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Recently published in 2020, ‘Family’ is a beautifully illustrated picture book capturing the deep connections that First Nations children have with their families and the Country.

This is the second book from the ‘Our Places’ series, written by Boonwurrung Elder Aunty Fay Muir and accomplished author Sue Lawson. Together, two Aboriginal authors highlight the importance of family as ‘heart and home’ to Indigenous Australians and the connections we have that make us a whole. Furthermore, the illustrations by Jasmine Seymour have captured this powerful message on every beautiful page.

The resource uses simple but meaningful language, showing readers that Family can be many things and can come in different aspects of Aboriginal cultures. Those include yarning old people, stories and songs, taking care of the land, connecting, and learning how to be to each other and the Country. The illustrations help readers to visualise diverse representations of Aboriginal people through figures of Elders, Aunties and Uncles, Aboriginal ancestors and Family members. Languages have been capitalised in a correct and respectful way to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Furthermore, readers can explore Australian beautiful land by viewing figures of ‘endless sky’, ‘twisting gum, rushing river, sighing sea’, and recognise some of the animals such as emus, and magpies.

Overall, ‘Family’ is a wonderful addition to every Early Childhood and Primary settings’ bookshelves. It gives educators a way of sharing with students about the connections of First Nations family and kinship systems, as well as having respect, a voice and a place for the Country as the foundation of the family. This practice is reflected in Standard 1.4, which states that educators need to have a broad understanding and teaching strategies for the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL] 2017)

The theme of reciprocity is a way for students to all come together and learn that family makes us whole while celebrating their differences and cultural identities. After reading this book, educators can elaborate on the illustration as a guide to discuss the important role families play in each other’s lives, such as ‘what does family mean to you?’, ‘what are things families do together to build stronger connections with one another and your culture?’. The learning outcome from this learning experience is that young children recognise features of the texts that are created by Aboriginal authors and learn about the importance of family in Indigenous life. Furthermore, children will have the opportunity to share personal responses to these texts and make connections to their own experiences (Australian Curriculum 2023).

Reference List
Australian Curriculum (2023) Cross-curriculum priorities: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL] (2017) National Professional Standards for Teachers, Melbourne: Educational Services Australia.

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Resource 2: Koorie Seasons and Astral calendars 

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Resource 2: Koorie Seasons and Astral calendars 

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This digital resource was produced in 2018, which is quite recent to support educators to incorporate Aboriginal perspectives in teaching and curriculum. Students would need to understand that in Australia, seasons can be looked at in many ways and the Koorie seasons vary in particular regions.

The resource is produced by the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated (VAEAI)- a community organisation to ensure that Aboriginal studies are a crucial part of the education of all students in Australia. While exploring this resource, we can see the incorporation of Aboriginal perspectives in various forms such as educational videos, illustrative images, articles, and websites with direct links for educators and students to navigate. Overall, the authors have produced an authentic resource to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the information.

The resource reflects the contemporary understanding of weather, seasons and the way different cultural groups describe them. Compared to the four-season calendar that students are familiar with, this resource represents the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s seasonal calendar with illustrative images of plants, animals and habitats.

The resource shows diverse knowledge of the country across various seasons in local areas, such as: ‘Seven Seasons of the Kulin people’ or ‘6-8 Seasons in Wurundjeri Country’. No Aboriginal or Torres Strait peoples are pictured. Only some photos of the animals, local maps, and the land are shared with permission from Traditional Owners.

Overall, this is an appropriate resource to teach students from Foundation to Level 2 about geography and their connections to the places. Specifically, they will learn that weather and seasons vary in different cultural groups, including how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples describe their seasonal calendar in various local areas (Victoria Curriculum 2023). Children recognise that seasons can be looked at in many ways; for example, indicating weather patterns such as summer and dry seasons, by exploring the place’s rainfall, temperature, sunshine, and wind. They also explore seasonal events and activities that happen at particular times of the year such as pre-spring is when the birds begin nesting.

To elaborate on this resource, educators can have children explore and redesign a Koorie seasonal calendar particular to where their early childhood setting is located. For example, children can join in creating seasonal displays that feature seasonal activities, plants, animals, and other signs found in the night sky. As such, this learning reflects the idea that ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintain a special connection to and responsibility for Country/Place’ (OI.2, Australian Curriculum 2023).

Reference List

Australian Curriculum (2023) Cross-curriculum priorities: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.

Victorian Curriculum F-10 (2023), Geography: Foundation to Level 2, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.

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This resource is an online article retrieved from ‘Kate Owen Gallery: Australian Aboriginal Art’, which was founded in 2007 to bring Aboriginal art and culture to the world. When navigating this website, educators can view wonderful collections of Aboriginal Australian art, as well as delve into articles about the art and culture.

To understand this resource, students would need to have some previous knowledge and recognition of Aboriginal symbols. For over 60,000 years, Aboriginal people have handed down their knowledge and traditions through generations by yarning and the use of commonly understood symbols. Exploring those symbols would help children in various ways, such as recognising Aboriginal symbols illustrated in picture books, and understanding and retelling a story based on the symbolic version.

The resource uses present-day language with a clear explanation of the meaning of common Australian Aboriginal symbols, which include people, meeting places, tracks, animals and abstract notions. For example, the symbols of animals are represented by ‘the tracks they leave behind’ with illustrations of kangaroos, goannas and emu tracks for children to view.

At the end of the article is a direct link to paintings of Aboriginal artists. Educators can make use of this resource to teach children Aboriginal art styles such as dot paintings and guide them to identify the symbols through those artworks.

By incorporating Aboriginal cultures and perspectives into programs, educators demonstrate teaching standard 2.4 that they understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages (AITSL 2017).

Overall, this is an appropriate resource to teach children the use of symbols as a mode to express and preserve important cultural stories of the First Nations people. Learning about symbols is a great way to understand the cultural aspects of Aboriginal people, particularly in the context of artwork and storytelling. For example, children can use symbols in artwork to tell or draw a story, practice drawing on various surfaces or construct symbols in 3-dimensional form. These activities link to learning outcome 2 of the Early Years Learning Framework [EYLF] 2019, which states that ‘Children are connected with and contribute to their world’. This is evident when children begin to recognise a diversity of cultural practices and respond to those with respect. Furthermore, learning outcome 5 ‘Children are effective communicators’ is demonstrated when children begin to understand how patterns and symbols work. This is evident, for instance, when children can recognise the Aboriginal symbols used in a picture book and understand the meaning and context behind using that symbol.

Reference List
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL] (2017) National Professional Standards for Teachers, Melbourne: Educational Services Australia.

Department of Education and Training [DET] (2019), Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early years learning  framework for Australia.

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In contemporary Indigenous Australian art, many artists use symbols as their way of telling a story. Varying from region to region, Indigenous symbols (often called iconography) are generally understood and form an important part of Australian Aboriginal art.

An important tool in transferring traditional knowledge

Australian Aboriginal people do not have their own written language. For over 60,000 years, knowledge and traditions have been handed down by word of mouth and the use of commonly understood symbols. Art, and the symbols used therein, has formed a essential and integral part of this.

Deceptively simple designs in a painting may have several levels of meaning. What is revealed depends on the audience. For example, children and people outside of the artists' community may be provided with the basic version of a story. Non-Indigenous people will be told even less.

Elders are the custodians of traditional knowledge and sometimes this information is represented in symbolic form. The special information needed to translate the full meaning of these symbols is passed on during ceremonies to the appropriate people.

Strict protocols are associated with the use of some Indigenous symbols. Some may be used only by men, and some only by women, while others are not to be seen outside of the community.

Multiplicity of Meanings

Each language group has symbols associated to their specific culture, region and Country. Although some Aboriginal painting symbols may look similar from group to group, the meaning may be quite different.

Nonetheless, the wide variety of the associated stories offer a fascinating insight into Aboriginal culture and life from that group's perspective.

The paintings produced by artists from the central and western deserts of Australia are often referred to as 'maps of Country'.

The source of their imagery is the traditional sand paintings, which were drawn in the sand by Elders. They are an important part of the ceremonial process and were used to instruct initiates about the Dreamings. Key sites, travelling routes and Dreamtime legends were all outlined using symbols.

Today, Aboriginal artists use these symbols in their paintings to pass down culture and traditions within a family.

Indigenous art from Arnhem Land uses sophisticated clan designs to signify a person's identity. The highly patterned designs are called miny'tji. They are made of fine lines applied in specific ochre colours.

Common Australian Indigenous Symbols

People

The curved U shape is a widely used icon in Aboriginal art and symbolises a person. It represents the shape that is left on the sand when a person sits cross legged.

The marks that are placed either side of the human symbol can define whether it represents a male or female. An Aboriginal woman symbol may have an oval shape and a straight line, which represent her coolamon bowl and digging stick. A man may be indicated by curved or straight lines, which are his spears and boomerangs.

Meeting Places

A circle or a set of concentric circles usually signify places where people come together. They can represent a meeting place, fireplace, campsite, a waterhole or a ceremonial site.

Waterholes are critical to survival in the desert and for that reason they feature frequently in Aboriginal art. They are often sacred places as ceremonies typically take place at sites where there is an abundant source of water. Accordingly, the symbol representing a ceremony and the symbol for a waterhole are often used interchangeably by artists.

Tracks

Parallel lines linking circles symbolise the journey route people take between a series of locations. Wavy lines represent water running between two sites.

Travel was controlled by recognizing features in the landscape which signified when food would be available. Sometimes artworks will show plant life at a particular point in its life cycle to provide guidance when to travel or go hunting. Small circles may represent any number of bush foods such as bush melon and bush tomatoes.

Animals

Some artists represent animals by the tracks they leave behind. The symbol for Kangaroo represents the mark left by its large back paws. Goannas leave distinctive tracks that include their feet and a winding tail-mark.

Abstract Notions: Symbols for Strength, Family, Love

While there are no universal Aboriginal symbols for life, love or strength, several artists have taken their complex cultural knowledge and created their own set of symbols to share their stories.

Clifford Possum made a range of striking motifs which represented his Dreaming stories. The spindle motif in his 'Man's Love Story' artworks has become synonymous as an Aboriginal symbol for love.

Kathleen Buzzacott's art regularly depicts families hunting for bush food in symbolic form and is a wonderful example of an Aboriginal symbol for family.
View Paintings
Related Topics:
Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories
10 Facts about Aboriginal Art
Aboriginal Dot Painting
Types of Aboriginal Art

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Aboriginal people use symbols (or iconography) to give meaning to the stories in their paintings. The meaning of the symbols can vary from region to region or according to the level of the story.

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‘Welcome to Country’ is a stunning picture book published in 2016 by two Indigenous Australian authors, Aunty Joy Murphy and illustrator Lisa Kennedy. In this beautifully written and illustrated picture book, the authors welcome readers to the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people of Victoria.

To understand this book, children need to be first taught that the boundaries of Aboriginal communities across Australia are defined by mountain ranges and waterways. Traditionally, each community has a special welcoming custom to invite travellers and neighbour communities to their Country. As such, this book emphasises the importance of ‘Welcoming to Country’ as an Aboriginal traditional practice, while explaining the connections to the environment and the community.

The book uses respectful but inviting language to deliver the importance of the act of welcoming. On the first and last page of the book is a greeting sentence in the Aboriginal language, followed by other pages with respectful acknowledgement to the spirits of ancestors and the land. Alongside that, the illustrations have captured the beauty of the people, landscape and unique characteristics of the lands of the Wurundjeri people. For example, readers can view illustrations of the people, eagle ‘Bunji’, rivers and mountains, animals and plants.

Overall, ‘Welcome to Country’ is a wonderful book to gain insight into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. Various messages give educators a way of sharing with students, such as ‘you must only take from this land what you can give back’, ‘we are part of the land, and the land is part of us’. The ideas taken from the book are great to start a discussion with students about the concept of connecting to and caring for the Country is everyone’s responsibility. This practice is reflected in Standard 2.4, which states that educators understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages (AITSL 2017).

Reference List
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL] (2017) National Professional Standards for Teachers, Melbourne: Educational Services Australia.