Recording ancient Aboriginal Songlines<»

The Kungkarangkalpa Seven Sisters fly up to become the Pleiades in the night sky, performance at the NMA, March 2013. Photo: Wayne Quilliam, courtesy of Songlines of the Western Desert ARC Project and presenting partner the Centenary of Canberra. Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) are working to record ancient Indigenous Songlines - the encyclopaedia-like sources of Aboriginal cultural information passed down from generation-to-generation through song and dance. Lead researcher Dr Diana James, of the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology, was approached by senior Indigenous people of the Ngaanyatjara Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara region to help record their elders' knowledge for future generations. "The people that have the incredible encyclopaedic memory bank are passing. I call them living libraries, they are extraordinary in the breadth and depth of their knowledge,' Dr James said. "New generations of Indigenous kids are attending school and learning on computers.