There are long associations between this land, Australia, and spirituality. Indigenous people tell creation stories about the Dreamtime in which land formations came about. They are closely connected to plants, animals and places of spiritual significance.
In 1606, Quiros declared, "Let the heavens, the earth,...and all those here present witness that I, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros... in the name of Jesus Christ... whereon He gave His life for the ransom and remedy of the human race... on this Day of Pentecost, 14 May, 1606... I, take possession of all this part of the South as far as the pole in the name of Jesus... Which from now on shall be called the Southern land of the Holy Ghost (La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo)... and this always and forever... to the end that to all natives, in all the said lands, the holy, sacred evangel may be preached zealously and openly." Quiros actually landed on a New Hebridian Island, but thought he was on the great southern land mass of Tierra Austrialia.
The spiritual connections with the land have been explored through scholarly publications, such as Fiona Richards' The Soundscapes of Australia: Music Place and Spirituality (2007), and David Tacey's (1995) The Edge of the Sacred: Transformation in Australia (1995).
Currently there are attempts to safeguard Australian music heritage and culture. Alan Marett has been instrumental in setting up projects with Indigenous people to help safeguard the last remaining traditional Indigenous music and culture. He has written detailed accounts of particular song genres from the Northern Territory, such as Songs, Dreamings and Ghosts: The Wangga of Northern Australia (2005).
Safeguarding music heritage and culture can have important repercussions for people's health and well-being, because there are close connections between spirituality and music expression. It has been widely suggested that the health and well-being of Indigenous people in Australia has been compromised by government policy that restricted people's freedom of music and cultural expression. The health and well-being of Indigenous people is considered a National health priority. Self-management of health, especially social health is of high importance to Indigenous Health Services in Australia.
It is recognised, as well as providing health and community music programs, that ethnomusicologists are vital to the partnership with communities, to safeguard tangible and intangible music heritage and culture. An inter-disciplinary approach is required when establishing partnerships with communities for community music, cultural heritage management, and socio-ecological health promotion programs.
U-tube video: "We are Australian"
U-tube video: Rolf Harris performs "Waltzing Matilda"
CONVENTIONS RELATED TO MUSIC HERITAGE AND CULTURE
Music heritage and culture that is transmitted through performance and oral traditions, has an intangible aspect that can be lost if music traditions are not passed from one generation to another. The importance of this heritage has been recognised by The International Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO, 2003) that came into force in some countries in 2006. The convention has not yet been signed by America, Australia, and some other countries.
The diversity of cultural traditions is supported by The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (UNESCO, 2005). Both of these UNESCO conventions can inform reasoning about how to best safeguard music heritage and culture. Specific place-based research may be required in Australia, however, where guidelines are drawn from many different sources that have indirect application to the tangible and intangible aspects of people's music heritage and culture. The Australian Burra Charter and World Heritage Legislation apply to conserving places of cultural significance, and music traditions can be strongly associated with particular places.
COMMUNITIES OF DISCOVERY
The concept of supporting communities to actively engage with their music heritage and culture is recent, so the terminology is still in flux between disciplines who share this work. The Cultural Ministers Council developed The Indigenous Contemporary Music Action Plan (2008) that outlines principles, goals and actions to take Indigenous music forward (media release).
Localised participatory action research has been carried out with communities, such as documented in The Purga Music Story (Kirkwood, 2005), and Turn of the Century: The Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band 1909-2009 (Kirkwood and Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band, 2009). Both of these projects involved a community of discovery approach to reflecting on music history. Strategic planning and development of a contemporary music action plan for rural Ipswich was carried out in 2006. The publications are listed on the Music Australia website of the National Library, and further information is available from the Purga Music Museum in Ipswich(http://www.freewebs.com/purgamusic/index.htm) and Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band website (www.ipswichthistle.com). Localised studies have also been carried out by Philip Hayward in Darwin (2006a), and Norfolk and Pitcairn Islands (2006b).
CREATIVE COMMUNITIES
The foundation of Creative Communities is the belief that people have the right to participate in activities and occupations that are relevant to their heritage and culture. "Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits" (Article 27, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, 1948). Kronenberg et al. (2005) use the term 'occupational apartheid' to describe circumstances in which people are denied opportunities to engage in occupations of their choice due to discriminatory policy or social, political and physical environmental conditions. There is potential for considering application of these ideas to people's engagement with their music heritage and culture. In this discussion 'cultural engagement' refers to people's active involvement in coming to an understanding of their own culture.
The concept of community implies that people may relate to others as they strive to make sense of their heritage and culture. 'Community' is understood as classes, groups or social milieus; "a group of people within a society with a shared ethnic or culutral background especially within a larger society" (Moore, 2006).
References:
Hayward, P. (2006a). From the top: Local difference and issues of heritage identity in the formulation of music policy for Darwin. Perfect Beat, 8(1), 50-68.
Hayward, P. (2006b). Bounty chords: Music, dance and cultural heritage on Norfolk and Pitcairn Islands. Eastleigh: John Libbey.
Kronenberg F., Algado, & N. Pollard (Eds.) (2005). Occupational therapy without borders: Learning from the spirit of survivors. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
Moore, A. (Ed.). (2006). Macquarie Australian national dictionary. Sydney: Susan Butler, University of Sydney.
Richards, F. (2007). The soundscapes of Australia: Music place and spirituality. Burlington: Ashgate.
Tacey, D. (1995). The Edge of the Sacred: Transformation in Australia. North Blackburn, Victoria: HarperCollins.
Article written by Sandra Kirkwood, 12 November, 2008; updated 3 September, 2009.
© Sandra Kirkwood, 2008
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