2020

1. January

   Opera Australia revives the musical Bran Nue Dae, 30 years after the original debuted in 1990. The musical achieved popular and critical acclaim for giving Aboriginal voices centre stage, tackling tough issues with humour and challenging mainstream perceptions of Aboriginal people. It tours Sydney in January, Perth (February), Brisbane (July) and Adelaide (August) among other locations. Aboriginal director Rachel Perkins made it into a movie in 2009.

2. 14 March

   The 22nd Biennale of Sydney (March – September) has ist first Aboriginal artistic director with Wiradjuri man Brook Andrew. The title, Nirin, is a Wiradjuri word for "edge".

3. 29 April

   A special set of oversized stamps celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour voyage. The "Navigating History" stamps were designed by Aboriginal artist Jenna Lee and Niqui Branchu from the creative agency Gilimbaa. Each stamp shows how Aboriginal and European narratives overlap in the context of the Endeavour voyage. The themes include sky, land, people, plants and the future. As Australia Post put it, "the visual narrative aims to create respect, insight and understanding of the multiple stories, lives and cultures that intersected at the time of the Endeavour’s Pacific voyage". ^[1]

   

4. 19 May

   

   Australia Post issues a set of four stamps to promote four recent citizen science projects from Australia. Citizen science involves public participation and collaboration in scientific research with the aim of increasing scientific knowledge.

   One stamp celebrates the Ngukurr Wi Stadi Bla Kantri ("We Study the Country" in the Kriol language) biodiversity project, a cross-cultural collaboration between the remote Aboriginal community of Ngukurr in south-east Arnhem Land and Macquarie University in Sydney.

   The Ngukurr Wi Stadi Bla Kantri project started in 2010, bringing together the Yugul Mangi Rangers, most of the residents of Ngukurr and children at Ngukurr School. It helps equip Aboriginal Elders and youth with the knowledge and tools to better understand and manage South East Arnhem Land environments. Through the project, the team is re-discovering a large and remote area unknown to Western science and working towards maintaining endangered Aboriginal bio-cultural knowledge.

5. 9 June

   In its Art of the Desert issue, Australia Post features works by Aboriginal artists from the Western Desert region. Two were associated with the Warlayirti Artists in Balgo, Western Australia (Boxer Milner [Milnga-Milnga, the artist's birth place 1999] and Eubena Nampitjin [Untitled 2000]) and two with the artists’ cooperative at Papunya Tula, Northern Territory (Fred Ward Tjungurrayi [Tingarri Mamultjulkulakutu (Tingarri men travelling to Mamultjulku) 2001] and Walter Tjampitjinpa [Kangaroo Dreaming 1971]).

   

6. 7 August

   18-year-old photographer Yolngu woman Siena Mayutu Wurmarri Stubbs from Arnhem Land becomes one of the youngest winners in the 37-year history of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Australia's most prestigious Aboriginal art awards. She wins the multimedia category with a poetry and video artwork she filmed while on a bullet train in Japan.

7. 17 September

   Wongutha-Yamatji man and first-time Archibald Prize entrant Meyne Wyatt wins the 2020 Packing Room Prize with his self portrait, titled Meyne. It is the first time an Aboriginal artist has won any of the awards in the Archibald prize's history. (The Packing Room Prize is judged by gallery staff who receive, unpack and hang the entries submitted to the Archibald prize.)

8. 25 September

   APY man Vincent Namatjira, great-grandson of renown artist Albert Namatjira, wins the Archibald prize with a portrait of himself and AFL legend Adam Goodes titled Stand Strong for Who You Are and becomes the first Aboriginal artist to win the prize in its almost 100-year history.

   Indigenous art isn't just dot paintings ... We do everything – music, film, photography, contemporary art. We do it all, and we do it really well.

   — Vincent Namatjira ^[2]

9. 25 September

   For the first time DNA data technology is used to preserve moving images for archival purposes, and for the first time an Australian video is encoded on DNA. The video chosen is that of Cathy Freeman running – and winning – the 400m Olympic race in 2000, and on this day projected onto the Sydney Opera House.

10. 30 October

    

    Midnight Oil, a non-Aboriginal band, releases The Makarrata Project, a mini-album of collaborations with Aboriginal artists. The album's cover shows the entire Uluru Statement From the Heart which about 250 Aboriginal delegates agreed on in 2017.

    We urge the federal government to heed the messages in the Uluru Statement From the Heart and act accordingly.

    — Midnight Oil ^[3]

11. 2 November

    

    The Royal Australian Mint (RAM) issues a 6-coin 2021 year set that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Australian Aboriginal flag. The set includes a collector version of the coloured two dollar coin produced for circulation in 2021 (possibly around the 12 July) to commemorate the anniversary.

    The coin represents the flag with black and red fields printed over a relief pattern of miniature flags. The centre of the coin is not printed so that the gold of the coin’s alloy shines through, acting as the yellow colour representing the sun.

    It's the first time the RAM includes a coloured 2-dollar coin in a year set of coins.

12. 25 November

    Archie Roach is inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2020 Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Music Awards. He also wins Best Male Artist and Best Adult Contemporary Album for Tell Me Why.

2021

1. 20 February

   Fists of Fire, Bruce's Lee's kung fu classic from 1972, becomes the first feature film ever to be re-voiced in an Australian Aboriginal language as Fist of Fury Noongar Daa.

2. 26 March

   

   The Australian Legends of Cricket stamp issue celebrates six players, among them Kamilaroi man Jason 'Dizzy' Gillespie, the first Aboriginal man to play cricket for Australia. Gillespie played all three formats of cricket – Test, One Day and Twenty20. He retired in 2008.
   

3. 5 May

   Simon & Schuster publishes Anita Heiss' novel, Bila Yarrudhang-galang-dhuray (River of Dreams in Wiradjuri), believed to be the first title of any commercial Australian novel appearing solely in an Aboriginal language.
   

4. 21 May

   Gamilaroi artist Travis De Vries claims to have created the first Aboriginal non-fungible token (NFT) with his artwork Tear it Down (Cook Falling). He offers it for 1770 Tezos (tez) coins, a digital currency.

5. 31 May

   For the first time in its 25-year history, the international Australian Fashion Week (31 May – 4 June) opens with a Welcome to Country and features two Aboriginal runways with an all-Aboriginal cast and all-Aboriginal designers, curated by Aboriginal people (runway 1: First Nations Fashion and Design (FNFD), runway 2: Indigenous Fashion Projects (IFP)).

   For a long time we've been associated with $4.99 boomerangs. No more please. We are luxury. It is an ancient, beautiful culture that has such depth and beauty.

   — Amanda Healy, Wonnarua woman, CEO of Kirrikin (Indigenous Fashion Project) ^[4]

6. 6 July

   

   In its Australian Contemporary Sculpture issue, Australia Post shows one artwork of Lex Namponan, a Wik man from Aurukun, QLD, who is renown for his milkwood sculptures of camp dogs. The dog is a sacred totem for the clan, and his works, such as the laughing Smiley Blue Eye, combine cultural significance with popular market appeal. The other artwork is from Yvonne Koolmatrie, a Ngarrindjeri woman from South Australia. She is a master grass weaver, and her wide-ranging subjects include animals, human figures, planes and hot-air balloons, as well as traditional objects such as Eel trap, featured on the stamp.
   

7. 6 August

   Artist and Pitjantjatara man Timo Hogan wins the 2021 Telstra Art Award in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Australia's longest-running Aboriginal art awards, with his painting ‘Lake Baker’ which depicts a creation story related to this sacred place.

8. 29 November

   Actor and Yolngu man David Dalaithngu (AM), as his family whats him to be known now, dies aged 68 after a long fight with lung cancer. He starred in movies like, among others, Walkabout (1971), Storm Boy (1976), Crocodile Dundee (1986), Rabbit Proof Fence (2002), The Tracker (2002), Ten Canoes (2006), Charlie’s Country (2013) and My Name is Gulpilil (2021).

   David Dalaithngu was more than just Australia’s first great Indigenous actor. He was one of the country’s finest actors from any culture at any time.

   — Sydney Morning Herald ^[5]

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References