JourneysJourneys• What is a Journey?

• What type of journey can a person make?

• What Journey’s have I made?

• How have Aboriginal Artists portrayed a Journey story?

• How can I portray one of my Journey stories in an artwork?

What is a Journey?

The dictionary definition of a journey is:•To travel: undertake a journey or trip•The act of travelling from one place to another

The act of travelling from one place to another is the most common type of Journey we hear about. For example, you may have journeyed by car from your home in Sydney to a holiday on the coast. However, there are many types of journeys that we as human beings can take!

What types of Journeys can we make?

There are many types of Journeys that we can make in a life time.

We can make: • Physical Journeys

• Emotional Journeys

• Spiritual Journeys

A Physical Journey is….. when one moves from point A to point B.

For example, when you leave home each morning and travel to school you are making a physical journey. We can also refer to this type of trip as a travelling journey.

An Emotional Journey is… when one goes through a series of

different emotions or emotional responses to any given situation in life.

Example: On your last day at Primary School, you may have woken up feeling excited to finally finish. As the day went on, you may have felt a sense of sadness to be leaving friends but then relieved once the bell went and you could begin the summer holidays.

A Spiritual Journey is…A Spiritual Journey is…often a journey about self discovery and what

the individual believes about the soul and the universe.

As children, we may question who created the world and what is our place in the universe. Usually, we try to find the answers to these questions as we get older. In doing so, we often discover much about ourselves.

Can a Journey be a combination Can a Journey be a combination of physical, emotional and of physical, emotional and

spiritual?spiritual? What do you think? Take a moment to

consider this. A journey can often be a combination of two or

all three of the headings we have been considering.

Example: One might take a physical trip to a foreign country,

experiencing all sorts of emotions along the way and end up learning a lot about themselves, other cultures and asking questions to do with spirituality and the individuals place in the universe.

Activity 1Activity 1:: In your Visual Arts eWorkspace, make a new Google document “My Journey Story” and

write a journey story of your own. Try to include elements of these three

types of journey:

• Physical Journeys

• Emotional Journeys

• Spiritual Journeys

The Dreaming Stories: A Journey into Aboriginal Culture

Storytelling is an integral part of life for Indigenous Australians. From an early age, storytelling plays a vital role in educating children. Stories help to explain how the land came to be shaped and inhabited; how to behave and where to find certain foods.

Gathered around the camp fire in the evening, on an expedition to a favourite waterhole, or at a landmark of special significance, parents, Elders or Aunts and Uncles use the stories as the first part of a child's education.

As children grow into young adults, more of the history and culture is revealed. Adults then take responsibility for passing on the stories to the following generations. In this way, the Stories of the Dreaming have been handed down over thousands of years.

These are stories of the history and culture of the people, handed down in this way since the beginning of time, since the Dreamtime.

These stories often involve the wanderings and spiritual journeys of the ancestral beings.

What are the Aboriginal Journey Stories about?

How Have Indigenous artists depicted their

Journey stories?

Ngapa Jukurrpa by Shorty Jangala Robertson

• This etching depicts a water Dreaming. The rain story belongs to Nampitjinpa and Nangala women and Jampitjinpa and Jangala men. They travelled from east to west of Yuendumu. The curvy line represents the ngawarra (flood waters) traveling through the landscape. Etching - Artists's Proof

14 x 19 cm

Wati Kutjarra by Tjumpo Tjapanangka

• This print tells the story of the Wati Kutjarra, a prominent Dreaming in the Great Sandy Deserts.

• The Wati Kutjarra were two ancestral brothers who travelled large areas of the Western Desert teaching ancestral people about food, fire and hunting. This print depicts the travels of the Wati Kutjarra to Wilkinkarra (Lake McKay). The two oblong shapes represent the two brothers where they lay down to sleep and the impressions left behind are seen in the country today. The central circle depicts the fire they lit which became a rockhole. At either end of the painting, wiltja (windbreaks) made of spinifex are depicted which protect the men during ceremony.

Screenprint, Edition size 9954 x 80 cm