There are many similarities that occur in each Aboriginal group, but each group also have their extreme differences and this browse gives you the chance to understand and appreciate not only Aboriginal culture in general, but the true diversity between each Aboriginal group.

Aboriginal people adapted to the environment from which they came, but differing environments is not the only way we can distinguish between groups, other historical and cultural factors played a major part.

Names: Murri, Koori, Nyungar, Nunga
Amongst others, language families, styles of body decoration, weapons, art styles, initiation and burial procedures are performed differently from group to group. Aboriginal people today still recognise regional differentiation with names such as Murri, Koori, Nyungar, Nunga, Yamatji and Wongis.

An example of naming complexity
Pitjantjatjara ("Pitja means to come, tja means language and tjara means with, literally the people who use the word pitja to mean come.) Ayers Rock, Uluru, lies in the country of western desert language groups.

There are variations in language but as one senior Ngaatjatjara person commented on the language labelling Europeans have a fondness for:" We are all Pitjantjatjara". (Mr Charlie Hunt, Blackstone Ranges) He found the concentration of difference less meaningful than similarities. Pitja is a word common to many dialect groups, it is the verb to be for "come".

The contemporary world of Central Australia
Increasingly in the contemporary world of Central Australia, Pitjantjatjara has become a more widely used language. It is the language of the eastern area, centred in the Musgrave, Mann and Tomkinson Ranges. It is also the language and the culture of Uluru. There are many other associated language groups of the western desert including Ngaatjatjara, Ngaanatjara and Pintubi. The differences between these languages are similar to the differences between Slavonic languages or the differences between the Romance languages; Spanish, Italian and French.

These differences although substantial do not always represent total differences in grammar, phonetics or vocabulary. They are all however complete languages as other languages of the world.

Recommended reading available in the shop.

• 'Aboriginal Languages in Education' by Henderson, J and Hartman, D
• 'Australian Aboriginal Words in English' by Dixon R et al
• 'Language and Culture in Aboriginal Australia' by Walsh, M and Yallop, C