MetaFilter posts tagged with australia and aboriginal

12 Beautifully Animated Stories of the Aboriginal Dreamtime

Effigy2000 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:23:50 -0800

Dust Echoes is a series of twelve beautifully animated Aboriginal Australian dreamtime stories from Central Arnhem Land. The themes of these stories tell tales of love, loyalty, duty to country and aboriginal custom and law. Each story comes with descriptions on its history, what the story means and the text of the original story as told by local story tellers. Be sure to check out the downloads section for free desktop wallpapers and MP3 bonus tracks.

Healthy Country, Healthy People

ginky — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:54:22 -0800

An opinion piece in the Age states that the Northern Territory Government "plans to, in effect, close down indigenous outstations". Northern Territory government just announced the Working Future initiative. But this proposal to create 20 towns across the Territory may not be the healthiest option for indigenous Australians. The Healthy Country, Healthy People report concludes: "Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and health behaviours, multivariate regression revealed significant and substantial associations between caring for country and health outcomes...Conclusions: Greater Indigenous participation in caring for country activities is associated with significantly better health. Although the causal direction of these associations requires clarification, our findings suggest that investment in caring for country may be a means to foster sustainable economic development and gains for both ecological and Indigenous peoples’ health." Last year the AMJ published research about the Utopia community in the Territory that showed lower than expected morbidity and mortality for an Australian Aboriginal population. Jenny Macklin, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs states that "All Australians have the right to choose to live in extremely isolated regions but this inevitably involves a trade-off in access to both market and government provided services. Choosing to live in very remote areas must not be allowed to compromise the health, wellbeing and education of children." Some people suggest that certain aspects of government policy might be more about Uranium than the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. Previously on the blue

new old music

dhruva — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:34:05 -0800

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu doesn't speak much, but when he takes up his guitar, he sings, literally and figuratively. He sings of growing up in an Aboriginal community on a remote island off the north coast of Australia; he sings of coming to terms with being born blind; and he sings the creation stories of his Yolngu people.

Indigenous Australian Dance Ceremonies

Effigy2000 — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:40:27 -0800

Aboriginal dance (also known as a corroboree) helps indigenous Australians to interact with the Dreamtime through dance, music and costume. Many ceremonies act out events from the Dreamtime. Many of the ceremonies are sacred and people from outside a community are not permitted to participate or watch. However, there are many ceremonies we've been allowed to witness (here's one of my favourites). And there's plenty of related pictures available at the National Museum's website. Naturally, any indigenous Australians reading should note that these links may include images or names of people who may now be deceased.

Alan Dargin RIP

tellurian — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:42:40 -0800

Master of the 'didge' - after veins burst in his throat some years ago while he was playing the didgeridoo, doctors warned that continued playing would threaten his life. Admitted to hospital last week with bleeding on the brain, he died on Sunday from a brain haemorrhage. He was 40. YouTubes You have to spell and say my Aboriginal name Busker Teacher

Umm, sorry about the genocide

fourcheesemac — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:54:57 -0800

A Nation Apologizes. (Sydney Morning Herald.) Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children. Here the history told from an Aboriginal perspective in Archie Roach's great song "Took The Children Away." (Youtube) (song lyrics).

Towards equal citizenship for Aborigines.

Effigy2000 — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:54:15 -0800

Celebrations are being held in Australia's capital city Canberra today, to mark 40 years since the 1967 'YES' referendum which gave Aboriginal people the right to be counted in the census. This is the story of that referendum. [more inside]

Stories of The Dreaming As Told Through Sight, Sound and Art.

Effigy2000 — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 17:25:38 -0800

The Dreaming (arguably better known as 'The Dreamtime') is more than just the story of how the world was created as told by Aboriginal Australians. It is also the basis for their way of life and death, their source of power in life and it tells of the life and influence of their ancestors on their culture. It was so important to Aboriginal Australians in the time before the white invasion of Australia that it was the one commonly held belief amongst a culture that consisted of over 500 different tribes (discussion of Dreamtime beliefs here). Thought to be the oldest continuously maintained cultural history on Earth, it is often presented as a series of inter-related stories explaining Aboriginal Australian origins and culture, such as how the Australian landscape was created or how the Mimi spirits taught them how to paint these stories on the walls of caves more than 40,000 years ago.

And what better way to learn of several of the many different Dreamtime stories than to listen and watch them being told by Aboriginal Australians elders themselves? And if that isn't enough Dreamtime mythology for you, here's some links to various sites which allow you to view Aboriginal rock art to see how these stories were translated into a form of artistic expression which is now five times older than the Egyptian Pyramids themselves.

Aboriginal Australia

jefgodesky — Wed, 31 May 2006 14:07:10 -0800

Aboriginal Australia — AIATSIS's map of aboriginal tribes. For some context, AusAnthrop's " Tribal and language database" can be quite useful. (via Savage Minds).

A Long walk for justice.

lumpenprole — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 06:47:53 -0800

Abc Australia reports on Michael Long World Football (Soccer) Star and Australian Aborigine Michael Long meets with the Aussie PM after drawing attention by walking from Melbourne to Canberra. As a child of the Aboriginal lost generation he is seeking a voice for his people in the government. Make what you will of the issue, this is a brave, brave man.

holloway — Sun, 27 Jan 2002 21:58:58 -0800

Aboriginal leader asks court to spear policeman to death. Ahahah ahah hah ah ahh HAHAHAA (more inside)