Visitors should be aware that this website includes images and names of deceased people that may cause sadness or distress to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Australia has two Indigenous groups: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There are similarities and differences between us, but there are also similarities and differences within each grouping as well.
This means there is not one Aboriginal group, but many clans. There is not one Torres Strait Islander group, but many.
The First Australians gallery offers many examples of the diversity of Indigenous Australians.
Explore these links and experience our diversity for yourself.
Torres Strait Islander gallery
Although it's part of the First Australians gallery, the Torres Strait Islander gallery is contained in a separate and distinctive space. This reflects the fact that Torres Strait Islanders are a separate Australian Indigenous group.
Using objects, images, and media, the gallery examines Torres Strait Island communities and our diversity of languages and cultural practices.
Current exhibiton
The gallery currently is showing Dhari a Krar, an exhibition of old and contemporary headdresses and masks which are distinctive to the Torres Strait.
Gallery highlights
a magnificent Saibai outrigger canoe
the deri/dhari, or ceremonial headdress, that appears over the gallery's entrance.
A sophisticated network of communities
The Torres Strait Islands are situated between Queensland and Papua New Guinea. When Spaniard Luis Baez de Torres sailed through the Torres Strait in 1606, on its powerful currents, the area was already the centre of many sophisticated island communities and trading networks.
Historically, Torres Strait Islander people bartered with people from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Cape York Peninsula. The pearling boom generated an influx of people from Asia, Europe and the South Seas.
The introduction of Christianity by the London Missionary Society saw many Islanders give up elements of our culture to the 'Light of Christ', forming the basis of a ceremony that continues today called 'The Coming of the Light'.
Cultural resilience
Even though these major influences have impacted on Torres Strait Islander cultures, Islanders have survived, adapted our lives and have begun a cultural renaissance.
Today, Islanders live in the Torres Strait, and many reside on the mainland, but our traditional trade networks, languages, beliefs and customs are alive and vibrant.
The five main Torres Strait Islander communities
The gallery explores the multiplicity of culture, language and ceremonies within the various communities. The main communities include:
The Eastern Islanders, who speak Meriam Mir In the Murray Island Land Case of 1992 (sometimes referred to as the Mabo case) the High Court recognised the Meriam people's continuous possession of our land, refuting the falsehood of terra nullius.
The Western Islanders The Islanders of Moa, Badu and Mabuiag once lived by gardening, trade, fishing and warfare. Many South Islanders moved to the Western Islanders for the pearling industry in the 1860s.
The Top Western Islands Islanders from Saibai, Boigu, Dauan and Gebar share a common dialect, with variations, called Kala Ya.
The Lower Western Islands Since Waiben (Thursday Island became the seat of government in 1877), the people there have suffered from colonial expansion. Many Lower Western Islanders were relocated because of pearling or government interests.
The Central Islands group The five central islands Iama, Tudu, Masig, Poruma and Waraber have very little fertile soil, so have depended on the rich surrounding reefs to provide them with food and trade goods.
Tools: stone and fire
Aboriginal people have successfully utilised elements of our environments for tens of thousands of years. Among the more important of these elements are stone and fire.
A superficial look at stone and fire-producing tools may suggest they are not very complex. But they belie the very detailed understanding Aboriginal people have of our environments and the way we used these tools to achieve our ends.
The First Australians gallery features an extensive range of tools used by Aboriginal people. It demonstrates how these tools were developed in relation to local environmental conditions, and the different techniques used to make them.
Tools for living
Stone tools are often the only evidence of the peoples and cultures that existed in Australia tens of thousands of years ago. Stone tools demonstrate the resourcefulness and skill of their makers. Tools on display in the gallery may look simple, but they reveal a detailed understanding of the environment and an ingenuity in the way they are crafted to achieve their purpose.
Making stone tools
Stone-tool makers have a detailed knowledge of the properties of different types of stone, and how to work each one. They use four techniques:
grinding - rubbing two stones against each other
hammer dressing - gently tapping one stone with another
percussion flaking - striking one stone with another
pressure flaking - pressing a wood or bone tool against the edge of a stone to remove small flakes.
Toolmakers often use more than one technique. Sometimes they heat stone to improve its working properties. When the working edges of tools become blunt or fractured, they are resharpened using the same techniques.
World first in stone
Man resharpening adze with stone tool by George Aiston, South Australian Museum
Aboriginal people achieved two world firsts with stone technology. We were the first to introduce ground edges on cutting tools and to grind seed. We used stone tools for many things to make other tools, to get and prepare food, to chop wood, and to prepare animal skins.
There were many types of tools in the stone toolkit. Some were used for more than one task. Some had handles for greater efficiency.
After European colonisation, Aboriginal people quickly realised the advantages of metal, glass and ceramics for some purposes. They were easier to work with, gave a very sharp edge, and needed less resharpening.
Roy Barker: keeper of tradition
Roy Barker selecting stones for toolmaking 1999 Photo: David Kaus, National Museum of Australia
Roy Barker flakes stone just as he saw the old men at Brewarrina do. He uses a grey quartzite that he collects from a site near Gongolgon in central New South Wales. While it is difficult to flake, experienced craftspeople like Roy can make excellent tools from it. It is important to Roy that they are true to those made in the past.
