{"id":5815,"date":"1991-07-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"1991-07-12T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/Agod\/2026\/09\/08\/7-the-world-of-indigenous-art\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T19:40:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:40:56","slug":"7-the-world-of-indigenous-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrprimo.com\/AGOD\/07\/12\/7-the-world-of-indigenous-art\/1991\/","title":{"rendered":"The world of indigenous art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Seasons In The Sky – The Seven Wurundjeri Seasons<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Science Victoria Edition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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From the RSV President: Does Knowledge = Science?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learning to care for Country the Indigenous way<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Indigenous knowledge can fashion a sustainable economy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Endemic science fosters hope for Australia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this story contains names of deceased persons.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is written by <\/em>Dr Catriona Nguyen-Robertson<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, based on a presentation delivered by <\/em>Associate Professor Duane Hamacher<\/em><\/strong><\/a> <\/em><\/strong>and a Yorta Yorta student undertaking a B.Science at The University of Melbourne. It was originally published by our sister site, Inspiring Victoria in 2010.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The stars hold a significant place in the traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures across Australia. They are embedded into the orality \u2013 in story, song, dance, and material culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By weaving Indigenous knowledge, physics, and ecology together, Associate Professor Duane Hamacher, and a Yorta Yorta person share how the animals, seasons and stars come together in Aboriginal Astronomy, with particular focus on the people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional owners of what is now Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For thousands of years, the First Peoples of Australia have held intimate cultural relationships with the land, sea and sky. More stars are seen from the Southern Hemisphere as the south celestial pole is tilted towards the centre of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. The land was home to many nations and clan groups with diverse traditions, languages, and views of the stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Western society relies on the written word, Indigenous knowledge is predominantly passed on through oral traditions and stories around the Dreaming. It was in these that people learned the law, learned how to take care of the land, and learned how to interact with one another and respect each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duane has travelled around Australia and learned from Elders and Custodians of Knowledge in different regions. They taught him that properties of stars \u2013 their position at sunrise and sunset, twinkle, brightness, colour \u2013 can all tell you something. There are many links between the position of stars and animal behaviour. Duane and a member of the Yorta Yorta people, have been piecing some of these together from what they learn from Elders and public archives about Indigenous Australians, which can be difficult to navigate, and rife with inconsistencies and mistakes, given the history of their mistreatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people of the Kulin nation lived their lives according to their own of markings of the changing seasons. Seven Wurundjeri seasons are described in Woiwurrung traditions[1]<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n