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Roberts, Rhoda: There is no Aboriginal disadvantage. Our culture is our advantage, and all Australians can share it

Roberts, Rhoda

There is no Aboriginal disadvantage. Our culture is our advantage, and all Australians can share it‘, Guardian Australia, 7 October 2016

Article written to accompany Homeground cultural festival in Sydney.

We have over 700 languages and dialects and a rich history of oral storytelling – but what is important is the harmonious way in which we connect to country and our place in the cosmos. We are caretakers. We express this harmonious relationship and cultural awareness in science, story and song.

It’s there in the word “Eora”, which we associate with the nation group around Sydney and which means “here” in the local Dharug language. “I come from here” – no name, it was just their country, that’s how connected they were to it.

The author argues that Indigenous culture is for all Australians to share and be enriched by.

As Australians, when we think deeply about our connection to the land, we can only be led by Australia’s first people. Spirituality is intrinsic in our songlines and in all the ways that these are expressed – yes in song, but also in dance and through visual arts.