Being involved with Australian culture means being involved in one way or another with First Nations arts, culture and languages – it’s such a central and dynamic part of the cultural landscape. First Nations culture has significance for First Nations communities, but it also has powerful implications for Australian culture generally. NAIDOC Week is a central and continuing part of that cultural landscape.
This year NAIDOC week
coincides with the first week of DESIGN Canberra, so two of my major
interests come together at the same time. NAIDOC Week is an annual
series of events that celebrates the history, culture and achievements
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The name originally
derives from the National Aborigines Day Observance Committee that
organised the earliest celebrations, with ‘Islander’ added in the early
1990s to encompass Torres Strait Islanders. The NAIDOC theme this year
is ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’, to recognise that First Nations people
have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.
Today is the focus of many overlapping anniversaries – NAIDOC Week, DESIGN Canberra and the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It was a time when humanity stood at the eleventh hour, a moment that recognises a bright but vain hope at the end of World War I that the world might have seen the war to end all wars. It is especially significant in NAIDOC Week because so many First Nations volunteers joined the armed forces. It's a good moment to look back and take stock of where Australia has managed to come in its relatively short history as a global nation and to think forward to what we might be able to become.
Musician and songwriter, Jessie Lloyd, lights up the room with Mission Songs, at the National Folk Festival in 2017.
All of us immigrants, both new and older arrivals, and their descendants are still only part way through making our home here. We haven’t yet figured out how to navigate this land properly. When I was at school we learned about so many doomed explorers misinterpreting the country, unable to find their way. Burke and Wills were the perfect example, undone because they were incapable of learning simple lessons offered by the local people on how to make edible the vast supplies of food surrounding them. They starved to death in a field of plenty. Is this our future, too?
What is striking is how much valuable traditional knowledge had been passed on, from as far back as the 19th century, to those interested in listening. Will we also be determined to ignore offers of expertise about how to live on this continent as we try to absorb knowledge which could save us? Or won’t we know how to do so successfully because we don’t really know how to learn new things, no matter how old they might be?
Birth of the Aboriginal flag
First Nations culture also has a personal significance for me because I have had some involvement since my much younger days as a student. I still remember the Aboriginal Tent Embassy set up in North Adelaide when the main Tent Embassy was originally established in Canberra.
Many years later, by a strange
twist of fate, I found myself managing Australian Government programs
that supported First Nations communities to maintain their culture and
languages, after many decades of neglect and active suppression by
Government. I had been involved with community arts in South Australia,
including working as Community Arts Officer at Noarlunga Council South
of Adelaide for several years. Coming to the Indigenous cultural
programs reminded me of the spirit of those tremendous years.
DESIGN Canberra
In the DESIGN Canberra program this year there are a string of First
Nations artists. These include Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello, Krystal
Hurst, James Tylor, Samantha Rich, Kayannie Denigan, Jenna Lee, Eunice
Napanangka Jack, Mavis Nampitjinpa Marks, Keturah Zimran, Daniel Boyd,
Samuel Radoll, Beverly Smith, Sophi Suttor, Rozlyn de Bussey, Mackenzie
Saddler, Paul House and Ikuntji Artists. I expect this presence will
grow even stronger in future years.
Over the last ten years,
amongst my main body of some 195 articles I have published a range of
articles about the importance of aspects of First Nations culture for
Australia. Here I’ve listed 24 articles that touch on aspects of First
Nations culture and give some sense of the breadth and importance of the
area for Australians generally.
When one door closes, a window opens – moving on from another failed referendum 21 Oct 2023
‘Looking
forward from the failed referendum on The Voice to Parliament, everyone
seems to be talking about how to find some positives after the result.
It’s definitely time for a lot of thinking and rethinking. As I digest
the result, I’m thinking about what it all means. There's quite a bit to
say and it’s definitely time for thoughtful length rather than the
slogans and catch phrases we’ve endured over the last few months.
Despite the setback, lots of change is still happening. From my personal
experience working alongside the community languages activists for some
15 years as they laboured to revive and maintain their First Nations
languages there are many specific examples of positive changes. I can't
see a failed referendum stopping their work. Their positive and
practical spirit had a deep impact on me. These were people building an
Australia for the future, drawing on the best parts of the past and
overcoming the worst. They were some of the most impressive people I
have ever met. I still remain close to many of them and I will remember
them to my dying day’, When one door closes, a window opens – moving on from another failed referendum.
The Asian Century was underway long before the British arrived 6 Feb 2022
‘We
are all used to being astounded as we see growing evidence of how
widespread contact and trade was across the breadth of the ancient
European world and with worlds far beyond. The Romans and the Vikings
and many after them all roamed far and wide. This is the stuff of a
hundred television documentaries that show just how interconnected the
ancient world was. Connection, not isolation, has always been the norm.
Seaways were bridges, not barriers – a way to bring people together, not
divide them. Now important archaeological work confirms just how
widespread that cross-cultural, international network was across the
whole of Northern Australia, long before the British arrived’, The Asian Century was underway long before the British arrived.
‘The end of the year – after a bumper 24 months of disasters – is a time of closure. Many things have changed and many more will change – hopefully mainly for the better. In particular people who have made major contributions to Australia creativity and culture are moving on from their roles to take up new interests or interests they have been too busy to pursue. This is particularly the case in the arena of First Nations languages, where the recognition amongst Australians generally of the importance of languages and culture is part and parcel of salvaging community – for everyone’, Saving the farm – recognising Indigenous languages part of salvaging community.
After a fashion – creative industries from First Nations culture 5 Dec 2020
‘When I first heard that Victorian regional gallery, Bendigo Art Gallery, was planning an exhibition about contemporary Indigenous fashion I was impressed. The Gallery has had a long history of fashion exhibitions, drawing on its own collection and in partnership with other institutions, notably the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It is fascinating to consider how a leading regional Australian museum and an internationally renowned museum on the global stage, while in many ways so different, have so much in common. The exhibition is far more than a single event in a Victorian regional centre – it is an expression of a much broader contemporary Indigenous fashion phenomenon nation-wide. It hints at the potential of the creative economy and creative industries to build stronger communities. Both the economic importance and the community and social importance of creativity and culture are tightly interlinked because of the way in which creativity and culture are integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up’, After a fashion – creative industries from First Nations culture.
‘Creative organisations and artists often collect information and research in order to report to funding bodies about how grant funding has been used. Apart from the need to report on funding or to make a case to government, or society in general, the creative and cultural sector also needs evidence and understanding for its own purposes. While government funding bodies might need the sort of information collected from funded organisations, the organisations need it far more – for their planning and to report to their Boards and their communities. They need it to know whether what they are doing is effective and worthwhile – or whether they should be doing something else.’ Out of sight, out of mind – building knowledge on sustaining the creative and cultural sector in regional and remote Australia.
Growing up across many worlds – the daily life of ‘In My Blood it Runs’ 26 Feb 2020
‘An important new film about Dujuan, a young Aboriginal boy living in Alice Springs in the centre of Australia, is both engaging and challenging, raising major issues about growing up Aboriginal in modern Australia. ‘In my blood it runs’ is a film for our troubled times, that tackles the challenges of a culturally divided country, but also finds the hope that this cultural diversity can offer us all for our overlapping futures’, Growing up across many worlds – the daily life of ‘In My Blood it Runs’.
‘What interests me in exhibitions about Aboriginal Australia is what they mean for Australians generally, even if most Australians won’t ever see them. After a mere 220 years, in many ways we are still only part way through making our home here. We haven’t yet figured out how to navigate this land properly. When I was at school we learned about so many doomed explorers misinterpreting the country, unable to find their way. Burke and Wills were the perfect examples, undone because they were unable to learn simple lessons offered by the local people on how to make edible the vast supplies of food surrounding them. They starved to death in a field of plenty. It made me realise that we can gain a much richer grasp of Australia through recognising that First Nations culture and heritage is part and parcel of our own Australian heritage’, Songlines – an ancient culture for a contemporary world.
History all around us – the long term practical impact of cultural research 14 Jun 2017
‘Cultural research has long term impacts in terms of our developing body
of knowledge which stretch far into the future. Researchers are finding
stories in our major cultural collections that were never envisaged by
those originally assembling them – a process that will continue long
into the future. The collections of our major cultural institutions are
becoming increasingly accessible to the very people the collections are
drawn from and reflect. In the process they are generating greater
understanding about some of the major contemporary issues we face’, History all around us – the long term practical impact of cultural research.
The language of success – recognising a great unsung community movement 1 Mar 2016
‘What is especially significant about the Prime Minister, in his Closing
the Gap address, recognising the importance of Indigenous languages is
that this is the first time a Liberal leader has expressed such views.
It’s exciting because for progress to be made it is essential that there
is a jointly agreed position. This moment arises from the tireless work
over many decades of hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
language revivalists – surely one of the great positive unsung community
movements in Australian history. By their hard work they have managed
to change the profile of Indigenous languages in Australia.
Unfortunately the address reinforced the tendency of government to
overlook the success stories that are already happening in local
communities and look for big institutional solutions. I hope it doesn’t
turn out to be a missed opportunity’, The language of success – recognising a great unsung community movement.
Unfinished histories – encountering ‘Encounters’ 29 Mar 2016
‘A single exhibition can sum up many things. By bringing together so
many histories, stories and objects – particularly long-absent ones from
the British Museum – the 'Encounters' exhibition at the National Museum
presented a snapshot of the ongoing living history of Australia. Many
strands ran through it, reflecting the complexity of the realities it
tried to express. By successfully reflecting on the pressing issues it
raised we have some hope of getting beyond the vision of the Great South
Land of 18th and 19th Century ambition towards a truly great nation of
the 21st Century’, Unfinished histories – encountering ‘Encounters’.
Literature and languages – inaugural Indigenous literary festival sign of things to come 20 Feb 2016
‘The inaugural Victorian Indigenous literary festival Blak & Bright
in February 2016 was a a very important event for Australian cultural
life. It aimed to promote and celebrate a diversity of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander voices. It raised important questions about how
the movement to revive and maintain Indigenous languages – surely one of
the great positive unsung community movements in Australian history –
is related to ‘Australian literature’. Australian culture as a whole is
also inconceivable without the central role of Indigenous culture – how
would Australian literature look seen in the same light?’, Literature and languages – inaugural Indigenous literary festival sign of things to come.
When universes collide – ‘Encounters’ exhibition at National Museum of Australia 11 Dec 2015
‘The Encounters exhibition at the National Museum of Australia, a once
in a lifetime event, makes you realise that astoundingly all this
earth-shattering history happened only a few generations ago, so much so
that descendants of the Gweagal, those first people Cook encountered,
still talk about that encounter in 1770 as though it was yesterday.
Despite the continuing concerns about the vast holdings of mostly looted
cultural artefacts, the return of these objects, however briefly, will
serve to emphasise how recently the British came to Australia, how much
more we need to do to be fully at home in this country and how much part
of a living, contemporary tradition Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander cultures are’, When universes collide – Encounters exhibition at National Museum of Australia.
Land of hope 13 Aug 2015
‘There were times in our past when Australia was seen as the great hope
of the world – when it offered a vision of a new democratic life free
from the failures of the past and the old world. It seems we have turned
from our history, from the bright vision of the nineteenth century and
the great nation-building vision of the period after World War 2, with
its sense of optimism and fairness, towards something much more pinched
and narrow – mean and weak-willed. For such an optimistic nation we seem
to have developed a ‘half empty’ rather than ‘half full’ view of the
glass – and the world. If we want to live in a land to be proud of, a
fair country that truly inherits the best of Australia’s traditions,
while consciously abandoning the less desirable ones, we need to change
course – otherwise we will have to rebadge Australia not as the land of
hope but instead as the land without hope’, Land of hope.
A navigator on a Lancaster bomber 5 Jun 2015
‘Sometimes I think Australia has lost its way. It’s like a ship that has
sailed into the vast Pacific Ocean in search of gaudy treasure,
glimpsed the beckoning coast of Asia and then lost its bearings, all its
charts blown overboard in squalls and tempests. It seems to have turned
from the great nation-building vision of the period after World War 2,
with its sense of optimism and fairness, towards something much more
pinched and narrow. It’s time to rediscover the Australian dream. We
need a navigator – or perhaps many, one in every community – who can
help us find our way, encourage us as we navigate from greed and
complacency to a calmer shining ocean of generosity and optimism’, A navigator on a Lancaster bomber.
Valuing the intangible 11 May 2015
‘We are surrounded by intangible cultural heritage – Indigenous and
non-Indigenous – and often it’s incredibly important to us but we can’t
seem to understand why or put a name to its importance. So many issues
of paramount importance to Australia and its future are linked to the
broad cultural agenda of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). In particular they are central to one of
UNESCO’s key treaties, the International Convention for the
Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage,’ Valuing the intangible.
The Magna Carta – still a work in progress 4 May 2015
‘You don’t have to be part of ‘Indigenous affairs’ in Australia to find
yourself involved. You can’t even begin to think of being part of
support for Australian arts and culture without encountering and
interacting with Indigenous culture and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander communities and individuals who make it and live it.’ The Magna Carta – still a work in progress.
‘If you are convinced you have heard all of Australia’s great stories, think again. If you consider you know something about Indigenous Australia you probably need to start from scratch. Black Diggers, “the untold story of WW1’s black diggers remembered” is a great Australian story. Why over a thousand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians left their communities in remote Australia or our regional cities or the big state capitals to travel overseas to fight and die in the European trenches far from home is part of a larger Australian story. Why they would bother when they were not even recognised as Australian citizens in their own land is a story all their own – but a story relevant to every Australian’, Black diggers - telling war stories.
‘The Indigenous cultural programs of the Australian Government play a critical role in support for both Indigenous communities and for a diverse and dynamic Australian culture – what is happening to them?’ Death by a thousand cuts – what is happening to the Indigenous culture programs of the Australian Government?
Real jobs in an unreal world 16 Apr 2014
'Subsidised Indigenous arts and cultural jobs are real jobs with career paths that deliver genuine skills and employment capability.' Real jobs in an unreal world.
Like a long-lost masterpiece 26 Mar 2011
‘Many decades ago when I was much younger and a student I used to march in National Aboriginal Day Observance Committee marches. They were shorthanded to NADOC marches, back in the days when Islanders hadn’t yet been included and there was no ‘I’ in the name. I realised a while back that I must have been marching under the new Aboriginal flag at its birth. I had a poster from those years which I used to cart around with me from city to city until one day when I was about to move yet again I decided to donate it to the National Library of Australia’, Like a long-lost masterpiece.
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