Australian Stories matching your query...

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. ...

Artbank was founded by the Australian Government in 1980 to buy Australian contemporary art and rent it out to public and private sector clients. Instead of only seeing Australian art in galleries, Artbank ensures that more Australian art can be seen in m...

Works by many contemporary visual artists in Western Australia demonstrate a vital consciousness of the land. Western Australian art traces a presence on the land, a cultural loss and, ultimately, a belief in the future. Contemporary artists such as pai...

Craft practice shows us clear tangible evidence of cultural traditions as part of both the craft practice and also its context within Australian culture and design. Bevan Thompson, Norseman Salt Lakes, 2007, Stoneware, coil and throw method, Collection A...

Australian designers, by their very nature, look for simple and elegant solutions for challenges in often ordinary situations, balancing creativity with cost-effectiveness and innovative construction. Inspiration comes not only from historical and interna...

A wide variety of Australian fashion textiles - hand-coloured, printed and painted silks, woven wool, dyed discharge and devore prints, ground velvets, and ochred designs based on traditional Aboriginal body paintings have all contributed to the definitio...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

NAIDOC originally stood for 'National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee' after a Day of Mourning was held on Australia Day, 1938. In 1991 NADOC became NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) to recognise Torres...

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...

UNESCO states that Indigenous populations number some 350 million individuals in more than 70 countries in the world, and that this represents more than 5000 languages and cultures. Today, many Indigenous peoples live on the fringes of society and are de...

Reconciliation is about unity and respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. It is about respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and valuing justice and equity for all Australians. National R...

The first National Sorry Day was held on 26 May 1998 - one year after the tabling of the report Bringing them Home, May 1997. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission into the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their fami...

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...

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...

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...