Travellers to Australia are increasingly eager to meet Aboriginal people in the bush, hear their stories and come home with a genuine Aboriginal artefact. Unfortunately, a truly authentic Aboriginal experience can be as elusive as snow on Uluru.
There are numerous tours in Australia's Outback offering lessons in Aboriginal history, boomerang throwing and bush tucker BBQs, but many are operated and owned by non-Aboriginal outfits and only a fraction of their profits go to the Aboriginal communities whose land and people are being exploited.
At one supposedly authentic "Aborigine experience" at Uluru, tourists were bemused to see a white man blowing a didgeridoo - the local aborigines do not play the instrument because the region is devoid of eucalyptus from which they must be made.
It pays to do a bit of homework on the internet before leaving home.
aboriginalaustralia.com Australia's first publicly listed web company with total Aboriginal ownership. It is owned by the Iliri Trust (GPO Box 1146, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia, tel: +8 8216 0270, fax +8 8216 0211), an Aboriginal-owned, non-profit outfit promoting Aboriginal cultural enterprise. Users can get information and arrange Aboriginal tours online, talk directly with remote Aboriginal communities, and even buy authentic Aboriginal items. Tours in the Northern Territory include the Anangu Tours of Uluru and one-day or extended tours of Alice Springs and its surroundings with local guides. There are art, culture and nature tours of Arnhem Land, Katherine and Central Australia with guides who can introduce visitors to their kin in various indigenous groups. You can meet the Manyallaluk people on a one-day, hands-on cultural trip and a night in a bush camp, or journey into the land of the Never Never as a guest of the Mangarrayi people.
For more information on Aboriginal history and culture try the following websites:
dreamtime.net.au for stories of the Dreaming or time of creation. Explains the importance of story telling and how the first emu came about.
aboriginalart.com.au run by the Arrernte people from south of Alice Springs, this site offers information about art and culture. Didgeridoo University of Central Australia details the finer points of mastering the instrument. Desert tours can be booked online.
yothutindi.com is dedicated to Aboriginal Australia's best known rock band. Listen to music samples, watch video clips and find tour dates.
