Businessmen making didgeridoos in Bali and selling them as ‘Australian made’

Dodgy businessmen are making didgeridoos in Bali and selling them as ‘Australian made’ products.

The shocking scam has angered the Aboriginal community who say ‘it’s not their cultural resources to sell’.

In a promo clip ahead of 60 Minutes program on Sunday Night, a Indonesian man can be heard telling a reporter they put ‘made in Australia stickers’ on didgeridoos.

The shocking scam has angered the Aboriginal community who say ‘it’s not their cultural resources to sell’

‘We put sticker-made in Australia. Customers don’t know they are made in Bali,’ the man says.

Didgeridoos are just one of a number of fake Aboriginal artefacts businessmen are selling.

‘It’s not their cultural resources to sell,’ and Aboriginal woman told 60 Minutes.

‘This is hard work, preparation, carving them out.’

‘We’d like to see them stopped.’

Unfortunately the market for fake Aboriginal art has grown in recent years.

‘These commercially-produced goods – mostly aimed at the tourist market – are often made from non-traditional materials and feature inauthentic and culturally inappropriate designs. They range from bamboo didgeridoos to key rings to paintings,’ the Indigenous Art Code states on their website.

Dodgy businessmen (left) are making didgeridoos in Bali and selling them as ‘Australian made’ products

Artist Banduk Marika, Yolngu does not want to see her culture exploited.

‘The ecosystem, the environment we live in is full of natural resources. Our art is our resource, it belongs to us, we use it in a ceremonial context; it is a resource for our survival. If control of that resource is taken away from us, we cannot meet our cultural obligations; we cannot use it for our families’ benefit. Exploiting our resource needs to be negotiated on our terms, we need to have control of how that’s done,’ she said.