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Articles on Indigenous Australian culture

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Researchers May Nango, Djaykuk Djandjomerr and S. Anna Florin collecting plants in Kakadu National Park. Reproduced with permission of Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation. Elspeth Hayes

65,000-year-old plant remains show the earliest Australians spent plenty of time cooking

Charred plant remains from one of the oldest archaeological sites reveal that the first Australians ate a varied - and sometimes labour-intensive - diet.
A scene from Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Lore: the oldest continuing culture in the world resonates with overseas audiences. Jeff Tan/Newzulu

‘Australia has no culture’: changing the mindset of the cringe

Why do students still describe Australia as a ‘young’ country lacking culture? Are our universities doing enough to to teach Australian films, artwork and books?
People have camped in the long grass since colonisation. From this perspective, bans on the practice are a denial of Indigenous agency, culture and rights to country. Photo: K. Pollard

Contested spaces: the ‘long-grassers’, living private lives in public places

In contrast to perceptions of other homeless people sleeping rough, Darwin’s “long-grassers” are applying a long cultural tradition to deal with the situation in which they find themselves.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (2L) defended the government’s decision to withdraw teachers from Aurukun’s school following the latest incidence of youth violence. Matthew Nicholls/AAP

Governments must stop negatively framing policies aimed at Indigenous Australians

Media reporting and policies almost always tend to focus on what is wrong with Indigenous Australians. This is having unintended consequences.
NSW Deputy Premier and Nationals leader Troy Grant kicked off his party’s election campaign launch on March 15 by speaking in Wiradjuri. Nikki Short/AAP

Wiradjuri words show the power of learning Australia’s first languages

NSW Nationals’ leader Troy Grant has broken new ground by speaking Wiradjuri in parliament and at his party’s election launch – and it reflects a growing Indigenous language revival in NSW.
This nation has a history that extends well beyond the past 227 years. AAP/Joe Castro

The day I don’t feel Australian? That would be Australia Day

If there is ever a day that I don’t feel Australian, it would be on Australia Day. My mother is a fifth-generation Australian of English and Irish heritage and my father is Munanjahli and an Australian-born…
Aboriginal stories say Fitzroy Island on the Great Barrier Reef was connected to the mainland. It was, at least 10,000 years ago. Felix Dziekan/Flickr

Ancient Aboriginal stories preserve history of a rise in sea level

In the beginning, as far back as we remember, our home islands were not islands at all as they are today. They were part of a peninsula that jutted out from the mainland and we roamed freely throughout…
King tides are just one of the threats faced by the people of Saibai Island in the Torres Strait, as a result of climate change. Brad Marsellos

Rising seas pose a cultural threat to Australia’s ‘forgotten people’

While you may have heard about the increasing threat that climate change and rising seas pose to Pacific islands — already forcing some communities to move — Australia has its own group of islands that…
The First Contact cast members’ transformation over the series is an optical illusion of Australian race relations. SBS

SBS’s First Contact is the real ‘festering sore’ of the nation

The SBS/Blackfella Films production First Contact – that takes six non-Indigenous people and immerses them into Aboriginal Australia for the first time – captured the nation’s attention this week amassing…
Archie Roach performs at the funeral of Indigenous boxing champion Lionel Rose at Festival Hall in Melbourne, 2011. AAP/Julian Smith

Indigenous Australia’s diverse memorialisation of the dead

Beliefs and ceremonies associated with death in Indigenous Australia are diverse. Death and the deceased are sacred to Indigenous Australians and ceremonies differ between communities. They may involve…
Many threats – the lower paintings at this site at Malarrak in Arnhem Land are being removed by feral animals rubbing against the wall. Paul Tacon

Australian rock art is threatened by a lack of conservation

Australian rock art is under threat from both natural and cultural forces impacting on sites. But what saddens me the most is that there is so much government lethargy in Australia when it comes to documenting…
Blues singer Marlene Cummins is the subject of Rachel Perkins’ latest film, Black Panther Woman. MIFF

A blues song to break the silence: Black Panther Woman at MIFF

I sing this song. I sing it for my sisters. For I feel the backbone of our struggle in this country, Trying to keep it together. Koori Woman – Marlene Cummins Rachel Perkins’ latest documentary, Black…

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