Claudia Schiffer 

skippy. wrote on Dec 21^st, 2010 at 3:02pm:


Or how much of it is culture?

Soren wrote on Dec 21^st, 2010 at 3:06pm:

Dont think Aboriginals have a culture?

God look what I've started.
Anyone got a pic of Oprah? 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are complex and diverse. The Indigenous cultures of Australia are the oldest living cultural history in the world - they go back at least 50,000 years and some argue closer to 65,000 years. One of the reasons Aboriginal cultures have survived for so long is their ability to adapt and change over time. It was this affinity with their surroundings that goes a long way to explaining how Aboriginal people survived for so many millennia.

Cultural heritage is seen as 'the total ways of living built up by a group of human beings, which is passed from one generation to the next', given to them by reason of their birth.

In Australia, Indigenous communities keep their cultural heritage alive by passing their knowledge, arts, rituals and performances from one generation to another, speaking and teaching languages, protecting cultural materials, sacred and significant sites, and objects.

Land - at the core of belief

APY Lands, Ku Arts Tours. Courtesy of Ananguku Arts.
Land is fundamental to the wellbeing of Aboriginal people. The land is not just soil or rocks or minerals, but a whole environment that sustains and is sustained by people and culture. For Indigenous Australians, the land is the core of all spirituality and this relationship and the spirit of 'country' is central to the issues that are important to Indigenous people today.

All of Australia's Aboriginals were semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers, with each clan having its own territory from which they 'made their living'. These territories or 'traditional lands' were defined by geographic boundaries such as rivers, lakes and mountains. They understood and cared for their different environments, and adapted to them.

We cultivated our land, but in a way different from the white man. We endeavoured to live with the land; they seemed to live off it. I was taught to preserve, never to destroy.
Aborigine Tom Dystra

Indigenous knowledge of the land is linked to their exceptional tracking skills based on their hunter and gather life. This includes the ability to track down animals, to identify and locate edible plants, to find sources of water and fish.

Diversity - location and languages
Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders identify themselves through their land areas, their relationship to others and their language and stories - which may be expressed through ceremony, the arts, family, religion, and sports. Cultural heritage is passed on from one generation to the next.

There were about 600 different clan groups or 'nations' around the continent when Europeans arrived, many with distinctive cultures and beliefs. Their 'territories' ranged from lush woodland areas to harsh desert surroundings. Different groups developed different skills and built a unique body of knowledge based on their particular environment.  

The system of kinship put everybody in a specific relationship to each other as well special relationships with land areas based on their clan or kin. These relationships have roles and responsibilities attached to them.

Kinship influences marriage decisions and governs much of everyday behaviour. By adulthood people know exactly how to behave, and in what manner, to all other people around them as well as in respect to specific land areas. Kinship is about meeting the obligations of one's clan, and forms part of Aboriginal Law, sometimes known as the Dreaming.

Language is vitally important in understanding Indigenous heritage as much of their history is an oral history. Hundreds of languages and dialects existed (although many are now extinct), and language meaning, as well as geographic location, is used today to identify different groups.

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/indigenous/

Quote:



Forget these ?



The SIEV-X incident occurred during the 2001 Australian Federal election campaign. The Tampa affair had focused national media's attention on the issue of asylum seekers. Prime Minister John Howard claimed his policy would prevent people smuggling and stop the boats of asylum seekers from arriving in Australia.

The area was legally international waters but within both Indonesia's EEZ and Indonesia's internationally designated zone of search and rescue responsibility. It also fell inside a temporary Australian border protection surveillance area around the Australian external territory of Christmas Island





sievx.com/

buzzanddidj wrote on Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 7:10am:



Asking Miss Anne Dryst and some others here to acknowledge something like this occured under Howard's watch is beyond them. That would require for them to be honest and use the same criteria and cast blame on Howard.


I rarely get involved in the politics section on Ozpolitic. Too much excrement that tries to pass itself off as informative discussion.

Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Dec 22^nd, 2010 at 8:16am:



It happened under Howard's watch while he operated under the policy he inherited from Keating. But then he changed the policy. Any change in the number of deaths atsea?  
If people dying at sea while attempting to get here is a BAD THING, then Howard did away with that bad thing. If you do not like the way he did it, the answer is NOT to revert to the policy before the solution but to come up with a different solution.

You can blame Howard for HOW he did it (be a HOWard hater) but you can't blame him for doing away with a BAD THING.

I hope this is not too subtle a distinction for most.