Переведите ! the rock art of australia's indigenous peoples is the oldest and richest in the world, dating as far back as 60,000 years and spread across hundreds of thousands of sites.[297] traditional designs, patterns and stories infuse contemporary indigenous australian art, "the last great art movement of the 20th century"; [298] its exponents include emily kame kngwarreye.[299] during the first century of european settlement, colonial artists, trained in europe, showed a fascination with the unfamiliar land.[300] the naturalistic, sun-filled works of arthur streeton, tom roberts and others associated with the 19th-century heidelberg school—the first "distinctively australian" movement in western art—gave expression to a burgeoning australian nationalism in the lead-up to federation.[300] while the school remained influential into the new century, modernists such as margaret preston, and, later, sidney nolan and arthur boyd, explored new artistic trends.[300] the landscape remained a central subject matter for fred williams, brett whiteley and other post-world war ii artists whose works, eclectic in style yet uniquely australian, moved between the figurative and the abstract.[300][301] the national gallery of australia and state galleries maintain collections of australian and international art.[302] australia has one of the world's highest attendances of art galleries and museums per head of population.[303] australian literature grew slowly.[305] in19th-century writers such as banjo paterson and henry lawson captured the experience of the bush using a distinctive australian vocabulary. their works are still very popular; paterson's bush poem "waltzing matilda" (1895) is regarded as australia's unofficial national anthem.[306] patrick white and south african-born j. m. coetzee were awarded the nobel prize in literature in 1973 and 2003 respectively,[307] and peter carey, thomas keneally and richard flanagan are receipients of the man booker prize.[308] david malouf and david williamson are also renowned writers[309] and les murray is regarded as "one of the leading poets of his generation".[310] many of australia's performing arts companies receive funding through the federal government's australia council.[311] there is a symphony orchestra in each state,[312] and a national opera company, opera australia,[313] well known for its famous soprano joan sutherland.[314] at the beginning of the 20th century, nellie melba was one of the world's leading opera singers.[315] ballet and dance are represented by the australian ballet and various state companies. each state has a publicly funded theatre company.[316]
