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their communities, organisations and businesses to implement the new National Agreement on Closing the Gap at the national, state and territory, and local levels.

This is an unprecedented shift in the way governments have previously worked to close the gap. It acknowledges that to close the gap, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must determine, drive and own the desired outcomes, alongside all governments.

This new way of working requires governments to build on the strong foundations Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have, through their deep connection to family, community and culture.

Implementation Plans have been developed and delivered by each party to the National Agreement, in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partners. They set out how policies and programs are aligned to the National Agreement and what actions will be taken to achieve the Priority Reforms and outcomes.

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Closing the Gap acknowledges the ongoing strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in sustaining the world’s oldest living cultures.

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Midnight Oil - Uluru Statement from the Heart (Read by First Nations collaborators)