ABSTRACT
This heritage or ‘folklore’ is an integral and enduring part of Aboriginal society, as Puri notes:2
The significance of this intangible heritage is further reflected in its treatment under Aboriginal customary laws. In most communities there are strict controls on the use of certain images or on the revelation of particular information.3 The nature of such controls is explained in this extract from the judgment of von Doussa J in Milpurrurru v Indofurn Pty Ltd,4 a case discussed in some detail later on in the chapter:
Jill McKeough and Andrew Stewart
While the primary interest of Aboriginal communities in the preservation and control of their cultural heritage has always been grounded in deeply rooted spiritual considerations that are inextricably linked to the very fabric of their society there is today an economic dimension to this issue that cannot be ignored. Over the past few decades there has been an explosion of interest in Aboriginal art on the part of non-
indigenous Australians, tourists and international art collectors.5 This has created incentives for increased production and dissemination of Aboriginal art, and has thereby offered significant benefits to the artists and their communities:6
At the same time, however, the growth of the market for Aboriginal art has created problems as well as opportunities. Unauthorised imitation of such art has become a major issue, with concern emerging not only in relation to the amount of direct copying of works, but also the ‘borrowing’ of Aboriginal themes, images or styles. Sometimes this imitation can be traced to urban or rural Aboriginal artists working outside the framework of the community to whom the images in question ‘belong’ and who do not regard themselves as bound by that community’s restrictions (if they are aware of them); sometimes to artists (indigenous or non-indigenous) who incorporate traditional motifs into their work in the classic Western art tradition of ‘informed quotation’;7 but more often, simply to businesses who see a way of making a buck out of the appetite for indigenous art. In other instances, the problem may not be one of imitation as such, but of culturally insensitive use of work otherwise acquired with the consent of the relevant community, or of use without proper acknowledgment.
