Digital resources tagged with ‘Indigenous Australia’

A Telegraph Line across the Continent

The story of the struggle to cross a vast continent and build the telegraph line that would bring Australia to the world and the world to Australia.

Aboriginal people and the colony of NSW

On January 26, 1788 the British arrived at what is now known as Sydney, New South Wales, with the intention of taking possession of the land in the name of the British Government and the King, and of staying.

Aboriginal People in the Gibson Desert

Aboriginal People in the Gibson Desert is an excerpt from the film Desert People (51 mins), produced in 1966. In 1966 a few Aboriginal families were living nomadic lives in the heart of Australia's Gibson Desert.

Aboriginal People Make a Canoe and Hunt a Turtle

Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory is the home of coastal Aboriginal People. On the beach it's time to play out one of the dramas of daily life - the return of the hunters.

Albert Namatjira

Northern Territory Art Gallery Curator Franchesca Cubillo talks about the life of acclaimed Arrente artist Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) and his citizenship granted in 1957.

Augustus Earle and his Dog, Jemmy

Misadventure turned to good fortune when young English artist Augustus Earle was rescued after being marooned on a remote island and accidentally became the colony’s first trained artist.

CAAMA & Indigenous Broadcasting

A broadcast studio at Radio Redfern in the late 80s. Christina Spurgeon talks about the importance of providing media services to remote Indigenous communities to the culture, identity and language of Aboriginal Australians.

Captain Cook - Cook Claims New South Wales

After spending some time observing an Aboriginal tribe, Cook claims the entire east coast of New Holland for Britain.

Charles Darwin thinks about Indigenous people in Australia

In 1836 Darwin briefly visited Australia. Professor Iain McCalman reflects on Darwin's observation of the impact and triumph of settler society on indigenous peoples.

Charles Perkins - Freedom Ride

Charles Perkins’ involvement in the Freedom Ride through rural New South Wales in the early 1960s played a crucial role in demonstrating that Aboriginal people could begin to stand up for themselves.

Charles Perkins - Institutions

Charles Perkins recounts the experiences that fuelled his great anger against white injustice and his determination to fight for Aboriginal rights.

Darwin meets Aborigines from the Darug Nation

In 1836 Charles Darwin visited Australia. He observed at first hand the impact of the onset of invading humans on the indigenous population.

Dreamings, Through Indigenous Art

Indigenous art is like topographic mapping of land and culture. Michael Nelson Tjakamarra works at painting concentric circles which represent sacred sites.

European Observers

On January 26, 1788 the British arrived at what is now known as Sydney, New South Wales. From that day on, the lives of Australia’s indigenous peoples, their culture, history and traditions, were forever changed.

Faith Bandler - Activist

Civil rights activist Faith Bandler has made an enormous contribution to the peace movement and indigenous politics.

Figure in the Landscape

John Glover revolutionised his art to become one of Australia’s finest landscape artists.

Harold Holt’s Briefcase

The disappearance of our seventeenth Prime Minister, Harold Holt, during a beach holiday sparked countless conspiracy theories. The items left in his briefcase are a significant time capsule of his last days as Prime Minister.

Imparja: Indigenous Broadcasting

Imparja Television allows Indigenous communities to tell their stories and to communicate both with each other as well as the wider Australian community.

Independent media

Trevor Barr talks about independent media and behind the scenes at Radio Redfern as another show goes to air.

Indigenous Business - A Cattle Station

The Yugal Cattle Co was given a grant of $336,000 to go into business running a cattle station. Their dreams of making money from cattle and beef export are big but there are problems. Traditional Indigenous laws are different from white man's law.

Indigenous Community Market Garden

An Indigenous community works hard to make a profitable, self-sustaining market garden. The aim is to create jobs for as many of their community as possible.

Indigenous Health Workers

Indigenous people, particularly those from remote communities, fear seeking medical attention. Joan Winch, an Indigenous health professional, set up a health worker training college for Indigenous health workers.

Indigenous Rights - Repatriation

The repatriation of aboriginal remains is an issue close to Aboriginal peoples' hearts and spirit and play a significant part of the reconciliation process.

Indigenous Rights - Representation

Deputy Chief Minister Marion Scrymgour and Aboriginal Tent Embassy representative Robert Craigie discuss the representation of Aboriginal people in Australian political institutions.

Lowitja O'Donoghue - Reunion

Aboriginal leader and founding chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Lowitja O’Donoghue has worked tirelessly for her people.

Lowitja O'Donoghue - The Stolen Generation

Lois O’Donoghue was born in 1932 in a remote Aboriginal community. She never knew her white father and, at the age of two, was taken away from her mother, who she was not to see for 33 years.

Mabo - Life of An Island Man

This is a film about Eddie Mabo - the man whose name lives on in a High Court ruling that has forever altered Australian life.

May O'Brien

May O'Brien discusses growing up in a bush camp and her early years on a remote mission.

National Peak Indigenous Body?

Students and the Honorable Mal Brough look at how best peak bodies work for the community they represent.

Neville Bonner - Beginnings

Neville Bonner grew up on the banks of the Richmond River and started his working life as a ringbarker, canecutter and stockman. He spent 16 years on the repressive Palm Island Aboriginal Reserve where he learned many of the skills that would help him later as a politician.

Neville Bonner - Change

By the early 1960s, it was clear that Indigenous people were not being assimilated — discrimination against Indigenous people continued and many Indigenous people refused to surrender their culture and lifestyle. The assimilation policy had failed.

Noel Tovey

Noel Tovey survived a childhood of poverty, neglect, sexual abuse and racial prejudice to become a leading light in the arts as an actor, choreographer, writer and theatre director.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Writer and political activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poetry represents and captures the growing reaction by a new generation of indigenous Australians against the long-standing colonial mentality.

Parliamentary Representation

The strength of democracies is founded on the breadth of the representation of it's parliamentarians.

Remembering Eddie Mabo

Aboriginal Elder and teacher Douglas Bon remembers Eddie Mabo and the landmark land rights case he fought.

Rosalie Kunoth Monks - Social Work

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks is an actor, ex-nun and Aboriginal activist.

Rosalie Kunoth Monks - Speaking Out

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks is an actor, ex-nun and Aboriginal activist.

Stuart encounters Outback Aborigines

When John Stuart crossed the interior of Australia, he did so in ignorance of the complex set of boundaries and rules for the use of shared resources that existed among the Aboriginal people.

Ted Egan

Ted Egan reflects on his life in remote communities, the inequalities between black and white Australians, the dilemma of holding power over the communities in which he worked and his changing attitude to Land Rights.

The Art of Cattle Droving

An artist and two drovers capture the beauty of 1200 head of cattle making their way across the outback in the last great Australian cattle drive.

The Bark Petition

In 1963 the Aboriginal Elders at Yirrkala presented the Federal Government with a bark painting, the title deed to their country.

The Rainbow Serpent

Ancient Australian creation myths of the Rainbow Serpent can be traced back in rock art at least 6000 years. All Rainbow Serpent stories share a common thread; the fundamental role of water in nature’s cycle of growth and regeneration.

The Songlines

Various clan groups extending across the land were linked by networks of songs containing aspects of cultural heritage, mythology and identity.

Tommy McRae & Mickey of Ulladulla

Working at the end of the 19th century, Aboriginal artists Tommy McRae and Mickey of Ulladulla drew the world around them with an extraordinary vitality and sensitivity to detail.

Trade Routes

Australian ‘prehistory’ is the time before written language was used to record information. Culture was passed from one group to another, and from one generation to the next, in oral form, ceremonial dance, and through rock and bark visual art.

Wattie Creek

Wattie Creek entered Australian folklore as the birthplace of the Aboriginal land-rights movement when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam visited the Gurindji people to grant them deeds to their land.