The letter "A" - week 2

Sorry Day and the Stolen Generations

This is a fictional "sorry speech" spoofed in one of the greatest satirical series on Oz TV - "The Games".

Listen...



... and compare it with the actual speech.



Which one do you like better? ;-)

* Current Australian PM - Julia Gillard


1. Dreaming.

Dreaming is essential to Aboriginal cultures. It explains the special bond the people have to their land. Below you will find three short clips taken from Australian Screen - an amazing website which archives the best of Aussie TV and film.

Curator’s notes

by Romaine Moreton

Dog Dreaming is a documentary about the journey of two ancestral dogs across the land that became a Dreaming story. In the land that belongs to the people who speak Mengerrdji, two dogs – the male dog called Adjumalar and the female Womarr – named sites as they crossed the land. Jacob Nayinggu follows their path, telling us what happened to Adjumalar and Womarr as they crossed the country, and how Womarr eventually became a dreaming place at the point where she sank into the ground.

Dog Dreaming is an interesting documentary that invites us into Indigenous cultural beliefs about the land being created by ancestral beings. As Jacob Nayinggu follows the dogs’ journey, he informs us what happened to them and the significance of the sites as a result of the dogs’ passage. Here, we gain an insight into how story is a way of mapping territory, and Jacob Nayinggu can tell us what landmark – a waterhole for example – was created and the name the dogs gave it. But it is the story of Dog Dreaming that Jacob follows as he moves through the land.

- Dog Dreaming part 1
- Dog Dreaming part 2
- Dog Dreaming part 3


2. Aboriginal Flag

The Australian Aboriginal flag represents the indigenous people of Australia. It was designed in 1971 by the Aboriginal artist Harold Thomas. Australian government officially recognized it as a flag of Australia on the 14th of July, 1995.



It consists of three colors (red, yellow, and black).

The black is said to represent the Aboriginal people of Australia, the red is said to represent the red ochre of the outback, and the yellow of the sun. Other interpretations of the colors used in the flag say that the red symbolizes the blood spilled when Europeans first came to Australia.

The designer of the flag Harold Thomas was quoted as saying "I wanted to make it unsettling. In normal circumstances you'd have the darker color at the bottom and the lighter color on top and that would be visibly appropriate for anybody looking at it. It wouldn't unsettle you. To give a shock to the viewer to have it on top had a dual purpose, was to unsettle.. The other factor why I had it on top was the Aboriginal people walk on top of the land. It's an obvious fact as well. So it had.. that was the reason why the black was on top was visibly unsettling and because of how I was trained at art school, not to make things too obvious but to have a bit of a shock but also to say that the people walk on the land."

Official Australian buildings often display the Australian Flag and the Aboriginal Flag side by side. The colors of the Aboriginal flag have also become powerful symbols of pride and strength for the indigenous people of Australia.

(from: IndexOz)

3. Adelaide

And a short clip from my favourite traveller/YT poster Overlander




4. "Aussie soul"

Can be best illustrated by this film:



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