Noongar Aboriginal People Summary

Through the use of poetic devices, the author has successfully encouraged the audience to explore their thoughts on Australian identity and to reflect on our nation’s history.

Contemporary Indigenous Art in Australia is a fundamental core into the exploration into contemporary visual culture, and that of historical reflection and tradition. Art and decoration acts as an integral part of the traditional indigenous lifestyle1, such tradition repressed through the centuries of destructive oppression, that continued through to the late 20th century, reinforced by an education system and society dominated by a history built on the belief in Australia as terra nullius. Such narratives and visual representations of history present the colonisers as powerful figures of exploration, and colonisation- the bearers of learning and civilisation in a land of ‘primitive’, failing to acknowledge the sovereign rights of Australia’s Indigenous people.

To the locals, a gunshot meant nothing more than dinner or killing a pest on a local farm, but to a Warranjimbi man, the sound of the white man’s gun was a reminder of our place on this land. It was the sound of death, the sound of misery and the sound of torture. The sound of the white man’s gun echoed across two centuries of injustice and suffering. “Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free” The sound of the gunshot was the sound of the Stolen Generation.

This book is based mostly around aboriginal culture and their connection to their culture and ancestors, this can be seen in many ways, but the most important ones are ‘They dance, bare feet stamping into that wood floor. The sound of those clapsticks scare off the bad spirits’’ seen on page fifty. This uses techniques of imagery and personification and it links to cultural heritage because a big part of their culture is their spiritual world, and their traditional dances relate to their spirits. This book uses the technique personification a lot, to bring life to nature, which they’re deeply connected to. The text ‘’ With no buildings around, with that sea lapping a rhythm and mountains hugging in close, with the sun in the sky and the birds in the trees, it doesn't seem like the world’s gonna end no more’’, found on page 52.This use of personification and imagery, displays the theme of cultural heritage and how a big part of their culture was their bond with their

The poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, draws the realistic image of the confronting realities of alienation and displacement of Indigenous Australians. It is because of such experiences that has empowered Noonuccal to express and advocate learning from experiences by positioning the audience to view the horrors that occurred, creating a platform for her poetry. Through the emphasis of identity, it allows the audience to deeply connect with the past, determining and illustrating a profound link between the ancient past and contemporary present. Oodgeroo’s deep connectivity with art and poetry highlights the importance of learning from experiences, for not only the Aboriginal culture but, for all cultures, and that colonisation does not destroy self-identity. Through the poems The Past and China…Woman, it has allowed the individual to promote change, encouraging the survival of cultures through learning from past experiences

I respectfully acknowledge the past and present Nooongar Whadjuk people on which land Curtin University is based and of the Bindjareb Noongar people, the traditional custodians of Mandjoogoodrap (Mandurah) the land on which I live and work. Mandjoogoordap means meeting place of the heart and is a unique, distinctive and authentic place within the Gnaala Karla Boondja region, consisting of waterways, rivers, lakes, the estuary, ocean and coastal plains, and a rich history of Aboriginal people’s lives and stories. I respect the vibrant, endless culture that past and present Noongar people bring to this boodja (country).

The construction of Aboriginality in Australia has been achieved through a variety of processes, in various places and at various levels of society, giving rise to a complex interaction between the constructions. At the local level, the most striking line of tension may seem to lie between what Aboriginal people say about themselves and what others say about them. But crosscutting this is another field of tension between the ideas of Aboriginality (and non-Aboriginality) that people of all kinds construct and reproduce for themselves, and the constructions produced at the national level by the state in its various manifestations, the mass media, science, the arts and so on (Beckett, 1988).

Her poem surmises a tribe returning home to “the old bora ground” only to find that Westerners have constructed buildings and defaced the natives’ sacred spaces with their urban existence. Oodgeroo begins by describing the tribe as defenseless and dwindling: “subdued and silent [and]… all that remained”. This message is fairly consistent throughout the first half of the poem but suddenly changes into one that says the Aboriginal culture has been completely extinguished. By foregrounding these discourses of colonization, dispossession and oppression consistently, Noonuccal’s poem presents an invited reading which portrays how the power of western ignorance has managed to abolish the pride and culture of the

As Ottoson remarks, music acts as a cross-cultural tool for a marginalized and disadvantaged minority to “talk back” to a dominant non-Aboriginal mainstream, as well as a means for “sharing culture” with, and creating greater understanding in, a non-Aboriginal public” (287-88).Recently, Indigenous music has received unprecedented attention and accolades from audiences in Australia and overseas, accompaniedwith a general upsurge of interest in Aboriginal artists. It was a gradual process. An examination of Dunbar-Hall’s (1995) discography reveals that very few Indigenous performers- male or female- recorded their contemporary music in the 1950s and 1960s. Indigenous male performers Jimmy Little and Dougie Young recorded their music in the 1960s and 1970s. Since the early 1980s, contemporary music recordings made by Indigenous Australian performers have increased along with recordings by Indigenous Australian women.

The Australian Indigenous community hold extremely significant corrections to the land of Australia, of which they refer to as ‘Country.’ Indigenous people acquire deep meaning from the land, sea and the countless resources derived from them. This special relationship has formed for many centuries. To them ‘Country’ is paramount for overall wellbeing; the strong, significant, spiritual bonds embody their entire existence. Knowledge is continually passed down to create an unbroken connection of past,

Before I can start talking about the Australian Aborigines Music, I must inform you about the rich history of the people. For this part I watched a documentary called The First People: Aboriginal Australians on You Tube. The documentary talked about The traditional music of indigenous Australians which held a lot of meaning to their culture. The music is used throughout their aboriginal life to teach them what must be known about their culture, and about their place in it, and about their place in the world of nature and supernatural. As a very young child, the aboriginal children are encouraged to dance and sing about everyday tasks. At puberty, he or she learns their first karma song, which teachings them about totemic plants and animals of his or her clan and the history and mythology of their group.

Australia’s National Film and Sound Registry is a prestigious collection of media which portrays the zeitgeist of a group of people or time, this registry is updated annually with powerful songs which are considered anthems. Archie Roach’s 1990 folk song ‘Took The Children Away’ has recently been selected for consideration as it eloquently draws attention to an important part of Australian history and is undoubtedly a uniting anthem for the Aboriginal people. There are a myriad of poetic devices successfully implemented in this song which serve to intensify meaning and provoke thought. In addition, there are powerful ideologies subtly woven throughout the lyrics which allow listeners to understand and relate to Roach’s words and feelings. Also,

Australian Aborigines are thought to have the longest continuous cultural history in the world. Yet, within a hundred years, the near extinction of the Aboriginal culture almost occurred. This single event, the invasion of the Australian continent by European settlers, changed the lifestyle, the culture, and the fate of Australian Aborigines. Their entire lives were essentially taken away and they were forced into a white, European world where the lifestyle change could not have been any different. Aborigines in Australia today are struggling to deal with a past in which they lost touch with their culture and now are trying to regain some of that cultural identity.

The notion of the contemporary indigenous identity and the impact of these notions are both explored in texts that have been studied. Ivan Sen’s 2002 film ‘Beneath Clouds’ focuses on the stereotypical behaviours of Indigenous Australians highlighting Lina and Vaughn’s journey. This also signifies the status and place of the Australian identity today. Through the use of visual techniques and stereotypes the ideas that the Indigenous are uneducated, involved in crime and the stereotypical portrayal of white people are all explored. Similarly the notion of urban and rural life is represented in Kennith Slessor’s ‘William Street’ and ‘Country Towns’.

In her poems, Oodgeroo Noonuccal highlights issues about her people’s past and present in Caucasian society. Noonuccal’s main audience is the people of the 1960s and 70s; however, her poetry still applies to Australian audiences today. Both Noonuccal’s poetry and the issues she addresses have outlast her and become a somewhat popular topic of the present. People easily shed empathy; so by exposing vulgar situations through either piteous writing or ridicule, the reader is quickly engaged. Noonuccal’s poems are particularly successful with the Australian people as they address topics close to the history of Australia and its colonisation; thus, Australian readers are able to hold the issues close to heart and be engaged by the poems. The tone of the poems embody the dejected state in society that aboriginals live through. Her opinions on the matter are not noticeable in her writing but conveyed in her depictions. Ultimately, Noonuccal expresses ridicule towards society in her depiction of issues.