Contents

• Introduction
• Art
• Rock painting and engraving
• Bark Painting
• Desert Painting
• Conclusion
• References

Description

The Aboriginal people of Australia represent a culture that has developed over at least 40,000 years. This is unique due to the fact that the ways of the people has been more or less the same for this period and has only gradually evolved and in addition, their culture has seen an unbroken descendant history that is practiced even today unlike others that are rapidly disappearing such as the natives of South America. Aboriginal people live in clans and groups across the continent. It is estimated that their population numbered 300,000 consisting of 500-600 clans (Rolls et al., 2011). The entry of the British resulted in their population decreasing to 67,000 as a result of deaths from warfare and introduced diseases. Today, Aboriginal population has increased to 250,000, 1.5% of the total Australian population (Finley, 1999). However, despite a sizeable population, Aboriginal culture has yet to be completely understood like other cultures of the past worlds (Rolls et al., 2011). An effective to create this understanding is to examine Aboriginal art forms such as song, dance and art. This will not only result in creating understanding the beliefs of Aboriginal people, their recent traditions can be traced effectively. Therefore, this essay will discuss the relationship between Aboriginal art and the people, the meaning of Aboriginal art and the various forms of art paintings.