AIATSIS co-hosted the first ever Indigenous Astronomy Symposium coinciding with Ilgarijiri: Things belonging to the sky exhibition by Yamaji artists.

• 20 January 2010

The exhibition and symposium brought together several partners including AIATSIS, the CSIRO, Curtin University, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy (ICRAR), Yamaji Art and the Mid West Development Commission.

AIATSIS co-hosted the first ever Indigenous Astronomy Symposium, coinciding with the Ilgarijiri: Things belonging to the sky exhibition by Yamaji artists.

With a full house of over 70 people in the Mabo Room, AIATSIS Principal Russell Taylor said the Institute was honoured to bring together such an inspirational group of people.

“AIATSIS aims to be the nexus between community, academia and policy makers – and today we have shown that this is a format that everyone finds engaging and exciting,” Mr Taylor said.

“We aimed to give everyone a chance to hear different perspectives of the night sky, to share knowledge and build new relationships and perhaps partnerships.

“The response has been overwhelming and we at AIATSIS are delighted to enable this kind of meeting place.”

Eleven Indigenous and non-Indigenous speakers presented at the Symposium on many themes of the night sky. Yamaji Arts Coordinator Charmaine Green told of when Yamaji artists and scientists took to the bush and created the Ilgarijiri project. Researcher Duane Hamacher told of how astronomers are working with Aboriginal dreaming stories to locate meteorite falls and craters that are new to Western science. John Whop explained the philosophy of Tagai in the Torres Strait and Munya Andrews explained Aboriginal astronomy through Aboriginal art, rock art and cultural artefacts including stone circles, bora grounds and Dreamtime stories.

Audio from the Indigenous Astronomy Symposium will be available at: http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research/symposia/astronomy09.html#program in the coming weeks, and a publication is planned for 2010. 

Ilgarijiri: Things belonging to the Sky is free and open to the public Monday –Friday 9am-5pm and Saturdays 10am-4pm throughout December. It is also open Monday-Fridays in January, expect for the shutdown (25 Dec-4 Jan). AIATSIS is located at Lawson Crescent, Acton Peninsula (next to the National Museum of Australia).