4 Aboriginal Australia: History and Literature

Mr. Ayan Ghosh

epgp books

 

 

 

 

Contents

  1. What is Aboriginality?
  2. Brief history of Aborigines
  3. Introduction to Indigenous Culture
  4. Introduction to Aboriginal Art
  5. Aboriginal Music
  6. Aboriginal Paintings
  7. Papunya Tula or Papunya Art
  8. Aboriginal Literature
  9. What is dream Time?
  10. Dreamtime and Indigenous Literature
  11. Aboriginal Literature and its position
  12. Famous Literary personnel
  13. Glimpses of Aboriginal Films
  14. Conclusion

About the Chapter: In this module we are going to learn that what the Aborigine actually means, from where this term came from and for whom it is being used. In addition to this we are going to learn about Aboriginal History, about their land in a brief manner. We will discuss some of their art form and will try to get acquainted with their culture in the first half of this module. In the second part, we will learn that what the ‘Dreamtime’ actually is and how is it related with their literature. After that we will discuss some important literary figures of Australian Aboriginal Literature and their works and finally we will try to get some knowledge about Aboriginal films. So, as a whole, through this module we will get an overview of Aboriginal people.

What is Aboriginality? The word ‘Aboriginal’ defines a group of people who lives in a country from the earliest times and the actual inhabitant of a particular land. In Australia, the Non-Aboriginal people who came just about two hundred years ago were used this word to describe the native dwellers of Australia as Aboriginals. According to their different place of inhabitants, Indigenous peoples came to be known differently as. Koori in south east Australia; Murri in north western NSW and Queensland; Yolgnu in Arnhem Land; Nunga in Southern Australia and Noongar in Western Australia.

Brief History of Aborigines: The History of Aboriginal Australia starts with the arrival of the people of Indo-Malaysian mainland via New Guinea to the contemporary Australian part of land during the last Ice Age. These land bridges were exposed during the ice age, the Pleistocene epoch, when Indonesia and Papua were getting connected through a land bridge. After the ending of Ice Age, water level of sea again rose and two part of land again got separated, thus the Aboriginal people were bound to live there. On the basis of historical evidences we can assert that Aboriginals are one of the oldest civilizations who still continue to live in this world for forty Thousand years back from today. In 1600s, the first encounter  of the outsider with these people was recorded through Dutch Sailor, William Janszoon and Dirt Hartog, who were travelling from their native place to their colony in Indonesia, the land of spices. For them this place looks like barren land so they decided to not to make this place as their colony.

 

Later, in the year 1770, British explorer Captain James Cook had discovered the eastern part of this country fertile. With the help of his report and the brief history of Aboriginal people, British decided to make this country as their colony and sent 12 fleets of ships to settle down in the eastern region of Australia in 1788. At that time when the ‘Outsiders’ invaded The Aboriginals and their long nurtured culture and traditions, they were 750,000 in numbers. And along with this they also have almost 200 different Aboriginal languages at that time. Now in this present scenario a very few languages used as spoken language and others simply went into oblivion as they can’t compete with the white tongues.

Introduction to Indigenous Culture: Indigenous people of today’s Australia are a bit different from as they were used to be before the hitting of the first ship to the eastern region of the country. Australia, in that time used to be totally unspoiled, they did not have any kind of carriages, large farms, tall buildings and even no travelers to visits it. They always gave respect to the environment and carefully they keep in mind that no animals must not be over hunted and no plants to over collected. They used nature as far as their need is fulfilled and made sure that there should not be any kind of natural resources wastage and this ensured that there would remain sufficient food to feed the coming generations. These people were generally wanderers, did not stay same place for a longer period of time to maintain the balance of environment and to confirm it, they did not fishing or harvesting too much at a certain place. That’s why they didn’t own a land and in place of that they choose to roam around. The Men hunted the big animals like turtles, kangaroos and emus and women and children used to hunt the smaller animals and collected fruits and vegetables to sustain their hunter lifestyle. In those days indigenous peoples live throughout Australia but now they are restricted in certain part of the country. And day by day it’s getting difficult to find out the typical Aboriginal Australian cultures and practices.

 

Aborigines are the Australia’s indigenous people and they are covered only 2.5 % (about 410,000) of the total population of Australia according to the report published by Australia Bureau of Statistics in 2006. They are acclaimed as the most durable society in the world. But traditional way of Aboriginal lifestyle is almost come to an edge and therefore in modern Australia a very few places are remaining for Aboriginals. Arnhem Land is one of those regions. Though this region is not fully isolated from the Modern World it has solar electricity satellite phones to connect with the mainstream world and even flat screen television with DVD player which showcasing the merging of marginal people to the mainstream flow of life.

Introduction to Aboriginal Art: When these people came to Australia from some part of Asia, they were in 500-600 different groups. But they have strong spiritual belief, which is being termed as Dreaming by Western philosophers. For Aboriginals, Dreaming is the main basis for their spiritual identity. It helps them to recollect the past, reshape the present and imagine the future. To stay unite and to make their tribal culture and tradition alive, this spirituality helps them to do that. Their Oral tradition of tribal story telling signifies their vibrancy of cultural life and makes them distinguishable. Their songs illustrates the dreamtime and the different stories of their land, and with these their dance and paintings in sand accompany oral tales just as the instruments does for the songs. The Aborigine Art works includes sculptures, rock and bark paintings, basket and bead works can be found in the different parts of Australia. And many of them earn their livelihood by selling this artworks. So after mapping the history of Aboriginal Australia at a glance, now we are trying to get some views over Australian indigenous arts sculptures and music.

Aboriginal Music: At first, in this module we are going discuss about the music of indigenous people of Australia. Music or songs is inevitable part for Aboriginals. They had songs for almost each and every occasions of personal and social life: songs for hunting, for funeral, for ancestors, myths, legends, seasons, animals and all things and situations of which they had encountered with everyday life. Along with these songs, dance is also very important for them. This Music and Dance are also believed that it is belongs to Dreaming, and it is based on the history of their land and creation of it, with these songs they preach their culture, their laws and even how to find food is also being told by these songs only. For them songs and dance is a mode of communication, with which they can connect with different groups of people, they can teach other people about their moral, values, roles and responsibilities.

 

The Aboriginals had invented and developed many kind of unique musical instruments, such as, ‘Didgeridoo’, ‘Bullroarer’, and ‘Gum-leaf’, among these Didgeridoo is most well known instrument. It is simple wooden pipe like instrument blown with lips like a trumpet. This instrument was invented in Arnhem Land on the Northern coastline of central Australia. It has distinct sound and when it is played accordingly it can make sound like birds and animals.

Aboriginal Paintings: Art is the only medium for Aborigines to convey their cultural heritage to future as they did not have any written languages. Not only to pass the information, also to preserve the culture, Art is the only way out. And for Aboriginals, this was totally centered on storytelling. Like music, art has same kind influence for indigenous people, for this ochres is being used to paint on the body of indigenous people, bark, rocks and caves and it is still continuing for last 30,000 years. This indigenous art forms gives us not only the history of primary people of this earth but also the picturesque details of lives and struggle for survival of the artists. Along with this it also gives us the image of trading patterns of that time. Below we briefly discuss about their art forms to understand Aborigines a little better.

 

Engraving or painting on the caves or stones is the earliest art form of indigenous people. It was started almost 30000 years back in some part of the central Australia, red ochre was being used to draw on boulders or rock shelters. Again indigenous peoples understood this painting as the reflections of dreaming of the earliest peoples. Narwala Gabarnmang rock shelter in south-western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory is one of the example of rock painting. Dampier Archipelago in western Australia is one of largest collections of rock art where we can found millions of rock engraving.

Papunya Tula or Papunya Art is art style of Western Desert. This art style was also meant for draw on human body and on the ground, there were four primary Aboriginal colours which depict the four great existence of Aboriginal life. Yellow is for sun, Brown is for soil, Red is for desert sand and while the white is for sky and clouds. This art form is also as old as the rock engravings but it gets wide recognition in 1971 when a local school teacher Geoffrey Bardon give inspiration to some men to paint a blank school wall and gave them modern equipments for paintings. As a result this takes a form of movement and today this Papunya Art industry generates as much as $200 millions nationally.

 

Apart from these Art styles Aboriginal people has large number of different styles such as Bark paintings, stone arrangements, wood carvings or Punu, weaving and many more. In May 2007 Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s work ‘Earth’s Creation’ was sold to a private buyer for $1.056 million, with this one example we can understand that this Art styles is how much important as well as how much famous in recent time for the Aboriginal peoples .

 

Aboriginal Literature: Now in the second part of this module we are going discuss about the Aboriginal Australian Literature and its position among the so called mainstream Literature. Like the other art form, Aboriginal Literature also derived from the story telling or which we normally know as Folk literature. Before the process of colonization Aboriginals did not have any kind of traditional writing method, all they had is the oral tradition. So we cannot assert that whether the encounter with the white people is boon or bane for Aboriginal as the first literary examples were come from the journals of the explorers of Europe.

 

Before the exploitation of Aboriginal Australia, it was multicultural, multilingual land. For this there had been an existence of different community and each community has its own story to tell. And it is obvious that each of the stories is different from each other, but in one aspect all the stories were connected with each other that is the ‘stories of dreaming’. As we mentioned and used this term for quite a few times in this module, now we are going to discuss this briefly.

What is dream Time? Dream Time is a unique feature for Aboriginal Australian Arts and Literature. This is a concept of Aboriginal belief of spiritual existence. Which is never been easy to understand for the non Aboriginal people. According to the Aboriginals, this whole universe was created by the spirits, their ancestors during the Dream Time. They give everything such as land hills rivers waters animals to them and even the dreaming too. They think that in the beginning time, in the Dream time this Aboriginal people were also being created by their ancestors. For this, To keep alive their ancestors, to pleased their spirits, all the Aboriginal Arts and literature were came into being. Dreamtime is the time of some 65000 years back when this mortal world, this aboriginal people started their journey. For them this Dreamtime is the endless time of the beginning and only through this, Aborigines came to know about their beginning. It is the time when their ancestors created men and women, give them land for cultivate, weapon for hunting and bound them with social codes.

Dreamtime and Indigenous Literature: So the idea of dreamtime stories which is primarily be oral was gradually converted into written literary tradition in the shape of Aboriginal Literature. After 1950s, many Aboriginal people uses writing to express their views over their current situation and to make others known about their cultural heritage. And it is obvious that Aboriginals were used English language as a medium to compose their literary texts. It will give them a bit more exposer to the outer world and especially only through this they can easily carry out their agony, their oppression and most importantly their unheard traditional culture to the White people. Melissa Lucashenco was rightly pointed out that Aboriginal Literature is a protest literature, she said “Aboriginal Writing to me at the moment as a protest literature I suppose and it’s centered around land and social justice and legal stuff. ” So at the core ‘cry’ is the focal theme of the Aboriginal Literature. As we can say by borrowing Mudrooroo’s words that “it is a cry for justice and for a better deal, a cry for understanding and asking to be understood”. Though revolt is one of the important feature of Aboriginal Literature but critics cannot rooted out the possibilities of other themes. That’s why Nature and Romanticism were also one can trace out in this Literary tradition except this two preconceive notions; Aboriginal culture and tales of oppression in Aboriginal Literature.

Aboriginal Literature and its position

 

Now in these days greater part of this universe started taking interest in Aboriginal Literature. There are lot of dedicated reader for indigenous writings which one could not even imagine  in some 50 years back. Critics were also take this writings very seriously and these native writers earned a considerable attention from around the world. But now question will arise here that is the Indigenous Literature different from well established parallel English Literature? or is it not a integrated part of the collective literature which is known to us as the World Literature ? These questions will also get answers when we will discuss about some of the important names of Indigenous Literature. Australian Aboriginal Literature is also dynamic in respect of the Literature of other languages. We have already discussed that Aboriginal Literature is mainly based on the life of Aborigines itself , the soil , the environment of Australia which is the very essence of this Literature and more interestingly it is not a separated part from the other Art forms of Aboriginal life.

 

Like almost of all other Literatures, Aboriginal Literature is also result of reflection of the socio-cultural and economic condition of a land. During the Second World War and the Great Depression, with all the other countries Australia had also been faced the same impact of it and Aborigines suffered the most. Therefore as the sufferings and agonies always transformed into great literary pieces, same thing happened here also.

Important Literary Personnel:

 

Katharine Susannah Prichard (1883-1969) was born in Levuka, Fizi in 1883, grew up in Launceston, Tasmania and finally settled down in Melbourne after getting a half scholarship from South Melbourne college. For her first novel The Pioneer (1915), she got the Hodder & Stoughton All Empire Literature Prize in which she tells the story of the early dwellers of Australia. She wrote 13 novels, four collections short stories, and drama, poetry, reportage many more. She was the first Australian novelist who was being recognized in all over the world. In the very next year in 1916 she wrote her second novel Windlestraws, though it is not exactly based on the issues of Aborigines but it also got positive critical appreciations. She was not only a novelist but a journalist and political activist too. Prichard founded the Communist Party of Australia in 1921. In 1926, she wrote Working Bullocks, for which she gained all her literary reputations. In Coonardoo (1929) she gives us a detail picture of traditional Aboriginal life. It was tale of love of White man and with a Black woman which was serially published in a magazine called Bulletin from September to December 1928. After this the Short Story collection of her Kiss on the Lips (1932), she established herself as major Australian short fiction writer.

David Unaipon (1872-1967) was the first Aboriginal Author to be published and the name of the book is Native Legends (1929). He was born in Coorong region of Southern Australia. He was at time an inventor, writer, musician and orator and holds the patent for 19 inventions. And among all his inventions he tried to make life more easier for Aboriginal peoples. As an orator he used to give talks in churches and schools about the Aboriginal culture and traditions. He wrote many articles in Sydney Daily Telegraph from 1924 onwards. In  between 1927 to 1929 he wrote three booklets of Aborigine stories. Under the title of Native legends five stories of Unaipon’s got published in 1929. He was also awarded Coronation medal in 1953 at the age of 81.

Xavier Herbert (1901-1984) regarded as the elder statesman of Australian Literature was born on Geraldton Western Australia. He was the illegitimate son of Amy Victoria Scammel and Benjamin Francis Herbert. His writings depict the story of Indigenous soil. His first work Capricornia published in 1938 was widely read Australian novel. It was a work of protest and influenced by 1930s Jindyworobak Movement of Australian Literature which was started to free Australian Art from other influences. Capricornia is an imaginative country which was neglected by the history of Australia. He created such kind fictional nation to demonstrate the lives of Aboriginals to the Whites. His other works are Seven Emus (1959), Soldiers’ Women (1961), Poor Fellow My Country (1975). For this novel he won the Miles Franklin Award and this is regarded as the longest Australian novel. He is also known for short stories collections and his autobiography Disturbing Element (1963). 

Judith Wright (1915-2000) born on Armidale , New south Wales was a Poet who writes for the rights of Aboriginal land . With her poetries she showcases the Aboriginal sufferings, agonies and the Australian environment. She had successfully built up a relationship between indigenous people with the bush and soil of native land. Her first book of poetry The Moving Image published in 1946. It is based on the situation of the Aborigines during the Second World War. Her other collections of poetries were Woman to Man (1949), The Gateway (1953), The Two Fires (1955), Birds (1962), Five Senses (1963), The Other Half (1966), Alive (1973), Train Journey (1978) etc. And not only that she had also published short stories collection The Nature of Love in 1966. Wright was the only second person to won the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1991.

 

Apart from this Aborigine authors there are numerous Australian Indigenous writers who devoted their entire life to make Aboriginal Literature a parallel genre with other so called established literature of different languages. Like Daisy Bates (1859-1951), Ion Idriess (1889-1979), Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920- 1993) Alexis Wright (1950- ), Doris Pikington Garimara (1937-2014), Lisa Bellear (1961-2006), Anita Heiss (1968) and many more.

Glimpses of Aboriginal Films: Poetry novel drama is not the only subject in which the Aboriginal aesthetic expanded throughout the world. There is one more medium which was actively changed the whole scenario, is Films. This form of representation really helps to spread Aboriginal identity to the modern world. In the early age of Australian cinema, white actors did the jobs for indigenous people as Australian government regulated participation of Aborigines to the social and cultural life. 1960 onwards things started to change for Aboriginal Cinema. United Nations questions for human rights for all citizens of a country, Australian Govt. had also follows that rules and bound to welcome Aborigines. That though Aboriginals and Torres Strait islanders have been projected in screens from 1920 the silent era, but it’s been a long journey to portrays their own issues or stories by themselves. Bruce Mcguiness is one of the greatest film maker for Aborigines who introduces self- empowerment and self-representation of Aboriginality to the world of cinema. He made two films, Blackfire (1972) and A Time to Dream(1974). There are also very important filmmakers presents in Aborigine Film History, such as, Essie Coffey (1941-1988), her famous film is My Survival as an Aboriginal in 1978. Brian Syron (1934-1993) is considered as the first Australian indigenous feature film director. His some famous works are Bran Nue Dae (1988), Jindalee Lady (1992) as director and Jeremy and teapot (1976), The City’s Edge (1983) as an actor. Tracey Moffat (1960) who is primarily a photographer by profession but she has also a great filmography to be  mentioned.  Her  notable  works  are  Guniwaya  Ngigu (1982)  (documentary),  Nice  Coloured  Girls (1987),  Night  Cries:  A  Rural  Tragedy (1990) etc.

Conclusion: Throughout this module we have learnt about the history of the Indigenous people of Australia and their different Art forms and cultures and in the later part we came to know about their literary contribution to this world. But there are few incidents occurred in the history of Aborigines without knowing this our knowledge about them remains unfulfilled. In 1975, World Council for Indigenous Peoples formed. This incident marked the beginning of cultural transaction between Indigenous culture with the world and this also paved the way for declaration of ‘Year of Indigenous People’ by United Nation in 1993. With which Aboriginality finally became fully Globalised and as a result new themes and ideas were used to incorporate with Indigenous Literature.

you can view video on Aboriginal Australia: History and Literature

References:

  1. Conor, Liz. Aboriginal History. Journal, Volume 40, Cambridge University Press, December 2016
  2. Broom, Richard. Aboriginal Australians: A History since 1788. Allen & Unwin. 2010.
  3. Rolls, Mitchell and Murray Johnson. Historical Dictionary of Australian Aborigines. Scarecrow Press. December 2010
  4. Behrendt, Larissa. Indigenous Australia for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. March 2012
  5. Wheeler, Belinda. A Companion to Australian Literature. Camden House. 2013
  6. Narogin, Mudrooroo. Indigenous Literature of Australia. Hyland House. January 1997
  7. Attwood, Bain. Magowan, Fiona. Telling Stories: Indigenous History and memory in Australia and New Zealand
  8. Heiss, Anita, and Peter Minter (Eds.). Anthology of Australian Aboriginal Literature. Australia and Canada: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2008.
  9. http://www.australia.gov.au/information-and-services/culture-and-arts/indigenous- culture-and-history
  10. http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p49901/mobile/ch06.html