Lesson 1: What do YOU know about Aborigines?

When we were asked this question, we shouted our random words like ‘didgeridoo!’, ‘painting with dots!’, ‘boomerangs!’, and even ‘kangaroos!’ We knew that really, we didn’t know much and had a lot to learn. When told we had five minutes to prepare a short presentation about what we knew about the Aboriginal people. As I saw about five people grab a piece of paper and draw what looked like the aboriginal style of painting; I decided to try and do something completely different. Because I didn’t really know much, I decided that instead of standing there and showing Mrs. Dewhurst the extent of my ignorance; I would involve the entire class in an activity so we could help each other out. Out of all the Aboriginal culture that I knew about, the one that really stood out for me was the didgeridoo. I wondered how exactly the deep, pulsating sound was produced. To me, it sounded as though the earth was humming; which gave me my idea. I went first and asked the students, one by one to start humming at different pitches and volumes; but mostly a quite low volume and pitch. As everyone joined in; the melody grew, but I did have to stop and ask them to use distinct notes; as a lot of students were humming the same note. The end result was also a vibrant, pulsating energy of sound but it wasn’t what the didgeridoo sounded like, really. Only Mrs. Dewhurst could remember and she produced the sound which sounded a little like “ouuuahhnngg,” Don’t laugh! It does sound like that but probably not the way you’re reading it.

The other students also presented what they knew, and though many of them talked about the painting and the dreaming, there were some examples that stood out; for example Dan who produced an abstract piece, using cloth, movement and space to explain how The Aboriginal people nowadays often had to take the blame for crimes that they did not commit. The piece was commendable because it was original and was another way of interpreting what Mrs. Dewhurst asked us to do, but it was rather confusing all the same as there was too much confusing movement and the actions weren’t always clear. I really liked the fact that it wasn’t the Aboriginal culture before the invasion that he was portraying but what the issues were today that they dealt with. Adrianna’s piece was also set in the present, but it was different because it was a duologue that she only said half of, letting us interpret the other half; which was very clever. She echoed the thoughts of many Australians who were unfortunately racist against those people whose land and homes they had taken away.

After our presentations, we all realized we only had the clichés in our head; that they were all one big tribe who played the didgeridoo, painted the dreaming and spoke the same language. Mrs. Dewhurst shocked us by explaining to us that before the invasion of the British, there were hundreds of different tribes who all had their separate language and customs. Some tribes did play the didgeridoo; others expressed themselves by painting or by dance. We leant mostly about the pre-invasion times, but caught a glimpse into what these people live through today. I’ll tell you more when I know more!