BTW Jayb in the early years of the American War, 1776 and thereafter the British were winning, Washington's rag-tag army was getting its arse kicked, desertions were up, a shortage of supplies was causing starvation to set in. Of course you know all that, ha ha.

If a Frenchman showed Aboriginals how to paint with dots, that's good, one culture benefiting by learning from another. Europeans learned the art of noddle making from the Chinese.

Paul,
I’m not going to give up the blokes who crehated the fraud in the public collection of Aboriginal art, let the ‘experts’ find it.

Earlier I wrote: "You'll never understand it, but in fact those who tailor their views based on race are indeed the racists. Its a benign form of racism but racism nonetheless."

And by their replies they demonstrate it. Paul, Foxy et al think that being uniformly gullible about all things native means they aren't racist. But its the opposite. For example, tailoring your response to domestic violence based on the race of the perpetrator and victim, is obviously, or should be obviously, racist. But alas they'll never get it and most certainly won't admit it.

Just on the dot painting malarkey....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Bardon

There's plenty more about it, but I suspect Foxy et al aren't interested.

Hilariously, an art form invented 50 years ago is now considered by the woke as being deeply traditional and sacrosanct... http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/03/14/ricky-gervais-fake-aboriginal-art-not-prop-its-cultural-theft1

Its invented and then claimed to be ancient. The whole welcome to country story is in the same league - recently invented then asserted to be ancient.

Of course, its not limited to the Australian Aboriginal. Recent invention of 'ancient' tradition happens all over the world. Tourist in Hawaii experience 'authentic' feasts and hula dance -both of which were invented for the tourists.

Amer-Indians lament the white destruction of their 'ancient' horse culture, forgetting the that there were no horses in north America before Columbus. The horse culture didn't exist until Spaniards introduced horses - but that is now ignored just like all the invented aboriginal 'culture'.

And recognising that, isn't racist. Pretending to ignore it, is.

True Aboriginal Art is uniquely connected to the
country of the artist. It's often comprised of
symbols that are uniquely tied to a particular
country or a particular language group's story.
It often communicates stories - sometimes of the
Dreaming that only specific people have permission
to use.

Forgery and fakes in Art have always existed and
have been a problem to the international art market.
Aboriginal Art is unique and ever so special they
embody the old adage - "Paintings can be forged
but not the feeling." And there's so much we
can learn if we're lucky enough to delve deeper.

There's more at the following link that explains
further:

http://kateowengallery.com/page/10-facts-About-Aboriginal-Art

Foxy,
What is true Aboriginal art?
Any links?

Paul1405: Both the years 1770 and 1788 are of greater significance in the story of Australian colonisation.

My apologies. 1788.