Hi!

So for context I am a woman and non-indigenous but I was wanting to gift my partner something of significance. He is a Wiradjuri man and although he doesn't have the strongest ties to his culture is very proud of it and I wanted to give him something to signify that. He loves music and I would love to gift him a didgeridoo.

My questions is would this be okay and appropriate? It would not be my property and besides purchasing it I wouldn't have any further handling of it.

If so... I would really love recommendations of artists who make them so I can ensure I am supporting First Nations artists/businesses.

Thank You!

The title pretty much sums it up. To a little bit on my background: I consider myself a Pan Africanist. I try to advocate for all oppressed and marginalized communities but I focus on black people first and foremost, considering my own background as a Black/African person and the degree of suffering we experience under anti-blackness/white supremacy. I'd always been aware of the fact that Australia is settler colonial state built on genocide and I did learn about the Stolen Generation in high school, but never knew y'all considered yourselves black/blak. My initial reaction was "that makes sense!" especially given the fact that you guys have a history with the N word. It low-key made me happy too, because I am all too use to people who are very clearly black denying their blackness (looking at you Dominicans!) and seeing other black people bizarrely dismiss white passing and biracial people as "not black". To see blackness embraced by people who you wouldn't expect to embrace it was like an oasis. But then I came across this comment on this subreddit:

"We are very much a black people, but we are our own black people. In recent times i’ve had people try to claim my identity and my peoples identity as part of a pan African identity, it gets confusing for some people (mostly foreigners) who conflate “black” and “African”.'"

It kind of confused me. I interpreted the comment as this: "We're black but we're not really black either, we're a different kind of black". But I read it for the second time, and it straight up just didn't make any sense to me. Why would it be confusing? We literally suffer from the same contemporary issues when it comes to white supremacy (mass incarceration, police brutality, colorism, school to prison pipeline etc.). Africans within Sub Saharan Africa are not all the same, the cultures are very different but they still fall under one inclusive banner. We weren't called "black" until colonialism either. So from my perspective there is absolutely no reason for me to not include y'all within in a Pan Africanist framework when it comes to liberation. The way I see it, it's like we're distant cousins. Yes it's true that you haven't been in Africa for 60,000 years or so, but from what I've seen you still very much retained your "African" features, so it really is like we're distant cousins. But maybe I have it wrong. So my question to y'all is, what do you think?

Hi all

Couple of years ago, i contacted the local ALS in Wiradjuri county about some place names in my local area, which is in Wiradjuri country. Ultimately i found out from CSU that they were actually Kamillaroi names. The name translations were somewhat descriptive of physical conditions, eg muddy water, long grass etc.

I theorised at the time that the Euro explorers coming through the area and writing names on maps, or later surveyors doing similar may have had Kamillaroi guides, who applied their names. Would this be correct? Or might there be another valid reason for this to have happened?

Thanks

Can anyone here please recommend respected resources that share knowledge of The Dreaming? (forgive me for using that term) Any books, websites, or subs? I'm curious and eager to learn. Thanks in advance.

Police racist behaviour on show again. An internal investigation is not the answer.

"[A colleague told me] it's been put around the station that you can't be trusted … so if we were to get into a fight, you'd stick up for the Aboriginal community over the police," he said.

Mr B……… said a catalyst for his decision to leave the force was when he allegedly witnessed fellow officers making racist comments during NAIDOC week about the community where his family live.

"They started talking about letting all the blackfellas … drink it out and fight until the death and the last one gets shot as a prize," he said.

Mr B……….. claims he sent an email to the officers involved, expressing his disgust at their comments and the general racism he had witnessed at the station.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-26/former-nsw-police-officers-indigenous-racism-incarceration/104635852?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

UPDATE - Thank You from my Spirit to All You Beautiful Mob. Dingo and me Love YOU XXXX

I am Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander. My Dad was. My Mum was a white pommy one. I am 60 years old now and our family is me and Dingo. All my life I have tried my best in everything. I am about to be homeless and jobless, and I want to put Dingo into a nice home and jump into the river so I can be at home with the spirits.

Thank You, you mob. I did not jump in river. XXXX

I haven’t meditated or kept it up for a long time but yesterday under the warm weather I decided to give it a go once more.

I didn’t really have a goal, moreso I wanted to just clear my mind of anything and if anything happens- it happens and I’ll put a tag on it and mull it over later.

Before the meditation really began, I decided to sit near my warding jar, this is where I usually sit anyways, but decided to put up like- white light or flame around me and in a circle. As I don’t really want any entities or energies to just come and go as they please or mess with me in this state of mind. This is moreso a precaution as well as to settle anxieties.

So as I was meditating it felt in some moments like I was being pulled? In what way I’m not sure, but I took note of it and let it be. Some thoughts came about unrelated so I acknowledged and then continued to quieten my mind.

Then, only then I saw Mudhay in my mind. Mudhay means ringtail possum or just possum in Gamilaroi, they are my totem animal. I thought that was weird and double checked it wasn’t just my imagination, something in my gut said that it wasn’t but I still chalked it up to my imagination either way. I wasn’t thinking about my totem nor was I expecting my totem to come to my mind.

Again, mind empty and feeling the wind and hearing the birds. It felt calming. I enjoyed it really. It was awesome.

But then an old elder came to my mind and I saw him smile and he had scruffy hair, that in some parts where almost weaved into little braids. I saw that there was a ceremony of some sort but I got confused as to why, I saw Mudhay there as well. A fire Alight and Uncle beckoned me over.

I felt like I intruded and again, chalked it up to just my imagination. I put a note on it and to this day I’m mulling it over.

What’s weird is that after all of that I for some reason instinctually knew that a magpie would be landing in my backyard. Well there was a magpie in my backyard that flew in, looking for food on the lawn but also just staring me down.

I felt really weird but like I couldn’t really leave? Magpie then flew off after a few minutes and I shook it off and thought “yup, that’s weird. My imagination. Definitely.”

I looked it up later that magpies were a symbol of elder’s spirits watching and looking over you.

I don’t have much into Kamilaroi culture as my mob isn’t from this state I live in. So I don’t really have anyone to talk to about this. Just thought I’d share.

Any thoughts, was this my rusty intuition or was this really my imagination?

I just found out about this man who was sworn in as supreme court judge in 2022. Does anybody know anything much about him? Has anyone met him? I'm really glad that we're finally getting some Aboriginal representation in the courts. I think it's so needed.

Okay so firstly i want to say in no way do i want to at all offend or make anyone angry or upset. So i’m 19 and live in brisbane CBD. My mum never really had a relationship with her father but he was an aboriginal man, my mum always told us we we aboriginal when we were younger but when doing test i wasn’t allowed to mark that i was aboriginal which was always very strange. Later i found out that even though my mum had aboriginal heritage and was involved with some of the family, we didn’t identify as aboriginal. I grew up being told my great great (idk how many greats) was the first aboriginal man to be in the australian army. (don’t know how accurate this is)

I’ve always felt a special connection to the land and the dreaming and dreamtime, of course iv had aboriginal friends but i want to learn more about my mums mob, Wiradjuri where she was from i want to learn more about the culture because while i’ve been exposed to aboriginal culutre i haven’t properly been educated and with it being a part of me i’m more motivated to learn.

As im the whitest looking girl you’ll ever meet i don’t claim my abornigality out loud or public but i feel it. I’m reaching out to brisbane mob because i want to learn more about our culture, something i never had the opportunity too. So if there’s any brisbane mob willing to educate me and help me learn or maybe some Wiradjuri mob up here or sees this please reach out 🖤💛❤️

edit: i have done ancestry yes i do have a percentage of aboriginal and torres strait islander dna it hasn’t been very helpful with connecting me to relatives however :)

I grew up without a present father. My mum would always tell me he’s Aboriginal but didn’t have connection himself because he was adopted and only reunited with his birth parents in his 40’s. He and his parents are Palawa people although I’m uncertain he ever identified on any documentation. I have no contact with him nor my grandparents and have no idea what actions I can take to find anyone/connect with mob. I don’t even have his parents name or his birth records as his name was changed when he was adopted. I understand if this is generally something I shouldn’t bother with as the connection is too far gone but I would like to try as I feel a whole part of me is unknown.

So a popular australian youtuber called isaac butterfield made a video, and I agree with a lot of his points. But his community in the comments really don't give a f and are just their spouting racist stuff for the sake of racism, like this man is explaining how he agrees with some smoking ceremonies and how it's bad that it's being commercialised but then you have his comment section, it's full of so much racist dumb comments and it really shows what his audience is. He may be a good man but his community is full of bigot white people trying to feel special that a man who is not even the same ethnicity or related to them died 200 years ago and invented something.

Please note, I myself am not indigenous.

I'm currently studying to become an Early Childhood Educator in Perth. As part of our Portfolio of Evidence, we need to plan and implement one learning experience with the children over several days/weeks that builds on their knowledge, appreciation and understanding of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples' cultures (which I'll refer to as Experience 3), and one experience that teaches the children about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples' connection and use of the natural environment (which I'll refer to as Experience 4).

I've come up with the idea of connecting the two experiences so far. I've been thinking that over the next few weeks while i'm still attending, i could incorporate Experience 3 by reading the children different Dreaming Stories each day, and discuss at the end about the significance of them. One of the stories I would really love to read is The Rainbow Serpent, which is where I want to connect Experience 4, where the children could use natural resources from the environment and work together to create The Rainbow Serpent.

I would greatly appreciate it if I could get feedback on this idea, advice on how I can ensure the ideas are culturally safe and respectful, and any constructive criticism so I can be educated!

I did the Manly to Spit walk yesterday and noticed the area with the carvings. There was a metal footbridge to walk on instead of walking on the rocks. I assumed the footbridge was the right way to go.

Anyway, some of the people step off the bridge and start stepping on the stones where the carvings were? Was this the wrong thing of them to do? Should I have said something?

Was having some thoughts about wirls and swirls and was wondering if anyone can answer this riddle for me..

Clue: not all rivers flow out to sea 🌀

Clue: the universe is right-handed

I've tried to learn more about dreamtime but either through personal failings or lack of resources I'm having a hard time learning more about it or understanding. Could someone help?

Hi, let me introduce, Im Czech interested in rare weapons and would love to make either Kylie or Boomerang, I guess Woomera would been too difficult.

Could You guys point me in a good direction for a good books? It should be also a gift so would like a nice replica to craft and make it as accurate as possible

Need to know, which wood would suit well and tools I need (I have so far only knapping tools) like moose hammer, antler pressure flake etc

Need to know how to make it, if there is good youtuber or any step by step guide, literature with photos of the weapons

Kindly thanks and sending greetings from Czechia!

SPOILERS ALERT.

Here are my impressions as a non-Aboriginal and non-Australian.

Just saw it last night. It's a fantastic piece of arthouse cinema and with some amazing editing and detailed depictions of [so-called] Australia's desert flora and fauna. The exact location of where specifically the desert scenes are set is unknown and I was left wondering whether it was the Kimberly or somewhere on Anangu Country within the borders of South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory. Given the depiction of an abandoned mining settlement, it's probably somewhere in Western Australia, as I am aware a lot of mining occurs in that state.

I do have an issue with the way the Aboriginal boy is portrayed though - the mob he belongs to and the language he speaks isn't made known, which obviously isn't helped by the lack of subtitles. It's probable the Aboriginal actor was speaking his own mob's language and it's likely the painting scene might provide clues. I wasn't sure what to think of his suicide later on the film, whether it's an allusion to suicide in Aboriginal communities and how it affects both Aboriginal and white settler communities in different ways. I wasn't sure what to also think of the Aboriginal boy's 'mating ceremony' for courting the white teenage girl (again, there is no mob-specific cultural context provided). I got the initial impression it might have been a Welcome to Country ceremony and he was formally welcoming both white kids onto his country. I did sense there was implicit sexual tension between him and the white girl though based on visuals (like that of the gum tree climbing scene). There seems to be some subtle allusions to the Australian Frontier Wars: when the white boy hands the Aboriginal boy a toy British soldier and the Aboriginal boy chucks it away, as well as the scene where the Aboriginal boy gets nearly run over by a couple of white hunters in a pickup truck. The most interesting aspect of the Aboriginal boy's relationship with white kids is how him and the young white boy develop a system non-verbal hand signals to communicate, while him and the older white girl do not (which is why they develop no rapport). This reminds me of the Seneca YouTuber Twin Rabbit mentioning in passing in his video essay on Native American 'hand talk' that Aboriginal Australians had their own 'lingua franca' system of 'hand-talk'. I have yet to hear/read any verification from Aboriginal elders and mobs about this though. There are brief depictions of other Aboriginal people: there is a (naked) Aboriginal mob interacting with the charred remains of the white kids' father's VW Beatle, as well as a group of (clothed) Aboriginal people making kitschy souvenir art for a white couple's business. Again, their exact mob and language isn't specified. As far as the exploration themes of settler colonialism and cultural tensions between white settler and Aboriginal peoples go, I think The Last Wave does a better job at exploring it. These are my initial impressions, which might change over time.

Has Aboriginal responses to the film being overwhelming negative, positive or ambivalent? I am presuming a lot of mobs take issue with the lack of mob-specific cultural context of the boy. There are other criticisms of the film that I am aware of which aren't specific to its depiction of Aboriginal people but rather the gratuitous male gaze depictions of the white teenage girl's body.

Side note: is it customary to mention the actor's name since he passed away relatively recently? I understand there are very specific restrictions and protocols that most mobs have on mentioning the dead.

Hey, bit of a long shot but does anyone know the Kaurna name for Galah? I’ve searched and searched but I’m getting mixed responses 😞. Thanks 💛

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/09/beneath-australian-tourist-mecca-lies-nations-largest-sorry-business?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other