Tiwi people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2,500 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Australia (Northern Territory) | |
| Languages | |
| Tiwi | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| see List of Indigenous Australian group names |
The Tiwi people are one of the many Indigenous groups of Australia. Nearly 2,500 Tiwi live in the Bathurst and Melville Islands, which make up the Tiwi Islands.Recent scientific investigations, researching DNA, have proven that indigenous Australians, are the most ancient race on earth.The Tiwi Islanders are famous for their great musicians,art and sports players.The Tiwi islands are stunningly beautiful.
Tiwi art and language are markedly distinct from those of nearby Arnhem Land. Compared with Arnhem Land art, Tiwi art often appears to be abstract and geometric. With its strong patterns and use of colour, Tiwi art is considered very attractive and highly collectible.Tiwi art is used to tell stories,and the hatch patterns represent friendships within the community.Many art experts worldwide have studied Tiwi art and have analysed the meaning of Tiwi symbols.
Luckily as the Tiwi island is thriving and culturally intact, you can ask the living artists,to explain the deep meaning in the artwork. Tiwi art forms an integral part of the oral tradition passing on history and wisdom for thousands of years.
English is taught at schools as a second language, and the Tiwi communicate principally in their own language. When in mourning, it is part of their beliefs to paint their body and express their love for who has passed through music, art and dance.Painting has been practised for thousands of years as a part of ceremonies and the Tiwi totem poles are famous and have been sold all over the world. Tiwi use natural ochre pigments. They make these colours from natural pigment in the earth.When a person dies their name becomes taboo.For many years as the spirit returns to the land,you cannot say the name of the person.When the Tiwis are using their remarkable knowledge to find food in the bush, they never take the mothers or the baby animals.This proves their incredible respect for the land and knowledge of how to conserve the environment.
Hunting for food is still an important part of Tiwi life. On land, they hunt for wallaby, lizards, possums, carpet snakes, pig, buffalo, flying foxes, bandicoot, turtle and seagull eggs and magpie geese. From the sea they hunt for turtle, crocodiles, dugong and fish. Dancing or yoi as they call it, is a part of everyday life. Tiwi inherit their totemic dance from their mother. Narrative dances are performed to depict everyday life or historical events. The land on both islands is heavily forested.
Notable Tiwi people include David Kantilla, Austin Wonaeamirri and Adam Kerinaua. The stolen generation saw many indigenous people brought to the Tiwi Islands but not of direct Tiwi descent.
Music in the Tiwi islands.
Music forms an integral part,of all aspects of life on the Tiwi islands. A recent study of the singing on the Tiwi islands is fascinating:https://www.academia.edu/11839831/Ngarukuruwala_we_sing_the_songs_of_the_Tiwi_Islands_northern_Australia
The Tiwi people sing songs about the land which have been handed down through the generations.They sing about many aspects of their lives including hunting,cooking,family,animals,plants and the Australian outback.Some of these songs have been recorded and archived.There was a performance recently in different important venues in Australia, of Tiwi women singing.The Tiwi "strong women's group" are currently working on a collaborative project to conserve their music.Research has led to a revival of some of the old songs.As these songs have been sung for thousands of years, it is with the strictest sensitivity, this research must be carried out.
The music of the Tiwi women "strong women's group" is being preserved and revived currently on Bathurst and Melville island. Some old anthropological investigations of relationships on the Tiwi islands are referenced below. The Tiwi of North Australia, Case studies in cultural anthropology, Nicholas Hewett, Arnold R. Pilling, Jane Carter Goodale, Holt, Rineh
Anthropologist Jane C. Goodale conducted life history interviews with Tiwi women, publishing Tiwi Wives in 1971 in which she examined how social change was reflected in ritual.