Indigenous Knowledge: Making Space in the Australian Centre

Abstract

Non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians all own and operate through cultures that are multi-dimensional, fluid and intimately expressed and known by individuals, although not always consciously. In Australia these cultures have evolved from historical events that have shaped our understandings of who we are, and most importantly the choices and opportunities we have today as a consequence. Because cultures and our expressions within them are so multifaceted they are not easily definable. But locating a prescriptive definition of Indigenous or Australian cultures is not the concern of this chapter even if it were possible to do so in such a way that all individual members of these collectives were able to consciously identify. It will instead be concerned with investigating some of the links between our histories, our memories of this past and how these present in many different forms to fortify a sense of who weas Australians reputedly are today.