Il paesaggio culturale degli Aborigeni d’Australia : dal tempo del sogno al turismo contemporaneo : luoghi, miti, identità

The paper aims to analyze the Australian Aboriginal cultural landscape and the way it is being portrayed by tourism industry. More specifically, an overview on the history of the Aboriginal people it will be given starting from the present situation and looking back through the phases of their arrival on the continent and then of invasion, protection, assimilation, integration, self-determination and reconciliation. Moreover, we will attempt to investigate the meaning that landscape has for the Aboriginal people, including myths and spiritual connections to the land. Taking into account some data about tourism in general and cultural tourism in particular, we will briefly present two study-cases, or good practices, related to cultural tourism experiences in the Wet Tropics Area. We will eventually focus on how tourism could be considered as an opportunity for Aboriginal people both to enhance their status and to gain a new identity by renovating and sharing their culture.