Journeys – a topic about symbols

Aboriginal Art

Introduction to Australia• The country's largest & best known

city is Sydney but the capital is Canberra.

• Australia is the size of western Europe.

• When you leave the cities, Australia is open and almost empty, you can go days without seeing a person.

• In the centre of the country is the great Ayers Rock (Uluru), it rises 1400 feet from the desert plane & is 5.5 miles round its perimeter.

• The rock is considered sacred and spiritually significant to the Aboriginal people.

Famous images of Australia

Sydney Opera House Ayers Rock Bush Fires

Bondi Beach

Australian FlagOutback

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL FLAG

The Aboriginal flag is divided horizontally into halves. The top half is black and the lower half red. There is a yellow disk in the centre of the flag.

The meaning of the three colours in the flag, areBlack - represents the Aboriginal people of Australia.Red - represents the red earth, the red ochre used in ceremonies and Aboriginal people’s spiritual relation to the land.Yellow disk - represents the Sun, the giver of life and protector.

Sources say that the Aboriginal culture settled in Australia around 50,000 years ago. After settling in Australia they told stories about visions and rituals by painting with pigment found naturally in the outback. The method they used for painting is referred to as bark painting. The process involved cutting bark from trees during the wet season and placing it in a fire to cure. When the bark was taken out of the fire it was flattened with stones or logs. This was then used as the painting canvas. Finally they would apply paint or pigment using a technique called ‘dotting’. Brushes, sticks and fingers were used to create designs that reflected dreams, rituals and a rich cultural history. Some researchers say that most of the paintings had some sort of mythological undertone.

Aboriginal PeopleAboriginal Facts.• Aboriginal people told stories

about their life and history in their paintings.

• They would dot their paintings using brushes, sticks and fingers.

• They tell stories in words and pictures.

• The stories are called ‘Dream time stories.’

• Aboriginal art uses Earth colours (colours of the desert) such as browns, reds

• Symbols are used to tell stories• The canvas is covered in small

dots of paint• The dots make patterns or

symbols

Aboriginal ArtAboriginal ColoursBlackBlack stands for the colour of the Aborigine people and night.YellowYellow is the sacred colour. The colour of the sun.RedIs for the colour of the land and for blood. ‘We are all of one blood, from the land we come and to it we will all return.’WhiteWhite is the spirit colour, like smoke, wind and lightning.

Aboriginal Symbols

Emu

Meeting Child Coolamon Dingo

Campfire Woman Yundee

ManKangaroo Bushbannana Fire sticks

Witchetty grubs Goanna

Aboriginal Symbols

This painting is Journey of the Koori by Ron Potter. What do you think a Koori is? It’s a kangaroo

Aboriginal paintings use earth colours

Why? These are the colours of the desert. Aboriginal artists made their paints from natural

materials.

Aboriginal paintings are also often made up of dots

Why?What did aboriginal artists paint with in the

desert?

They used their fingers or sticks.

An overhanging rock where, typically, a lot of aboriginal paintings can be found.

Use the symbols information then annotate the image below to show where the different symbols have been used in this painting.

Aboriginal Painting TechniquesFill in a colour background in all your boxes then paint ……

With a paintbrush end.

With a willow stick.

With a cotton-bud.

Paint Wavy lines

Paint circles using lines

DOTS