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Introduction to aboriginal culture in australia
Introduction to aboriginal culture in australia
Essay on aboriginal beliefs
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Leonie Norrington-penned novel ‘The Spirit of Barrumbi’ is a unique look at the spiritual beliefs of the Aboriginals in Outback Northern Territory. Following two committed families, one Aboriginal and one non-Aboriginal, brought together by the land and their strong bond, cultural beliefs held by the older caretakers of the land and the careless personalities of younger kids begin to crash when one of the children, Sean, wanders into the sacred land that is Death Adder Ridge. The book follows the long journey to help Sean get back home safe, and the deep emotional journey that provides the novel’s foundations. The frequent use of colloquialism from the characters gives them a believable personality that puts you straight into the environment
of the book, with a Mayali (language of the setting) dictionary and non-Mayali slang glossary style page at the back of the book showing what some of the language used means. A weakness of the Spirit of Barrumbi is that the main storyline may feel a little too long and strung out for some people, but it is an interesting journey with many unique situations along the way, that differentiate this book’s strongly culturally-influenced environment from another’s. The story is always reinforcing one of life’s most important lessons: to never take anything for granted, and especially having strong bonds with our families.
Showered by myths and mystery, not knowing the correct spelling of Sacagawea’s name or her correct date of birth. Her story still has been told many times throughout history. Not learning to read or write, she was well known for assisting the explorers Lewis and Clark on their expedition, in survey of the Louisiana Purchase land. She became a valuable guide to the expedition, interpreting between tribes in her region. Without the help of Sacagawea, Lewis and Clark might not have been as successful, but because of her efforts, it made claiming the newfound land for the United States impossible for other countries.
The compassionate novel Deadly Unna?, written by Phillip Gwynne, creates vivid characters and depicts race discourses experienced by Gary Black (also known as Blacky) in a fictitious South Australian coastal community. The novel portrays a typical coastal town of the 1970s and is set mainly in the Port: the local Pub, the Black family home and the jetty, where the local children play. The story explores the racism between the Nungas (the indigenous population who live at the Point) and the Gooynas (the white population who live at the Port). As Blacky is from the Port, he only begins to develop awareness of the racism around him as a result of his friendship with Dumby Red, a Nunga football player, and consequently stops making racist jokes and comments. Analysis of racist ideas in the town, the marginalisation of the Nunga community, Blacky’s changing beliefs and how it influences and empowers him to respond to the death of Dumby Red, reveals that Gwynne encourages the reader to reject the racist values, attitudes and beliefs of Blacky’s community.
Thomas King uses an oral story-telling style of writing mingled with western narrative in his article “You’re Not the Indian I Had in Mind” to explain that Indians are not on the brink of extinction. Through this article in the Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada textbook, King also brings some focus to the topic of what it means to be “Indian” through the eyes of an actual Aboriginal versus how Aboriginals are viewed by other races of people. With his unique style of writing, King is able to bring the reader into the situations he describes because he writes about it like a story he is telling.
Aboriginal people are struggling to improve their lives while re-discovering their traditional values after years of oppression. In the graphic novel, The Outside Circle, author Patti Laboucane-Benson grapples with the ramifications of government abuses. Laboucane-Benson craftsmanship paints the picture of racial inferiority among First Nations through the residential school trauma, causing readers to ponder the difficult questions of race. Readers observe the novel through Pete’s eyes and follow along on his journey of an identity crisis and self-discovery. The powerful and deeply moving graphic novel reflects the widespread reality regarding manifestation of urban poverty for the First Nations culture through the representation of the injustices
The ANZAC Legend ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACS, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day. The ANZAC legend began with the landing at Gallipoli on April 25 1915, signaling the start of the disastrous Dardanelles campaign on the Turk Peninsula. This campaign saw thousands of ANZAC fatalities before its conclusion in January 1916. Significantly, the ANZAC legend is the result of a devastating loss, rather than a great victory.
‘The Drover’s Wife’ opens with a vivid visual image of the house which becomes a character in itself, the lexical word chain “round timber, slabs, and stringy bark, and floored with split slabs” shows us the poor, rough materials used to build only what is necessary to survive. Thus, we can visualise the simplistic nature of the lives the drover’s wife and her children live in their environment. Strong visual imagery is employed to depict the landscape; “Bush all round – bush with no horizon, for the country is flat. No ranges in the distance… No undergrowth”. The repetition of “no” emphasises the lack of distinguishing features, the land is monotonous and contains “nothing to relieve the eye”. The environment is isolated; they are alone “There is nothing to see, however, and not a soul to meet”. This helps the audience to develop an understanding of the isolation and loneliness of Australians living in the bush during the Colonial
“The Inner Circle”, written by Gary Crew is a novel based on two juvenile boys, Joe Carney and Tony Landon. Tony is a white teenager, ignored by his divorced parents and given money instead of love, whereas Joe Carney is a black Aboriginal teenager, who wants to overcome racism and social exclusion. Joe and Tony do not have anything in common except their age and emotional confusion, but they become friends after meeting in the old abandoned power station regardless of their racial difference. Gary Crew wrote the novel in Joe and Tony point of view, which a chapter for Joe and a chapter for Tony is given to provide the readers an understanding of how the European settlement has a big impacts of how Indigenous Aboriginal are treated in today’s society. The white settlers changed Indigenous lives forever, where now Aboriginal people are experiencing racism, poor living condition and unemployment because of their skin colour. Gary Crew showed this through Joe’s Carney point of view. This essay will analyse the issue of racism, social exclusion, racial discrimination, family and child relationship and the friendship that is conveyed between Tony and Joe throughout the novel.
The idea that indigenous Australian communities are underprivileged and do not receive the same justice that the white community accrues is represented through Jay Swan and his interactions with the corrupt white police officers and the indigenous locals of the town. My empathetic response to the text as a whole was influenced directly by way the text constructs these ideas as well as my knowledge of the way indigenous Australians are represented in the mainstream media and the behaviour of the police force as an institution. These contextual factors and the way Sen has constructed ideas influenced me to empathise with the indigenous
The notions of the Australian voice as multifaceted and diverse, is insightfully expressed in Tim Winton's short story anthology The turning and the Drover's wife by Henry Lawson. Australian voice in literature often explores the quality inherent to the Australian identity of overcoming hardships. The stories Fog, On her knees, and The Drover's wife explore these hardships through the notions of mateship,and the importance of family in facing these challenges.
Before we look at whether James Moloney effectively uses characterisation to convey Aboriginal issues we must look at the issues themselves. In Dougy, the issue of black and white prejudice is strongly present in the plot. The stereotyping of Aborigines and white Europeans play an important role in the events and the outcome of the story, as is individuality and the breaking of the stereotypes. The book also touches on the old Aboriginal superstitions that are still believed in by some today, though one of such superstitions plays an important role in creating the mood of the resolution. These issues impact most heavily on the character Gracey.
The fundamental characteristic of magical realism is its duality, which enables the reader to experience both the character’s past and the present. In the novel, Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson uses this literary device to address the the trauma and mistreatment of the Haisla community in Canada by unveiling the intimate memories of the protagonist, Lisamarie, and the resulting consequences of this oppression. Monkey Beach illustrates how abuse in the past leads to another form of self-medication in the future - a neverending, vicious cycle for the members of the Haisla community. Many characters in Monkey Beach are scarred from childhood sexual abuse and family neglect, and resort to drug and alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism. These appalling memories are an account of the impact of colonization on the Haisla territory which continues to haunt the Aboriginal community throughout generations.
Reynolds, H. (1990). With The White People: The crucial role of Aborigines in the exploration and development of Australia. Australia: Penguin Books
Australia is a country that has been described as diverse, multicultural and unique. Tim Winton is a well known Australian author, having lived by the sea his whole life has inspired his writing. One of Winton’s most acclaimed works is ‘Cloudstreet’. The novel Cloudstreet, is a story revolving around how two rural families end up living together at number 1 Cloudstreet. Finding one’s place in the world and the search for the meaning of life are common themes in this novel. Winton has achieved using setting and structure, important factors in any successful novel to create a feeling of an authentic type atmosphere and perspective. This essay will demonstrate how Winton has used setting, particularly the house Cloudstreet (detail into the library),
Today, in the 20th Century, it is a commonly known fact in Australia, and throughout the rest of the world, that Aborigines were mistreated from since western culture first settled, and for many years after that. It is the main purpose of stage dramas to bring issues, such as the one mentioned above, and ideas about these issues to life through dramatic performances and the use of a number of various techniques. No Sugar, a revisionist text written by Jack Davis in 1985, is one of these stage dramas. Jack Davis brings issues and even expresses his own ideas about issues such as the injustices of Aboriginal treatment during the 1930's, to life in No Sugar very well because No Sugar is a revisionist text, and therefore offers a new perspective of an Aboriginal point of view, on events which occurred during the time of the issue at hand.
The Australian Aborigines tell the story of their nation in many varied forms, in the form of songs and chants, ritual dramatizations, paintings, dances and oral narratives. For over 60,000 years the Indigenous people of Australia have used oral narratives and songs that are passed down from generation to generation as a way of telling the story of their people in the past whilst embracing the present. There are two kinds of ways that these narratives may be told, openly for all to hear and sacred stories reserved for initiated members of one or the other sex. These stories can be incredibly complicated and profound often containing dozens or hundreds of verses, and often repeated over and over. These narratives, or stories of The Dreaming, often contain important information for the younger members of the tribe such as how the land came to be shaped and inhabited,(Fryer-Smith 2008) how to behave and why, and the personal histories of people’s lives. Many written sources of history often only tell the past from the point of view of the victors. Considering the history of Australia, the traditional oral narratives of the original indigenous inhabitants of is of paramount importance in keeping their time-honoured culture and its story alive.