Australian Stories matching your query...

Aboriginal dancers telling Dreamtime stories at the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony. The Dreaming for Australian Indigenous people (sometimes referred to as the Dreamtime or Dreamtimes) is when the Ancestral Beings moved across the land and created life...

The emergence of 'dot' paintings by Indigenous men from the western deserts of Central Australia in the early 1970s has been called the greatest art movement of the twentieth century. Papunya was described as a 'centralised government settlement establis...

For example, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders these ceremonies bring together all aspects of their culture - song, dance, body decoration, sculpture and painting. Anny Nungarrayi (centre) with other Warlpiri women perform a traditional dance dur...

It also contains links to sites that may use images of Aboriginal and Islander people now deceased. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are complex and diverse. In Australia, Indigenous communities keep their cultural heritage alive by passin...

While working in Sydney, Fred became aware of the need for an Aboriginal health service and set about establishing the first Aboriginal Medical Service. This attitude helped him to inspire many doctors and other health professionals to volunteer their ti...

Employing dream imagery, poetry and precarious juxtapositions, Australian artists in the 1930s and early 1940s responded to European surrealists and were part of an international surrealist movement - 'in all its clarity'. Many of Australia's best known a...

Image courtesy of Mangkaja Arts. Women have different Dreaming stories and law to men, and many of the women artists experienced pre-contact traditional life. The first wave of Aboriginal women artists in Western Australia includes Queenie McKenzie, Madi...

The songs and music that has come from people's experiences of living and surviving in the Australian bush has become known in Australia as 'bush music'. The convict songs of the early days of the Australian colonies became the foundation of Australia's ...

While tools varied by group and location, Aboriginal people all had implements such as knives, scrapers, axe-heads, spears, various vessels for eating and drinking, and digging sticks. Aboriginal people achieved two world firsts with stone technology. T...

Modern Australian poetry seeks to tell Australian stories and truths with a poetic significance so that 'they sear into the soul and can never be untold' (Dorothy Porter). The Jindyworobaks encouraged Australian writers to express themselves in language ...

Ah Xian, winner of 2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award Triennial. Image courtesy of the artist and National Gallery of Victoria. The practice of current contemporary artists is supported by a solid foundation of established artist-run contemporary art ...

Elizabeth Cameron Dalman OAM is known as the founder of modern Australian dance. Elizabeth Cameron Dalman's foundation of the Australian Dance Theatre led to a flourishing of public programs and workshops in modern dance techniques and improvisation. The...

The Federation Kiosk, Centennial Park, Sydney at the Proclamation of Federation, 1 January 1901. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. The movement had begun to gather real momentum after Henry Parkes wrote to the other premiers in 1889 an...

Each year the Sydney Festival offers a rich and diverse program spanning all art forms including dance, theatre, music, visual arts, film, forums and large scale free outdoor events. The National Multicultural Festival is held over two weeks and features...

Australian folklore, its traditions, customs and beliefs are based on both Indigenous and also non-Indigenous people's knowledge and experience of history in Australia. Some of Australia's folklore remembers the relationship between Europeans and Aborigi...

Traditional Indigenous architecture was domestic - across a range of well crafted and technologically designed shelters and residential camps. Courtesy of Queensland Museum and Aboriginal Environments Research Centre. Annual base camp structures, whether...

Bark Painting, Evans Collection, Northern Territory Library. Image courtesy of the Northern Territory Library and the National Library of Australia. Australian Indigenous art is the oldest ongoing tradition of art in the world. ...

The bark petitions were the first to use traditional forms and combine bark painting with text typed on paper. Petition to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd by Galarrwuy Yunupingu from Yirrkala, Northern Territory, 23 July, 2008. In July 2008, Yunupingu presented...

Indigenous film either portrays Indigenous people, issues and stories or is film made by Indigenous Australians. The portrayal of Indigenous issues and people in film provides a unique insight into Australia's relationship with its Indigenous peoples and...

Australian animation is internationally recognised, Leisure (1976), Harvie Krumpet (2003) and Happy Feet (2006) have all won Oscars. Leisure employs cell style animation, Harvie Krumpet is made using the method of stop-motion claymation and Happy Feet fe...