Clever Country: an Aboriginal Perspective on Landscape

Join the Friends of the National Library of Australia and the ACT Monaro Riverina Branch of the Australian Garden History Society (AGHS) for their annual joint lecture at The National Library, presented by Adj. Professor Margo Ngawa Neale.

Land is viewed as ‘Country’ in Aboriginal Australia. It is a worldview that embodies a oneness with nature and its many manifestations through the seasons, weather and land formations. It is not a view of nature as the term landscape implies in the western view. Our history is written in the land. Country is our archive, it is where our knowledge, law and identity reside. Country holds information, stories and secrets - from medicine, engineering, ecology and astronomy; to social mores on how to live well and sustainably on this planet, and with each other. If Country holds such knowledge, then Country is clever. This concept will be visually explored through the award-winning landmark exhibition Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters and the Garden of Australian Dreams (GOAD) at the National Museum of Australia (NMA). It begs the question of where gardens fit into this schema?

About Adj. Professor Margo Ngawa Neale

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Adj. Professor Margo Ngawa Neale is an award-winning Indigenous art curator, historian and researcher. She is considered a pioneer in the representation of Indigenous culture in public institutions across major art galleries, museums and universities nationally and internationally. Margo has recently become Emeritus Curatorial Fellow: First Nations and was formerly Head of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledges at the National Museum of Australia, where she continues to work on her award-winning global touring exhibition, Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters. She has authored, co-authored or edited some 30 books including the Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, and the First Knowledges series with Thames & Hudson. Of Aboriginal and Irish descent, Margo is a member of the Gumbaynggirr nation with clan affiliations to the Kulin and Wiradjuri nations. 

This event will be held in the Library's Theatre, and light refreshments will be served following the presentation. Livestream tickets are also available. The livestream link will be sent one week, and again one day in advance of the event.

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