1.
Northern Territory
–
The Northern Territory is a federal Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. It shares borders with Western Australia to the west, South Australia to the south, to the north, the territory is bordered by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Despite its large area—over 1,349,129 square kilometres, the Northern Territorys population of 244,000 makes it the least populous of Australias eight major states and territories, having fewer than half as many people as Tasmania. The archaeological history of the Northern Territory begins over 40,000 years ago when Indigenous Australians settled the region, makassan traders began trading with the indigenous people of the Northern Territory for trepang from at least the 18th century onwards. The coast of the territory was first seen by Europeans in the 17th century, the British were the first Europeans to attempt to settle the coastal regions. After three failed attempts to establish a settlement, success was achieved in 1869 with the establishment of a settlement at Port Darwin. Today the economy is based on tourism, especially Kakadu National Park in the Top End and the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in central Australia, the capital and largest city is Darwin. The population is not concentrated in regions but rather along the Stuart Highway. The other major settlements are Palmerston, Alice Springs, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, residents of the Northern Territory are often known simply as Territorians and fully as Northern Territorians, or more informally as Top Enders and Centralians. With the coming of the British, there were four attempts to settle the harsh environment of the northern coast. The Northern Territory was part of colonial New South Wales from 1825 to 1863, except for a time from February to December 1846. It was part of South Australia from 1863 to 1911, under the administration of colonial South Australia, the overland telegraph was constructed between 1870 and 1872. A railway was built between Palmerston and Pine Creek between 1883 and 1889. The economic pattern of raising and mining was established so that by 1911 there were 513,000 cattle. Victoria River Downs was at one time the largest cattle station in the world, gold was found at Grove Hill in 1872 and at Pine Creek, Brocks Creek, Burrundi, and copper was found at Daly River. On 1 January 1911, a decade after federation, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia, alfred Deakin opined at this time To me the question has been not so much commercial as national, first, second, third and last. Either we must accomplish the peopling of the territory or submit to its transfer to some other nation. In late 1912 there was growing sentiment that the name Northern Territory was unsatisfactory, the names Kingsland, Centralia and Territoria were proposed with Kingsland becoming the preferred choice in 1913
2.
Australia
–
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
3.
Indigenous Australians
–
Indigenous Australians are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, descended from groups that existed in Australia and surrounding islands prior to European colonisation. In present-day Australia these groups are divided into local communities. At the time of initial European settlement, over 250 languages were spoken, it is estimated that 120 to 145 of these remain in use. Aboriginal people today mostly speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English, a population collapse following European settlement, and a smallpox epidemic spreading three years after the arrival of Europeans may have caused a massive and early depopulation. Since 1995, the Australian Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag have been among the flags of Australia. The word aboriginal has been in the English language since at least the 16th century, to mean, first or earliest known and it comes from the Latin word aborigines, derived from ab and origo. The word was used in Australia to describe its indigenous peoples as early as 1789 and it soon became capitalised and employed as the common name to refer to all Indigenous Australians. Strictly speaking, Aborigine is the noun and Aboriginal the adjectival form, however, use of either Aborigine or Aboriginal to refer to individuals has acquired negative connotations in some sectors of the community, and it is generally regarded as insensitive and even offensive. The more acceptable and correct expression is Aboriginal Australians or Aboriginal people, the term Indigenous Australians, which also includes Torres Strait Islander peoples, has found increasing acceptance, particularly since the 1980s. The broad term Aboriginal Australians includes many groups that often identify under names from local Indigenous languages. Anindilyakwa on Groote Eylandt off Arnhem Land, Palawah in Tasmania and these larger groups may be further subdivided, for example, Anangu recognises localised subdivisions such as Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra, Luritja and Antikirinya. It is estimated that prior to the arrival of British settlers, the Torres Strait Islanders possess a heritage and cultural history distinct from Aboriginal traditions. The eastern Torres Strait Islanders in particular are related to the Papuan peoples of New Guinea, accordingly, they are not generally included under the designation Aboriginal Australians. This has been another factor in the promotion of the inclusive term Indigenous Australians. Six percent of Indigenous Australians identify themselves fully as Torres Strait Islanders, a further 4% of Indigenous Australians identify themselves as having both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal heritage. The Torres Strait Islands comprise over 100 islands which were annexed by Queensland in 1879, eddie Mabo was from Mer or Murray Island in the Torres Strait, which the famous Mabo decision of 1992 involved. The term blacks has been used to refer to Indigenous Australians since European settlement, while originally related to skin colour, the term is used today to indicate Aboriginal heritage or culture in general and refers to people of any skin pigmentation. In the 1970s, many Aboriginal activists, such as Gary Foley, proudly embraced the term black, the book included interviews with several members of the Aboriginal community including Robert Jabanungga reflecting on contemporary Aboriginal culture
4.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
–
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is Australias national public broadcaster, owned and funded by the government. The ABC plays a role in the history of broadcasting in Australia. With a total budget of A$1. Founded in 1929 as the Australian Broadcasting Company, it was made a state-owned corporation on 1 July 1932 as the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, although funded and owned by the government, the ABC remains editorially independent as ensured through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983. The ABC is sometimes referred to as Aunty, originally in imitation of the British Broadcasting Corporations nickname. The first public station in Australia opened in Sydney on 23 November 1923 under the call sign 2SB with other stations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth. It also nationalised the Australian Broadcasting Company which had created by entertainment interests to supply programs to various radio stations. Over the next four years the stations were reformed into a broadcasting organisation through regular program relays. The Australian broadcast radio spectrum was constituted of the ABC and the commercial sector, in 1942 The Australian Broadcasting Act was passed, giving the ABC the power to decide when, and in what circumstances, political speeches should be broadcast. Directions from the Minister about whether or not to broadcast any matter now had to be made in writing and it was used only once, in 1963. In the same year, Kindergarten of the Air began on ABC Radio in Perth, cater argues that reform was urgently needed in 1945, By the end of World War II, the ABC was a decadent, hollow institution. Its authority had been compromised by a poorly drafted charter and further undermined by timid management, poor governance, in April 1945, Boyer refused to accept the post of chairman until Prime Minister Curtin issued a mandate of independence which Boyer drafted itself. The ABC commenced television broadcasting in 1956, and followed the earlier practice of naming the station after the first letter of the base state. ABN-2 Sydney was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 5 November 1956, with the first broadcast presented by Michael Charlton, aBV-2 followed two weeks later, on 18 November 1956. Stations in other cities followed, ABQ-2, ABS-2, ABW-2. ABC-3 Canberra opened in 1961, and ABD-6 started broadcasting in 1971, although radio programs could be distributed nationally by landline, television relay facilities were not in place until the early 1960s. This meant that news bulletins had to be sent to each city by teleprinter, to be prepared and presented separately in each city, with filmed materials copied manually
5.
Darwin, Northern Territory
–
Darwin /ˈdɑːrwᵻn/ is the capital city of the Northern Territory of Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin is the largest city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory and it is the smallest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities, and acts as the Top Ends regional centre. Darwins proximity to South East Asia makes it a link between Australia and countries such as Indonesia and East Timor, the Stuart Highway begins in Darwin, ending at Port Augusta in South Australia. The city itself is built on a low bluff overlooking the harbour and its suburbs spread out over some area, beginning at Lee Point in the north and stretching to Berrimah in the east. Past Berrimah, the Stuart Highway goes on to Darwins satellite city, Palmerston, the Darwin region, like the rest of the Top End, has a tropical climate, with a wet and a dry season. Prone to cyclone activity during the wet season, Darwin experiences heavy monsoonal downpours, during the dry season, the city is met with blue skies and gentle sea breezes from the harbour. The greater Darwin area is the home of the Larrakia people. On 9 September 1839, HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin harbour during its surveying of the area, John Clements Wickham named the region Port Darwin in honour of their former shipmate Charles Darwin, who had sailed with them on the ships previous voyage which had ended in October 1836. The settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869, and was renamed Darwin in 1911. The city has been almost entirely rebuilt four times, following devastation caused by the 1897 cyclone, the 1937 cyclone, Japanese air raids during World War II, the Aboriginal people of the Larrakia language group are the traditional custodians and the first inhabitants of the greater Darwin area. They had trading routes with Southeast Asia, and imported goods from as far afield as South, established songlines penetrated throughout the country, allowing stories and histories to be told and retold along the routes. The extent of shared songlines and history of multiple groups within this area is still contestable. The Dutch visited Australias northern coastline in the 1600s and landed on the Tiwi Islands only to be repelled by the Tiwi peoples, the Dutch created the first European maps of the area. This accounts for the Dutch names in the area, such as Arnhem Land, the first British person to see Darwin harbour appears to have been Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of HMS Beagle on 9 September 1839. The ships captain, Commander John Clements Wickham, named the port after Charles Darwin, in 1863, the Northern Territory was tranferred from New South Wales to South Australia. In 1864 South Australia sent B. T. Finniss north as Government Resident to survey, Finniss chose a site at Escape Cliffs, near the entrance to Adelaide River, about 60 km northeast of the modern city. This attempt was short-lived, however, and the settlement abandoned by 1865, on 5 February 1869, George Goyder, the Surveyor-General of South Australia, established a small settlement of 135 people at Port Darwin between Fort Hill and the escarpment. Goyder named the settlement Palmerston, after the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, in 1870, the first poles for the Overland Telegraph were erected in Darwin, connecting Australia to the rest of the world
6.
Deakin University
–
Deakin University is an Australian public university with approximately 50,644 higher education students in 2014. Established in 1974, the University was named after the leader of the Australian federation movement and it has campuses in Geelong, Warrnambool and Burwood, Melbourne and learning centres in Dandenong, Craigieburn and Werribee, all in the state of Victoria. It was formally established in 1974 with the passage of the Deakin University Act 1974, the sale of Stonnington Mansion by Deakin provoked public outrage as it involved the mansion which was at risk of redevelopment by property developers. Deakin is one of Australias fastest growing research universities and its combined research funding had increased from A$4.5 million in 1997 to A$43.4 million in 2014. Deakin University was formally established in 1974 with the passage of the Deakin University Act 1974, Deakin was Victorias fourth university, the first to be established in regional Victoria and the first to specialise in distance education. Deakin Universitys first campus was established at Waurn Ponds, the University was the result of a merger between State College of Victoria, Geelong and the higher education courses of the Gordon Institute of Technology. Deakin enrolled its first students at Waurn Ponds in 1977, the Burwood campus is on the site of the former Burwood Teachers College, and also takes in the former sites of the Bennettswood Primary School and the Burwood Secondary School. The teachers college conducted two-year training courses for Primary School teachers and it provided live-on-site accommodation for country students. The Rusden Campus was closed in 2003 and all courses were transferred to the Melbourne campus at Burwood, Rusden subsequently acquired by Monash University for its student accommodation purposes. The former Toorak Campus, located in Malvern, was offered for sale in 2006 as the University considered the surplus to its requirements. The courses and resources were relocated to the Melbourne campus at Burwood in November 2007, the main building on the site is the 116-year-old historic Stonnington Mansion It is located amongst traditional gardens. The Stonnington Stables art gallery and the Universitys contemporary art collection were located here, the universitys action of offering the campus, including the mansion, provoked public outrage over the potential privatization of what had been public space. In December 2006, the three-mansion was sold for $33 million to a joint venture between Hamton Property Group and Industry Superannuation Property Trust, the Deakin University Council is the governing body of the University and is chaired by the Chancellor, David Morgan. Council is responsible for the direction and oversight of the University and is publicly accountable for the Universitys actions. The Vice-Chancellor is the Chief Executive Officer of the university and is responsible to Council, Professor Jane den Hollander is Vice-Chancellor and President of Deakin University and is Deakins 6th Vice-Chancellor. Professor den Hollander is a cellular biologist turned university administrator and was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Curtin University in Western Australia, the university is divided into four faculties, covering arts and education, business and law, health, and science, engineering and the environment. Within the arts faculty, the three schools cover education, social sciences, humanities, communication and the creative arts, along with the research institutes, there are 13 strategic research centres, Deakin Motion. Originally built as the Dalgetys Woolstores in 1893, the buildings have been renovated to create a modern campus centre
7.
Arnhem Land
–
Arnhem Land is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km2, which covers the area of Kakadu National Park. The area covers about 34,000 km2 and has an population of 16,000, of whom 12,000 are Yolngu. The region’s service hub is Nhulunbuy,600 km east of Darwin, other major population centres are Yirrkala, Gunbalanya, Ramingining, and Maningrida. A substantial proportion of the population, which is mostly Aboriginal and this outstation movement started in the early 1980s. Many Aboriginal groups moved to very small settlements on their traditional lands. These population groups have very little western influence culturally speaking, many of the regions leaders have called and continue to call for a treaty that would allow the Yolngu to operate under their own traditional laws. In 2013-14, the region contributed around $1.3 billion or 7% to the Northern Territory’s gross state product. Arnhem Land has been occupied by people for tens of thousands of years and is the location of the oldest-known stone axe. The Gove Peninsula was heavily involved in the defence of Australia during World War II, at least since the 18th century Muslim traders from Makassar visited Arnhem Land each year to trade, harvest, and process sea cucumbers or trepang. This sea slug is highly prized in Chinese cuisine, for folk medicine and this Macassan contact with Australia is the first recorded example of interaction between the inhabitants of the Australian continent and their Asian neighbours. This contact had an effect on local indigenous Australians. The Makassans exchanged goods such as cloth, tobacco, knives, rice, Makassar pidgin became a lingua franca along the north coast among several indigenous Australian groups who were brought into greater contact with each other by the seafaring Makassan culture. These traders from the southwest corner of Sulawesi also introduced the word balanda for white people, in Arnhem Land, the word is still widely used today to refer to white Australians. The Dutch started settling in Sulawesi Island in the early 17th century, archeological remains of Makassar contact, including trepang processing plants from the 18th and 19th centuries, are still found at Australian locations such as Port Essington and Groote Eylandt. The Makassans also planted tamarind trees, after processing, the sea slugs were traded by the Makassans to Southern China. In 2014, an 18th-century Chinese coin was found in the area of Wessel Islands off the coast on a beach on Elcho Island during a historical expedition
8.
Charles Darwin University
–
Charles Darwin University is an Australian public university with about 22,083 students as of 2011. It is a member of the group of 7 Innovative Research Universities in Australia. CDU has campuses in the Darwin suburb of Casuarina, the city of Palmerston, a new Waterfront Campus opened in 2015 in the Darwin CBD which contains the Business School. The University offers a range of Higher Education degrees and Vocational Education and Training courses with flexible study options, including part-time, external. Charles Darwin University has evolved over the years through the merging of several education institutions. Darwin Community College, founded in 1974 and renamed Darwin Institute of Technology in 1984, was a combined College of Advanced Education and it was situated on what is now the Casuarina Campus, although it used other buildings at various times in Darwin. By the time of the formation of the Northern Territory University, it gave degrees in Arts, Education, Business, the Menzies School of Health Research was established in 1985 as a body corporate of the Northern Territory Government under the Menzies Act 1985. This Act was amended in 2004 to formalise the relationship with Charles Darwin University, Menzies is now a major partner of CDU and constitutes a school within the University on campus at CDU Casuarina offering post-graduate degrees and higher degrees by research. On several occasions the Government of the Northern Territory requested the Australian Commonwealth Government to finance a university in the Territory, the response was always that the population was too small. In 1985, it took the step of financing the University College of the Northern Territory itself for a five-year period from 1987 to 1991. The college was governed by a Council, chaired by Austin Asche and led by a Warden, Professor Jim Thomson, an arrangement was made with the University of Queensland that the College would awards degrees from that institution. Staff were recruited in 1986 and housed in the old Darwin Primary School buildings, just prior to taking the first students in February 1987, the College moved to converted building of the former Darwin Hospital at Myilly Point in Darwin. The former Nurses Hostel became a student residence, named International House, the College had two Faculties, of Arts and Science. It awarded, through the University of Queensland link, the first Doctor of Philosophy degrees in the Northern Territory, Centralian College was founded in 1993 from the merger of Sadadeen Senior Secondary College and the Alice Springs College of TAFE. During its life, the college delivered senior secondary, TAFE and Higher Education through its campus in Alice Springs. Centralian College is a senior secondary school, for students from Year 10 to Year 12. Centralian College shares its campus with the Charles Darwin University campus of Alice Springs, Centralian College uses the universitys facilities and students attending Centralian College can participate in VET courses offered by CDU. The Northern Territory University was founded in January 1989 by a merger of the Darwin Institute of Technology, the merger was controversial, but forced by the so-called Dawkins Revolution under Federal Minister of Education John Dawkins
9.
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
–
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an Indigenous Australian musician who sings in Yolŋu languages and English. He was born in Galiwinku, Elcho Island, off the coast of Arnhem Land and he is from the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu and his mother is from the Galpu nation. He was born blind, has never learned Braille and does not have a dog or use a white cane. Yunupingu is said to be acutely shy and he plays the drums, keyboards, guitar and didgeridoo, but it is the clarity of his singing voice that has attracted rave reviews. He sings stories of his land in both languages and English, formerly with Yothu Yindi, he is now with Saltwater Band. In 2008 Yunupingu was nominated for four ARIA Awards, winning the awards for Best World Music Album and he also won three Deadlys, winning for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for Gurrumul and Single of the Year for Gurrumul History. His first solo album, Gurrumul, debuted at No.69 on the ARIA Charts, Gurrumul peaked at No.3 on the ARIA Charts. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingus friend Michael Hohnen produced the album and acts as his translator, critics have heaped praise on the singer, describing his voice as having transcendental beauty. Elton John, Sting and Björk are among his fans, when asked what he would do with any money he made, he suggested it would go to his mother and aunts, following the Aboriginal tradition of sharing wealth. In January 2009, his song, Gurrumul History, was featured on the British TV show, on New Years Eve 2008, Yunupingu performed on Sydney New Years Eve 2008–09 with his song Bäpa. He is the 2009 Northern Territory recipient of Australian of the Year, in 2009 a portrait of Gurrumul by Guy Maestri won Australias major art prize, the Archibald Prize. He was again awarded the Australian Independent Record Award for Best Independent Blues and he performed Sing live at the Diamond Jubilee Concert on Monday 4 June 2012 together with many of the songs contributing artists. In 2013, Gurrumul joined Delta Goodrem for a performance of Bayini on The Voice Australia. Yolngu are deep thinking philosophical people, the words in the song refer to many families sitting together on the beach looking to waves and sea, the horizon, contemplating. This performance was in celebration of National Reconciliation Week, the single was released on 31 May and debuted at number 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In December 2013, Gurrumul released an album, titled His Life and Music which was recorded in the Sydney Opera House. It was nominated for Australian Independent Record Labels Association and ARIA awards, in 2015, Gurrumul toured the US. He released his studio album, The Gospel Album on 31 July 2015
10.
Yolngu
–
The Yolngu or Yolŋu are an Indigenous Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means person in the Yolŋu languages, the term Murngin was formerly used by some anthropologists for the Yolngu. The complete system of Yolngu law is known as the Maḏayin, Maḏayin embodies the rights of the owners of the law, or citizens who have the rights and responsibilities for this embodiment of law. This law covers the ownership of land and waters, the resources on or within these lands and it regulates and controls production and trade and the moral, social and religious law including laws for the conservation and the farming of plants and aquatic life. Yolŋu believe that living out their life according to Maḏayin is right, the Maḏayin creates a state of Magaya, which is a state of peace, freedom from hostilities and true justice for all. Yolŋu groups are connected by a kinship system. This system governs fundamental aspects of Yolŋu life, including responsibilities for ceremony, Yolŋu life is divided into two moieties, Dhuwa and Yirritja. Each of these is represented by people of a number of different groups, each of which have their own lands, languages, totems, a Yirritja person must always marry a Dhuwa person and vice versa. If a man or woman is Dhuwa, their mother will be Yirritja, as with nearly all Aboriginal groups, avoidance relationships exist in Yolngu culture between certain relations. The two main avoidance relationships are, son-in-law – mother-in-law brother – sister Brother–sister avoidance called mirriri normally begins after initiation, in avoidance relationships, people dont speak directly or look at one another, and try to avoid being in too close proximity with each other. Yolngu speak a dozen dialects of a group known as Yolngu Matha. English can be anywhere from a third to a language for Yolŋu. Yolŋu identify six distinct seasons, Mirdawarr, Dhaarratharramirri, Rarranhdharr, Worlmamirri, Baarramirri, Yolŋu sustained good trade relations with Macassan fishermen for several hundred years. The Macassans respected the land as Yolŋu land, they only ever camped on the beach and they made yearly visits to harvest trepang and pearls, paying Yolŋu in kind with goods such as knives, metal, canoes, tobacco and pipes. The Yolŋu folklore has preserved accounts of the Baijini people, who appear to be distinct from the Macassans, in 1906, the South Australian Government did not renew the Macassans permit to harvest trepang. This loss of trade caused some disruption to the Yolŋu way of life, Yolŋu had well established trade routes within Australia, extending to Central Australian clans and other Aboriginal countries. (For example, they did not make boomerangs, but obtained these via trade from Central Australia, Yolŋu had known about Europeans prior to the arrival of British in Australia through their contact with Macassan traders, which probably began around the sixteenth century. Their word for European, Balanda, is derived from Hollander, in the late nineteenth century, white Australians began to open up Arnhem Land for cattle grazing
11.
Ten Canoes
–
Ten Canoes is a 2006 Australian period drama film directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starring Crusoe Kurddal. The title of the film arose from discussions between de Heer and David Gulpilil about a photograph of ten canoeists poling across the Arafura Swamp and it is the first ever movie entirely filmed in Australian Aboriginal languages. The film is set in Arnhem Land, in a time before Western contact, the leader of the group, Minygululu, tells the young Dayindi a story about another young man even further back in time who, like Dayindi, coveted his elder brothers youngest wife. The sequences featuring Dayindi and the hunt are in black and white, all protagonists speak in indigenous languages of the Yolŋu Matha language group, with subtitles. The film is narrated in English by David Gulpilil, although versions of the film without narration, Minygululu tells a story of the great warrior Ridjimiraril, who suspects a visiting stranger of kidnapping his second wife. In a case of identity, Ridjimiraril kills a member of a neighbouring tribe. To prevent all-out war, tribal laws dictate that the offending tribe allow the offender to be speared from a distance by the tribe of the slain man, the offender is allowed to be accompanied by a companion, and he takes his younger brother. Whenever one of the two is hit, the spear-throwers will stop, and justice will have been served, Ridjimiraril is hit and mortally wounded but survives long enough to return to his camp, where he is tended to by his eldest wife. After he finally succumbs, the brothers kidnapped second wife finds her way back to the camp. She reveals that she had been kidnapped by a different tribe and she mourns her lost husband, who had attacked the wrong tribe, though now she and the elder wife take his younger brother as their new husband. The younger brother, who was interested in the youngest of the three wives, now has to care for all of them, and satisfying their many. Crusoe Kurddal is from Maningrida and speaks Gunwinggu, other actors and actresses from Ramingining speak various dialects of the Yolngu Matha language family. De Heer rejected claims he is a director making an indigenous story, People talk about. Theyre telling the story, largely, and Im the mechanism by which they can, Ten Canoes was screened at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2006 and was released nationally on 29 June 2006. Following Floating Life in 1996 and La Spagnola in 2001, Ten Canoes was nominated for seven Australian Film Institute awards, of which it won six. The movie won the awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay - Original, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and it was also nominated for Best Production Design. It won three awards from the Film Critics Circle of Australia, Best Film, Best Editing, the film was also nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. This aspect has been explored by academic D. Bruno Starrs with regard to the authentic Aboriginal voice, at the end of 2006, the film stood as one of the highest grossing Australian films of that year
12.
Charlie's Country
–
Charlies Country is a 2013 Australian drama film directed by Rolf de Heer. It was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where David Gulpilil won the award for Best Actor, the film was selected as the Australian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. Charlie, an Aboriginal man who lives in Arnhem Land paints tree barks and fishes barramundi fish and he laments the loss of his culture in modern Australia. After his spear is confiscated by the police who think it is a weapon, he decides to leave his Aboriginal community and he falls ill and is rushed to the hospital in Darwin. Shortly after, he befriends a woman who buys alcohol illegally for other Aboriginals, as a result, he is sent to prison. Finally, he agrees to pass on traditional dances from his generation to the young Aboriginal boys, jane Howard of The Guardian wrote a good review of the film. She argued that the camera is often motionless and there is a sense of still photography to the work and she added that Gulpilis flawless acting carried the movie. In the Sydney Morning Herald, Paul Byrnes also praised his extraordinary grace and he added, The level of trust between actor and director here is part of the reason this work will live on. In Variety, Eddie Cockrell praised the cinematography, concluding, The tech package is seamless, ian Jones’ widescreen photography immerses the viewer in the Australian outback, while Graham Tardif’s plaintive score emphasizes both the dignity and the anguish of Charlie’s all-too-common plight. In The Australian, Evan Williams called it a film, beautifully made, at times unbearably sad. He added that some scenes were likely to provoke racism in some viewers, however, writing for the ABC, Jason Di Rosso wrote a negative review. He called it, another disappointment in that category of ambitious Australian filmmaking that’s about trying to make art and he added that the film lacked ambiguity adding that there are thinly drawn racist characters and an inability to render different tones in the one visual idea
