Indigenous

Aboriginal Art
CAS DAY
Indigenous Australian Art

● Art is a BIG word

● It can be music, dance, carving, sculpting AND painting

● Why we care?

● What the pieces of art represent, symbolism?

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 A history of Australia

- Australia is a BIG island and has a long history

- People have been living in Australia for at least 60,000 years.

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 Colonisation

- In 1778, Great Britain sent explorers to map out the southern

hemisphere, where they found our big island.

- In 1788, the British invaded and claimed ownership of the

island

- The British knew there were already people living there, but
pretended they didn’t exist.

- The people on the island were from many different nations

and spoke many different languages

- These people became known as Aboriginals, Indigenous

Australians and First Nations People’s

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 Stolen Generations

- Aboriginal people were forced out of their countries and

forced to live together out in bare areas of land

- In the 1930’s, the Australian government tried to ‘breed

out’ Indigenous people by forcibly taking away children of
‘mixed’ heritage to white institutions

- These children became known as the Stolen Generations

- The government did not stop taking away Indigenous

children until the 1970’s

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 THE PRESENT

- In 2008 the Government made a formal

apology to the many different nations about
this decision

- Now Australia as a nation is trying to reconcile

with Indigenous people and find a way to
move forward

- There is still a long way to go to bridge the

gap
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 Aboriginal Art
- Aboriginal art has been and is a way for people to
express their feelings, histories, personal stories,
traditions and cultures

- The style and meanings of the artwork differ from

nation to nation

- Art has been a large part of Aboriginal culture and has

been changed over time

- Learning and understanding about the importance of

Aboriginal art is a way that both Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Australians can come together
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AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

● Over 500 different Indigenous Australian nations

around the county

● Adelaide is Kaurna country, with other surrounding

countries like Ngarrindjeri, Ngadjuri, and Narangga.

● Over 250 different language groups

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 WHERE ARE WE FROM?

https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/aiatsis-map-indigenous-australia
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 Symbolism in Aboriginal Art

◂ Aboriginal Art is one of the older forms of arm in the

world, dating back to 40,000 years 😱

◂ Cultural stories passed onto generations are portrayed by

symbols/icons through artwork

◂ Whilst language differs from each region, art is generally

understood and for an important part of everyday life.

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 Adults

Campsite

Kids

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Example Timeline

Started School: Family holiday

Born Began my learning journey to Australia!

Baby brother 1st place at my Began learning

was born school running the trombone
championship!

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 Other Cultural Symbols...

Creating Your Own Symbol

Shape
- Simple/complex
- Based on another
shape?

Colour
- Dark/light
- What does the colour
represent?

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 Time to make your own art!
You’ll need:

- 1x A3 card - Paints
- 1x Paintbrush - Your new symbol
- Your creative hats on

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Traditional Indigenous Game
- Kolap Game

Background:
- Observed being played on Mer Island in the Torres
Strait.
- Beans from Kolap trees were used as throwing objects.

Players:
- Traditionally 2 players from a team to compete against
another.
- We are going to do teams of 5 v 5.

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Traditional Indigenous Game
- Kolap Game

Equipment:
- Two Mats or Hoops
- Bean Bags

Game Play/Basic Rules

- Seven bean bags between two teams of five.
- The ones who get the most points win.
- Inside the hoop two points, on the ring one point,
outside the hoop zero points.

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