Indonesia celebrates Indigenous culture with Australia
On 5 July, NAIDOC Indigenous Artist of the Year 2009, Wayne Quilliam, and Australian Chargé d'affaires to Indonesia, Paul Robilliard, opened a stunning photographic exhibition of Mr Quilliam's work at the Antara Photographic Gallery in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Australia’s Chargé d’Affaires Paul Robilliard, Australian Aboriginal photographic artist Wayne Quilliam and Executive Director of Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara Oscar Motuloh, cut the ribbon to mark the opening of a photographic exhibition by Wayne Quilliam on 5 July 2010 at the gallery. The exhibition was part of a week-long celebration of Indigenous Australian people and their culture by the Australian Embassy.
The exhibition, depicting both contemporary and traditional Indigenous Australia, showcased to Indonesians the continuing strength, vibrancy and diversity of Indigenous culture in Australia.
Mr Quilliam explained that identifying as an Aboriginal was not dependant on one's skin colour as many Indonesians believe, but was something that came from within. He hoped that the exhibition would help audiences explore what it meant to identify as Aboriginal in today's Australia.
Australian Aboriginal photographic artist, Wayne Quilliam, discusses his work with guests at the opening of his photographic exhibition on 5 July 2010 at Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara.
There is enormous interest in Indonesia in Indigenous Australia, particularly following the 2008 National Apology, and the exhibition attracted widespread local media coverage.
Contact between Indigenous Australians and Indonesians dates back to the sixteenth century when Makassan traders and fishermen first visited northern Australia and interacted with the Yolngu people.
Despite cultural differences, the two groups traded frequently and these relationships are still recorded and celebrated today in the music and dance of the Yolngu and other northern language groups.
Prominent Australian Aboriginal photographic artist, Wayne Quilliam, discusses his work with guests at the opening of his photographic exhibition on 5 July 2010 at Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara.
During NAIDOC Week the Australian Embassy also worked with Robert Hyatt, State Coordinator of the Indigenous Sport Program in Victoria, to introduce Traditional Indigenous Games to local schools and an orphanage. A short animated film series, The Dreaming Stories, was also translated into Indonesian and presented to schools and children in a local shopping mall.