Aboriginal Art - going back to Dreamtime

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Aboriginal art is one of the longest continuing art traditions in the world going back over 40 thousand years. Rock paintings have been found across the continent. Art is important to the Aboriginal people as it is a means of communication. Paintings tell where food is, where water can be found and also most importantly they connect to the creator spirits, many of these paintings can be found in cave drawings. The paintings done also express individual attitudes and relationships with people, animals, plants the elements, the land and the creator spirits.

These paintings tell the stories of the Dreamtime (they don't refer to the dreams we have when we sleep) but rather the connection to when this land was created, the spirits that were present then and are now....there are stories of the Wagilag sisters, Jundart, the lightening man, the Wandjina, the Rainbow serpent and many more. These Dreamtime stories are also the blue-print or law that provides the framework by which the Aboriginal people live, and again these are depicted in the paintings that have been done in the past and are still done today.

Originally Aboriginal art was done on the body for ceremony, in caves and also in the sand. Totems were carved out of wood. Objects made from stone and feathers, shells, seeds and bone were also used to make objects and decoration for ceremony and daily use.

Aboriginal art is an expression of the knowledge and the seniority of the individual, it also reveals their responsibilites and defines family and their connections to the land. Individuals inherit through their parents these rights and responsibilites, they must learn everything they can about their land, plants and animals before they become the caretakers.