How do you return Aboriginal remains to their place of origin when you have no record of where they came from? Look to a chemical element that’s laid down in teeth as people grow up.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Aboriginal culture
Displaying 21 - 40 of 41 articles
Etchings over much earlier Aboriginal engravings show foreign whalers made contact with Australia’s remote northwest long before colonial settlement of the area.
Aboriginal songs found in the notebooks of a Victorian anthropologist shed light on the mystery of a ‘captive white woman’ that has been debated for generations.
The image, depicting a group of Indigenous people resisting their enslavement, predates the next oldest image by 75 years.
They were looking to study rock art at a remote desert site but what they found showed people had been using the place almost since the first people arrived in Australia.
Sap from one tree collected in hollows in the bark, and natural yeast fermented the liquid to an alcoholic drink used by Aboriginal people. Europeans called the tree a cider gum because of the taste.
The planets we can see in the sky were known to the ancient Greeks as ‘wandering stars’. But they appeared much earlier in the stories and traditions of Australia’s Indigenous people.
In remote Northern Territory, most Aboriginal people have been buried in unmarked graves. Archaelogists are carrying out painstaking detective work to help communities find their loved ones’ remains.
With enough will and resourcing, many of the structural issues that make financial services a trial for many Indigenous consumers can be overcome. But we need more regulation to deter sharp practice.
Traditional Aboriginal healers are recognised as having special facilities for healing in childhood and are encouraged to develop their skills. They are often taught by their grandparents.
White people hugely influence the Aboriginal art world – but that can be a good thing, according to the artists.
A mossy sanctuary in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges houses 92 sculptures, mostly of Arrernte and Pitjantjatjara men, women and children. They are steeped in primitivism, yet the park is a popular tourist attraction.
A damning inquiry has revealed the extent of the abuse suffered by British children sent abroad between 1920 and 1970. But it skirts around Aboriginal cultural genocide.
This exhibition at the National Museum of Australia is not only brilliant but marks an important turning point in how Aboriginal art is exhibited.
A new look at some of the oral traditions of Aboriginal Australians shows a deep understanding of three red-giant variable stars, long before European observers.
Dr Joe Gumbula was a master-singer of Manikay, the exquisite Yolŋu tradition of public ceremonial song. While the songs contain incredible knowledge, scholars have rarely treated them as an intellectual tradition.
These books introduce children to Indigenous culture and experiences through colourful pictures and powerful storytelling.
Despite improvements to their content over time, secondary school history textbooks still imply that ‘real’ Australians are white.
The National Gallery of Australia’s Third National Indigenous Art Triennial presents a passionate well-considered argument for an enduring Aboriginal culture.
What are we to make of ‘Aboriginalia’: bric-a-brac, tiles, ornaments and artworks - once hugely popular - depicting caricatures of Indigenous people? What if they are collected now in a knowing, ironic way?
Top contributors
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ARC Future Fellow, La Trobe University
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Director, Centre for Rock Art Research + Management, The University of Western Australia
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Lecturer in Archaeology, Flinders University
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Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne
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Laureate Professor in Archaeology, The University of Western Australia
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Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney
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Adjunct Professor, RMIT University
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Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National University
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Joanna Mendelssohn is a Friend of The Conversation.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne
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Claire Smith is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University
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Senior Lecturer, Department of Languages and Linguistics, La Trobe University
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Pro Vice Chancellor, Aboriginal Leadership, University of Tasmania
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Adjunct Lecturer, Archaeology | Director, Land and Heritage Management, Flinders University
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Lecturer in Cultural Studies in Health, University of Tasmania
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Director, Arney Chong Consulting and Positive Futures Research, University of South Australia
