Trade Connection - Indigenous Artwork designed for UNSW Business School by award-winning Design Maker , Debra Beale .
Trade Connection
“ Prior to the invasion of Australia , First Nations communities had established a chain of trade routes all over the continent . The exchange of goods and services was also practised between neighbouring language groups as well as other language groups across the continent .
Trading was vital to First Nation Peoples as it improved their quality of life . Trading objects such as food , seeds , stones , ochres , tools , weapons was not only a method of sharing resources but was a form of social control and lore . It was a way of honouring each other ’ s rights , boundaries , and cultural differences .
Many tribes developed good relationships as they respected shared stories of their journeys and narratives of the Dreamtime . Trade was not only linked with materialistic objects but included songs , dances and art , stories , rituals and ceremonies which connected First Nations Peoples to Land , Sea and Sky .”
Debra Beale First Peoples of Australia Award-winning Design Maker