When Australia was first settled as a colony in 1788, �Australian culture� was basically European for the first 100 years. It was Georgian English art, vision and aspirations that were transplanted to Australian soil at the same time as European crops. The white convicts and their white jailers also took little notice of the black Aboriginal culture which had been in existence for at least 50,000 years before they arrived. There was little in the painting or poetry of the period that reflected an indigeneous approach. Even the trees looked European as they were planted with seeds brought over from Europe.

The turning point came for Australian cultural history in the 1890s. This saw a tremendous upsurge in Australian nationalism. This was reflected in the arts, especially beginning with literature, followed by painting and the performing arts. Then ultimately, things also came a full circle when Australians and rest of the world came to appreciate and embrace Aboriginal Australia Art.