Where can I experience Aboriginal culture in Australia?

10.09.2024 - 08:41 / lonelyplanet.com

Sep 9, 2024 • 7 min read

“The rainforest is like our supermarket, but we have to be careful which aisle we shop in,” chuckles Kuku Yalanji man Levi Williams, who guides visitors on cultural walks at Mossman Gorge in Queensland’s ancient Daintree Rainforest. “These things are toxic enough to kill a person within hours,” he explains, pointing to a cassowary plum on the forest floor that can only be safely ingested by the flightless bird that gave the vivid blue fruit its name.

With more than 65,000 years of ancestral knowledge to draw on, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander guides aren’t only experts at interpreting Australia’s wild and beautiful landscapes, they are also master storytellers, each with their own unique connection to their traditional lands. But a guided tour is just one of many ways to connect with the world’s oldest living cultures. Here’s a primer for memorable Indigenous tourism experiences in Australia.

Australia’s Indigenous peoples are two distinct cultural groups made up of the Aboriginal peoples of mainland Australia (and Tasmania) and Torres Strait Islander peoples from the eponymous Queensland archipelago. But there are several hundred groups within these two groups, each with their own cultures, customs, languages and laws. Language groups are commonly described as "Nations" (Levi Williams, for example, identifies as a member of the Kuku Yalanji Nation) and groups within Nations as "clans" or "mobs".

You might see terms including "Aboriginal", "Indigenous" and "First Nations" used to refer to Australia’s Indigenous peoples collectively, but terminology preferences differ between groups and individuals – when in doubt, ask.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are diverse, yet all are centered on a connection to family, community, Country (a term that refers to traditional lands), and spirit beings on Country. The Dreaming (or Dreamtime) is commonly used to describe the complex network of Indigenous spiritual beliefs.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and cultures were, and continue to be, devastated by the impacts of colonization. Yet while some languages and traditions have been lost as a result of injustices including the removal of Indigenous children from their parents (known as the stolen generations), Australia’s Indigenous cultures are incredibly resilient.  

“Aboriginal culture isn’t dead, it has just been sleeping in some places,” says Darren "Capes" Capewell, a descendant of the Nhanda people of Western Australia’s Shark Bay region and owner of Wula Gura Nyinda Eco Cultural Adventures. Central to Capes’ tours is sharing the local Aboriginal names of plants, animals and landscapes on Country to help preserve the language of his ancestors for