Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures

To begin with, a look at the History section of the Australian Curriculum documentation would be helpful.

"The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priority provides opportunities for all learners to deepen their knowledge of Australia by engaging with the world’s oldest continuous living cultures.

The Australian Curriculum: history values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. It celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories as part of the shared history belonging to all Australians.

Students will examine historical perspectives from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewpoint. They will learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples prior to colonisation by the British, the ensuing contact and its impacts."(ACARA) 

Before colonisation a map of Australia would have been drawn by the Aboriginal people as depicted in the image below which is a striking work by innovative Kiwirrkura artist Yukultji Napangati of the Papunya Tula school of artists. Yukultji's works capture the travels of ancestral women in the country surrounding where the Kiwirrkura community now stands.

  from www.papunyatula.com.au  

However this is not the type of map we as white Australian's would recognise. The map below showing the territorial divides of Indigenous Australia within the outline of Australia that we are used to seeing is unrecognisable  to most.  I have included a link to an Interactive map of Aboriginal Tribe colonies which can be used to show students the names of the tribal colonies in more detail when combined with the printed map below.

Territorial Divide of Indigenous Australia

If our education of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures began with these images rather than the Matthew Flinder's map of Australia the correct recognition could be given to the oldest continuous living culture in the world today.  'White' Australians were invaders, not the first settlers of the land.  Before settlement by the English and for some time following, the Aboriginals treated the British as friends, or interacted solely with themselves as shown in the image below of a group of Natives fishing and playing happily.  It was the British who wanted to control, dominate and in the case of Tasmania, remove the Aboriginals completely.  The Aboriginal Land Act 1995 (Tas)  acknowledges the dispossession of Tasmania's Indigenous people and attempts to reinstate some of their lost rights.

Natives of New Holland fishing and playing

Students should be exposed to the facts about settlement of the British and recognise the negative impacts on the original owners of the land.  The image below shows how much of the Aboriginal land the 'white Australian's' have taken over by force and the impacts felt.

In conclusion, this thought is left: "If someone else was here first we need to recognise their rightful ownership of the land, not just in words but in deeds." Students need to be presented with a balanced account of history in order to allow them to foster positive and accurate attitudes towards the Indigenous people and their society.

References

Australian Curriculum documentation: Retrieved from: http//www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/History/Cross Curricular Priorities. 

melbourne.indymedia.org, (2008) Map of Aboriginal Tribe Colonies:  Retrieved from: http//mappery.com/Australia-Aboriginal-Tribes-Map

Napangati, Y. (n.d.). Travels of ancestral women in the country surrounding where the Kiwirrkura community now stands. Retrieved from: www.papunyatula.com.au. 

Oldest continuous living culture in the world: http//www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/Aboriginal-Australians-the-oldest-culture-on-earth.htm

Images / Video

melbourne.indymedia.org, (2008) Map of Aboriginal Tribe Colonies:  Retrieved from: http//mappery.com/Australia-Aboriginal-Tribes-Map

Natives of New Holland fishing and playing: 

Napangati, Y. (n.d.). Travels of ancestral women in the country surrounding where the Kiwirrkura community now stands. Retrieved from: www.papunyatula.com.au. 

Hyperlinks

Interactive Aboriginal Tribe Colonies: http://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/map/

Image of Aboriginal artwork: www.papunyatula.com.au. 

Aboriginal Land Act 1995, Retrieved from: http://www.atns.net.au/agreement.asp?EntityID=896
Oldest living culture in the world.: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/Aboriginal-Australians-the-oldest-culture-on-Earth.htm