Corroboree

© Panos Pictures / Penny Tweedie

Sacred rituals were a great way for the Aboriginals to express themselves especially in dramatic performances with stylized posturing and complicated dance movements.
Less intense but sometimes almost as elaborate were the nonsacred ceremonies, the "Corroborees", designed for entertainment and relaxation. Songs ranged in style from the short verses of central Australia, which were made up of three, four, or more words repeated in sequence, to the more elaborate songs of northeastern Arnhem Land, which were long verses building up complex word pictures through symbolic allusion and imagery. There was no poetry in terms of spoken verse as such, but there were chants, some of them outstandingly beautiful.

© Zefa Pictures / D. Baglin
Making Headdresses and practising the Didgeridoo
are important preparations for a Corroboree, or tribal festival.
Aborigines have had to fight for the right to live like this on their land.

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