It can be said that the natives of Australia have particular beliefs which are mainly regarded as the myths. Myths are not always regarded just as a narrative or a story rather it governs the behaviour and attitudes of particular group of people in particular period. These believes and thoughts moderates the social behaviour and the social within the society.. Dreaming is one of the important feature of the belief system of the aboriginal people. According to the sources of the indigenous people Dreamtime indicates the period when the universe has came to existence. During the dreamtime, the aboriginal people were half-animal, half-human in form and they were the ancestors of the Aboriginal period. The soul of the ancestor of the aboriginal people was not human-being only. Their way of expressing was similar to different other species of living being. During the aboriginal period there were also rules and regulations between people and the natural world . There were occurrence of various customs to maintain the relationship between the people and the natural world. Before the arrival of the British authority indigenous people stayed and formed the Australian continent . It can be considered that 500 linguistic groups resided there. It can be known that over 1 million indigenous people inhabited in the land of Australia before the European invasion in 1788. There were different indigenous people who stayed there. They are local descendent group, the clan and s the band. The descendent group of the language Boonwurrung, Woiworung, , Wauthaurong and Djadjawurung formed a confederation and they were known as kulin. The traditional occupation of the Kulin people was hunting and food gathering . The Woiworung language is the Wurundjeri people who are the traditional custodians of the huge part of the Melbourne . The Boonwurung territory expanded to the south of the Mordialloc. Creek and a tinier coastal strip around the Western Port and Mornington. The Boonewurrung people were considered as one of the Victorian group. The Boonwurrung language is mainly extracted from the word boon which means ‘no’ and wurrung also means ‘lips’ ‘mouths’ or ‘language’ . They were primarily semi-nomadic hunter and also food collectors (Briggs 2014). Though they were nomadic but they s wander around a well-nurtured land which were exploited on a seasonal basis and supervising a wide range of resources. Their main food and clothing came s from was land mammals such as the kangaroo, possum. The shellfish and fish were gathered in the coastal region and eels were also considered as a prime food source in the swamps and rivers. Men were hunterers and women were food gatherers. One can also be aware from the historical events that wattle gums, roots , including yams and rushes , thistles, blossoms kangaroo s apple, grass tree ferns and mushrooms.
Kinship is of prime significant in the aboriginal world. Kinship is the pillar of social relations in the aboriginal society which portrays the anticipated behaviour within the native society. The identity of the person in the aboriginal society mainly occurs by the kinship position. If anyone s comes into a different group is also assigned to a kinship position. Different roles are assigned to the kinship categories for example when one is married to other person, the person with whom one is living and also about the solution of the disputes. Kinship is both of matrilineal and patrilineal origin. According to the anthropologists there are various types of marriage, they are Kariera which is cross-cousin marriage, Karadjeri which is a marriage permitted by the maternal cross-cousin and Ananda where there is no cross-cousin marriage between certain types of second cousins and there also kinds of marriages. There were certain norms of kinship which may include total avoidance or restriction of speech, there is also presence of taboo and also specific rights and duties. Presently there are also aboriginal people residing in Australia. In Southeastern Australia there inhabits Koorie, in Queensland there inhabits Murri, in South Australia they live in the Nunga and in Northern Territory there stays the Tasmania and Palawa. Even today the aboriginal people try to recognize themselves by their age old clan names and they try to reconstruct and rebuild their traditional linking. Definitely there has been no such restricts in the indigenous culture which was present previously. But still they have to face historical legacy of invasion, deprivation from the rights of land and the cultural decimation. Inspite of losing conventional kinship, languages the uniqueness of the aboriginal people have not fade away, contemporary kinship also sustains certain traditional purposes and there also exists s a sense of belonging of one family and community of the native people (Barton and Barton 2014) .
Sovereignty is a word within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait . Sovereignty is a very ambiguous word mainly for the aboriginal people. This was because after the arrival of the European invasion their sovereignty were really threatened. But their main sovereignty lies in their culture and artistic forms and the caves were one of those. They expressed their sovereignty in the evolutions and revolutions in the call and response of hip-hop artist Brigg’s Bad Apples 2012 and Sheplife in 2012 (Clark 2007). In this exhibition Victorian women of aboriginal took a leadership. With the help of the art those women spoke their sufferings done by the White Australians. They fought vibrantly for the rights of self determination and the protection of s the aboriginal people . Meriki Onus and her sister Artika s Waulu also fought valiantly for their fundamental rights (Carroll 2016). In reality aboriginal women were discriminated s from colonial academic, art and cultural institution and were also victims of violence both previously and presently. But they poured out all talents and pains in the exhibition which signified their life long struggle. It also reflected the struggles and pains in contemporary days.
The meaning of the word “Nyernila’ means listening respectfully and deeply to the old people and ancestors. The people of the aboriginal people learn things by the reading of the stories. It can be considered that their stories are the laws only. They tell the stories by the association of music, dancing and rituals . There were 700 languages which came from the oral history tradition. Their rituals play a significant part in the linguistic aspects, their s ways of living life , and the regulations and norms of their life. It can be said that after the European invasion there has been some impact in their existence. But the old people and other people fought vehemently to protect the motherland. Moreover they were so attached to their rituals that many families were massacred because they did not leave their culture and rituals. Today they speak language which is mixed of their language and their own native language. It can be considered that the stories, dance movement, motifs are all part of their culture and rituals and consequently it has also become also part of their language.
Putuparri and Rainmaker is the documentary film which was released in the year 2015, it is about the courage and valor of the aboriginal people who fought to restore the culture and tradition of the aboriginal people. There is a man named Putuparri Tom Lawford who is a Kimberley Wangkajunga whose unconditional love and loyalty of family, culture and traditional lands. He even left his house and family for this noble purpose. Putuparri and the Rainmaker have won the 2015 CinefestOZ festival. Lawford is reflected as a man who also fought for against the prohibition of domestic violence and alcoholism and also his duties as a custodian of his people’s traditional culture and ancestral lands and many people were still fighting for this issue. This movie has huge emotional attitude in s his actions. Many film actors and directors also supported and appreciated the documentary film.
In Melbourne museum there is Bunjilika independent visit. One will find the narration of the Aboriginal history from the beginning to till today. There is reflection of the voices, the thinking and the aspects of the language of the Koorie community. The vocalize of the native people of this aboriginal community whose age is from 8 to 72 years can be listened the deep listening space .The wedged- tailed eagle of the native people of Australia who is Bunjil , the moiety ancestor can be also heard. Conventionally it is regarded that the aboriginal people of Australia used to take shade in the cradle of this unique bird. There are also facts that in what ways the daily lives of the native people after the arrival of Europeans. The art and craftwork of the aboriginal tribe are also shown here. There is existence of serene indigenous garden in the Bunjilika museum. Variety of indigenous plants and trees are grown in the Bunjilika garden. These flora and fauna are utilized for the daily uses of the aboriginal people. The people who come to visit the garden also have the scope to view the sculptures and caves comprising of the aboriginal art and live animals, the fish short – finned eels are there in the Milarri Pond. All these belong to the fauna of the garden. This enables the student to study and learn the prime importance of this aquatic life d of the aboriginal people (Jamies and Fitzpatrick 2014). This species also assists in sustaining the ecological balance.
The traditional opinion of land settlement of the Australia was terra nullius. Terra Nullius is considered to be a land which nobody owns. It has two specific meanings. The first s is the territory has no sovereign but it is acclaimed by the English authority. Another is a land, which is not possessed by any person or government. The European colonizers thought that as that time there was no authorized political system at that time, they thought that their thoughts and legal codes would be authorized (Holland 2017) . The Europeans claimed that their culture and traditions are superior. Thus, they tried to make inferior the indigenous culture and rituals. They also did the same thing in India. The Europeans thought that they have come to Australia in order to civilize the natives people of Australia. Moreover the Europeans also got the power s from international laws to occupy the lands from the indigenous Australians. The authority also claimed over the whole of Australia between the year of 1788 and 1829. The British authority’s notion was that the indigenous people do not have the rights over their land. It is true that in legal terms the aboriginal people do not have right but they have the fundamental and birth right and for which they fought for many years.
There are certain protections initiated for the protection and safety of the indigenous people by the British authority itself. The history of the Aborigine’s inland Mission began in London in 1837. This happened in a Parliamentary Select Committee which presented a Report on Aboriginal Tribes to the House of Commons, Parliament. The Report s has certain strategies such as the safeguarding Aborigines , religious instruction which meant that the aborigines were converted into Christianity and education will be provided according to the British authority’s wish . It can be said that the British authority themselves snatched the rights of the aboriginal people and then they tried to show themselves superior from the indigenous people and consequently they extracted all the economic resources of the aboriginal people. The church missionaries were formed at Lake Hindmarsh in Wimmera ( 1861), Lake Condah in the Western District in the year 1867 and others. Another factor is that the Aborigines Protection also gave the right to raise the children of the indigenous people to the Europeans, so that they can be brought up according to their norms.
It can be considered that there are certain terms such as assimilation, merging and segregation. Assimilation described as the fact that the indigenous people themselves wanted that their children would be taught White Australia’s English and their habits and culture. They themselves have given the permission to detached their children from the influence of the aboriginal people. The children will develop into a civilized person. Thus their parents were sent into a separate settlement and their children were separately brought up. This was called the segregation and merging process. But the reality was different these indigenous children cannot cope up with the White Australia’s English. So, they acquired bad marks in the result. Moreover there were also deprived from their own culture and tradition. So, the British authority stolen the basic rights of knowing the culture of their own community. There were certain s stories of five children and two of them were Paul and Jennifer whose life was exploited by the British authority only to meet their own self interests. They were just treated as slaves and servants of the British authority. In the early 188o period the Protection Board found insufficient in their fund and they tried to exploit them by enforcing certain laws. For example- The Aborigines Protections Act of 1886 and all its rules inscribed that at the age of 13 ‘half-caste’ boys were sent for training on farms and girls were also sent as servants in private homes or in institutions.
It can be said that on June 1 2007 Prime Minister Howard and Minister for Indigenous Affairs Bough notified an intervention in the Northern Territory . This was mainly done to protect the rights of the Aboriginal people from sexual exploitation. Howard also did it for his self benefit. This is because he was in the position of political authority more than eleven years but the was facing a problem during the election of the 2007, thus for this reason he wanted to heal the relationship between the aboriginal people and the government. Howard never had understand the problems of the indigenous problem and did not give any power to the indigenous people. But suddenly he promised to provide accommodation and other facilities to the indigenous people. The intervention or the National Emergency was a package of changes to do well of provision, law enforcement , laws against sexual abuse (Edmunds 2010). The laws at all did not provide any benefit to the people. Rather there were certain restrictions like they were denied from bail, abolition of traditional drinking, the abolition of the Community development Projects.
Finally, it can be said that the indigenous Australian people find their identity mainly in their cultural and ritual aspects. They still are much attached to their tradition and culture. But the European invasion tried to prove their culture inferior and distorted their whole life. The British created a new group called White Australians who are considered as the civilized and they are still doing discrimination and marginalizing the aboriginal Australians.
Reference
Barton, R. and Barton, G., 2014. Storytelling as an arts literacy: Use of narrative structure in Aboriginal arts practice and performance. In Literacy in the Arts (pp. 251-268). Springer International Publishing.
Briggs, C., 2014. The journey cycles of the Boonwurrung: stories with Boonwurrung language.
Carroll, K.V.Z., 2016. ‘Sovereignty’: Indigenising and decolonising curatorial practice. Art Monthly Australia, (295), p.36.
Clark, I.D., 2007. The abode of malevolent spirits and creatures-Caves in Victorian Aboriginal social organization.
Clifford, A., McCalman, J., Bainbridge, R. and Tsey, K., 2015. Interventions to improve cultural competency in health care for Indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA: a systematic review. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 27(2), pp.89-98.
Edmunds, M., 2010. The Northern Territory Intervention and Human Rights.
Holland, A., 2017. Paved with Good Intentions: Terra Nullius, Aboriginal Land Rights and Settler-Colonial Law.
Langton, M., Palmer, L. and Rhea, Z.M., 2014. Community-oriented protected areas for indigenous peoples and local communities. Indigenous peoples, national parks, and protected areas: A new paradigm linking conservation, culture, and rights, 84.
McConvell, P., 2015. Long-Distance diffusion of affinal kinship terms as evidence of Late Holocene change in marriage systems in Aboriginal Australia. Strings of connectedness. Essays in honour of Ian Keen. Acton ACT, 2601, pp.287-316.
Pilger, J., 2014. Another stolen generation: How Australia still wrecks Aboriginal families. The Guardian.
Redwood, T., 2016. The more you know, the less you know: Putuparri and the rainmakers. Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, (188), p.70.
Reynolds, H., 2003. The law of the land. Penguin Books.
Suda, L., 2014. First peoples: A lesson in sustainability. Interaction, 42(3), p.18.
Witcomb, A., 2014. ” Look, Listen and Feel”: The first peoples exhibition at the Bunjilaka Gallery, Melbourne Museum. Thema La revue des Musées de la civilistion, 1, pp.49-62.
Wolfe, P., 2006. Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native. Journal of Genocide Research, 8(4), pp.387-409.
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