From Townville, on the east coast of Australia, we followed the Flinders Highway into the central desert to explore northern Australia.
More than eight weeks of wandering and driving thousands of kilometres - from Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to Alice Springs, through the town of Mataranka and Katherine, to Darwin City and Kakadu National Park - we really experienced Aboriginal culture*.
I now recognise the difference and harmony in the life of an Aboriginal tribe and feel more about the culture and the art of each region.
My family admired the science and education of the landowners 60,000 years ago, although they had no advanced tools like ours today.
At Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, we had the opportunity to visit the Wintjiri museum to participate in programs and be introduced to cultural and artistic activities of the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara tribes, who are the owners and the traditional guards of this land.
Our two sons were extremely excited when we learned how to hunt, the difference of each hunting tool and how the Aboriginal people lived in harmony with mother nature to protect, raise and provide food for them.
My husband, two sons Jayden and Liam and I then conquered the 12km walk around Uluru.
We agreed not to climb Uluru to show respect for the sacred value of this rock to Aboriginal tribes.
After conquering the sacred stone of Aboriginal people, we were rewarded with a picture of a magical dawn and twilight sunset on the sacred rock of those who own this country.
Chị Huyền Trịnh, anh Calum Ludwig cùng hai con trai Liam và Jayden trước tảng đá thiêng liêng Uluru của người Thổ dân Source: Supplied
Creativity and art crept in everyday life
On a sunny afternoon, after attending a Digeridoo musical presentation, we rested on the grass in the centre of town, enjoying the dazzling, yet slightly chilly sunshine of Australia's red soil desert.
While waiting for the dot painting class with the Anangu painter that I registered for the whole family, Jayden and Liam happened to join a soccer match with two Aboriginal children of the same age - running barefoot and kicking the ball nearby.
After a while, there were a few more children of the same age, who were also tourists, to join the tiny team.
A feeling of warmth and happiness filled me when I witnessed the game in a friendly atmosphere, and the young players worked together like they had known each other for a long time.
By the time they entered the drawing class, the whole family was surprised to realise that one of the Aboriginal friends was the son of the painter, and the other was her grandson.
Jayden và Liam tham gia một trận bóng với hai bạn nhỏ Thổ Dân trạc cùng độ tuổi. Source: Supplied
The painter confided through an interpreter that she had never seen her two children playing with friends outside the tribe so happy because their English was limited.
One interesting thing we learned through volunteers and interpreters is that you have to learn and understand Aboriginal language, have to talk to them in order to understand their people and culture.
Through the drawing class, we realised that the Aboriginal creative art is not only a subject, but it is also attached to daily life and is used to educate the younger generation and at the same time be a mode of communication with other tribes.
The four of us wandered around, from museums to small exhibition centres in the town, rock painting and drawing sessions, to attend panda classes to weave baskets in the 38-40 degree heat at Kakadu National Park.
Tác phẩm nghệ thuật theo phong cách thổ dân "dot painting" của gia đình chị Huyền Trịnh Source: Supplied
An Aboriginal child belongs to the entire community
You would be surprised to learn that every Aboriginal person will be a branch of their kin system.
This system, according to my own assessment, is a culture of community and extremely scientific.
In the community we live in today when a child is born, the birth parents are responsible for raising and teaching their children. Unfortunately, if the biological parents of the baby no longer follow the law; no one in the family will be responsible for taking care of the baby.
But in Aboriginal culture, when a baby is born, not only one father and one mother, the baby belongs to a branch of the kin. All adults in that branch are considered to be the parents of the child, all responsible for taking care of and teaching the child as their own.
Aboriginal people are very strict about how boys and girls interact. Even in families with sons and daughters, to a certain age, the younger sister and brother are not allowed to talk or sit close to each other.
Boys and girls want to talk, meet each other to follow the allowable branches of the kin system. If they do not comply, they will be punished.
Jayden và Liam tham gia giờ lớp học vẽ “dot painting” với một họa sĩ người Anangu Source: Supplied
At first, when I first became aware of this culture, I did not understand why they were so strict - only when we reached Kakadu, could I explain further.
Did you know that biologists were shocked when they studied the Aboriginal kin system and concluded that this system is extremely accurate to avoid the close proximity of two DNA to produce malformed DNA.
There are similar rules in our community; however, it is only an unspoken law, understood without being educated. Only when there is a case of breaking the law, will we discuss and criticise. I really admire the Aboriginal culture and education.
Aboriginal hunting and gathering is the best way to live. Children work with parents and families. The community hunts, gathers, finds what to eat and finds ‘less’ to eat. Even if they can hunt a lot, they won't.
For Aboriginal people, animals, as well as humans, need to survive. The Aboriginal people's harmony with nature teaches us. We "people from the civilised world" are exploiting nature to the end.
The whole family joins the panda leaves class to weave baskets in the 38-40 degree heat of Kakadu National Park. Source: Supplied
Lifestyle sharing, exchanging experiences, working together, eating together, singing songs dancing together, making family and community feelings always close.
Look at our lives today, busy adults go to work, children are busy going to school, each person is in a place and doing a different job when coming back together after a long day, everyone is in disarray during family meals.
I wish for a life of singing and dancing community together. The love, attachment, sharing of those Aboriginal people made me feel that I’m not living “fully” in this vast but finite life.
* Huyen Trinh and Calum Ludwig decided to take their sons Jayden and Liam around Australia on a caravan in 2018. The trip was thousands of kilometres through five states, two territories, with a lot of time spent in the Aboriginal community.
