Indigenous peoples demand more involvement in environment affairs

A United Nations conference on indigenous affairs wrapped up its two-week gathering making a host of recommendations, including the worldwide establishment of a mechanism requiring patent offices to publicize the origins of products derived from indigenous knowledge when exclusive rights to the design are requested.

The Eighth Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues also called on States and corporations to involve indigenous people in all negotiations relating to the entry of mining industries, infrastructure projects and other development schemes into their communities.

One of the texts approved by the Forum, a subsidiary of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), called on the international community to ensure the application of culturally relevant, gender-balanced and gender-based analysis and gender budgeting as critical elements of economic and social development, consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Declaration, a landmark text adopted in 2007, outlines the rights of the world's estimated 370 million indigenous people and outlaws discrimination against them. It sets out rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues.

The 16-member Forum -- which drew around 2,000 indigenous representatives from all regions of the world, as well as representatives of Member States, civil society, academia, some 35UN entities and other intergovernmental organizations -- approved a provisional agenda for next year, including a half-day discussion on North America.

The Art of Place and Journey

Two paintings by Aboriginal artists, collected in Wally Caruana’s Aboriginal Art.

Paddy Jupurrurla Nelson, Paddy Japaljarri Sims, and Larry Jungarrayi Spencer, Yanjilypiri Jukurrpa (Star Dreaming), 1985 (f109).

“The Australian deserts appears empty and inhospitable to those who do not know them, but to the Aboriginal groups who inhabit these areas, the lands created by their ancestors and infused with their powers are places rich in spiritual meaning and physical sustenance.

“Geographically, the desert includes mountain ranges and spectacular rock-formations, grassy plains, strands and eucalypt and mulga trees, lakes, salt pans, sandhills, and stretches of stony country occasionally broken by seasonal watercourses and rivers and punctuated by rare permanent rockholes, springs, waterholes and soakages… Across this landscape spreads a web of ancestral paths travelled by the supernatural beings on their epic journeys of creation in the Jukurrpa or Dreaming, linking the topography firmly to the social order of the people” (p97).

“The basic elements of the pictorial art are limited in number but broad in meaning… Characteristic of the range of conventional designs and icons are those denoting place or site, and those indicating paths or movement. Concentric circles may denote a site, a camp, a waterhole or a fire. In ceremony, the concentric circle provides the means for the ancestral power which lies within the earth to surface and go back into the ground. Meandering and straight lines may indicate lightening or water courses, or they may describe the paths of ancestors and supernatural beings. Tracks of animals and humans are also part of the lexicon of desert imagery. U-shapes usually represent settled people or breasts, while arcs may be boomerangs or wind-breaks, and short straight lines or bars are often spears and digging sticks. Fields of dots can indicate sparks, fire, burnt ground, smoke, clouds, rain, and other phenomena.

“The interpretations of these designs are multiple and simultaneous, and depend on the viewer’s ritual knowledge of a site and the associated Dreaming. The meanings are elaborated and enhanced by the various combinations or juxtapositions of designs in the paintings, and also by the social and cultural contexts within which they operate — whether for ceremony or public domain, for instance. The combinations of designs allow for endless depth of meaning, and artists in decribing their work distinguish between those meanings that are indented for public revelations and those which are not, and provide the appropriate level of interpretation” (p98-99).



Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Bandicoot Dreaming, 1991 (f98).

“It is by the acquisition of knowledge, not material possessions, that one attains status in Aboriginal culture. Art is an expression of knowledge, and hence a statement of authority. Through the use of ancestrally inherited designs, artists assert their identity, and their rights and responsibilities. They also define the relationships between individuals and groups, and affirm their connections to the land and the Dreaming” (p14-15).

“As a statement of authority, the aesthetic in art is often articulated in terms of ritual knowledge. Through art, individuals express their authority and knowledge of a subject, the land and the Dreaming, and artists will use their authority to introduce change and innovation” (p16).

“In ritual, paintings… are not intended to be static images requiring studied contemplation. Rather, since designs embody the power of supernatural beings, they are intended to be sensed more than viewed” (p59-60).

Marsupial lion found in Aboriginal rock art

SYDNEY: Ancient rock art depicting the extinct marsupial lion has been found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, says a study in the journal Antiquity.

The first convincing example of a marsupial lion found in rock art to date, the find suggests that early Australians and marsupial lions co-existed.

It also hints at what marsupial lions may have looked like. Painted in red ochre, the image depicts a large four-legged animal, with a strong, prominent front limb poised for action, protruding claws and stripes running the length of its back.

New look at an old beast

The rock art "adds to our knowledge of the animal's appearance that, without the discovery of a mummified animal, would have remained conjecture," says the study. "The artist has depicted a tail with tufted tip, the ears are pointed rather than rounded [and] the animal is striped, rather than spotted."

The marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) is well known from the fossil record. Near complete skeletons have been known since the 1960s and the first complete skeleton was unearthed in 2002 in a Nullarbor Plain cave by researchers from the Western Australian Museum. From these finds scientists know that Thylacoleo was front heavy, with large, strong forelimbs. They also had vicious claws and razor-sharp teeth, making them ferocious predators.

However, as the species has been extinct for tens of thousands of years (some estimates suggest 30,000 years, but direct dating of the fossils has not been completed), experts don't know exactly what they looked like. They're also unsure what drove them extinct and even if they were still around when the first Aborigines arrived on the continent.

Some evidence suggests climate change was to blame, whilst other evidence points to early Australians burning the land and altering the habitat.

Lion or tiger?

Tour guide and amateur archaeologist Tim Willing found the painting while exploring rock art near the northwestern Kimberley coast in June 2008. He took digital images of the painting and then, along with co-author Kim Akerman, published a description of them in Antiquity earlier this year.

Many Australian cave paintings have been found to depict the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, which is known to have persisted on the mainland until around 3,000 years ago. However, the newly discovered painting has several features that set it apart from others thought to depict thylacines.

The stripes of the animal in the painting are more extensive than those of a thylacine, which cover only the animal's rear end. The creature also appears to have cat-like claws, a feature of Thylacoleo. Furthermore, the muzzle is blunt, not long and tapered like a Tasmanian tiger's.

"Compared with the powerful forequarters, the hindquarters appear underdeveloped," write the authors. "This apparent asymmetry is not seen in rock art images of thylacines, where both hind- and forelimbs are usually of similar dimensions. However thylacoleos were equipped with powerful claws on the hind limbs and these appear to be depicted in this image."

The discovery suggests that early Aborigines and marsupial lions were contemporaries, and may also lend weight to the idea that the arrival of people contributed to the demise of the species.

Unanswered question

Australian palaeontologists John Long, of Museum Victoria in Melbourne, and Rod Wells, of Flinders University in South Australia, both agree that the animal pictured is likely to be Thylacoleo.

"I think there is a remarkable resemblance between the painting and [a] skeleton I have reconstructed myself," said Wells.

However, Steven Wroe, a palaeontologist from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, isn't convinced. Whilst conceding that the coexistence of marsupial lions and Australian aboriginals would be exciting, he believes the rock art could still be a representation of a thylacine.

Wroe points out that mainland Tasmanian tigers may have had a different pattern of stripes than the isolated Tasmanian population. "The fact that it has stripes at all, that are in any way similar to the Tasmanian tiger, suggests to me that it is a Tasmanian tiger" he told Cosmos Online.

Gurrumul interview: the mystical heart of Australia

May 24, 2009



Gurrumul at the 'G wows fans

"MCG" and "music" generally conjure spine-shuddering images of grand final day, Julie Anthony and sundry Australian Idol cast-offs, but sport's great cathedral is seemingly reinventing itself in song.

In March, Sound Relief brought Midnight Oil, Hunters And Collectors and Crowded House together on the one bill, and gave Paul Kelly a chance to sing Leaps and Bounds at the venue it immortalises. And now the "paddock that grew" is to be graced by a man of whom The Guardian's music critic, Robin Denselow, wrote this week: "It is dangerous making predictions, but here goes. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu — better known as just Gurrumul — is going to be the next world-music celebrity."

And while Gurrumul is as excited about playing at the 'G as organisers of Saturday night's Dreamtime game are rapt to have him, it's the people of his Arnhem Land community who are looking forward to it most of all. "Gurrumul's from Galiwin'ku on Elcho Island, in north-east Arnhem Land," his manager, Mark Grose, said yesterday. "I reckon it must have the highest participation rate for Aussie rules in the country — there's about 2500 people, and every year they get up eight or nine senior teams.

Saturday night's going to be one of the rare events where the family are going to be able to see him play (at least on television), and for them to see him play at the MCG … he could play at St Peter's Square and it wouldn't matter as much to them. Everyone in the Territory follows the local players in the AFL, so for them to see a musician down there as part of it, they're just going to be over the moon."

Ablett the hero

BLIND since birth, Gurrumul has grown up surrounded by footy talk, with Grose reporting that he is a big fan of Geelong, where he spent a few years as a child attending a school for the blind.

"Gurrumul follows it on the radio. It's always been there, with his family talking about footy and him listening to the TV when everyone else is watching.

We often have a little game here where we pretend we're playing footy, I'll tap it down to him and he'll kick a goal. It's a real animated footy match. Gary Ablett jnr's his all-time favourite, but he doesn't pretend to be anyone else when he's kicking goals — he's always just himself." Gurrumul has another Geelong link — Nathan Djerrkura is also from the Gove region of Arnhem Land, and speaks Yolngu, the dialect Gurrumul sings in.

Dreaming Festival gathers global indigenous artists

THE campfires will burn through the cool June winter nights at The Dreaming Festival. They will burn and the world will settle in around them.

Mihirangi, New Zealand-born singer with Maori, Dutch, Italian and Greek ancestry is coming to the international indigenous festival at Woodford. So is award-winning artist Judy Watson, whose work has thrilled Paris. They join Mick Dodson and actor Deb Mailman and singer Archie Roach.

"This is about indigenous culture from the world as well as from Australia," says Rhoda Roberts, artistic director of The Dreaming Festival, the laid-back winter equivalent of the summer Woodford Folk Festival, held on the same site in Jinibara country, north of Brisbane, from June 5 to 8.

Roberts waited three years for David Page to be free over a June long weekend so he could bring his nationally acclaimed Page 8 show to The Dreaming Festival.

A half a world away, she also snapped up the Totonaca Dancers, often referred to as "the flying men of Mexico". Their Huahua dance is the whirling depictions of their totem rainforest bird, ancient rituals that survived the Spanish arrival. It has never been seen in this country before.

She then asked Don Walker, formerly of pub rock band Cold Chisel, who said he was humbled but was she sure? "I said yes. I wanted a music industry insider to talk about what it's really like." She loved the north Queensland songwriter's first book Shots, a cool compelling series of vignettes. "I wanted white faces as well as black," Roberts says.

"This festival is not about us and them."

The former actor, dancer, journalist and television presenter was invited to take on The Dreaming in 2003. Roberts, who had directed similar shows in Sydney during and after the 2000 Olympic Games, grabbed the opportunity and turned The Dreaming into an annual, four-day, outdoor indigenous carnival. Audiences can camp onsite in the rural valley.

So, who turns up at The Dreaming Festival? More than 16,000 people attended last year, most from southeast Queensland with 40 per cent interstate visitors. Surveys show 13 per cent of respondents identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island and 7 per cent as overseas indigenous; 40 per cent come from the management and professional sector; 62 per cent are university-educated and 18 to 29-year-olds are the largest age group.

Among the festival speakers this year will be Brisbane artist Judy Watson, whose subtly political and intensely personal works were permanently installed within the architectural fabric of the new Musee du quai Branly in Paris in 2006. She is part of the "my favourite books" discussion.

The Mundubbera-born, Acacia Ridge-raised artist with an Aboriginal mother and Scottish-English father says she believes it is a privilege to attend The Dreaming. She'll be taking her children, aged 6 and 8.

"It is a very energising, creative and enriching experience to be there. It is very laid-back and intimate with warm fires to sit around and listen to an elder or chat."

Roberts is particularly proud of the festival's theatre program. A stand-out show will be Reliquary, a collaboration between Australian choreographer, formerly of the Bangarra dance group, Gina Rings, and Korean choreographer Soo Yuen You. It has been described by critics as a multi-disciplinary masterpiece that draws upon the symbolism and spiritually of Aboriginal and Korean cultural heritage, through dance, puppetry, media projection and aesthetic sound design.

Reliquary, which means a container for important mementoes that have survived destruction, seems an appropriate inclusion. I saw an early version of this in Melbourne a year ago and it has a profound and unforgettable beauty.

Roberts says it is a collaboration that reflects where Australia is at now.

"The country's focus is on Asia and the South Pacific. With that in mind works like this strengthen ties and also have dual audiences and longevity."

Rather than a set theme, the threads that tie The Dreaming Festival are strong and often invisible. This year's threads are the youth voice, highlighted with the inclusion of Rikina Inma Dance Group, representing the APY (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankuntjatjara) Lands, encompassing 103,000sq km of remote country in the northwest of South Australia.

Roberts believes their journey is extraordinary. "These are young men coming from South Australia and APY Lands who were basically out of Alice Springs town fringe camps and spent a number of years working with youth groups.

"One of the things they talked about was when we see Central Desert dance it is by elderly ladies and these young men said, 'Where is our traditional dance of the young people?'.

"They took on a huge challenge. They went back to the APY Lands and spoke to the dance custodians, the song men and women and got permission to perform.

"I think it's extraordinary the groups of homeland elders have allowed young men to express their cultural knowledge," Roberts says.

"It's historic, never happened before.

"And once the elderly people are gone, these young ones will actually hold the knowledge.

"Luckily they are so passionate.

"And luckily, audiences get to see them perform when they enter The Dreaming site."

The Dreaming Festival, June 5-8, Woodford Folk Festival grounds. www.thedreamingfestival.com

Prized art fires desert pride

14th May 2009

All the Jila by Daniel Walbidi, who inspired his remote Kimberley community to take up art.

A young man who inspired a world-class art movement from a remote Kimberley community is one of eight WA contenders for the richest Aboriginal art prize in the country.

Daniel Walbidi, 25, of the coastal settlement of Bidyadanga, is the youngest finalist among the 16 in the running for the $65,000 WA Indigenous Art Awards to be announced in July. “It is a good thing that artists from here are getting exposure,” says Walbidi, who has exhibited in England, Japan and Germany. “It is a good way for us to get recognition.”

After taking up art as a 16-year-old, Walbidi inspired his Yulparija elders in their 70s and 80s to paint the stories of the ancestral desert lands they left more than 40 years ago to live at Bidyadanga, formerly La Grange Mission.

Two years ago, he played a key role in the emotional homecoming of a group of the elderly artists to their traditional country in the Great Sandy Desert, which was the subject of the ABC television documentary Desert Heart.

“I guess I am a pioneer, paving the way,” Walbidi says. “I have been helping a lot of people and I guess they have seen me as an instigator. The work of the old people has sparked a big art movement in the community and a revival of culture.

“I hope more young people pick up the brushes. I’m still waiting and praying. ”

Walbidi is one of 15 artists and one artists’ group chosen as finalists from the 213 nominations for the WA Indigenous Art Awards exhibition at the Art Gallery of WA.

Launched by the former Labor government, the awards are in their second year but have an uncertain future after Arts Minister John Day indicated recently they might be held every second year.

Announcing the finalists this week, Mr Day said the increase in nominations from the 157 received last year showed the awards had gone from strength to strength. His spokesman said a decision would be made later this year.

The $50,000 main prize and a $10,000 award solely for WA artists will be announced when the exhibition opens on July 24, with a $5000 people’s choice award at the end of the exhibition.

WA painter Patrick Tjungurrayi won the major prize last year.

This year’s event is notable for the greater presence of sculpted objects after last year’s finalists comprised mainly paintings, drawings and prints, says Art Gallery of WA indigenous curator Clotilde Bullen, pointing to Thursday Islander Ricardo Idagi’s masks, baskets created from discarded metal by Victorian artist Lorraine Connelly-Northey and East Arnhem Land artist Gali Yalkarriwuy Gurruwiwi’s feather-adorned poles. “There is such a really wide and diverse range of works and objects,” Bullen says. “We have really built up the momentum from last year.” The other 2009 finalists are: Tony Albert (Queensland); Timothy Cook (NT); Nici Cumpston (SA); Brian McKinnon (WA); Doreen Reid Nakamarra (WA); Yinarupa Nangala (WA); Dennis Nona (Queensland); Tiger Palpatja (SA); Christopher Pease (WA); Shane Pickett (WA); Spinifex Artists Group — Women’s Collaborative (WA); and Wakartu Cory Surprise (WA).