Australia’s Aboriginal people have a continuous history spanning at least 50,000 years. Their living culture is the oldest in the world.
1. The didgeridoo is possibly the world’s oldest musical instrument
The didgeridoo has become a symbol of Aboriginal music, however, not all Aboriginal groups had didgeridoos which were originally found in Arnhem Land and known as ‘yidaki’. It is made from tree trunks and branches that have been hollowed out by termites.
2. There are more than 100,000 individual rock art sites
They range in size from a handful of images to galleries containing hundreds of individual motifs, overlapping in elaborate, lengthy sequences.
3. Australian Aboriginal art is the oldest ongoing tradition of art in the world
Rock carvings, body painting and ground designs were the initial forms of artistic Aboriginal expression. The world’s oldest known art was created around BC43,000 by Aboriginal people, who engraved animal images on rocks in the Olary region of South Australia.
4. Aboriginal words commonly used in everyday Australian language
Besides place names, there are many Aboriginal words used in the Australian language. For example: Yakka means work; Yabba means talk; Cooee is a cry made to signal one’s presence; a Willy-willy is a sudden circling gust of wind; and a Billabong is a water hole.
5. More than 200 distinct languages and some 600 dialects, were spoken in Australia before European settlement
Today only around 20 languages are spoken with the three most common being Kriole (an Australian Creole) and two Central Australian languages: Pitjantjatjara and Warlpiri.
6. Songlines reveal the creation and secrets of the land
They are pathways that criss-cross the country, follow ancient boundaries and connect communities. Aboriginal people passed the songs of creation along these lines.
7. Australia’s Indigenous people have the world’s most ancient living culture
The Aboriginal people of Australia have a continuous history spanning at least 50,000 years.
8. The Dreamtime is the Aboriginal peoples’ understanding of the world’s creation and stories
Australia’s Indigenous people connect with the land through art, dance, music, secret stories and ritual journeys