During the
times of the British Empire, Australia was considered one of the “white”
colonies (they were called "white" because most of the inhabitants were white colonists who had left the British Isles to start a new life in the new territories) together with South Africa, Canada and New Zealand. Today,
approximately nine-tenths of Australian population are of European ancestry as
the result of British and Irish immigrants. However, Australian population is
also composed of Italians and, more recently, of people of Asian origin (China,
the Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong).
The origins
of this melting pot are found in immigration, but Australia already had a
native population of its own, the Australian Aborigines, who had inhabitant the
land for 50,000 years. In spite of this fact, Australia was declared Terra Nullius (no man’s land in
English), with the consequence that Aboriginals were oppressed and persecuted
almost to extinction, and their lands were taken. Unfortunately, not until the 1970s
did negotiations started between the Australian government and the Aboriginals to
return these lands and recognize the dispossession which had occurred.
White
colonizers believed in their superiority over Aboriginals, which explains the
policy of assimilation they implemented. Not only were their lands taken away,
but also their children. Between 1910 and 1970 many children were removed from
their families by force and sent to institutions were they had to assimilate to
English white culture and language. This episode of Australian history is
known today as the Stolen Generations.
If you wan to know more about Australian Aboriginals watch the following video. If not, keep reading and learn about Aboriginal culture.
As part of
the reconciliation, Aboriginal culture has been promoted in recent years. One
of the most known traditions of Aboriginal people is their belief in The Dreaming or Dreamtime, the time where the Aboriginals’ ancestors wandered the
land, and, for them, the origin of the world. These ancestors were no ordinary
people, but they were very powerful, and all of them were associated with an
animal or a plant, hence the importance given by the Aboriginal community to
nature. Indeed, each tribe has a totemic
animal to which they feel attached to.
Their
devotion for the land has influenced their traditional art, with many of their
beliefs about the environment and the Dreaming expressed through paintings and
mosaics, and symbols within these artworks. Most of their traditional songs
also make reference to the Dreaming.
Aboriginal
art culture is also known for its music, with the Didgeridoo, as the most recognizable
instrument. A wind instrument, it is made from limbs and tree trunks howolled out
by termites, and it is usually decorated with Aboriginal symbols.
Australian
Aboriginal literature was, at the beginning, mainly oral, which explains why
the whitesettlers believed in the inferiority of these people. Literature was
passed from generation to generation orally in the forms of songs, stories, and
myths. Its function today continues to be mostly ceremonial, as it is mostly referred to the
Dreaming and the relation between humans and the landscape. Therefore, the
chief subject is the land, its creation, and the travels of the Aboriginal
people.
Contemporary
Aboriginal literature also exists in its written form, with Oodgeroo Noonuccal,
Jack Davis or Sally Morgan as the most representative writers.
Sources:
- Encyclopedia Britannica 2006.
- http://aboriginalart.com.au/gallery/traditional.html
- http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/the-stolen-generations
- http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/orgs/car/docrec/policy/brief/terran.htm
Sources:
- Encyclopedia Britannica 2006.
- http://aboriginalart.com.au/gallery/traditional.html
- http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/the-stolen-generations
- http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/orgs/car/docrec/policy/brief/terran.htm
