The Australian aboriginal culture

Résumé du document

The Aborigines are native Australians, the first population of the country. They have been living there for more than 40,000 years and are one of the oldest populations in the world. Several archeological studies have been carried out, but they have not been able to find a concrete explanation to the origin of this population.

Today, the Aborigines constitute about 1.6% of the inhabitants in Australia, which are about 265,000 people. The last two centuries were awful in terms of, a kind of genocide. But in spite of this oppression, the Aborigines have managed to keep their traditions and they now try to combine their culture with the modern world in which they live.

All their traditions are in relation with their beliefs. Indeed, they think the Earth is their mother and they pay tribute to it by different means. To explain their history, the native Australians believe in the Dreamtime philosophy, when their ancestors created the world. Now, the Aborigines pay tribute to them by linking the men to the world of spirits. They have different means to do that which include: songs, painting, music, etc. Their art and culture are above all religions and they relate their myths and beliefs.

Extraits

[...] The Aborigines believe that they exist thanks to mythical ancestors who create the world. The Dreamtime relates a series of concepts which explain how the world was born. According to the Aborigines, the world was created when mythical ancestors, sacred spirits, went out from the ground and established the cycle of life, the lands, the minerals, the fauna and flora, the day and the night, etc. They came in the form of animals, plants or humans. As examples we can quote : Warramarrungundji came from the sea at the beginning in the form of a female being in order to create the Earth and to give birth to the humans and their languages. [...]

[...] The Aboriginal art is very old. We think it has existed since the Paleolithic period. This art had been underestimated and misunderstood for a long time. But since the last part of the 20th century, it has been recognized and has been extended to the public ownership. Since 1970, the Australian government have granted subsidies to the Aboriginal painters and now we can see their works in museums all across the world. To answer the worlwide demand, there are some cooperatives of painters in the Aboriginal communities, run by White artistic cooperators who furnish the artists all the equipment they need, who insure the sales of the works and the paiement of the paintors. [...]

[...] Here is the Aborigine's flag. It was drawn by Harold Thomas, an Aborigine from the Arrernte tribe, in Central Australia. It is a symbol of the unity and the identity of the Aborigine people. It was raised for the first time in 1971, during the commemoration of the Aborigine National Day. Its colors shows us the symbols : -The black band represents the Aborigine people. It is said to join the past, the present, and the future. -The yellow circle represents the sun and energy. [...]

[...] This had been for a long time a brake on the Aboriginal painting expansion but some Aborigines managed to make a name for themselves in the worldwide artistic scene. But they are still loyal to the rules and give the money they earn thanks to their work to their tribe. Here is an example of Aboriginal work. The main part of the painting is composed of signs and points, as in all Aboriginal works. These designs represent the journeys followed by the ancestral stories' heroes. [...]

[...] The Aborigines use several patterns, which all have a particular meaning. Examples of Aboriginal symbols Although all the paintings are composed of this kind of designs, they are different according to the region and the tribe. Paintings also show the identity of the tribes. Each one can be recognized thanks to the style, theme, materials, colors and designs used on its paintings. For example, in the North, they use in general bark supports. They draw fauna elements, and prefer large designs, with fine and regular hachures. [...]