Australian Aboriginal culture facts for kids
Australian Aboriginal culture is all about the ways of life, beliefs, and traditions of Australia's First Peoples. It's deeply connected to the Dreamtime, which is a special time of creation and also a present-day reality. Aboriginal people have a strong respect for the land and share their knowledge through amazing oral traditions.
There are over 300 different languages and many unique groups, each with their own culture. For thousands of years, Aboriginal art has included ancient rock paintings and modern watercolour works. Aboriginal music also has special instruments, like the didgeridoo. Before Europeans arrived, Aboriginal people didn't use writing, but they had many languages, including sign languages.
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Oral Tradition
Aboriginal people pass down their cultural traditions, beliefs, and historical events through oral tradition. This means stories are told and remembered, often for thousands of years!
For example, a study in 2020 found new evidence about the Budj Bim and Tower Hill volcanoes. They erupted at least 34,000 years ago. This discovery supports the very old stories of the Gunditjmara people about volcanic eruptions. It shows how ancient their oral traditions are. An axe found under volcanic ash also proved that people lived in the area before the Tower Hill eruption.
Art and Crafts
Aboriginal art has a history that goes back thousands of years. Today, artists still create amazing works using both new and old materials. Aboriginal art is famous around the world.
Modern Aboriginal art styles include the watercolour paintings of Albert Namatjira and the "dot art" of the Papunya Tula movement. Painting is a big way for some communities, like Yuendumu, to earn money.
Basket weaving has been a traditional craft for women across Australia for centuries.
Astronomy
For many Aboriginal cultures, the night sky is full of stories and laws. They can trace Songlines (paths of creation stories) through the sky and the land. The stars and sky are very important in their cultural stories and songs.
Beliefs
Aboriginal people's stories and spiritual values are based on respecting the land and believing in the Dreamtime. The Dreaming is seen as both the time when the world was created and a living reality today. It explains how the world came to be, with ancestral beings creating places and teaching laws. Each story is a "Dreaming," and the whole continent is covered by these stories, also known as songlines.
There are many different Aboriginal groups, each with their own culture, beliefs, and language.
- The Rainbow Serpent is a very important ancestral being for many Aboriginal people.
- Baiame or Bunjil are seen as main creator-spirits in South-East Australia.
- Dingo Dreaming is a key ancestor in the central parts of Australia. Dingo created songlines that cross the continent.
- The Yowie and Bunyip come from Aboriginal mythology.
Sacred Sites
Some places are very special and sacred to Aboriginal people. This is because they are important in the creation stories and beliefs of the local community.
Customary Law
In Aboriginal culture, "law" and "lore" are often used together. "Law" was a term brought by the British. "Lore" refers to the customs and stories from the Dreamtime. These have been passed down for countless generations through songlines, stories, and dance. From childhood, people learn lore, which teaches them how to interact with the land, their family, and their community.
Kurdaitcha
A Kurdaitcha man (also spelled kurdaitcha, gadaidja, cadiche, kadaitcha, or karadji) is a type of shaman among the Arrernte people in Central Australia. A Kurdaitcha man might be asked to punish someone who has broken traditional laws. The word can also refer to a ritual where the Kurdaitcha man uses a "bone-pointing" method.
People believed that if a bone was pointed at someone, it could make them very sick or even cause them to lose their will to live. This belief is so strong that hospitals in Australia sometimes train staff to help people who believe they have been "cursed" by bad spirits or bone-pointing.
Arnhem Land
The complete system of Yolŋu customary law is called the "Madayin." It includes the rights and duties of the law's owners, or citizens (rom watangu walal, or simply rom). Madayin covers the rom, as well as special objects, oral rules, names, song cycles, and sacred places used to teach and keep the law alive. Rom can be thought of as "law" or "culture," but it means even more. It's described as the main law of the land, which is "lasting and alive."
This law covers who owns land and water, how resources are used, and includes social, religious, and ethical rules. It even has laws for looking after plants and animals. Following Madayin creates a state of balance, peace, and true justice, called Magaya.
Rom also includes traditional skills like basket-weaving and mat-making. Stories teach history, hunting, making spears, gathering food, building shelters, and caring for others.
Ceremonies and Sacred Objects
Aboriginal ceremonies have always been a vital part of Aboriginal culture. They are held often for many reasons, all based on spiritual beliefs and community practices. These include Dreamtime stories, secret events at sacred sites, homecomings, births, and deaths. They are still very important in the lives of Aboriginal people.
Ceremonies are performed to ensure plenty of food, to educate children, and to pass on the lore, spiritual beliefs, and survival skills. Some ceremonies are a rite of passage for young people as they become adults. Other ceremonies are for marriage, death, or burial. Most include dance, song, rituals, and detailed body decoration or costumes. Ancient Aboriginal rock art shows that these traditions continue today.
Ceremonies bring everyone in the group together to keep spiritual and cultural beliefs alive. Certain stories belong to specific groups. In some cases, dances, body decoration, and symbols in a ceremony are only shared within that group. Men and women have different roles. Both are guardians of sacred sites and spiritual knowledge, ensuring practices are passed on. Participation in ceremonies can depend on age, family group, or language group, but some are open to everyone.
Access to songs and dances for a ceremony belongs to a defined group. Some songs may be shared outside the community, but others are never shared. There is a wide range of songs, dances, music, body art, costumes, and symbols. These are all designed to connect people with the spiritual world of their ancestors. Ceremonies help keep Aboriginal identity strong, as well as the group's connection to country and family.
Examples of Ceremonies
- A bora is a special ceremony where young boys become men.
- The bunya feast was held in Queensland. Many different groups would meet to discuss important issues about the environment, social relationships, politics, and Dreamtime lore. They would feast and share dance ceremonies. Conflicts were often settled at this event.
- Burial practices are different for each group. In parts of Northern Australia, there are two stages of burial. After a body is placed on a platform until only bones remain, the bones are collected, painted, and then placed in different ways.
- A corroboree is a ceremonial meeting for Aboriginal people. It connects them with the Dreaming and includes song and dance. Corroborees vary between groups and can be sacred and private.
- An ilma is a public ceremony or performance of the Bardi people. It also refers to the objects used in these ceremonies.
- The inma is a cultural ceremony of Aṉangu women in Central Australia. It involves song and dance and tells stories from the tjukurrpa (Ancestral Law, or Dreamtime). The ceremony can be joyful and serious, lasting for hours.
- The Mamurrng is a ceremony in Arnhem Land where two different language communities meet for trade and diplomacy.
- The Morning Star Ceremony is a ceremony for the dead of the Dhuwa moiety.
- The ngarra is a major ritual performed in north-east Arnhem Land. It was started by the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolŋu people.
- A Pukamani (or Pukumani) is a burial ceremony of the Tiwi Islands. It lasts for several days around the grave of the person who has passed away, about six months after their death. Special funerary posts called tutini are put up around the grave, and dancers sing and dance around them.
- The ROM (or Rom) ceremony involves songs, dances, and artefacts. It includes giving decorated totem poles to other communities to build or rebuild friendships. This is a form of diplomacy. Making and decorating the poles can take weeks, with many sessions of song and dance. The ceremony ends with gifts being exchanged.
- A smoking ceremony is a cleansing ritual performed on special occasions.
- Tjurunga (or churinga) are objects that are very important for religious reasons to Arrernte groups in Central Australia.
- Walkabout is a journey often misunderstood. It is a rite of passage journey during adolescence.
- A welcome to country is a ritual now performed at many events in Australia. It highlights the cultural importance of the area to a specific Aboriginal group. A recognized elder from the group must perform the welcome. It is sometimes joined by a smoking ceremony, music, or dance.
Musical Instruments and Other Objects
The didgeridoo started in northern Australia but is now used everywhere. It was traditionally played only by men. Clapsticks, seed rattles, and objects like rocks or wood pieces are also used. In some areas, women play a drum made from goanna, snake, kangaroo, or emu skin.
Cuisine
Native animal foods include kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs, and crocodile. Plant foods include fruits like quandong and kutjera, spices like lemon myrtle, and vegetables like warrigal greens and various native yams. Since the 1970s, many non-Indigenous Australians have recognized the value of native foods, and the bushfood industry has grown a lot.
Fire Practices
Cultural burning is a practice of regularly and carefully burning patches of plants. This is done in Central to Northern Australia to help with hunting, to reduce big bushfires, and to change the types of plant and animal species in an area. This "fire-stick farming" or "burning off" reduces the amount of fuel for a possible large bushfire. It also makes the ground more fertile and increases young plants, providing more food for kangaroos and other animals hunted for meat. Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory see this as good land management and "looking after the land."
Language
The Australian Aboriginal languages include about 290–363 languages. These belong to an estimated 28 language families and isolates. They are spoken by Aboriginal Australians on mainland Australia and nearby islands. The connections between these languages are still being studied. Many Aboriginal cultures also have or used to have a manually coded language, which is a signed version of their spoken language. This was often used because of speech taboos between certain relatives or at specific times, like during mourning periods or initiation ceremonies.
Avoidance speech in Australian Aboriginal languages is linked to complex family systems where certain relatives are considered taboo. Avoidance rules differ between tribes. Usually, there is an avoidance relationship between a man and his mother-in-law, and sometimes between any person and their same-sex parent-in-law.
Australian Aboriginal English (AAE) is a type of Australian English spoken by many Indigenous Australians. Australian Kriol is an English-based creole language that grew from a pidgin used when Europeans first arrived. This pidgin died out in most parts of the country, except in the Northern Territory, where about 30,000 people still speak Kriol. It is different from Torres Strait Creole.
Literature
When Europeans first arrived, Indigenous Australians did not have a writing system. So, the first written accounts of Aboriginal people come from the journals of early European explorers.
A letter written by Bennelong in 1796 to Governor Arthur Phillip is the first known work written in English by an Aboriginal person.
David Unaipon (1872–1967) wrote the first accounts of Aboriginal mythology by an Aboriginal person, called Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines (1924–25). He was the first Aboriginal author to have a book published.
The Yirrkala bark petitions of 1963 were the first traditional Aboriginal document recognized by the Australian Parliament.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920–1993) was a famous Aboriginal poet, writer, and activist. She published the first Aboriginal book of poems, We Are Going (1964).
Sally Morgan's 1987 memoir My Place helped bring Indigenous stories to a wider audience.
Leading Aboriginal activists like Marcia Langton and Noel Pearson are important modern writers. Other Indigenous Australian voices include the playwright Jack Davis and Kevin Gilbert.
Writers who became famous in the 21st century include Kim Scott, Alexis Wright, Tara June Winch, and Anita Heiss. Indigenous authors have won Australia's top literary award, the Miles Franklin Award.
Medicine
Traditional healers (called Ngangkari in parts of Central Australia) are highly respected men and women. They act as healers or doctors and also look after important Dreamtime stories.
Music
Aboriginal people have created unique musical instruments and folk music styles. The didgeridoo is often seen as the national instrument. However, it was traditionally played by men in Northern Australia.
It might have been used in the Kakadu region for 1500 years. Clapping sticks are probably more widely used, especially because they help keep rhythm. More recently, Aboriginal musicians have started playing rock and roll, hip hop, and reggae. Bands like No Fixed Address and Yothu Yindi were among the first Aboriginal bands to become popular with all Australians.
In 1997, the government set up the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA). Its goal is to protect and support Aboriginal music and talent, from traditional to modern styles.
Sport and Games
Woggabaliri is a traditional Indigenous Australian "co-operative kicking volley game." The Indigenous people in and near New South Wales played this ball game. The ball was usually made of possum fur. Four to six players would stand in a circle and try to keep the ball in the air by kicking it.
The Djab Wurrung and Jardwadjali people of western Victoria played a traditional game called Marn Grook. It was a type of football played with a possum hide ball. Some people believe this game inspired Tom Wills, who helped create Australian rules football.
Similarities between Marn Grook and Australian football include jumping to catch the ball, known as a "mark." The word "mark" in Australian rules football might even come from the Marn Grook word mumarki, meaning "catch."
Many Indigenous players are in professional AFL (Australian Football League) teams. About one in ten players were of Indigenous origin in 2007. The contribution of Aboriginal people to the game is celebrated with the annual AFL "Dreamtime at the 'G" match. This game is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between the Essendon and Richmond football clubs. Their team colours combine to form the colours of the Aboriginal flag.
The Aboriginal All-Stars is an all-Aboriginal football team that plays against current AFL teams in pre-season games. The Clontarf Foundation helps develop Aboriginal football talent. The Tiwi Bombers were the first all-Aboriginal team to play in a major Australian competition.
Coreeda is a style of folk wrestling in Australia. It is based on Aboriginal combat sports from before the 19th century. It combines movements from the traditional kangaroo dance as a warm-up. The wrestling takes place in a yellow circle with black and red borders, similar to the Aboriginal flag.
A popular children's game in some parts of Australia is weet weet. This involves throwing a play stick. The winner is the one who throws the weet weet the furthest or most accurately.
See Also
- Australian Aboriginal artefacts
- Black Theatre (Sydney)
- Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
- Country (identity)
- Indigenous Australian art
- Indigenous Australian literature
- Jindyworobak Movement, a white Australian artistic movement inspired by Aboriginal culture.
- Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures
- Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages – a digital archive of literature in endangered languages of the Northern Territory
- Stone tool#Aboriginal Australian use
- Yaama Ngunna Baaka, 2019 festival consisting of a series of corroborees
