Didgeridoo Label

Every year, hundreds of thousands of didgeridoos are sold around the world. The sad thing about this is that less than 0.01% of these didgeridoos could be called authentic... even sadder is the fact that the didgeridoo industry is now worth millions of dollars and traditional Aboriginal custodians of the instrument hardly get to see a cent of it.

iDIDJ Australia wants to do something about this and we would like you to help us! Please study our Cultural Indications (CI) Index below. This is basically a system for differentiating didgeridoos on the basis of origins and cultural integrity. Whenever possible, we educate consumers in the benefits of supporting the traditional Aboriginal custodians of the didgeridoo - and we explain why CI 4 instruments are the best.

We strongly discourage consumers from spending their didgeridoo dollars on manufactured or mass-produced instruments which fall into the CI 0, CI 1, and CI 2 categories. Note, however, that good quality product and ethical instrument makers can be found in these categories... many hobby craftsmen, in the USA and Europe for example, hand-make excellent quality didgeridoos from a variety of materials and methods and these can be purchased at a reasonable price. These craftsmen - and you'll find out who they are with some research - do not represent their creations as something they are not.

Some mass-producers and manufacturers, on the other hand, are alleged to have breached trade practices laws by labelling their didgeridoos as authentic or Aboriginal-made when they clearly are not... and others have been caught illegally cutting and mass-harvesting trees without the proper permits... sometimes on Aboriginal lands!