Representations Seminar
“Riding the Black Cockatoo” and “Company Sin” Matthew Magin
“The land is my mother, my mother is the land. Land is the starting point to where it all began.” (S. Knight)
Words are powerful tools that can be used to represent people and shape opinions about others. In a similar way, certain actions and our treatment of other cultures demonstrate our understandings and acceptance of, different beliefs and cultures. Two texts that support these statements and include representations of Indigenous Australian culture and beliefs are: ‘Riding the Black Cockatoo’ by John Danalis and ‘Company Sin’ by John Butler Trio.
John Danalis wrote a captivating novel about his journey towards righting the wrongs his
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Indigenous Australians do not own the land. They see it as part of them and that it is their duty to respect and look after their mother earth. They use the land to live on, to gain food from, to make items they need and then to return their ancestors to the earth, when they pass on. This is a different concept to the culture White Australians have grown up with. Danalis has to explore his own prejudices and realises that he lives in a nation with some, who are trying to come to terms with both heritages, cultures and beliefs.
Indigenous Australians bury their ancestors on what average Australians see as prime land, where profits could be made from farming or mining. Indigenous Australians do this, as they believe they can: “…enter the spirit world and become one with their mother… the Earth…” Calling the earth their Mother, solidifies Indigenous Australian’s strong connectivity of their spiritual heritage with the land. This is something that White Australians do not have in their heritage. The Indigenous people care for and love the earth they live on. They have a spiritual connection to it, not just a physical one. Simply, this is not part of how White Australians view the land and it is not part of their heritage.
The idea that the average Australian is ignorant to the Indigenous culture is a paramount
Identity is often constructed based on affiliations with particular groups. When one identifies with a group, one mimics the perceived qualities of that group (Swann, Jetten, Gomez, Whitehouse & Bastian, 2012). For Indigenous Australians, they may conform to the above negative stereotypes partly because of how they are represented in the dominant culture. Forrest notes that dominant cultural perspectives bombard Indigenous Australians (Forrest, n.d.). Therefore, prevailing negative stereotypes and conformity with those stereotypes can be attributed to the dominant culture.
Aboriginals concept of land is different compared to the Europeans view of land being an economic resource or investment, but to indigenous land is so much more, it is a part of their identity and soul. But when settlers came they classified the land as terra nullius which is Latin term for “land belonging to no one”. soon enough aboriginals had no control over their land or even their own properties until the 1900s where aboriginals fought for the land but didn’t receive anything but small victories in the 1970s until a
The Australian Curriculum currently is struggling with incorporating indigenous perspectives as a key focus in the curriculum properly. It is lacking the ability to normalise indigenous knowledge and instead represents
Modern forms of literature have helped a considerable amount in reducing rates of racism targeted at indigenous people of Australia, Kevin Naderian explains this phenomenon. Non-indigenous people often consider land as a materialistic possession - something they own, a commodity to be bought, sold, and trade, an asset that they intend to make profit off of. Indigenous people, however, have a much deeper connection with the land. Rather than owning it, it owns them - not literally, of course.
Aboriginal people have diverse relationships with connections and understandings of the Australian environment. Some of there relationships are based on the traditional knowledges and practices that have been passed down from generation to generation while others are a direct result from recent colonisation. Relationships to country are complex and interrelated, and when establishing the Aboriginal understanding of country, it is vital to look beyond the term itself.
Race socially is a sensitive category with deep historical significance presenting many issues arising from the past. The Indigenous population inhabited Australia for over 50,000 years. However, upon British settlement and colonisation of Australia in 1788, dominance and control over the Indigenous population was established creating issues that shaped their native rights and title as traditional landowners. Upon colonisation within Australia, the British created a sum of sanctions of social jurisdiction disrupting the Indigenous population notion of ownership of origins and race. Cultural conformity to these guidelines constricted and ensured Indigenous groups adhered to these sanctions. Hence, Indigenous culture became constricted through
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the first owner of Australia. They have been living on this land for over 50,000 years and have very unique culture. While they don’t keep paper record, they pass down their knowledge to following generations by arts, music, and stories. Children are cultivated by the elders the ideology of dreamtime their whole life, which teaches them the important events happened in the past and how they live their lives with the nature. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have build a very harmony relationship with the nature. Different from the modern society that labeled by the aggressively exploitation of resources, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have found ways to live with the nature peacefully.
the false stereotypical views towards Australian Indigenous people. It is evident that this topic is one to have a vast majority of individuals have strong opinions and valid concerns about, but please have a positive outlook throughout the following words. Be aware that personal opinions and views on this topic are logical and valid but reassess where you stand at the end of the following letter. Since the European colonisation of Australia in the year of 1788, Indigenous people have been tormented in a world that is seen as unnatural to their existence prior to these changes occurring. Although it is believed that Aboriginal people have lived throughout Australia for up to 60,000 years (Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, 2017) it is still
The land is their mother, the land is their identity and these past wrongs committed against Indigenous Australians have placed a massive
Ever since the European settlement to the early 1990’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures have changed and developed over time. However, the European colonisation of Australia brought very rapid changes to Aboriginal society and histrionically affected the Aboriginals way of life and their land. Australia has always promoted having a mix of cultures although not in the same way it does in today’s society.
The Australian Indigenous community hold extremely significant corrections to the land of Australia, of which they refer to as ‘Country.’ Indigenous people acquire deep meaning from the land, sea and the countless resources derived from them. This special relationship has formed for many centuries. To them ‘Country’ is paramount for overall wellbeing; the strong, significant, spiritual bonds embody their entire existence. Knowledge is continually passed down to create an unbroken connection of past,
Australian Aborigines are thought to have the longest continuous cultural history in the world. Yet, within a hundred years, the near extinction of the Aboriginal culture almost occurred. This single event, the invasion of the Australian continent by European settlers, changed the lifestyle, the culture, and the fate of Australian Aborigines. Their entire lives were essentially taken away and they were forced into a white, European world where the lifestyle change could not have been any different. Aborigines in Australia today are struggling to deal with a past in which they lost touch with their culture and now are trying to regain some of that cultural identity.
The notion of the contemporary indigenous identity and the impact of these notions are both explored in texts that have been studied. Ivan Sen’s 2002 film ‘Beneath Clouds’ focuses on the stereotypical behaviours of Indigenous Australians highlighting Lina and Vaughn’s journey. This also signifies the status and place of the Australian identity today. Through the use of visual techniques and stereotypes the ideas that the Indigenous are uneducated, involved in crime and the stereotypical portrayal of white people are all explored. Similarly the notion of urban and rural life is represented in Kennith Slessor’s ‘William Street’ and ‘Country Towns’.
Imagine for a moment, if everything you owned was taken away from you. The Indigenous people of Australia have unfairly been robbed of their land, culture and people. They were among the first people to inhabit this country, and sadly their land and culture are under threat of being lost forever. To the indigenous people, land is an important part of their life, their substance needs and spiritual belief all come from the land. However, we owe the Indigenous people a lack of compensation but then again not giving any back. Therefore, it’s time for us to treat them fairly and give respect to their land.
Aboriginals are the indigenous people of Australia. Australia was invaded by the British in 1788 and forced the Aboriginals off their land and into training camps and reserves (Murray, 2001). The Aboriginal population greatly declined due to diseases introduced by the British and the lack of nutrition; the invasion also disconnected nations from one another (Murry, 2001). There are over five hundred nations in Australia, and many of them are still hunter-gathers living in remote areas of Australia (Altman, 2007). All of the nations articulate through different languages (Riley, 2014). Every nation trades, marries, and shares resources with other nations; in order to communicate with the other nations, many aboriginals are able to speak multiple