Examples of Articles
Music, Ceremony and Storytelling on Country in Victoria
Music has always been a central part of Indigenous culture, connecting people to Country, ceremony, storytelling, and spirituality. In Victoria, Indigenous groups developed and used a variety of musical instruments to accompany song and dance. These instruments—often simple in form but rich in meaning—were crafted from local materials such as wood, stone, reeds, and animal skin, demonstrating deep environmental knowledge and creative adaptation (Barwick, 2000; Ellis, 1985).
Voices, Song, and Ceremony
The most significant musical instrument for Indigenous peoples in Victoria was the human voice. Songs carried law, memory, and spiritual meaning. Songlines—musical maps of Country—were sung to pass down knowledge of place, travel routes, and the journeys of Ancestral Beings (Barwick, 2000; Rose, 1992). Songs were performed in ceremony, teaching, and daily life, functioning as oral archives that preserved social law and ecological understanding for tens of thousands of years (Clarke, 1998).
The physics of sound also played a role in ceremony. Singing and drumming in caves, near waterholes, or on plains used the natural acoustics of the land to enhance rhythm and resonance. These sonic landscapes formed part of the sensory connection between people and Country (Neuenfeldt, 1998).
Songlines: Music as Map and Memory
Songlines are among the most profound cultural and scientific systems in Indigenous traditions. Sometimes referred to as “Dreaming Tracks,” they are both musical and geographical pathways across the land. Each Songline tells the story of an Ancestral Being—their travels, actions, and the creation of rivers, hills, and sacred sites (Chatwin, 1987; Rose, 1992).
In Victoria, Songlines guided movement between key sites such as the You Yangs, Mount Buninyong, and the Western Volcanic Plains. They served as oral maps for travel, trade, and seasonal migration, linking freshwater systems like the Barwon, Yarra, and Murray Rivers (Gammage, 2011).
Each verse encoded ecological knowledge: the flowering of plants, the breeding of animals, and indicators for fire or water management. Songlines were not metaphorical—they were practical and scientific, functioning as mnemonic systems that preserved sustainable environmental practices over millennia (Rose, 1992; Clarke, 2007).
Songlines also created networks of shared cultural identity. A Songline could begin in one language group’s Country and continue through another’s, with melodies and meanings preserved even as words shifted. This interconnectedness reflects a vast cultural web that once linked Victorian groups such as the Wadawurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung, and Gunai/Kurnai with neighbouring peoples in New South Wales and South Australia (Barwick, 2000; Clark, 1996).
Percussion Instruments
Clapsticks (Percussive Sticks)
Clapsticks, also known as bilma, were widely used across southeastern Australia, including Victoria. Made from hardwood such as box or eucalyptus, they were struck together to keep rhythm during singing and dancing (Isaacs, 1987). The sound waves produced by the collision created sharp percussive frequencies that helped maintain tempo during large outdoor ceremonies.
Skin Drums
Although rare in the southeast, small hand drums were used in some southern communities, made from kangaroo or possum hide stretched over a bent wooden frame. These were beaten with hands or sticks, often in women’s ceremonies (Ellis, 1985; Stubington & Ellis, 1989).
Ground Percussion
In certain Victorian groups, the earth itself served as an instrument. Dancers stamped rhythmically, sometimes driving sticks into the ground to produce deep resonant sounds. The vibration of the earth created a physical sense of connection with Country and echoed the belief that the land itself participates in ceremony (Barwick, 2000; Clarke, 2007).
Aerophones and Other Soundmakers
Unlike northern Australia, the didgeridoo (yidaki) was not traditionally used in Victoria—it originated in Arnhem Land and spread southward only after European settlement (Jones, 1964). Victorian Indigenous groups instead used a variety of wind and resonance instruments, including:
• Bullroarers (tjurunga) – flat wooden slats attached to cords and swung to produce a deep, whirring sound. Used in men’s ceremonies and initiations, bullroarers symbolised the voices of Ancestral Beings and were believed to connect the physical and spiritual realms (McCarthy, 1967; Tonkinson, 1991).
• Reed or Gum-Leaf Whistles – created from reeds, grass, or leaves. The gum-leaf whistle, still practiced today, produces simple but melodic tunes through controlled airflow and vibration of the leaf’s edge (Ellis, 1985).
• Stone or Wood Scrapers – percussive instruments that produced rhythmic scraping sounds used to accompany chant and dance (McCarthy, 1967).
Materials and Crafting
The crafting of instruments reflected ecological understanding and sustainability.
• Wood – hardwoods such as red gum, box, and acacia were shaped using stone tools and fire.
• Animal Skins – kangaroo, possum, or wallaby hides provided durable drum skins.
• Reeds and Leaves – local species such as bulrush or gum leaves produced wind sounds.
• Stone and Bone – sometimes used for clappers or scraping implements.
The use of fire was essential for softening and bending wood and for hollowing or sealing instruments, illustrating the technological precision of Indigenous fire use (Gammage, 2011).
Colonisation and Disruption
Colonisation disrupted Indigenous music across Victoria. Ceremonies were suppressed, language was forbidden on missions, and musical knowledge was often lost. Many instruments were destroyed or hidden (AIATSIS, 2000; Broome, 2005). European missionaries introduced hymn singing, violins, and guitars, which displaced traditional rhythms but also led to new fusions of style.
By the late 19th century, Indigenous performers in Victoria and Tasmania were blending traditional rhythm with European instruments at missions such as Coranderrk and Lake Tyers, creating early forms of cross-cultural music (Barwick, 2000; Carey, 2019).
Revival and Continuity
Today, many Victorian Indigenous communities are reviving traditional music and instrument-making. Clapsticks, bullroarers, and gum-leaf whistles are again being crafted and performed in cultural festivals, schools, and Welcome to Country ceremonies.
Modern Indigenous musicians such as Archie Roach, Kutcha Edwards, and Yothu Yindi have combined traditional musical structures and rhythm with contemporary forms, continuing the Songline tradition in new media. Ethnomusicologists and Indigenous knowledge keepers are recording and teaching these traditions, ensuring they remain living systems of knowledge (Neuenfeldt, 1998; AIATSIS, 2022).
Conclusion
The musical instruments of Victorian Indigenous peoples highlight the deep interconnection between sound, law, and Country. Instruments like clapsticks, bullroarers, drums, and whistles were more than tools—they were embodiments of ecological memory, ceremony, and spirituality. Through Songlines, music became a multidimensional science: a means of mapping geography, transmitting knowledge, and sustaining life. Despite colonisation’s disruption, these traditions endure, linking the ancient voices of the land with those of contemporary Indigenous artists and communities across Victoria.
References
AIATSIS (2000) Settlement: A history of Australian Indigenous housing and culture. Canberra: AIATSIS.
AIATSIS (2022) Songlines: The living narrative of our nation. Canberra: AIATSIS.
Barwick, L. (2000) ‘Song, Chants and Indigenous Musical Heritage in Victoria’, Aboriginal History, 24(1), pp. 173–194.
Broome, R. (2005) Aboriginal Victorians: A history since 1800. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Carey, H. (2019) God’s Empire: Religion and Colonialism in the British World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chatwin, B. (1987) The Songlines. London: Jonathan Cape.
Clark, I.D. (1996) Aboriginal Language Areas in Victoria – A Reconstruction. Melbourne: Monash Publications in Geography.
Clarke, P.A. (1998) Early Aboriginal Ethnobotany: Aboriginal Plant Use in Southern South Australia. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.
Clarke, P.A. (2007) Aboriginal People and Their Plants. Dural: Rosenberg Publishing.
Ellis, C.J. (1985) Aboriginal Music: Education for Living. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
Gammage, B. (2011) The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Isaacs, J. (1987) Australian Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Indigenous History. Sydney: Lansdowne Press.
Jones, T. (1964) ‘The Didjeridu and Its Traditional Usage in Indigenous Australia’, Oceania, 34(3), pp. 214–229.
McCarthy, F.D. (1967) Australian Indigenous Material Culture. Sydney: Australian Museum.
Neuenfeldt, K. (1998) Sound Alliances: Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Politics, and Popular Music in the Pacific. London: Cassell.
Rose, D.B. (1992) Dingo Makes Us Human: Life and Land in an Indigenous Australian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stubington, J. & Ellis, C. (1989) ‘Music and Ceremony: Aboriginal Performance in South and Central Australia’, Musicology Australia, 12, pp. 1–19.
Tonkinson, R. (1991) The Mardudjara Aborigines: Living the Dream in Australia’s Desert. Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land and community.
Copyright of MLA – 2025
Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.