Indigenous Australians have a means of transferring knowledge throughout generations via singing, story, ceremony, dance and art.  A songline can be described as a pathway of knowledge, in the form of an ancient memory code, that communicates ancestral journeys, creation myths called a “dreaming”, and lore that is passed on encapsulating notions of tribe, family group, and cultural rules.

Songlines are the sung stories that navigate the landscape, telling the story of geological formations, waterholes, local edible vegetation, hunting methods, land management practices, how to travel across long distances and multiple skin groups with different languages.

The repetition, symbolism and story contained within the song assists the memory of the listener to take on huge volumes of information.  It is recorded that songlines can be understood by different language speakers because it is the cadence and rhythm of the song which communicates the story of the country and the manner to allow the traveller to move across the landscape in a respectful way.

In modern terms, we might consider Songlines to be like a detailed map, compendium, almanac or encyclopedia.  In fact, it may be like G****e Maps for the whole of Australia, with the Find Me a Hotel or Restaurant section turned on, presented verbally and able to be memorised!   AND, it was invented over 50,000 years ago.  I am overwhelmed by this concept of language, its age and the depth of knowledge it reveals of the people who practice it.

It is disrespectful for a non-indigenous person to use the symbols of indigenous art without explicit permission to do so.  Presenting something that copies or replicates indigenous artwork can also be considered an infringement of copyright unless the artist has the informed consent of the indigenous owners of those symbols.  For these reasons, I did not want to create a Songlines themed art quilt that used meaningful indigenous symbols or icons.  Instead, I have tried to create a representation of a Songline map that suggests to the viewer geography, terrain, vegetation, fire, a riverbed, stars.  I hope that the viewer can relate to the concept of art representing language and the richness and depth of cultural knowledge that the oldest peoples on Earth have gifted us.

Completed:        January 2025

Dimensions:      1000mm H X 800mm W

Materials:          Commercial cottons; batik; polyester tie; commercial threads.

Technique:        Pieced background; glue fixed bias tape (folded edge); double sided iron-on applique.