The artwork of Debra Beale, First Peoples of Australia Designer Maker, is featured on the merchandise.

Read the background behind her Trade Connection artwork here:

Prior to the invasion of Australia. First Nation Peoples communities had established a chain of trade routes all over the continent. Exchanged goods and services was also practised between neighbouring language groups as well as other language groups across Australia. Trading was vital to First Nation Peoples as it improved their quality of life. Objects such as food, seeds, stones, ochres, tools, weapons where not only a method of sharing resources but was a form of social control and lore. It was a way of honouring each other’s rights, boundaries and cultural differences.

Many tribes developed good relationships as they respected shared stories of their journeys and narratives of the Dreamtime. Trade was not only linked with materialistic objects but included songs, dances and art, stories, rituals and ceremonies which connected First Nation Peoples to Land, Sea and Sky

Debra Beale
First Peoples of Australia Designer Maker