OZtralia.tv Blog

A Tour of Australia’s Indigenous Culture

By: Phoenix Arrien

I am a great fan of cultural travel. In Australia, to really appreciate the indigenous culture, you need to go stay or walk with one of the many communities that offer indigenous experiences through accommodation, tours or festivals.

One of the most fascinating places to visit is Arnhemland.

No other place in Australia conjures up such wild, mystical images - Outback wilderness, few people, remoteness and great sweeping landscapes.

The most accessible parts of Arnhemland for the visitor are the Gove Peninsula on the north eastern coast and the Cobourg Peninsula, a national park thrusting out into the Arafura Sea off the north west coast.

However once a year around this time, the Gunbalanya Community (also called Oenpelli) near Arnhemland’s western border is open to visitors. For this one day, anyone can travel from Kakadu into Arnhemland as far as this township without permits and one year I made my way with several hundred other people to this little settlement.

Servicing a fluctuating population of 1000 people, it is a central point for ‘outstations’ that dot the area, as well as an important educational and medical base. Populated mainly by the Kunwinjku people, the community is a melting pot of various tribes who try for a balance of old and new.

Their ‘Open Day’ is a mix of aboriginal cultural exchanges and rare opportunities to see some of the scenic back country through four-wheel drive tours and helicopter rides. The people put on displays of their traditional lifestyles through words and images and we had the opportunity to buy local handmade crafts such as baskets and clothing.

Painted dancers stamped and gyrated accompanied by musicians and singers. Baskets and clothing were sold and different local and government groups, held information stalls. But the best part for me was the ‘bush tucker’.

Long necked turtles, Barramundi (fish), Magpie geese and wild pig were all on the menu. Traditionally roasted in a pit in the ground covered by hot coals, just watching the men and women work simple ground ovens took me away into a more natural and earthy world.