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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lBeware of Australians bearing giftsBy Debra Jopson 28 June 2003 - The Greeks sent us a model of a horse-drawn chariot, an ancient discus and, beamed over in virtual reality, a priceless statue of the god Zeus. We are sending them a surfboard adorned with dot art, the torch Cathy Freeman used to light the Olympic flame at Homebush and the sounds of Aboriginal language. And Professor Angelos Delivorrias, the suave, chain-smoking head of the prestigious Benaki Museum in Athens, which is planning an exhibition of Aboriginal culture, is thrilled. At least that was what his counterpart at the Powerhouse Museum, Kevin Fewster, said. Dr Fewster, who is helping Professor Delivorrias on the project, is a great advocate of the need to preserve national traditions in a globalised world and sees a "synergy" between Greece, where modern buildings jostle with archaeological sites, and Australia, where ancient Aboriginal life overlaid with the modern has produced a lively, contemporary culture. The Benaki will open "60,000 years in the making: Indigenous Australia now" next May to coincide with the Athens Olympics. With $750,000 from NSW and Victoria, whose capitals are games alumni, the exhibition is Australia's Olympic gift to Greece. Dr Fewster said it was also a thank you for the Greek Government's gift of the exhibition "1000 years of the Olympic Games: treasures of ancient Greece", which the Powerhouse staged when Sydney hosted the games. Dr Fewster's Powerhouse colleague Steve Miller, who is co-ordinating the Benaki exhibition, said that although Greeks might find Aboriginal culture strange, they would also see subtle similarities. For instance, their Pleiades constellation is also called "the seven sisters" and is recognise in many parts of indigenous Australia. A bark painting from the Top End may to be sent to tell that story. But with Museum Victoria as a joint presenter, the aim is to convey south-eastern Aborigines' vibrant cultural revival, Mr Miller said. "It's not meant to be the Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia. It's meant to be broad without being comprehensive, to give people a taste." There will be four themes of spirit, land, conflict post-1788 and identity. In these early planning days, all is not certain. Objects obvious to Australians such as didgeridoos and boomerangs will be new to foreign audiences. Artist Albert Namatjira featured in a small Aboriginal exhibition for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In homage, a woomera he decorated is likely to go. So is a model of the Qantas 747 painted with John Moriarty's Wunala Dreaming. Ugly colonial days will be remembered in breastplates bestowed on Aborigines by colonisers between 1815 and 1930 recognising their status as "the last of the tribe". Source: The Sydney Morning Herald Further information:
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its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
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