A sweat lodge is a sauna-like dome structure constructed from willow branches and heavy canvas. Inside, more than a dozen participants surround a pit of hot stones on which a ceremony leader pours water. A "sweat" consists of four rounds, each lasting about five minutes. The leader of the ceremony drums and conducts prayers in the form of song before opening the door, returning participants to fortifying fresh air. According to recovered addicts, the dense steam and heat created by the stones become a substitute for the effects of drugs.

There has been a noisy protest march through the streets of Burnie in opposition to developments near Aboriginal heritage sites in Tasmania.

About 150 Tasmanian Aborigines and their supporters from around the state joined the march through the Burnie CBD.

Most of their anger was directed at controversial plans for a bridge spanning an ancient archaeological site north of Hobart.

Hundreds of people have marched through Darwin to celebrate NAIDOC week.

Traditional dancers led the throng through the city as traffic came to a standstill.

Many of the people taking part wore shirts calling for better treatment of Aborigines and an end to the federal intervention in the Northern Territory.

HE State of Origin series might have been stained by the racist language of Andrew Johns, but the national anthem performance at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night appeared to be rugby league making a point.

Advance Australia Fair was sung before the Origin match in English and what was announced as the language of the Eora nation of the Sydney area by Corey Kirk, a 19-year-old Aborigine.

Today archaeologists believe that the “Tunit,” who are mentioned in Inuit stories, flourished in the arctic during ancient times, vanishing around the 14th century AD.

Archaeologists first encountered their remains in 1925 at a place called Cape Dorset on Baffin Island. They gave them the name “Dorset culture,” a term that is still used today.