1. Australian Aborigine Has anyone studied Aboriginal Art before?
What can we learn about a culture by studying the art they create? (Way of life, History, Value, Beliefs)

2. Who are the Aborigines? Aborigine means “native”
Original people of Australia
Traveled in canoes from SE Asia
Lived there at least 40,000 years as the only people
Developed unique beliefs about creation
Survived as hunters and observers….often hunting with boomerangs
The term Aborigines was given to the original people of Australia by the British, but they prefer to be called by their individual clan names.

3. Who are the Aborigines?
The word “Aborigine” comes from a Latin word meaning “from the beginning.”
Scientists believe that Aborigines traveled to Australia from Southeast Asia on boats via a land bridge over 40,000 years ago.

4. Many died from disease or starved when their land was taken from them by the Europeans in the 1700s (colonialism)

5. CORE BELIEF SYSTEM
“Dreamtime” is at the center of the Aborigines belief system and describes the mystical time when the Aboriginal people established their world.
“Dreamtime” explains the origins of the people and of the land. Dreamtime includes a story of how things have happened, how the universe came to be, how humans were created, and how the Creator intended for humans to function in this world

6. Aborigine Religion: The Dreamtime
All things began with “The Dreamtime” (The Dreaming
It continues to co-exist with our ‘now’ time
It is all things past, present and future
It is sacred
It is the ‘time before time’
It is the ‘time outside time’
It is the ‘time of creation of all things’

7. What does The Dreamtime mean to them?
Belief system
Moral teaching
Spiritual code
Making sense of the world
They belong to the dreamtime
History and tradition
Identity – often linked to animals and plants

8. Dreamtime Stories Passed down through generations by word of mouth
Artworks depict deep meaning told through dreamtime stories
Basis of value and belief system, affects their interaction with the land and animals
Land is sacred because it contains their heritage, history, and powerful ancestors or spirits
Belief in safeguarding the land sometimes clashes with construction projects that would change the landscape (Uluru or Ayers Rock, bottom right, is the rock ancestors pushed up out of the Earth when they rose to create animals and landscape

9. The purpose of dreamtime stories
To explain the world – how the birds got their colour; how the tortoise lost its tale; how the black snake became poisonous.
To teach – where the water holes are, how to navigate using the stars.
To connect with their totemic ancestors

10. The connection with the land
One belief was that, before animals, humans and plants were created, there were souls who knew that they would become physical, but did not know when.
When the time was right, they all said: ‘we will do our very best to try to help the one that takes care of us all.’ Then they all became animals or plants. The last soul became the human.
That is why aboriginals all respect the environment and want to be at one with nature because they are their friends.

11. Dreamtime stories Aborigine Creation Story
Why koala has a stumpy tail

12. Aboriginal Art Last traditional art form to be appreciated
To understand Aboriginal Art we first need to learn about Dreamtime
Dreamtime refers to their beliefs of how the land and its people were created
Believed supernatural beings with magical powers created the land’s features, animals and plants during dreamtime
Art is a way to stay in touch with their ancestry and be a part of the natural world

13. In Aboriginal culture everyone is an artist because everyone participates in activities such as dancing, singing, body decoration, sand drawing and weaving baskets.

14. How did Aboriginals create art?
Unique subject matter and style
Known for their rock paintings, bark paintings, sand (or dot paintings), and body decoration
Brushes made from bark, plant fibers, twigs, hair or feathers
Also used fingers or sticks to paint
Used natural ochers (minerals) or clay to make red, yellow, and white paint
Black was made from charcoal
Show students natural ocher from Georgia and pass around

15. Aboriginal Rock Art
Longest continuously practiced artistic tradition in the world.
Ubirr, located in North Australia, has very impressive rock paintings.
What do you see in this rock painting? What else do you see? What do you think the overlapping of images means? Images have been painted in the earliest periods and repainted over and over even into modern times.

16. Bark Painting Tradition for thousands of years
Bark is cut into a rectangle, after the wet season, when it’s soft
Placed on warm coals, pressed flat with weights and sticks tied to both ends with string
Painted with natural pigments mixed with a natural fixative: sticky gum from trees
Style is similar to rock paintings and illustrates stories
Painted on bark for ceremonies, burials, and everyday objects such as baskets and belts

17. Dot Painting Traditional dot paintings were made in sand
Contemporary dot paintings are on canvas with acrylic paint
Depict a story using Aboriginal symbols
When you understand the symbols it gives a whole new meaning to a dot painting
What do you think the concentric circles represent?

18. Aboriginals used symbols to represent natural surroundings.
They are shown as tracks left in the ground and look like they are seen from a plane.
Represent recent tracks left by animals or tracks made in the past by ancestors.
Students will receive a handout of these symbols
Thunder & Lightening

19. Goanna (lizard) dragging tail, footprints on side Footprints
Kangaroo tracks & tail
Emu
Goanna (lizard) dragging tail, footprints on side
Footprints
Concentric circles can represent a water hole, campsite, fire, meeting place, stone
Women’s Ceremony
Snakes
Frogs (black)
Water holes (blue)
Men Hunting

20. Body Decoration Traditional practice for ceremonies
Includes scarring, smeared clay or ochres on face, wearing ornaments and headdress
Deep spiritual significance
Geometric designs
Use respected patterns of an ancestor to take on their living appearance
Designs may also reflect their role in the family or important role in their community
Scarring creates raised pigmented patterns on the skin to mark age or becoming an important member in the community. Scarring is rarely practiced but body decoration remains an important part of their culture

21. Music and Dancing
The traditional music of indigenous Australians holds a lot of meaning to their culture.
Music is used throughout an aboriginal's life to teach what must be known about their culture, about their place in it, and about its place in the world of nature and super nature. As a very young child, the aboriginal is encouraged to dance and sing about everyday tasks.
Music and dancing are often used as a means of communication.

22. Music and Dancing
The Didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by the Aborigines at least 1,500 years ago and is still in widespread usage.
It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet
The instrument is traditionally made from Eucalyptus trees which have had their interiors hollowed out by termites or died of other causes.

23. Music and Dancing
Digideroo:
Dancing:
Song:

24. Resources:
Carol, Finley. Aboriginal Art of Australia. Lerner Publications Company, Minneapolis: 1999.
Petersen, David. Australia. Children’s Press, New York: 1998.