Comprehension: Aboriginal Festival Brings Desert Culture to Wider Community

Aboriginal groups from across Central Australia meet for the inaugural Mbantua festival to share desert indigenous culture with the broader Australian community.

Watch the video and answer the questions below.  Decide if the statements are True or False.

1.  One of the ways the old Aboriginal stories are being expressed is through song.

a. True

b. False

2. Arrernte is in Alice Springs.

a. True

b. False

3. The young Aboriginals are not interested in their history.

a. True

b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

 

Transcript and Answers:

Revealing the tales of days gone by through song and dance, indigenous groups from across Australia’s desert centre have come to share with one another on the sacred grounds of the Arrernte people in Alice Springs.  From dreaming, or creation stories, to the effects of European arrival:

"Everything you see at this festival is lensed through the eyes of desert people and the history that informs those people.”                              

It’s a rare chance for the different aboriginal nations here to join with non-indigenous Australians, in appreciating every facet of this ancient culture.

"There’s a lot of good tucker...you need to get this one too!"

They might be using billycans instead of wooden bowls, but the activities are helping keep alive traditions which might otherwise be slipping.  Foreign tourists, too, are sampling traditional desert foods and getting hands-on with the local arts and crafts.

"I think I will call it Alice."

It’s also engaging indigenous youth in their heritage.  While, in its openness, it’s presenting an alternative picture of a national story which can look very different for black and white Australians.

"I guess the sharing of those personal stories helps to enlighten everyone as to what it actually is and then, maybe through that, develop a new story of whatever that’s going to look like for Australia."

"That’s what we’re trying to do with this festival bring non-indigenous people to us, share our culture with them, and our history, in the hope that they feel like that part of the nation’s history is part of their own identity."

As night falls, in this small pocket in the heart of Australia, people have been brought closer together - at least for a few days.

Answers:
1. a
2. a
3. b

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