IMPRESSIONS OF ABORIGINES (recommended website: http://aboriginalart.com.au/)
Having read through my ‘tourist impression’ blog below, I decided to do some research on the internet to further my knowledge of this culture, and hopefully, to understand the Aboriginal people better. Having qualified that, here are my impressions:
I found the ‘Aboriginal experience’ a very disturbing one. The people we came across were not outgoing, friendly or accommodating. In fact, we were pretty much warned to stay out of their way. The Aborigines we saw, especially in Alice Springs, seemed displaced. We saw quite a few groups of either men alone, or mixed groups, huddled together on the dirt in the park areas. It seemed that they lived there. We also saw and heard a few drunken brawls in the center of town in the morning. Unfortunately, there is a problem with alcohol consumption and gambling, which leads to social problems and crime.
Boomerangs
On the other hand, there was plenty of ‘modern-style’ Aboriginal art available. Aboriginal artists are certainly encouraged and promoted to create works of art, to decorate public property, to create beautifully varnished didgeridoos and boomerangs etc – but, I got the impression that the art and crafts has been steered, like in other countries, such as South Africa, so that it would please the tourists.
It was difficult to find out information about their history, culture and life. We had to string together what we gleaned from shops, tours and galleries – mostly on the tourist route. Australians did not seem to embrace the Aborigines as the New Zealanders embrace the Maoris.
In Kuranda and Alice Springs, there is a concerted effort to work towards better understanding between population groups, and also efforts to raise the quality of life.
- Caterpillar Dreaming
Be it as it may, the Aboriginal customs and beliefs are respected and taken into consideration, e.g. despite a severe shortage of housing and a desperate need to build more accommodation, the hills and land around Alice Springs cannot be developed because the Aborigines believe that they sprung forth from the caterpillars, which are the hills surrounding the town. I walked past such a sign on the way to the hotel .
Our guide told us that even Australians who are taken into confidence, will still not learn some of the customs and ceremonies that are still held too sacred to be shared. We were told that about 60% of Aboriginal women intermarry with other races today, but that the divorce rate was high, and these marriages created other types of social problems.
Terms like ‘dreamtime or dreaming’ kept on reoccurring. I bought a booklet on dreamtime, but it turned out to be a philosophical exposition, which did not clarify it at all. I found the best explanation on a framed poster in a gallery:
DREAMING
It is the secret life of the Aborigines. It is a life apart – a life of ritual and mythology, a life of sacred rites and objects.
It is the life where man finds his place in society and nature, and where he is brought in touch with the invisible things of the worlds of the past, the present and the future.
The Dreamtime is the mythological representation of what Aboriginal people carry in their minds. The source of life.
The knowledge has not just been planted in their minds, but structured and taught.
The main links to the Dreamtime are:
1 Mythology
2 Initiation
3 Ceremonies
4 Sacred rites
Grasseed dreaming
Many of the art works refer to ‘dreaming’, and art draws strongly on what is around them, e.g. leaves, food etc.
Lizard: token
There are definite symbols for various objects, e.g. a spear represents a man. Dots are characteristic to Aboriginal art, and are frequently used instead of lines.
Mural using dot patterns: totems
Circles indicate things that belong together, e.g. group of people, or waterholes or food.
I guess I still have a lot to learn!
Regarding music, the didgeridoo is of course the traditional instrument, and different techniques and sounds produced represent different objects, events and ‘dreaming’. Other sounds used in music would be e.g. playing sticks, boomerangs, hand-clapping, buttock-slapping, seedpod shaking and foot-stomping.
