The Modernity of the Songlines

Aboriginal Australia is facing a time like no other. This chapter reflects on our ever-adapting culture, as we are lamenting the passing of our cultural custodians, each of whom is a library of profound knowledge. It articulates how a global groundswell of creative work, controlled and created from an Aboriginal and/or first peoples perspective, works to retain language and revitalize ritual forms. Our creative practices have enabled Indigenous arts industry workers across all genres a relevant voice, better employment prospects, community outcomes, and, most important, the control of how we are perceived. Viewers of museum exhibitions now have more awareness of the sophisticated and complex societal structures we have developed and lived for thousands of years. But what of the continuing cultural obligations and clan/nation responsibility, the cultural inheritance of the oldest living race? While the author believes it is vital for the next generations of first peoples to build bridges, develop indigenous capacity, generate employment, and ensure the health and well-being of their communities, she asks how we are ensuring our youth are experiencing the old ways of traditional, intergenerational knowledge transmission, and how relevant we consider it in the twenty-first century.