Larissa Behrendt - Indigenous Australia For Kids For Dummies

Indigenous Australia For Kids For Dummies

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ISBN: 978-0-730-39033-6

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READERS OF THIS BOOK SHOULD BE AWARE THAT, IN SOME ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER COMMUNITIES, SEEING IMAGES OF DECEASED PERSONS IN PHOTOGRAPHS MAY CAUSE SADNESS OR DISTRESS AND, IN SOME CASES, OFFEND AGAINST STRONGLY HELD CULTURAL PROHIBITIONS. THIS BOOK CONTAINS IMAGES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DECEASED.

The Italian, Leonardo da Vinci, gave the world a better understanding of the human body through his extensive studies of living organisms. His drawings of human organs were the first of their kind in the world.

Another of his other remarkable feats was to devise a way for humans to take to the skies, which he did 400 years before the first plane ever took off.

Da Vinci achieved remarkable feats as an artist, engineer, inventor and scientist, and his contribution to humankind continues to have an impact on our lives today.

There is another man named David Ngunaitponi, also known as David Unaipon, who, like Leonardo da Vinci, made remarkable contributions that still have an impact on society today.

Unaipon, was a very proud man of the Ngarrinjeri people of South Australias Coorong Region. He was a preacher, author, poet, inventor, philosopher and political activist whose name continues to stand for a rare kind of exceptionalism and excellence.

One of Unaipons most noted accomplishments is in the area of invention with his innovations leading to the creation of a mechanical hand tool for shearing sheep.

Marking and celebrating this most unique man and his significant contribution, Unaipons name and image has appeared on the Australian $50 bank note since 1995.

Like Da Vinci, Unaipon acquired a marvellous interest in science and in 1914 he commented regarding his scientific breakthrough regarding his helicopter design:

An aeroplane can be manufactured that will rise straight into the air from the ground by application of the boomerang principle. The boomerang is shaped to rise in the air according to the velocity with which it is propelled, and so can an aeroplane.

Unaipon, 22 years previous to its invention, had conceptualised the worlds first helicopter and this achievement only added ever greater weight to the title publicly bestowed upon him as Australias Leonardo.

Da Vinci said that the noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding, and that the truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects.

Unaipon had a curious and bright intellect. He read, studied and researched for innumerable hours and this genius habit was attributable to the fact that he is Australias first published First Nations writer.

Professor Larissa Behrendts book, Indigenous Australia For Kids is a means of nourishment and sustenance for all curious minds that seek a kind of intellectual grounding in a world that is often unknowing and unwise.

I would imagine that if they were both still alive, both Da Vinci and Unaipon would see themselves in each other, just as we too might see ourselves in them also.

To willingly seek information and to build on our own genius habits is the way to deepening our own sense of meaning and connection to our own lives and the world we live in.

Behrendt gives us a tremendous opportunity to learn about the worlds oldest living culture that is Australias First Nations people.

She enables us to gain deeper insight into our own view of who we are as individuals and, equally, who we are as a collective.

Indigenous Australia For Kids inspires readers to flex their creative and imaginative thinking muscles so we can all contribute to a world we aspire to live in some day.

Cathy Freeman

Kuku Yalanji woman and Olympic Champion

August 2021

1. Chapter 2
2. Chapter 4
3. Chapter 9
4. Chapter 16

1. Chapter 3
2. Chapter 5
3. Chapter 6
4. Chapter 7
5. Chapter 9

Understanding the history and culture of Australia is impossible without understanding the countrys Indigenous peoples. And to understand Australias Indigenous peoples, you need to understand their history, traditional and modern cultural values, worldviews and experiences.

Indigenous Australia For Kids looks at the experiences of Indigenous people, including their political actions and dreams, and seeks to debunk some of the myths, especially the negative stereotypes, that are still around in Australian society about Indigenous people. Indigenous history and modern issues are very political matters in Australia. This book often looks at these matters from an Indigenous perspective, as well as covering different views.