Indigenous cultures view fire in a very unique way. While European cultures, and other belief systems from around the world, hold fire to be an exclusively destructive force, Indigenous Australians see a richer meaning...
Division is something of a fact of life for democracy. In a political system like this one, compromise is the order of the day. We go to the polls, we cast our votes, and we throw our support behind the candidate or party we most agree with. In some cases, we get what we want. In other cases, we do not, and the perpetual cycle of debate and conversation continues.
From a young age, we learn that we should "do unto others" as we would have others "do unto" us. The social me is a more sophisticated version of this and is a recognition of the different connections and intrinsic links that make up a society like the one we engage with every day.
As Friday afternoon wore on, and thoughts turned towards the weekend, as they naturally do at this time, news began to break of sickening events taking place across the Tasman Sea. Sketchy reports emerged, filled with the kind of words that can only turn stomachs – words like “shots fired”, words like “panic”, “violence”, “desperation”.
Today, 39% of Australia's agricultural output depends on this water system, and over three million people rely on the basin's waterways to survive.
But this precious resource is dying. Severe droughts have shrunk water levels at a dangerous rate, resulting in the deaths of countless plants and animals within the system, and pushing numerous businesses, individuals, and even entire communities to the brink.
If you get sick or injured in Australia, you are in good hands. Australia continues to score highly when it comes to health care, and is consistently ranked among some of the world's best health care systems, thanks to high-quality infrastructure and some of the best doctors in the world.
Human beings are hard-wired with a need to belong. From our hunter-gatherer ancestors, through the formation of our cultures, right to the present day, humans have been sociable animals. We form thousands of tiny connections and interactions over the course of our daily lives.
This week, we will be holding our Corroboree; an event which we have been building towards for some time. We have been looking at the importance of personal expression and personal connection. It is in the Corroboree that we will present some of our clear thinking, highly profound pieces of artwork we have been working on.
Togetherness and unity; two words which can get a bad press. Preach too often and too loudly about togetherness and you risk being branded an advocate of grey uniformity, in which freedom and individuality are stamped out.
Why a Sense of Place and What happens without a clearly defined, deeply held sense of place?
We have seen the negativity that comes with disconnection from the place we call home and people we have loved. A lack of pride for – and respect for – our self and our environment often follows.
History is full of variables, but there are also constants. One such constant is as follows; exclude at your peril.
Societies which deny communities a seat at the table, which marginalise and dismiss the voices of certain groups of people, cannot survive. Whether this is done intentionally...
Storytelling and narrative culture is – quite literally – etched into the very landscape of Australia. For millennia, oral narratives have been a key component of Indigenous life and tradition, and have been spoken at gatherings, sung around campfires, passed on from generation to generation as a means of keeping beliefs and customs alive.
But the tradition goes deeper...