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Songlines: the Power and Promise
Songlines: The Power and Promise has a blend of Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices. It offers what Margo Neale calls ‘the third archive’. Aboriginal people use songlines to store their knowledge, while Western cultures use writing and technology. Aboriginal people now use a third archive – a combination of the two.
The authors believe that the third archive offers a promise of a better way for everyone to store, maintain and share knowledge while gaining a much deeper relationship with it.
The authors believe that the third archive offers a promise of a better way for everyone to store, maintain and share knowledge while gaining a much deeper relationship with it.
216 pages, Paperback
First published October 27, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
April 16, 2023
A good modern introduction to Aboriginal Songlines. The book has a wobbly start which is improved about a quarter of the way in when the actual topic of songlines is brought into the picture. This is probably due to the book being the first of the six books in the series.
There are some fascinating insights into the way oral traditions or orality is used to store knowledge. The parallel examples from indigenous cultures around the world are excellent if a bit shallow.
The layering of spatial information, song, dance, and knowledge to create unforgettable Songlines that have lasted millennia is always going to be transfixing.
As is evident early on in this book, there's an inherent difficulty in disentangling various threads of a way of life that has a holistic view in which everything is connected. Early on the authors quote someone saying it's about country, it's always about country. The next book in this series just so happens to be about Country, so what about this one? This is problematic because as we are constantly reminded Songlines can't be pulled away from the country they describe or rather they are a part of, and in the aboriginal belief system they actually created.
The authors discuss how Western knowledge is so segmented and that's a weakness and a reason why Aboriginal knowledge and Songlines should be embraced. This completely ignores that all Aboriginal Songlines are broken into men's and women's business, something the authors themselves mention later. This duality is much stronger than the separation between the fields of chemistry and biology and makes the previous point moot. Where a biologist is more than welcome to read and study any chemistry they may like, no man may know womens' Songlines. Another issue that largely goes unmentioned is that an enormous amount of Aboriginal knowledge is not for outsiders. There are huge swathes of knowledge that are not taught to the uninitiated internal to the tribe and most definitely not to those external to culture. The secrecy around and guardianship over the knowledge is one of the Songlines strengths according to the authors. It stops the Songlines from becoming Chinese Whispers and keeps an extremely strong central narrative thread. The authors continually advance this idea of the third archive but it's not particularly strong. Certainly having the ability to store Songlines digitally and control them so only certain people may see them is a brilliant idea but this dodges the issue of how to make people aware of a secret. We have to hope future generations will seek out their history and it will be there waiting for them.
Another issue with the book is that Lynne Kelly's sociological beliefs, personal crusade and agenda are passed out as facts and woven into the narrative in a way that detracts from what should be a deep focus on Aboriginal Songlines. Her desire to tie in her other work, particularly her speculative work on the Stonehenge detracts from the book. I mentioned earlier that the examples of orality from other indigenous cultures was a good part of the book and in many cases this is true. But often Kelly uses an example not to provide an angle on Aboriginal Songlines or a particular feature of oral history but rather just to show how much she knows. I found this disingenuous. Even the way the authors talk about making your own songlines, rather than using an Aboriginal source and explaining how it works for them, Kelly just constantly refers to her own efforts to memorise things, an interesting but significantly less important or impressive feat. Her work is fascinating but there are ways to deliver the knowledge that wouldn't seem so boastful.
I'll finish by saying that this should be required reading at schools in Australia and is a great place to start for anyone interested in Indigenous culture and ways of transmitting knowledge. My criticism is only there because I feel with those things amended this book could have become a global sensation.
There are some fascinating insights into the way oral traditions or orality is used to store knowledge. The parallel examples from indigenous cultures around the world are excellent if a bit shallow.
The layering of spatial information, song, dance, and knowledge to create unforgettable Songlines that have lasted millennia is always going to be transfixing.
As is evident early on in this book, there's an inherent difficulty in disentangling various threads of a way of life that has a holistic view in which everything is connected. Early on the authors quote someone saying it's about country, it's always about country. The next book in this series just so happens to be about Country, so what about this one? This is problematic because as we are constantly reminded Songlines can't be pulled away from the country they describe or rather they are a part of, and in the aboriginal belief system they actually created.
The authors discuss how Western knowledge is so segmented and that's a weakness and a reason why Aboriginal knowledge and Songlines should be embraced. This completely ignores that all Aboriginal Songlines are broken into men's and women's business, something the authors themselves mention later. This duality is much stronger than the separation between the fields of chemistry and biology and makes the previous point moot. Where a biologist is more than welcome to read and study any chemistry they may like, no man may know womens' Songlines. Another issue that largely goes unmentioned is that an enormous amount of Aboriginal knowledge is not for outsiders. There are huge swathes of knowledge that are not taught to the uninitiated internal to the tribe and most definitely not to those external to culture. The secrecy around and guardianship over the knowledge is one of the Songlines strengths according to the authors. It stops the Songlines from becoming Chinese Whispers and keeps an extremely strong central narrative thread. The authors continually advance this idea of the third archive but it's not particularly strong. Certainly having the ability to store Songlines digitally and control them so only certain people may see them is a brilliant idea but this dodges the issue of how to make people aware of a secret. We have to hope future generations will seek out their history and it will be there waiting for them.
Another issue with the book is that Lynne Kelly's sociological beliefs, personal crusade and agenda are passed out as facts and woven into the narrative in a way that detracts from what should be a deep focus on Aboriginal Songlines. Her desire to tie in her other work, particularly her speculative work on the Stonehenge detracts from the book. I mentioned earlier that the examples of orality from other indigenous cultures was a good part of the book and in many cases this is true. But often Kelly uses an example not to provide an angle on Aboriginal Songlines or a particular feature of oral history but rather just to show how much she knows. I found this disingenuous. Even the way the authors talk about making your own songlines, rather than using an Aboriginal source and explaining how it works for them, Kelly just constantly refers to her own efforts to memorise things, an interesting but significantly less important or impressive feat. Her work is fascinating but there are ways to deliver the knowledge that wouldn't seem so boastful.
I'll finish by saying that this should be required reading at schools in Australia and is a great place to start for anyone interested in Indigenous culture and ways of transmitting knowledge. My criticism is only there because I feel with those things amended this book could have become a global sensation.
December 18, 2020
Like most Australians, I've heard of Songlines, but knew almost nothing about what they actually were. This book begins to lay out this fascinating story. Rather than just songs about ancestors, one way to think of them would be as the world's first Artificial Reality system.
Just as your iphone can overlay a minecraft world or dinosaur on the sidewalk, so too Songlines seem to overlay country for the First Nation's people. In doing so, they act as a memory device for storing key information (such as food and water), bind the people to the land by imbuing it with meaning and form a connection to ancestors. This is achieved by drawing on a powerful tendency of the human mind - the use of the environment as a trigger for mental recall. By linking stories with locations, by using the land as an archive from which information for survival or society can be stored, the Songlines bring country to life.
Dr Kelly give this concept some form by linking it to the better known concept of Memory Palaces. An ancient memory technique, used around the world. Not simply for the purposes of remember a speech or text - as it comes down through the western tradition - but as way of navigating and living with a landscape. She's written two books on this theme (the memory code & the memory craft, which i've just ordered), plus a PhD, so this is a very condensed account, but based on deep and extensive scholarship. Not only of Australia's first nation's people, but indigenous cultures the world over.
There is much here I don't yet quite understand, and perhaps some First Nation's people might read this review and be horrified or laugh. But in Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly's hands, I feel that I have at least a sense of the significance and power of this tradition, even if i can still only express such concepts awkwardly. In its final pages of 'Songlines' we are told "the promise of this book is to open you up to a new way of understanding and a new way of knowing and being Australian on this continent". In this, it succeeds remarkably well. As such, while the text is occasionally a little erratic in focus or clarity, I would strongly recommend this to all wishing to better understand the people and culture who helped form Australia. As the book says repeatedly, it is time to move beyond just learning about First Nation culture and start learning from it.
Just as your iphone can overlay a minecraft world or dinosaur on the sidewalk, so too Songlines seem to overlay country for the First Nation's people. In doing so, they act as a memory device for storing key information (such as food and water), bind the people to the land by imbuing it with meaning and form a connection to ancestors. This is achieved by drawing on a powerful tendency of the human mind - the use of the environment as a trigger for mental recall. By linking stories with locations, by using the land as an archive from which information for survival or society can be stored, the Songlines bring country to life.
Dr Kelly give this concept some form by linking it to the better known concept of Memory Palaces. An ancient memory technique, used around the world. Not simply for the purposes of remember a speech or text - as it comes down through the western tradition - but as way of navigating and living with a landscape. She's written two books on this theme (the memory code & the memory craft, which i've just ordered), plus a PhD, so this is a very condensed account, but based on deep and extensive scholarship. Not only of Australia's first nation's people, but indigenous cultures the world over.
There is much here I don't yet quite understand, and perhaps some First Nation's people might read this review and be horrified or laugh. But in Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly's hands, I feel that I have at least a sense of the significance and power of this tradition, even if i can still only express such concepts awkwardly. In its final pages of 'Songlines' we are told "the promise of this book is to open you up to a new way of understanding and a new way of knowing and being Australian on this continent". In this, it succeeds remarkably well. As such, while the text is occasionally a little erratic in focus or clarity, I would strongly recommend this to all wishing to better understand the people and culture who helped form Australia. As the book says repeatedly, it is time to move beyond just learning about First Nation culture and start learning from it.
December 11, 2020
"Songlines" are mnemonic helpers that the Aborigines used to pass knowledge from one generation to the next. It works so well that events from 10'000s of years ago are still known. As I am interested an memorization techniques I was curious how exactly this can work.
As an introduction we learn about the Aborigines and how their status today has developed. It's a rather sad story as you can imagine and one can feel the passion through the lines. It drags on a bit too long but this will be different if you are more emotionally invested (which I am not).
The description how songlines work is fantastic. First a warning: it’s much more then the method of loci and there is not shortcut. The landscape is used as cues but equally important are songs, dancing and painting to enhance the experience. Because the performances are done together in a group, there are always slight changes and individual aspects that are brought in and ultimately helps the brain to memorize things better. Everything we know how to improve the learning process can be found in songlines. Also, the landscape comes to life and becomes closer to your heart.
Another interesting point was that the knowledge can change. The “keepers” are responsible that the facts are transported correctly and they have spent years (or decades) to avoid unintended alterations, but during discussions and “commentaries” they can agree to a new version. This has reminded me of Ted Chiang’s story “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” that plays with the unreliability of memory.
After finishing the book I was curious how here in Europe people might have passed knowledge. Fairy tales came into my mind, but they seem to be limited to tell you how to behave. I was surprised to learn that Grimm’s fairy tales have been softened and censored after the first publication to remove the erotic elements like a naked Red Riding Hood. Children songs come closer as they describe animals, plants, seasons and so on. Too bad that nobody cares for them anymore after leaving Kindergarten.
Which leaves the “Book of Books”, the bible. It has all the things that are recorded in other cultures as well, from genealogy to laws, history, proverbs etc. When the old scrolls have been compared it was surprising how similar they were and how little alterations were found. How could they be so exact when today’s perception is that memory is bad? After reading “Songlines” it’s not a surprise anymore.
As an introduction we learn about the Aborigines and how their status today has developed. It's a rather sad story as you can imagine and one can feel the passion through the lines. It drags on a bit too long but this will be different if you are more emotionally invested (which I am not).
The description how songlines work is fantastic. First a warning: it’s much more then the method of loci and there is not shortcut. The landscape is used as cues but equally important are songs, dancing and painting to enhance the experience. Because the performances are done together in a group, there are always slight changes and individual aspects that are brought in and ultimately helps the brain to memorize things better. Everything we know how to improve the learning process can be found in songlines. Also, the landscape comes to life and becomes closer to your heart.
Another interesting point was that the knowledge can change. The “keepers” are responsible that the facts are transported correctly and they have spent years (or decades) to avoid unintended alterations, but during discussions and “commentaries” they can agree to a new version. This has reminded me of Ted Chiang’s story “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” that plays with the unreliability of memory.
After finishing the book I was curious how here in Europe people might have passed knowledge. Fairy tales came into my mind, but they seem to be limited to tell you how to behave. I was surprised to learn that Grimm’s fairy tales have been softened and censored after the first publication to remove the erotic elements like a naked Red Riding Hood. Children songs come closer as they describe animals, plants, seasons and so on. Too bad that nobody cares for them anymore after leaving Kindergarten.
Which leaves the “Book of Books”, the bible. It has all the things that are recorded in other cultures as well, from genealogy to laws, history, proverbs etc. When the old scrolls have been compared it was surprising how similar they were and how little alterations were found. How could they be so exact when today’s perception is that memory is bad? After reading “Songlines” it’s not a surprise anymore.
October 23, 2022
This is a book that has permanently shifted the way I see parts of the world. It is highly recommended and so eye opening to the ways that Songlines can be used as powerful information storage devices to maintain cultural knowledge over thousands of years.
It is cleverly presented to explain not just ‘what’ but ‘how’, demonstrating how cleverly these systems have been developed to ensure accurate retention of knowledge. In my opinion this book is essential reading for all peoples living in colonised lands and is one that will never leave my bookshelf.
It is cleverly presented to explain not just ‘what’ but ‘how’, demonstrating how cleverly these systems have been developed to ensure accurate retention of knowledge. In my opinion this book is essential reading for all peoples living in colonised lands and is one that will never leave my bookshelf.
January 22, 2021
A fantastic understanding and description of a major piece of what Western culture had been missing about indigenous cultures for far too long.
February 7, 2023
The first in the First Knowledges series of books edited by Margo Neale, SONGLINES discusses the use of mnemonic systems by First Nations people as a way of passing on knowledge - cultural, historical, geographical and familial.
The first line of the blurb of the book says "What do you need to know to prosper as a people for 65,000 years?" Good question, and if we'd bothered to ask it much earlier one that could perhaps have made all our lives richer, more present in place, and considerably more respectful of a culture that has survived for such an incredibly long time, in harmony with an old, and sometimes quite harsh land.
There are parts of this book that call on the reader to consider the vastness and importance of what white settlement has tried to obliterate or downplay - and in parts may require some soul searching, in particular, from white Australian readers. Not only was it worthwhile to do that for this reader, there was much to think on - right now, in the middle of the discussions over the Voice to Parliament. (Highly recommend a perusal of https://ulurustatement.org/)
The first line of the blurb of the book says "What do you need to know to prosper as a people for 65,000 years?" Good question, and if we'd bothered to ask it much earlier one that could perhaps have made all our lives richer, more present in place, and considerably more respectful of a culture that has survived for such an incredibly long time, in harmony with an old, and sometimes quite harsh land.
There are parts of this book that call on the reader to consider the vastness and importance of what white settlement has tried to obliterate or downplay - and in parts may require some soul searching, in particular, from white Australian readers. Not only was it worthwhile to do that for this reader, there was much to think on - right now, in the middle of the discussions over the Voice to Parliament. (Highly recommend a perusal of https://ulurustatement.org/)
May 2, 2025
Such an important introduction to Indigenous Knowledge in Australia. I agree with other reviews that the first third of the book feels is a bit slow, as it’s establishing the series as a whole, but once it gets in to song lines more concretely it’s absolutely wonderful. This is the first time song lines have actually made sense to me.
I am always in awe of Indigenous knowledges and just feel so grateful and lucky that I live in a country with such a rich history and equally rich First Nations culture. So excited to read more in the series!!
I am always in awe of Indigenous knowledges and just feel so grateful and lucky that I live in a country with such a rich history and equally rich First Nations culture. So excited to read more in the series!!
Read
March 8, 2023Both authors honest and different perspectives were valuable to me as a reader and thought the blend between scientific and personal fantastic. The intellectual loss that could stem from separation with country was not something I had understood prior to reading this book.
October 22, 2023
The authors have found a really simple way of explaining an extremely nuanced topic, and sheds light on Dreaming, Songlines and songspirals, and how oral storytelling and its implications on memory and recall are relevant to the future.
September 2, 2023
Fascinating insights into how all Australians might share a path together, listening to and learning about what is already here.
July 6, 2024
So sick
September 26, 2024
absolutely loved this book and so excited to read the rest of the series - essential reading for everyone living in so-called australia. this was definitely one of those books where you have to trust the process (and the authors!) and keep reading when you don’t really understand - i had no clue about anything at the beginning, but it was much more helpful to keep reading, and let the book give me more information and understanding as i went, rather than staying stuck on certain parts - and eventually things started to click! but trust the authors when they tell you that this is written for a general audience - thats clear in the accessibility and engaging tone of the writing, as well as how they build up your understanding throughout the book. the use of illustrations/diagrams also really helped with my understanding and gaining a greater appreciation for some of the things discussed - especially the artwork!
i think the most challenging part was that they are exposing me to concepts that are so different to what i’ve been exposed to/have such little understanding of - i really had to think of abstract concepts i hadn’t before etc - definitely helped by having things explained from multiple perspectives and in multiple ways.
importantly, this book not only opened my eyes to how much i dont know but also forced me to challenge a lot of my preconceived notions and assumptions, as well as thinking about things in ways i hadn’t previously - e.g., how we value certain types of knowledge and knowledge sharing more than others, the merits of gatekeeping knowledge, the validity of stories/art and these more ‘subjective’ means of sharing knowing.
**some things that stood out to me**
- country/songlines aren't just the land - also sea and sky - and how the courts have recognised art/performances/this knowledge as the equivalent of title deeds to sea/land rights was really interesting - want to look into this more
- “Aboriginal people would not have survived if they had lived in a fog of superstition and non-scientific thinking” - this was something i had to quickly get my head around and adjust my thinking of - the Dreaming/songlines etc are more than just ‘made up’ fun stories (i had always considered these stories only in the context of religion, not recognising they conveyed other knowledge) - based on real knowledge in order to survive - stories are used as a tool to convey this knowledge because they make the information easier to remember (and is so crazy just how long this knowledge has survived/been accurately passed on!! the fact that its been verified some of these stories are tens of thousands of years old? making them the oldest stories in the world?!)
- makes you appreciate why there is such a connection to Country when all of this knowledge is rooted in landscape and its feature - and what is lost therefore if these features are lost/destroyed (as colonisers have been doing for so long) - the more i understood the idea of the songlines - and of knowledge being shared as stories that create emotional connections to land - the more i was able to start to appreciate just how devastating colonisation would have been - obviously i was already aware of this, but it made me recognise the loss is deeper than i can feel/imagine because the emotional connection is different - it isn’t ‘just’ a loss of land - it is a loss of places/things full of spiritual meaning, culture, sense of place and identity et etc
- was really interesting reading how first peoples have adapted to use western systems also - the third archive, recognising the importance of material preservation, especially when so many people now removed from Country/culture etc. (and vice versa - how much we can benefit from first peoples knowledge and memory devices etc) - really forced me to challenge my biases of western forms of knowledge and archived as objectively better - are they really more objective, less open to interpretation/being changed etc? written knowledge can still be erased/changed/written with bias (history is written by the victors after all!) and it is clear that lots of these oral stories have been maintained accurately over time - as the authors point out, this accuracy (whilst also adapting over time) was essential to survival!
- like i’ve said, this book really uncovered and challenged some biases i have and made me rethink things - recognising them as not better or worse, just different. for example: “using the term ‘non-literate’ disguises the fact that indigenous cultures have an alternative to conventional literacy known as orality, a way of archiving knowledge in the landscape, activated through performance. it is therefore preferable to refer to such cultures as ‘oral’”
*“this inability for oral transmission to stay accurate over even a few minutes is commonly quoted as a reason to doubt knowledge held in oral tradition, but this logic does not hold up when examined critically. aboriginal people do not whisper their knowledge and then pass it on unchecked. songs, stories, and answers are owned, and the traditional owners will not grant ownership to a person who has not passed all the testing required to demonstrate that they know and understand what they have been taught. the knowledge is restricted only to owners and ownership comes with responsibility, for the knowledge and for the cuntry that holds the knowledge. ownership comes with responsibility for the songlines.”*
- at first i didnt like the gatekeeping of knowledge that the book talks about (where knowledge is restricted (age, gender, groups based on location etc) and thought it bad that it isnt accessible to everyone. but as the author pointed out, we do the same thing! children are taught basic knowledge and it is built upon over time, helping ensure we are taught what we can understand. i’d never considered how this is important for maintaining accuracy - once again challenging me to rethink my assumptions/ideas! was also eye-opening to recognise that we (non-indigenous people) are taught the equivalent of a childs level of knowledge. and we will never be able to truly understand or appreciate the full depth of this knowledge!
- also interesting to realise how knowledge becomes a right, privilege, and responsibility where it (and the custodians/knowledge keepers) is highly valued and respected. the role of these custodians was also interesting - where they provide additional commentary during performances for example, providing extra context, helping add accuracy where performances may differ - and how this adds complexities/layers that mean this knowledge can’t ever really be fully captured in writing, but also how this novelty (of the differences in commentary, how performances differ etc helps keep the brain entertained and thus remember the information - whilst also ensuring accuracy). the role of elders in maintaining this knowledge was i think also covered in the design book but is relevant here - interesting seeing the role of these custodians in deciding what new information to integrate into the songlines, how this is decided - and the challenges within community about how they are adapted, the tensions of going too fast versus not fast enough etc.
- indigenous art is more than ‘just’ art/a map - they are a system of knowledge. so interesting reading about the process of art being created (process being more important than the final product, being a collaborative process and how this was negotiated, final pieces often being temporary) and realising how many layers of knowledge are conveyed/held in the art that most people wouldn’t even be aware of - layers upon layers that have multiple meanings and require you to have levels of knowledge/be able to read the symbols/cues etc that are painted - to the point one expert said it should be considered writing (and how this is contrasted with commerical art, which has to be adapted to ensure secret knowledge isn’t shared)
- indigenous astronomy should be considered scientific (again, i hadn’t really considered it beyond the western idea of constellations/astrology which is obviosuly very ignorant on my part) - so cool how much they know about nature, and how much nature can tell us!! like the stars twinkling telling us about weather?? slay. excited to read the astronomy book and learn more
- getting a little glimpse into the neuroscience between what makes the songlines so effective was very interesting, especially as a neuro major who has been taught about all these memory techniques before (the stuff about the entorhinal grid cells, storing memories in a spatial map, and familiar environments being recorded as actual physical pathways of neurons was all really interesting!)
- was so interesting seeing how other indigenous cultures have similar practices also!!
- the final chapter on calls to action/ways we can learn from first peoples knowledge and implement it in our own life was a nice way to end the book
i think the most challenging part was that they are exposing me to concepts that are so different to what i’ve been exposed to/have such little understanding of - i really had to think of abstract concepts i hadn’t before etc - definitely helped by having things explained from multiple perspectives and in multiple ways.
importantly, this book not only opened my eyes to how much i dont know but also forced me to challenge a lot of my preconceived notions and assumptions, as well as thinking about things in ways i hadn’t previously - e.g., how we value certain types of knowledge and knowledge sharing more than others, the merits of gatekeeping knowledge, the validity of stories/art and these more ‘subjective’ means of sharing knowing.
**some things that stood out to me**
- country/songlines aren't just the land - also sea and sky - and how the courts have recognised art/performances/this knowledge as the equivalent of title deeds to sea/land rights was really interesting - want to look into this more
- “Aboriginal people would not have survived if they had lived in a fog of superstition and non-scientific thinking” - this was something i had to quickly get my head around and adjust my thinking of - the Dreaming/songlines etc are more than just ‘made up’ fun stories (i had always considered these stories only in the context of religion, not recognising they conveyed other knowledge) - based on real knowledge in order to survive - stories are used as a tool to convey this knowledge because they make the information easier to remember (and is so crazy just how long this knowledge has survived/been accurately passed on!! the fact that its been verified some of these stories are tens of thousands of years old? making them the oldest stories in the world?!)
- makes you appreciate why there is such a connection to Country when all of this knowledge is rooted in landscape and its feature - and what is lost therefore if these features are lost/destroyed (as colonisers have been doing for so long) - the more i understood the idea of the songlines - and of knowledge being shared as stories that create emotional connections to land - the more i was able to start to appreciate just how devastating colonisation would have been - obviously i was already aware of this, but it made me recognise the loss is deeper than i can feel/imagine because the emotional connection is different - it isn’t ‘just’ a loss of land - it is a loss of places/things full of spiritual meaning, culture, sense of place and identity et etc
- was really interesting reading how first peoples have adapted to use western systems also - the third archive, recognising the importance of material preservation, especially when so many people now removed from Country/culture etc. (and vice versa - how much we can benefit from first peoples knowledge and memory devices etc) - really forced me to challenge my biases of western forms of knowledge and archived as objectively better - are they really more objective, less open to interpretation/being changed etc? written knowledge can still be erased/changed/written with bias (history is written by the victors after all!) and it is clear that lots of these oral stories have been maintained accurately over time - as the authors point out, this accuracy (whilst also adapting over time) was essential to survival!
- like i’ve said, this book really uncovered and challenged some biases i have and made me rethink things - recognising them as not better or worse, just different. for example: “using the term ‘non-literate’ disguises the fact that indigenous cultures have an alternative to conventional literacy known as orality, a way of archiving knowledge in the landscape, activated through performance. it is therefore preferable to refer to such cultures as ‘oral’”
*“this inability for oral transmission to stay accurate over even a few minutes is commonly quoted as a reason to doubt knowledge held in oral tradition, but this logic does not hold up when examined critically. aboriginal people do not whisper their knowledge and then pass it on unchecked. songs, stories, and answers are owned, and the traditional owners will not grant ownership to a person who has not passed all the testing required to demonstrate that they know and understand what they have been taught. the knowledge is restricted only to owners and ownership comes with responsibility, for the knowledge and for the cuntry that holds the knowledge. ownership comes with responsibility for the songlines.”*
- at first i didnt like the gatekeeping of knowledge that the book talks about (where knowledge is restricted (age, gender, groups based on location etc) and thought it bad that it isnt accessible to everyone. but as the author pointed out, we do the same thing! children are taught basic knowledge and it is built upon over time, helping ensure we are taught what we can understand. i’d never considered how this is important for maintaining accuracy - once again challenging me to rethink my assumptions/ideas! was also eye-opening to recognise that we (non-indigenous people) are taught the equivalent of a childs level of knowledge. and we will never be able to truly understand or appreciate the full depth of this knowledge!
- also interesting to realise how knowledge becomes a right, privilege, and responsibility where it (and the custodians/knowledge keepers) is highly valued and respected. the role of these custodians was also interesting - where they provide additional commentary during performances for example, providing extra context, helping add accuracy where performances may differ - and how this adds complexities/layers that mean this knowledge can’t ever really be fully captured in writing, but also how this novelty (of the differences in commentary, how performances differ etc helps keep the brain entertained and thus remember the information - whilst also ensuring accuracy). the role of elders in maintaining this knowledge was i think also covered in the design book but is relevant here - interesting seeing the role of these custodians in deciding what new information to integrate into the songlines, how this is decided - and the challenges within community about how they are adapted, the tensions of going too fast versus not fast enough etc.
- indigenous art is more than ‘just’ art/a map - they are a system of knowledge. so interesting reading about the process of art being created (process being more important than the final product, being a collaborative process and how this was negotiated, final pieces often being temporary) and realising how many layers of knowledge are conveyed/held in the art that most people wouldn’t even be aware of - layers upon layers that have multiple meanings and require you to have levels of knowledge/be able to read the symbols/cues etc that are painted - to the point one expert said it should be considered writing (and how this is contrasted with commerical art, which has to be adapted to ensure secret knowledge isn’t shared)
- indigenous astronomy should be considered scientific (again, i hadn’t really considered it beyond the western idea of constellations/astrology which is obviosuly very ignorant on my part) - so cool how much they know about nature, and how much nature can tell us!! like the stars twinkling telling us about weather?? slay. excited to read the astronomy book and learn more
- getting a little glimpse into the neuroscience between what makes the songlines so effective was very interesting, especially as a neuro major who has been taught about all these memory techniques before (the stuff about the entorhinal grid cells, storing memories in a spatial map, and familiar environments being recorded as actual physical pathways of neurons was all really interesting!)
- was so interesting seeing how other indigenous cultures have similar practices also!!
- the final chapter on calls to action/ways we can learn from first peoples knowledge and implement it in our own life was a nice way to end the book
January 11, 2021
Loved this book, can not wait for the other planned in this group of books
September 2, 2022
There is suddenly a lot of interest in indigenous themes and concepts and I must confess that I have grown up in Australia with a profound ignorance of aboriginal concepts including the songlines. Though I recently read the book "The greatest estate on earth" by Bill Gammage where he discusses songlines and, in a way, I think he does a slightly better job than the current authors.
What I took away from the current book....and it's something that they do really well....is that the songlines are a huge memory device with multiple layers. The idea of using a journey as a mnemonic device is not new to me and I remember reading a book by Frances Yates called "The art of memory" with something like the theatre of the mind which was basically a roman era idea of using the seats of a theatre like a filing device for memories ........ it was a concept promoted by Giodorno Bruno who was something of a memory whiz. Though he got himself burned at the stake by those lovely people in Rome...the inquisition in about 1600....for various sorts of heresy....including promoting Copernican ideas but also for his ideas about the soul. But the basic concept is the same with pretty much any memory technique ......associate it with some sort of "vibrant" or fantastic story. And it's this story that is easy to recall and thus associate with whatever is supposed to be committed to memory. With the aboriginal songlines they typically combined geographic features with the route to be followed and with story links to key features...like waterholes and food sources nearby ...and maybe this might be tied into ancestral history....such as floods or fires, or battles with rivals.
We have two authors here: Margo Neale is the aboriginal expert and Lynne Kelly is the memory expert. the book is ok but I found myself thinking all the way through that it was a little trite; a little superficial ...and maybe was over-claiming for the songlines. Though Bill Gammage claims that the songlines stretched across the whole of the Australian continent and were a remarkable "religious" feature of aboriginal culture.
Margo makes much of the story of the seven sisters and I have to take her word for it that this story has a widespread (if not universal) following throughout Australia. If so, I DO find that remarkable.
Whether it's possible to have stories handed down by word of mouth over thousands of years (some would claim for 40,000 plus years) and remain essentially intact, I find hard to believe. Though I do recall reading about a group somewhere in the Balkans who had oral stories that were recorded about 1950 and re-recorded about 50 years later and the stories remained almost word perfect even though they were long stories. I think they might have been songs ...and if so, I guess it's more understandable that they remain unchanged because the musicality and rhyming would help maintain consistency. (Though Bible scholarship indicates that the bible has morphed a lot over the years). Margo seems to want to have it both ways: the stories are flexible to allow updating (like with the arrival of the Europeans) yet has maintained its integrity over tens of thousands of years. Seems to me that she can't really have it both ways. We have REAL contemporary evidence of the plasticity of these stories but we have no way of knowing what the stories were like five thousand years ago ....or even two hundred and fifty years ago.
I must say that I did find the recurring idea that knowledge was something that was gradually revealed as one rose higher in the hierarchy to be a bit of a red flag. This is the same sort of technique that is used by cults and secret societies of all sorts and was an idea from the gnostics in the early Christian church. You can't question or criticise because you haven't yet been initiated into the xth level of knowledge. The Scientologists are experts with this technique and I recall one of them (who had risen to the top echelon and then got out of the group) saying that he'd been given the handwritten note with the highest level insight from RL Hubbard himself and it was quite plainly bonkus.
But, of course, very hard to question these higher levels of wisdom because there will always be even higher levels to which one is not privy and therefore you still only have partial knowledge.
I'm happy to accept the songling stories as a mnemonic which combines things such as a geographic map, a pathfinder, landmarks, waterholes, food sources, combined with seasonal factors, tribal history, and so on. And this actually seems quite remarkable to me. But less confident about the claims that they represent an unbroken sequence and consistent narrative over tens of thousands of years. I give the book three stars.
What I took away from the current book....and it's something that they do really well....is that the songlines are a huge memory device with multiple layers. The idea of using a journey as a mnemonic device is not new to me and I remember reading a book by Frances Yates called "The art of memory" with something like the theatre of the mind which was basically a roman era idea of using the seats of a theatre like a filing device for memories ........ it was a concept promoted by Giodorno Bruno who was something of a memory whiz. Though he got himself burned at the stake by those lovely people in Rome...the inquisition in about 1600....for various sorts of heresy....including promoting Copernican ideas but also for his ideas about the soul. But the basic concept is the same with pretty much any memory technique ......associate it with some sort of "vibrant" or fantastic story. And it's this story that is easy to recall and thus associate with whatever is supposed to be committed to memory. With the aboriginal songlines they typically combined geographic features with the route to be followed and with story links to key features...like waterholes and food sources nearby ...and maybe this might be tied into ancestral history....such as floods or fires, or battles with rivals.
We have two authors here: Margo Neale is the aboriginal expert and Lynne Kelly is the memory expert. the book is ok but I found myself thinking all the way through that it was a little trite; a little superficial ...and maybe was over-claiming for the songlines. Though Bill Gammage claims that the songlines stretched across the whole of the Australian continent and were a remarkable "religious" feature of aboriginal culture.
Margo makes much of the story of the seven sisters and I have to take her word for it that this story has a widespread (if not universal) following throughout Australia. If so, I DO find that remarkable.
Whether it's possible to have stories handed down by word of mouth over thousands of years (some would claim for 40,000 plus years) and remain essentially intact, I find hard to believe. Though I do recall reading about a group somewhere in the Balkans who had oral stories that were recorded about 1950 and re-recorded about 50 years later and the stories remained almost word perfect even though they were long stories. I think they might have been songs ...and if so, I guess it's more understandable that they remain unchanged because the musicality and rhyming would help maintain consistency. (Though Bible scholarship indicates that the bible has morphed a lot over the years). Margo seems to want to have it both ways: the stories are flexible to allow updating (like with the arrival of the Europeans) yet has maintained its integrity over tens of thousands of years. Seems to me that she can't really have it both ways. We have REAL contemporary evidence of the plasticity of these stories but we have no way of knowing what the stories were like five thousand years ago ....or even two hundred and fifty years ago.
I must say that I did find the recurring idea that knowledge was something that was gradually revealed as one rose higher in the hierarchy to be a bit of a red flag. This is the same sort of technique that is used by cults and secret societies of all sorts and was an idea from the gnostics in the early Christian church. You can't question or criticise because you haven't yet been initiated into the xth level of knowledge. The Scientologists are experts with this technique and I recall one of them (who had risen to the top echelon and then got out of the group) saying that he'd been given the handwritten note with the highest level insight from RL Hubbard himself and it was quite plainly bonkus.
But, of course, very hard to question these higher levels of wisdom because there will always be even higher levels to which one is not privy and therefore you still only have partial knowledge.
I'm happy to accept the songling stories as a mnemonic which combines things such as a geographic map, a pathfinder, landmarks, waterholes, food sources, combined with seasonal factors, tribal history, and so on. And this actually seems quite remarkable to me. But less confident about the claims that they represent an unbroken sequence and consistent narrative over tens of thousands of years. I give the book three stars.
July 13, 2025
"Inuit man Dempsey Bob said, 'The trouble with white fellas is that they keep all their brains in books.'...By brains, of course, Dempsey is essentially referring to knowledge. Where do we archive the knowledge of a culture for current and future generations if not in books?"
"While Country is an archive of ancestral actions, the full extent of the archive can be accessed and worked only by the custodians with the knowledge and authority to do so. As with all archives, the archivist doesn't;t just guard the archive: they interpret and add to it, engaging creatively with it to keep it alive, or to keep its knowledge relevant and active in the present. For the Aboriginal archivist it is more than a job or even a passion, as one might see with Western archivists - instead, it is their life's purpose. They are effectively present-day incarnations of their archive."
"Almost all human knowledge is now available on the internet - you just have to search for it. So why bother memorising anything? This worrying question is asked far too often.
Firstly, you can't look up something if you don't know it exists.
Secondly, as you burrow down to specific information, you can't connect it to the bigger picture. Creativity - the way to see things in new ways and construct new ideas - depends on being able to see and understand from different directions. If you don't have various forms of knowledge in memory, how can you identify new patterns and ideas? All you are capable of doing is regurgitating the information that has already been neatly written and indexed for you.
Thirdly, how often do the knowledge keepers in every society have to make decisions based on what they know, without the time to go and look it up?"
"Elders from the Songlines exhibition who are custodians of the Seven Sisters Songline are very clear about why all Australians need to know about the Songlines. As they say, if you want to share this country with us then you need to know the stories beyond the last couple of hundred years. If you want to truly belong to this country, as Australians, you have to know your story about this place, this continent and its creation: 'We are here to teach you your stories, not just to share ours. Without the deep stories you can't take root, you will only ever be a transplant.'
The elders are not just talking about sharing their stories: they are talking about telling you your stories."
"While Country is an archive of ancestral actions, the full extent of the archive can be accessed and worked only by the custodians with the knowledge and authority to do so. As with all archives, the archivist doesn't;t just guard the archive: they interpret and add to it, engaging creatively with it to keep it alive, or to keep its knowledge relevant and active in the present. For the Aboriginal archivist it is more than a job or even a passion, as one might see with Western archivists - instead, it is their life's purpose. They are effectively present-day incarnations of their archive."
"Almost all human knowledge is now available on the internet - you just have to search for it. So why bother memorising anything? This worrying question is asked far too often.
Firstly, you can't look up something if you don't know it exists.
Secondly, as you burrow down to specific information, you can't connect it to the bigger picture. Creativity - the way to see things in new ways and construct new ideas - depends on being able to see and understand from different directions. If you don't have various forms of knowledge in memory, how can you identify new patterns and ideas? All you are capable of doing is regurgitating the information that has already been neatly written and indexed for you.
Thirdly, how often do the knowledge keepers in every society have to make decisions based on what they know, without the time to go and look it up?"
"Elders from the Songlines exhibition who are custodians of the Seven Sisters Songline are very clear about why all Australians need to know about the Songlines. As they say, if you want to share this country with us then you need to know the stories beyond the last couple of hundred years. If you want to truly belong to this country, as Australians, you have to know your story about this place, this continent and its creation: 'We are here to teach you your stories, not just to share ours. Without the deep stories you can't take root, you will only ever be a transplant.'
The elders are not just talking about sharing their stories: they are talking about telling you your stories."
December 31, 2021
This is an exploration of the all too familiar lack of learning about indigenous culture in schools from colonisation to the beginning of the 21st century. Margo Neale says: "It was only when I started researching...on crocodiles, that I realised that indigenous stories were not simple folklore but encoded accurate information about the local species". p.8 This is an idea currently under real debate in New Zealand: can indigenous knowledge from the past be considered scientific or be included in a modern science canon. Debate is good and useful. Neale also explores how Aborginal children were taught in schools, as well.
"The Songlines or Dreamings, are like a big sponge that keeps on absorbing new stuff and releasing it with a little pressure." p.33. The basis comes from living in the 'country' and also archiving our history in our brains not just books. Our personal archives are the knowledge of the people. Another discussion I really enjoyed was how "art is culture", art as knowledge and history. So it's time to start benefiting from the third archive. However I would suggest that a lot (millions) of us do that already. We combine our own experiences and knowledge and do memorise a lot of our world in our memories about places and events. I know that "almost all human knowledge is now available on the internet". p.179 However we look up what we don't know, whether or not in books we keep on our shelves or on
the net. What we need to remember to do is to keep being creative and relate new knowledge to our wider knowledge in our memories and books, and test that new knowledge for veracity.
Higher levels of thinking in education encompass "analyse and synthesise, hypothesise and theorise." p. 180 But you can relate this to your knowledge of the world and place in your 'songlines'. And we will always have stories because "humans are the only story telling species."
So ideas to try:
1. Tell stories, and more stories
2. Be at one with your landscape: feet on the ground so to speak
3. Make your world sing. 'Perform' your knowledge by reciting or art or dance or song
4. Art is for everyone: so we need to stop this selection process that happens in school
5. Mix all the above together.
A very interesting and worthwhile read.
"The Songlines or Dreamings, are like a big sponge that keeps on absorbing new stuff and releasing it with a little pressure." p.33. The basis comes from living in the 'country' and also archiving our history in our brains not just books. Our personal archives are the knowledge of the people. Another discussion I really enjoyed was how "art is culture", art as knowledge and history. So it's time to start benefiting from the third archive. However I would suggest that a lot (millions) of us do that already. We combine our own experiences and knowledge and do memorise a lot of our world in our memories about places and events. I know that "almost all human knowledge is now available on the internet". p.179 However we look up what we don't know, whether or not in books we keep on our shelves or on
the net. What we need to remember to do is to keep being creative and relate new knowledge to our wider knowledge in our memories and books, and test that new knowledge for veracity.
Higher levels of thinking in education encompass "analyse and synthesise, hypothesise and theorise." p. 180 But you can relate this to your knowledge of the world and place in your 'songlines'. And we will always have stories because "humans are the only story telling species."
So ideas to try:
1. Tell stories, and more stories
2. Be at one with your landscape: feet on the ground so to speak
3. Make your world sing. 'Perform' your knowledge by reciting or art or dance or song
4. Art is for everyone: so we need to stop this selection process that happens in school
5. Mix all the above together.
A very interesting and worthwhile read.
February 26, 2022
‘It’s time to go beyond learning about Indigenous cultures and start learning from them.’
Having just finished Anna Clark’s Making Australian History, which argued for the need to understand how Australian society has largely dismissed Indigenous methods of sharing history and information, I connected to the intention of this book with enthusiasm.
Songlines: The Power and the Promise is the first book in the First Knowledges series edited by Margo Neale, where each entry aims to highlight a different aspect of First Nations culture and knowledge. This book, written by Neale and non-Indigenous memory specialist Lynne Kelly, shows how combining both First Nations and Western approaches to history and knowledge storing can create a unique and powerful ‘third archive’ that symbolises the best of both worlds.
The book is short but straightforward in looking at how the concept and ceremony behind Indigenous songlines can be used as a potent memory tool. It also provides insight into how First Nations people use songlines to enhance their connection to Country beyond simply ‘belonging’ to the land. Through Indigenous elders and the practicing of songlines, vast amounts of information and culture (such as Dreaming stories and navigation) is stored within the land itself. Country, therefore, is culture, it is history, it is family – it can be shared through art, song, ceremony, and storytelling.
It is also extraordinarily hard to grasp from a non-Indigenous perspective without books like this. Songlines aims to first teach the reader about these concepts, but then suggests that this learning need not just be conceptual – we can apply the methods within our own lives. Difficult though it may be, I feel like I’ve at least started my journey of understanding the true power of connecting to Country, and for that I’m thankful.
Having just finished Anna Clark’s Making Australian History, which argued for the need to understand how Australian society has largely dismissed Indigenous methods of sharing history and information, I connected to the intention of this book with enthusiasm.
Songlines: The Power and the Promise is the first book in the First Knowledges series edited by Margo Neale, where each entry aims to highlight a different aspect of First Nations culture and knowledge. This book, written by Neale and non-Indigenous memory specialist Lynne Kelly, shows how combining both First Nations and Western approaches to history and knowledge storing can create a unique and powerful ‘third archive’ that symbolises the best of both worlds.
The book is short but straightforward in looking at how the concept and ceremony behind Indigenous songlines can be used as a potent memory tool. It also provides insight into how First Nations people use songlines to enhance their connection to Country beyond simply ‘belonging’ to the land. Through Indigenous elders and the practicing of songlines, vast amounts of information and culture (such as Dreaming stories and navigation) is stored within the land itself. Country, therefore, is culture, it is history, it is family – it can be shared through art, song, ceremony, and storytelling.
It is also extraordinarily hard to grasp from a non-Indigenous perspective without books like this. Songlines aims to first teach the reader about these concepts, but then suggests that this learning need not just be conceptual – we can apply the methods within our own lives. Difficult though it may be, I feel like I’ve at least started my journey of understanding the true power of connecting to Country, and for that I’m thankful.
April 20, 2025
‘Without the deep stories you can’t take root, you will only ever be a transplant.’
It must be incredible to have such deep knowledge of who you are, where you’re from and the people who came before you. To unequivocally belong.
As an Italian-Australian I’ve always felt that I lacked that true sense of belonging. Disconnected from my roots my thousands of kilometres and disconnected from the land I was born on because my experience with it remained so shallow up into adulthood.
Now as a young adult I finally feel like I am able to learn about my stories both as an Italian and an Australian.
This book opened my eyes to some incredible ways I can do just that by learning from Indigenous Australians and their use of country, art and song to connect with everything and ‘everywhen’ around them.
Although the concept of songlines were hard to wrap my head around at times, I do feel like without knowing, and as a child especially, I actually utilised some of these mnemonic techniques. I really want to try and implement them more in my life as well.
Overall, very thought provoking and inspiring introduction to the Indigenous Australian Dreamtime philosophy for someone who had a very poor education on Aboriginal history and culture. I look forward to continuing the series and learning more.
It must be incredible to have such deep knowledge of who you are, where you’re from and the people who came before you. To unequivocally belong.
As an Italian-Australian I’ve always felt that I lacked that true sense of belonging. Disconnected from my roots my thousands of kilometres and disconnected from the land I was born on because my experience with it remained so shallow up into adulthood.
Now as a young adult I finally feel like I am able to learn about my stories both as an Italian and an Australian.
This book opened my eyes to some incredible ways I can do just that by learning from Indigenous Australians and their use of country, art and song to connect with everything and ‘everywhen’ around them.
Although the concept of songlines were hard to wrap my head around at times, I do feel like without knowing, and as a child especially, I actually utilised some of these mnemonic techniques. I really want to try and implement them more in my life as well.
Overall, very thought provoking and inspiring introduction to the Indigenous Australian Dreamtime philosophy for someone who had a very poor education on Aboriginal history and culture. I look forward to continuing the series and learning more.
July 5, 2022
How good is your memory?
The first book in the First Knowledges series, Songlines: the Power and Promise explores the fascinating oral archive used by Aboriginal Australians for thousands of years. By connecting memories and information to Country, song, stories, and dance, the first Australians have passed memories and events from previous millennia to countless generations.
This book was deeply fascinating. It continues to add to the modern discourse that Aboriginal people were far more advanced and sophisticated than the history books have portrayed them. Far from the Western way of learning and remembering, songlines also provide an interesting and useful method for all of us to enhance our neural pathways.
My only issue was that there was a fair bit of extraneous information and tangents that didn't seem too relevant to the books main purpose. I understand that the book also introduces the series as a whole, but some parts felt unnecessary.
For anyone looking to learn more about Aboriginal culture and history, be sure to check this one out.
The first book in the First Knowledges series, Songlines: the Power and Promise explores the fascinating oral archive used by Aboriginal Australians for thousands of years. By connecting memories and information to Country, song, stories, and dance, the first Australians have passed memories and events from previous millennia to countless generations.
This book was deeply fascinating. It continues to add to the modern discourse that Aboriginal people were far more advanced and sophisticated than the history books have portrayed them. Far from the Western way of learning and remembering, songlines also provide an interesting and useful method for all of us to enhance our neural pathways.
My only issue was that there was a fair bit of extraneous information and tangents that didn't seem too relevant to the books main purpose. I understand that the book also introduces the series as a whole, but some parts felt unnecessary.
For anyone looking to learn more about Aboriginal culture and history, be sure to check this one out.
January 14, 2025
As a non-Australian, this book provided to me a rough understanding of the concept of songlines in Australian First Nations and other cultures. There is a great host of information that I was unaware of and that now lets me see depictions of Aboriginal culture in a different light. However, some of the condemnations of Western culture included in the book I find exaggerated and easily contestable. Just a single example from p. 186: "In Western cultures, only some people are allowed to be artists, and this selection starts in school. In each class there are one or two recognised artists, and the other students learn that they are not artists." -- No argument is offered in support of this claim, but I assume that many people would be ready to argue against it. In addition, I found that the book lacks clarification of essential terminology that is used throughout: knowledge, science, writing. This is problematic, because it is exactly here where contributors would parley about how to arrive at a "Third Archive" (Aboriginal AND Western), as envisaged by the authors.
March 4, 2021
Fascinating read about the way in which knowledge has been passed down and enriched over unfathomable amounts of time.
The blending of art, story telling, dance, landscape, sea and sky to share important cultural and logistical information is incredible. Being educated to a post graduate level in Australia, it is deeply embarrassing how little I know about the complex lives and practices of indigenous inhabitants of this land and this book along with Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu have given me a great deal to think about and left me searching for more!
Well read and researched, easy to understand and also provides the reader with a blueprint on how to incorporate some of these ancient mnemonic tools into their own studies.
The blending of art, story telling, dance, landscape, sea and sky to share important cultural and logistical information is incredible. Being educated to a post graduate level in Australia, it is deeply embarrassing how little I know about the complex lives and practices of indigenous inhabitants of this land and this book along with Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu have given me a great deal to think about and left me searching for more!
Well read and researched, easy to understand and also provides the reader with a blueprint on how to incorporate some of these ancient mnemonic tools into their own studies.
June 13, 2025
so so interesting loved this ! such an abstract high level concept that this took me a min to get my head around but was written so well + v accessibly without oversimplifying (i think?!) — especially liked the first hand quotes and stories about how central and essential songlines are to history and culture and connection and passing down knowledge, to engage in being part of and responsible to Country
found it a bit repetitive at times but the specific examples like the art + collaboration created around the Seven Sisters Songline and the creation of the “third archive” were standouts cos they gave the concept weight + power
rly interesting and excited to read more from the series !
rec’d by tour guide jake
found it a bit repetitive at times but the specific examples like the art + collaboration created around the Seven Sisters Songline and the creation of the “third archive” were standouts cos they gave the concept weight + power
rly interesting and excited to read more from the series !
rec’d by tour guide jake
January 21, 2021
Having read Lynne Kelly's The Memory Code and Memory Craft I couldn't help noticing quite a lot of overlap with her previous work. However, I still very much enjoyed the read - almost as a review. Margo Neale's perspective and the overall focus of the book on the Songlines knowledge system grounds this narrative firmly in Australia, even though there are a few relevant examples from other parts of the world.
I love the message this book carries: integrating ancestral knowledge systems in our modern lives and making them part of everyone's reality again is possible and would benefit us all.
"It's time to go beyond learning about Indigenous cultures and start learning from them. " (p.179)
I love the message this book carries: integrating ancestral knowledge systems in our modern lives and making them part of everyone's reality again is possible and would benefit us all.
"It's time to go beyond learning about Indigenous cultures and start learning from them. " (p.179)
May 23, 2021
“As [the Elders] say, if you want to share this country with us then you need to know your stories beyond the last couple of hundred years. If you want to truly belong to this country, as Australians, you have to know your story about this place, this continent and its creation. We are here to teach you your stories, not just to share ours.”
EVERY Australian needs to read this book, and every book that follows in the First Knowledges series published by the Centre for Indigenous Knowledges.
This book was sensational, moving, and an eye-opening insight into Songlines: the oldest continuing knowledge system in the world.
Mandatory reading. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
EVERY Australian needs to read this book, and every book that follows in the First Knowledges series published by the Centre for Indigenous Knowledges.
This book was sensational, moving, and an eye-opening insight into Songlines: the oldest continuing knowledge system in the world.
Mandatory reading. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
January 2, 2022
This book is an exposition of the oral knowledge system used by Australian Aborigines, as well as touching on similar systems used by other indigenous cultures as well as more familiar groups such as the Ancient Greeks. It provides an interesting insight into the different ways knowledge can be learned, stored, retrieved and still kept accurate and updated. It challenges our western concepts of storing knowledge in written form and it's categorisation into different subject areas. The more wholistic and integrated approach is explained, although, like many aspects of the book, it left me wanting much more detail and information. A good introduction to 'first knowledge' systems.
November 13, 2022
How's your memory? If yours is as bad as mine, you will get a lot out of this book. You will also learn a lot about Aboriginal approaches to surviving on Country. In a culture based on oral learning, memory is key. The techniques explained in this book can be used for anything - not just surviving on Country. Understanding Songlines also gives you a special insight as to why the knowledge of our First Nations people is so interesting, so valuable and so RELEVANT to our survival right now. This is the first in this brilliant First Knowledges series. But I read 'Country' first (#2 in the series). Highly recommend both :)
June 29, 2023
Two books into the First Knowledges series and I can't wait to pick up the next one!
As well as exploring how Aboriginal is shared, saved and passed, this book successfully explains how Western and Aboriginal perspectives and practices can and have benefited each other.
As an educator, the importance of learning, knowledge and memory reminds me of Daisy Christodoulou's book, Seven Myths About Education. Learning is not about being able to look things up or allowing every generation to find this out for themselves. You need a deep knowledge of your world to apply skills properly. That's what Songlines are.
As well as exploring how Aboriginal is shared, saved and passed, this book successfully explains how Western and Aboriginal perspectives and practices can and have benefited each other.
As an educator, the importance of learning, knowledge and memory reminds me of Daisy Christodoulou's book, Seven Myths About Education. Learning is not about being able to look things up or allowing every generation to find this out for themselves. You need a deep knowledge of your world to apply skills properly. That's what Songlines are.
July 8, 2023
As an American looking to learn more about Australia, I was fascinated by all the deep history of the country with respect to its relationship to the First Nations. Though there was a lot I of additional reading and googling that I had to do to capture the nuances of the authors points, I feel like I was welcomed into a wealth of knowledge about country through the historical, spiritual and practical uses of Songlines. I respect that I'll never fully understand the specificities as an outsider looking in but this book opened the door to a new world of knowledge that I have become empassioned to learn more about.
July 17, 2023
An absolutely brilliant read. As a non-Indigenous Australian I had heard much of the language of Songlines before but never understood what it meant. I had heard of Connection to Country but it was an unexplained concept. This book brought so much to life. It is written in a way that is accessible to the average reader. It flows as a book rather than being a text book of facts. The book provides hints about how we as a modern society can take First Knowledges and incorporate them into our lives. It shares the power of Songlines as a memory aid and as a way of being. I am now encouraging my friends to read it and have started the next book in the series.
June 17, 2024
4.5 stars
very interesting and informative! i think the book would have been better titled "memory" instead of "songlines", because really, this book was more a discussion about the ways that aboriginal peoples memorise vast swathes of information and stories, and didn't necessarily focus on songlines (although they were the most important form of memory in the book). i really appreciate that the book gives you advice on how to use songlines as a method for your own memorisation purposes. mostly well written, although i've taken 1/2 a star off my rating because there were many parts which were quite repetitive.
very interesting and informative! i think the book would have been better titled "memory" instead of "songlines", because really, this book was more a discussion about the ways that aboriginal peoples memorise vast swathes of information and stories, and didn't necessarily focus on songlines (although they were the most important form of memory in the book). i really appreciate that the book gives you advice on how to use songlines as a method for your own memorisation purposes. mostly well written, although i've taken 1/2 a star off my rating because there were many parts which were quite repetitive.
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