Culture
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
This is the oldest living
culture in the world for nearly 50,000years.
Aboriginals keep their culture and beliefs
alive by passing their knowledge, arts,
rituals and performances from one generation
to another.
Holy
Land
Land is sacred for the
native Australians who believe that they
belong to the land and they never try to own
the land. They understood the land and try
adapting to the different types of
environments. This means they lived with the
land and never tried to change the land
according to their needs.
During the time Europeans
arrived, there were around 600 clan groups
who were differentiated through their
cultures and beliefs. Those groups lived
adapting themselves to different kinds of
environment such as green woods to rough
deserts. This made them develop their very
own body language and different types of
skills to suit the environment they settled.
Dreamtimes
Aboriginal’s followed a
cultural belief in Dreamtimes, which they
expressed through paintings, songs, dance
and stories. Dreamtime is what they believe
as Ancestral spirits came in the Human form
and created the world, Animals, plants,
rocks and also created the relationship
between groups, individuals towards the
land.
Skills
Aboriginals were
remarkable in their tracking skills where
they were able to track to trace edible
plants, locate water, animals for hunting
and also to find the lost people. This
exceptional talent was recognised by British
settlers who used the Aboriginals tracking
ability to explore expeditions and to track
down criminals.
Talent
Art is one of the forms
for Aboriginals to reflect their cultural
heritage. The Art expression is created on
rock carvings, body paintings and ground
designs. Their Art expresses the life of
Aboriginals connecting past and present,
people and land and mystic and reality.
These native Australians
also sang songs and performed dance at large
ceremonies to reflect their cultural touch
and also to express their struggles, their
love towards the country and about their
life.
Shelter and food
Aboriginals built their
shelter depending on the availability of
materials and therefore the types of cover
they built varied across the regions. Where
cold regions built stone huts, western
Desert used tree limps as shelter frame and
South Australia used whale bones as frame.
Aboriginals lived eating
traditional bush food such as berries,
fruit, fish, kangaroo and insects.
Global Influence on Australian Culture
Since 1788 Australian
culture was moreover between Anglo Celtic
and western culture after Migrants settled
in Australia. Anglo Celtic is the collective
native culture of Britain and Ireland.
However during 20th century
Australian culture was greatly influence by
the American culture through television and
cinema. Present Australia has diverse
cultures from various countries.
Australians speak
Australian English and currently only few
numbers of the Aboriginal languages are
strong enough to survive. The other popular
languages in Australia are
Italian, Greek,
Cantonese and Arabic.
Arts in Australia such as
film, music, paintings, Dance, crafts have
achieved international recognition.
You
can watch samba and capoeira at Bondi’s
Brazilian South American festival; you can
also join in the dragon parade during
Chinese New Year or wander through streets
transformed into lively open spaces during
the annual Italian celebrations.
Why not visit the Bangara
Dance theatre for an Aboriginal dance
experience or catch up with the WOMADlaide
International music festival at Adelaide.
There is more of Ballet, Opera and painting
to see in Brisbane’s large cultural centre
on south Bank. In smaller towns you can also
meet the local bands performances and see
handmade art and craft
Australia has achieved
great respect for its architectural iconic
structures such as Sydney Opera house, Royal
Exhibition Building and Parliament House.
Australians have a great
passion for sports and it forms a major part
of their culture. There are
more than 120 national and thousands of
local, regional and state sporting
organisations active in Australia. It’s
estimated that six-and-a-half million people
in Australia are registered sport
participants out of a total population of
over 21 million. Their popular sports
are Cricket during summer and Foot ball for
the winter season.
Beach has become a
popular place for Australians to relax and
enjoy the care free life and especially you
can see them on Saturday mornings.
Where
they are seen in the beach playing cricket
after a barbeque, enjoy the sand and sun,
surf or sail, fish, snorkel, scuba dive and
wander around. Beach is a place for them to
relax, play sports and enjoy the romance.
In terms of food, a major
change has occurred after the arrival of
settlers from Europe and other countries.
The
food has taken a form of mixture of European
flavours, spices of Asia, Africa, the Middle
East and also bush food. You can find your
choices of food from Thai kitchen, Italian
pasta, and feast on dumplings in Chinatown.
Organic, authentic and Halal
foods are widely available in Australia.
Nowadays, foods consumed by Australians have
the effect of
globalization. Restaurants tend
to create fusions to their cuisine for the
multicultural society. Fast food chains are
also found all over the country. British
traditions are still preserved in terms of
both Home cooking to the takeaway food
practice, such as
pies and
fish and chips are also popular
among Australians.
Australia stands unique
in its cultural diversity making it a
welcoming place for anyone.
