Pickerdar: The Black One

When the views of the world's oldest and longest isolated civilization are considered against modern orthodox perceptions, obvious cultural differences appear. For the Lia Pootah Tasmanian Aboriginal, Pickerdar is a great bird born from death. For the other, non-Aboriginal view, the black swan was a bird of great economic potential. Both cultures acknowledged the Pickerdar, the black swan, as a source of food. In this modern world of multiculturalism surely both the Lia Pootah and the western orthodox view have equal value. These two views, held by indigenous and non-indigenous, are very different perspectives and it is these perspectives of Pickerdar the swan which are offered for consideration.