ABSTRACT
The single greatest artifact of Australian Aboriginal people is landscape or, as it is more affectionately known, “Country.”1 Country both belongs to, and embodies much of, the Australian Aboriginal peoples’ cultural knowledge. Country is central in sustaining its people in a reciprocal survival “pact” that dates back more than forty millennia. With few material passions and no written language, Australian Aboriginal culture is held in memory and exchanged through performative storytelling. A form that defi es Western notions of space, spatial understanding and ownership. It is a living culture. Ancient practices which honor Country and valorize their cultural heritage continue in everyday ceremony, ritual and storytelling. However, this continuity is being eroded by the apparent attractiveness of an alternative modern life style. This is especially so for the younger generations, more interested in materialist consumption and visual entertainments than actively engaging in their ancestors’ cultural practices.
