images: Tourism NT / Shaana McNaught; Leicolhn McKellar Photography |
From left: Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin; a yidaki( didgeridoo) |
This expansion in land use inevitably led to greater conflict with Aboriginal people, who were increasingly dispossessed of their homelands, and kick-started a cycle of conflict that culminated in Australia’ s infamous Assimilation policy during the early and mid-20th century, which saw Aboriginal children taken from their families and placed in missions. The! Australian government was forced to pause this policy at the onset of World War II. Darwin suffered a large-scale air! assault in February 1942, just months after Japan joined the war. Hundreds of people were killed in the attack, and several ships sank.
In the decades following World War II, a renewed Aboriginal movement dismantled the Assimilation policy and fought for greater land rights. Today, while parts of the Northern Territory are mined for bauxite, manganese and uranium, swaths of land are in the process of being handed back to Aboriginal communities.
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ABORIGINAL ART
One of the most recognizable types of Aboriginal art is dot painting, where thousands of individual dots are used to create culturally significant shapes and patterns, but many people don’ t realize this is just one style of Aboriginal art.
Each clan has its own distinctive style, as! well as its own stories that are expressed on canvas and bark, ranging from the cross-hatched style of Arnhem Land to screen printing on the Tiwi Islands. Learn more about Aboriginal art by browsing the myriad galleries across the territory, such as Maruku Arts in Uluru, Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs, and Marrawuddi Arts and Culture in Kakadu National Park.
For a hands-on experience, visitors can join a workshop with an Anangu artist at Maruku Arts or the Tiwi by Design day tour, where they can take home their own screen print creation. Darwin also hosts an Aboriginal Art Fair in August where they can meet and purchase from local artists.
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