Australian Aboriginal elders are highly respected people within Australia and their respective Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. An elder has been defined as "someone who has gained recognition as a custodian of knowledge and lore, and who has permission to disclose knowledge and beliefs". [1] [2] They may be male or female, and of any age, but must be trusted and respected by their community [3] for their wisdom, cultural knowledge and community service. [4] Elders provide support for their communities in the form of guidance, counselling and knowledge, which help tackle problems of health, education, unemployment and racism, [5] [6] particularly for younger people. They may be distinguished as one of two types: community elders and traditional elders. [3] Elders play an important role in maintenance of culture, songs, oral histories, sacred stories, Aboriginal Australian languages, [7] and dance, and are also educators who demonstrate leadership and skills in resolving conflicts. Elders also preside over ceremonies and other spiritual practices, and attend to the health and well-being of young people. [6]
Elders are sometimes addressed by other Aboriginal people as Uncle or Aunty as a mark of respect. The honorific may be used by non-Aboriginal people, but generally only when permission is given to do so. [3] [4] [1]
Self-determination advocacy organisation the Aboriginal Provisional Government was initially headed by a "Council of Elders" in accordance with the "traditions and beliefs of Aboriginal groups nationwide". [8]
The Dreaming Path, a book written by the first Aboriginal CEO of an Australian TAFE, Paul Callaghan, in collaboration with Ngemba elder Paul Gordon, describes the important role played by elders in Aboriginal society. Some organisations have created formal elder-in-residence programs, such as the University of South Australia's Elders on Campus project, which helps to support Indigenous students. [6] [9]
The role of Aboriginal elders has also been the subject of academic research. [10] [11]
An aunt is a woman who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. Alternate terms include auntie or aunty. Children in other cultures and families may refer to the cousins of their parents as aunt or uncle due to the age and generation gap. The word comes from Latin: amita via Old French ante and is a family relationship within an extended or immediate family.
The Kaurna people are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurna culture and language were almost completely destroyed within a few decades of the British colonisation of South Australia in 1836. However, extensive documentation by early missionaries and other researchers has enabled a modern revival of both language and culture. The phrase Kaurna meyunna means "Kaurna people".
NAIDOC Week is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. NAIDOC Week has its roots in the 1938 Day of Mourning, becoming a week-long event in 1975.
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
A Welcome to Country is a ritual or formal ceremony performed as a land acknowledgement at many events held in Australia. It is an event intended to highlight the cultural significance of the surrounding area to the descendants of a particular Aboriginal clan or language group who were recognised as the original human inhabitants of the area. For the Welcome to be recognised as official, it must be performed by a recognised elder of the group. Welcomes to Country are sometimes accompanied by traditional smoking ceremonies, music or dance. Where an elder is not available to perform the welcome, or there is not a recognised traditional owner, an Acknowledgement of Country may be offered instead.
Bush medicine comprises traditional medicines used by Indigenous Australians, being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Indigenous people have been using various components of native Australian flora and some fauna as medicine for thousands of years, and a minority turn to healers in their communities for medications aimed at providing physical and spiritual healing.
Indigenous intellectual property is a term used in national and international forums to describe intellectual property held to be collectively owned by various Indigenous peoples, and by extension, their legal rights to protect specific such property. This property includes cultural knowledge of their groups and many aspects of their cultural heritage and knowledge, including that held in oral history. In Australia, the term Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, abbreviated as ICIP, is commonly used.
Henrietta Marrie is a Gimuy Walubara Yidinji elder, an Australian Research Council Fellow and Honorary Professor with the University of Queensland.
Edwin "Guboo" Ted Thomas, a Yuin man, was a prominent Aboriginal leader. He toured Australia with a gumleaf orchestra during the Great Depression of the 1930s, played rugby league and became a respected elder who campaigned for protection of sacred sites on the South Coast. He went to the United Nations in New York and urged the World Council of Churches to accept Indigenous religions, and also met the Dalai Lama.
Jack Charles, also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous theatre in Australia, co-founding Nindethana Theatre with Bob Maza in Melbourne in 1971. His film credits include the Australian film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), among others, and more recently appeared in TV series Cleverman (2016) and Preppers (2021).
Bidjara, also spelt Bidyara or Pitjara, is an Australian Aboriginal language. In 1980, it was spoken by 20 elders in Queensland between the towns of Tambo and Augathella, or the Warrego and Langlo Rivers. There are many dialects of the language, including Gayiri and Gunggari. Some of them are being revitalised and are being taught in local schools in the region. The various dialects are not all confirmed or agreed by linguists.
The Wollotuka Institute is a unit within the University of Newcastle (Australia). It is a strategic and operational body which is responsible for all Indigenous activities of the University. The Institute was established in 1983 within the then Newcastle College of Advanced Education (NCAE) as a support program for Indigenous Australian students and was amalgamated into the University of Newcastle at the same time as the Hunter Institute of Higher Education. Wollotuka's all-Indigenous staff, overseen by an all-Indigenous Board of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education and Training, make it unique among Australian higher education Indigenous units and well respecting throughout Australia. 'Wollotuka' means "eating and meeting place" in the Awabakal language. Links with the Awabakal people and their land have been cited as a factor attracting academics to the university.
Uncle Albert Mullett (1933–2014) was a respected Aboriginal Elder in Victoria, Australia, and spokesperson for members of the Gunai/Kurnai peoples, Gippsland, Victoria. His ancestry includes Gunditjmara and Gunai/Kurnai clans. He was actively involved in Aboriginal education and the preservation of Koorie cultural heritage for many years. He was also a skilled craftsman of shields, boomerangs and artifacts.
Gladys Elphick, also known as Gladys Hughes and Auntie Glad, was an Australian Aboriginal woman of Kaurna and Ngadjuri descent, best known as the founding president of the Council of Aboriginal Women of South Australia, which became the Aboriginal Council of South Australia in 1973.
The NAIDOC Awards are annual Australian awards conferred on Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals during the national celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples known as NAIDOC Week.
Joan Patricia Hendriks (1936-2020), also known as Aunty Joan, is a Ngugi elder of one of the three groups of Quandamooka people in Moreton Island, Queensland, Australia. She is the first Indigenous person appointed to the National Catholic Education Commission, and has brought Indigenous issues to the forefront at the United Nations and International Interfaith Forums.
Hidden Generations is a term used to describe a group of Indigenous peoples who responded to colonial forces in Australia by reducing their visibility. Although the term is relatively new in public conversation, it describes a very established pattern of behaviour. The emergence of the term is an outcome of this group of Indigenous people once again asserting their cultural identity.
Elsie Heiss, also known as Aunty Elsie, is an Indigenous Australian, a Wiradjuri elder and a Catholic religious leader. She has led Aboriginal Catholic Ministry programs for over three decades and was NAIDOC Female Elder of the Year in 2009.
A cleverman is a traditional healer and keeper of culture in many Aboriginal cultures of Australia. The roles, terms for, and abilities of a cleverman vary between different Aboriginal nations. Some clevermen heal bodily injuries and illnesses, while others heal spiritual ailments. They heal using plants, songs, and spiritual knowledge. Exceptionally powerful clevermen are believed to have magical powers and may heal both physical and spiritual ailments. Some sources also refer to clevermen having the ability to kill using magic, although this may be illegal within the culture or a separate form of harmful 'sorcery' from that used by cleverman healers. Clevermen also serve as cultural keepers and are experts in stories and spiritual beliefs. They have a strong understanding of sacred places and lore and a deep connection to the Dreaming. Clevermen may be men or women, depending on the culture.
Beʼsha Blondin is noted as a "respected elder and healer of the Dene people. Co-author of six publications on Indigenous healing practices, she is co-founder and director of the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation and the founder and director of Northern Integrated Culture and the Environment
