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Songline
A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal cultures of Australia. They mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dreamtime, Dreaming. These routes serve as crucial connections between individuals and their ancestral lands, carrying intricate geographical, mythological, and cultural information. At its core, a songline functions as both a navigational aid and a repository of cultural knowledge. Embedded within traditional song cycles, dance rituals, stories, and artistic expressions, these pathways enable individuals to traverse vast distances while reciting the songs that describe landmarks, water sources, and natural features. Notably, the melodic contours and rhythmic nuances of the songs transcend linguistic barriers, facilitating cross-cultural understanding as different language groups interact and share the essence of these a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Chatwin
Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storytelling, storyteller, interested in bringing to light unusual tales. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel ''On the Black Hill'' (1982), while his novel ''Utz (novel), Utz'' (1988) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2008 ''The Times'' ranked Chatwin as number 46 on their list of "50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945". Chatwin was born in Sheffield. After completing his secondary education at Marlborough College, he went to work at the age of 18 at Sotheby's in London, where he gained an extensive knowledge of art and eventually ran the auction house's Antiquities and Impressionism, Impressionist Art departments. In 1966 he left Sotheby's to read archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, but he abandoned his studies after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dreamtime
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally used by Francis James Gillen, Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his colleague Walter Baldwin Spencer, and thereafter popularised by A. P. Elkin, who later revised his views. The Dreaming is used to represent Aboriginal concepts of "Everywhen", during which the land was inhabited by ancestral figures, often of heroic proportions or with supernatural abilities. The term is based on a rendition of the Arandic languages, Arandic word , used by the Aranda people, Aranda (Arunta, Arrernte) people of Central Australia, although it has been argued that it is based on a misunderstanding or mistranslation. Some scholars suggest that the word's meaning is closer to "Eternity, eternal, uncreated". Anthropologist William Edward Hanley Stanner, William ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Songlines
''The Songlines'' is a 1987 book written by British novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin about the songs of Aboriginal Australians and their connections to nomadic travel. A roman à clef that combines novel, travelogue, and memoir, Chatwin blends elements of fiction and non-fiction to describe a trip to Australia's Northern Territory in search of a better understanding of Aboriginal culture and religion, the Aboriginal land rights movement, and the Australian Outback more generally. The book is Chatwin's most famous work, a best seller upon publication in both the United States and United Kingdom. Synopsis The book is centered around a British writer named "Bruce" that travels to Alice Springs, Australia to join a land surveyor mapping the location of a proposed 1,500 Kilometer rail line to be constructed from Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia. Specifically, the narrator befriends "Arkady" a local who is tasked by the rail company with conferring with local Aborig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (continent), Australia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, and over time formed as many as 500 List of Aboriginal Australian group names, language-based groups. In the past, Aboriginal people lived over large sections of the continental shelf. They were isolated on many of the smaller offshore islands and Tasmania when the land was inundated at the start of the Holocene Interglacial, inter-glacial period, about 11,700 years ago. Despite this, Aboriginal people maintained extensive networks within the continent and certain groups maintained relationships with Torres Strait Islanders and the Makassar people, Makassar people of modern-day Indonesia. Over the millennia, Aboriginal people developed complex trade networks, inter-cultural relationships, law ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Museum Of Australia
The National Museum of Australia (NMA), in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Museum of Australia Act 1980''. The museum profiles 50,000 years of Indigenous heritage, settlement since 1788 and key events including Federation of Australia, Federation and the Sydney 2000 Olympics. It holds the world's largest collection of Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal bark paintings and stone tools, the heart of champion racehorse Phar Lap and the Holden prototype No. 1 car. The museum also develops and travels exhibitions on subjects ranging from bushrangers to surf lifesaving. The National Museum of Australia Press publishes a wide range of books, catalogues and journals. The museum's Research Centre takes a cross-disciplinary approach to history, ensuring the museum is a lively forum for ideas and debate about Australia's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martu People
The ''Martu'' (Mardu) are a grouping of several Aboriginal Australian peoples in the Western Desert cultural bloc. Name The Martu people were originally speakers of various Wati languages in the Western Desert dialect continuum whose identity coalesced after coming into increased contact with one another after the establishment of Jigalong. Since the 1980s the Martu term for person (''mardu'' meaning "one of us") has prevailed among the peoples at Jigalong, Wiluna, Punmu, Parnngurr and Kunawarritji. In 1974 Norman Tindale wrote that the term had been applied to several groups in this area, among them the Kartudjara, and had no tribal significance but simply denoted that the people there had undergone full initiation. Languages The Martu languages belong to the Wati subgroup of the Pama–Nyungan language family and are collectively called Martu Wangka, or "Martu Speak". Many Martu speak more than one language and for many, English is a common second language. Coun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connection To Country
The Indigenous peoples of Australia, that is Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people, have strong and complex relationships with the concept of "Country" (often capitalised). In this sense it does not refer to the nation of Australia, but rather different aspects of how the traditional lands of a particular First Nations group affects their culture, way of seeing the world, and interactions with other people. Country and identity Margo Ngawa Neale, senior Indigenous art and history curator at the National Museum of Australia, and author of books explaining Indigenous knowledge, says: Country is traditionally related to self-identity, and with relation to an individual, describes family origins and associations with particular parts of Australia. For example, a Gamilaraay man, whose traditional lands ("country") lies in south-west Queensland might refer to his country as "Gamilaraay country". Australian Aboriginal identity often links to their language groups ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uluru
Uluru (; ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone monolith. It outcrop, crops out near the centre of Australia in the southern part of the Northern Territory, south-west of Alice Springs. Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara, the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal people of the area, known as the Aṉangu. The area around the formation is home to an abundance of springs, depression (geology), waterholes, rock caves and cave painting, ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Uluru and Kata Tjuta (Also known as the Olgas) are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is one of Australia's most recognisable natural landmarks and has been a popular destination for tourists since the late 1930s. It is also one of the most important indigenous sites in Australia. Name The local Aṉangu, the Pitjantjatjara people, call the landmark ''Uluṟu'' (). This word is a pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional Owners
Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rights were first recognised as a part of Australian common law with the decision of '' Mabo v Queensland (No 2)'' in 1992. The doctrine was subsequently implemented and modified via statute with the '' Native Title Act 1993''. The concept recognises that in certain cases there was and is a continued beneficial legal interest in land held by Indigenous peoples which survived the acquisition of radical title and sovereignty to the land by the Crown. Native title can co-exist with non-Aboriginal proprietary rights and in some cases different Aboriginal groups can exercise their native title rights over the same land. The Federal Court of Australia arranges mediation in relation to claims made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aboriginal Australian Identity
Aboriginal Australian identity, sometimes known as Aboriginality, is the perception of oneself as Aboriginal Australian, or the recognition by others of that identity. Aboriginal Australians are one of two Indigenous Australian groups of peoples, the other being Torres Strait Islanders. There has also been discussion about the use of "Indigenous" vs "Aboriginal", or more specific group names (which are many and based on varied criteria), such as Murri or Noongar (demonyms), Kaurna or Yolngu (and subgroups), based on language, or a clan name. Usually preference of the person(s) in question is used, if known. The term "Aboriginal" was coined by white settlers in Australia in the 1830s, after they began to adopt the term "Australian" to define themselves. No real attempt to define the term legally was made until the 1980s, despite use of the term twice in the 1901 Constitution of Australia, before these were removed following the 1967 referendum. Various legal and administrative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aboriginal Australian Languages
The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intelligible varieties) up to possibly 363. The Indigenous languages of Australia comprise numerous language families and isolates, perhaps as many as 13, spoken by the Indigenous peoples of mainland Australia and a few nearby islands. The relationships between the language families are not clear at present although there are proposals to link some into larger groupings. Despite this uncertainty, the Indigenous Australian languages are collectively covered by the technical term "Australian languages", or the "Australian family". The term can include both Tasmanian languages and the Western Torres Strait language, but the genetic relationship to the mainland Australian languages of the former is unknown, while the latter is Pama–Nyungan, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animist
Animism (from meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in some cases words—as being animated, having agency and free will. Animism is used in anthropology of religion as a term for the belief system of many Indigenous peoples in contrast to the relatively more recent development of organized religions. Animism is a metaphysical belief which focuses on the supernatural universe: specifically, on the concept of the immaterial soul. Although each culture has its own mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples' "spiritual" or "supernatural" perspectives. The animistic perspective is so widely held and inherent to most indigenous peoples that they often do not even have a word in their languages that corresponds to "animism" (or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
