British Museum exhibition maps out the past of the Aboriginal people offering a glimpse into the history and future of Australia’s earliest inhabitants
There has been much research into the indigenous populations of Australia, especially of the mainland. The consensus is that the Aboriginal people are the descendants of one of the first waves of human migration out of Africa, and that after exploring Asia they eventually settled in Australia. Their relative isolation from other peoples since that time has resulted in a completely unique culture and way of life.
The British Museum’s Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation is the first exhibition of its kind in the UK. The result of a collaboration between the British Museum and the National Museum of Australia, the exhibition explores the fascinating history of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders through a collection of objects, some of which were collected as far back as 1770, when the first white colonisers arrived on the continent.
The exhibit loosely follows a mixture of themes and historical events and begins with the idea of country. This seems entirely appropriate as the whole philosophy and way of life of both Aboriginal populations and those from the Torres Strait is anchored firmly in the land. Indigenous Australians have been settled in their ‘countries’ (used to denote the area/tribe one is from) for so long that they have formed a deep connection with their environment that informs every aspect of their lives.
This relationship is one of the overriding themes of the objects on display. Animals and natural objects like serpents, stones and sticks are used to represent people and events, and the stories of the Aboriginal dreamtime and Torres Strait Tagai that are expressed in the exhibition’s artwork are powered by the forces of nature and the elements. Knowledge of the natural world extends to the practical, as well as the philosophical and spiritual realms of indigenous Australian culture. Local materials were used ingeniously to create works of art, weapons, and everyday items like baskets and mats, and, as with the native Americans, it was indigenous people and their knowledge of the land that kept early colonisers alive.
As the exhibition progresses from a more Aboriginal ‘dreamtime’ organisation of artwork and artefacts towards a more chronicled exploration of the colonisation of Australia by Europe, we are reminded of the imposition of a supposedly ‘ordered’ European standard upon indigenous cultures in Australia. Memoirs, illustrations and other documents on display do show that not all interaction between white settlers and the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders was negative, and that there were some who were not unfriendly towards the ‘natives’. However, the overwhelming sense is one of sadness at the oppression they experienced and of admiration of their attempts to fight that oppression. Colonisation brought much misery. Foreign diseases like smallpox and tuberculosis wiped out whole tribes, whole swathes of land were forcibly taken, and resistance was met with violence and brutality. The beginnings of Aboriginal activism date back as early as this period. While some took up armed resistance, there were many who sought peaceful ways of opposing encroachment onto their lands and way of life.
One of the most touching objects in the exhibition is a beautifully crafted emu skirt, which was sent by Aborigines in Victoria to the Princess of Wales in 1863 as a marriage gift. This was a tactical move by the Victoria community, who, among other Aboriginal groups, were using gifts and petitions to gain favour from influential outsiders in a bid to protect their land rights. The hope and good intention that must have guided the giving of this gift, and the labour and time that would have gone into fashioning it, is truly heartbreaking in light of the cruelty with which these peaceful appeals for cooperation were met.
As with many indigenous populations, the struggle of Australia’s original inhabitants is ongoing and the effects of colonisation on indigenous communities are still evident. As the exhibition details, the policy of forcible removal of Aboriginal children of mixed race from their families, which began in 1909, was only abolished in 1969 and Aboriginal groups are still embroiled in battles for land rights.
This British Museum exhibition provides a rare opportunity for those in the UK to explore the unique culture of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait island communities, the challenges they have faced, and the endurance that they have shown in the face of these struggles. While the exhibition will not provide a comprehensive understanding of indigenous culture and history, it does offer a fascinating insight into the complex and varied cultures of native Australia, the history of its people, and the attempts of contemporary indigenous communities to revive their culture and religion.
The BP exhibition Indigenous Australia: Enduring civilisation continues until 2 August 2015.
Photo Credits: Bark painting of a barramundi. Western Arnhem Land, about 1961© The Trustees of the British Museum.