Aboriginal Spirituality
Glossary
Assimilation: A view developed in the nineteenth century that aboriginal would eventually be
absorbed into all 'aspects' of the white society and disappear as a separate race - Official Govt.
Policy 1938-65
Culture:
The accepted and traditional pattern of behaving. A set of common understandings
shared by a group.
Elders:
Key persons and keepers of various knowledge - based on knowledge - age/seniority.
Identity:
The belief in and acceptance of who you and as determined by your culture.
Indigenous People:
Invasion:
The original inhabitants of any country.
The forced takeover of land and subjugation of its people
Ritual estate: Area of land which they have ritual responsibility, involves obligation to ensure
everyone in country is familiar with ritual features of the land.
Ownership:
Having responsibility and obligation to nurture and care for something.
Groups
Traditional: Preserve their customs and culture.
Urban: Those that live in towns and cities. Many urban Aboriginal people, though they no longer
live on the land and still aware of their culture, language and heritage.
Aboriginal Timeline
1788: First fleet arrives. Start of white invasion of Australia (note: History before 1788 isn't
recorded).
1798: Large numbers of the Dharug family members (The Dharug are one of two local tribal
groups of the Blue Mountains Area) killed by small pox brought in by the First Fleet.
1830's: War against the Aborigines in Tasmania. Majority of the Aboriginal population wiped out.
1836: Kaurra tribe near Adelaide destroyed by settlers.
1920's; Aboriginal population falls to 60,000.
1967 Aborigines given the right to vote (federation occurred in 1901)
1971: All aborigines included in the census
1976: Aboriginal land rights Act in the NT
1983: Aboriginal land rights Act in NSW.
Population: Before white settlement there were approx. 600000 aboriginal people in Australia.
They made over 600 tribal groups, each with their own religion, customs and language. Today,
those that identify themselves as Aboriginal people number approx. 250000 1994 census) 58%
decrease.
The Roots of Aboriginal Spirituality - The Dreaming
Aboriginal 'religion' is concerned with the deepest questions of life that are common to all humanity
eg Death, universe, spiritual life. These are all explored by Aboriginal groups in various ways.
Aboriginal Dreaming is:
- All that is know and understood by Aboriginal.
- used to explain the beginnings of life.
- it is the natural world which provides the link between the people and the Dreaming.
The time of the Dreaming is the Beginning of Aboriginal existence to when the white settlement
arrived in Australia. But it is still continuing on today for specific Aboriginal tribes.
PAST- PRESENT - FUTURE.
The Dreaming as the basis of all aspects of life in Traditional Aboriginal societies, is broken into
many diverse sections eg.
- Social organisation
- Art
- Rituals
- Territorial rights
- Division of Labour
- Relationships
- Songs
- Social control
- Spirit beings.
The Dreamings:
The certain spirits (creation, beings, ancestor spirits) who made the land and
its weakness, the people, the law, which binds people together and to their country (included kinship, law, ritual law, economic and political arrangement).
Law/The Dreaming: Aboriginal societies often use one word to refer to these two concept (eg
Tjukurrpa) because spirituality, law, kinship, social organisations, politics and economies are all
integrated in traditional Aboriginal societies.
A Dreaming: When the creator spirits finished their creating, their energy went into the land, in
specific landforms and creatures (eg Tokems). People have the responsibility to keep this energy
renewed by following the economic/ritual obligation they have towards these landforms/creatures.
Our Dreaming: A family or clan - common ancestors, is connected to specific Dreaming because
that group was created by the same ancestor who created this particular Dreaming.
My Dreaming: An individual is linked by a Dreaming (place or creature) which (usually) their
mother dreamt about at the time of conception. Therefore the energy of a particular Dreaming enters
the body of the child.
The Integration of all Aspects of Aboriginal Societies
What is Dreaming
 The beginning of all things.
 The unseen spirit world (gives life/reality to the visible world)
 Affects all of life (Performance of ceremonies, songs, stories and rituals, symbols, that were
once performed by ancestors of Dreaming)
 Dreaming - link to the beginning or "MY' Dreaming - sacred art/rituals by the individual).
 Is reflected in a special way in the land (the whole environment - land, water, air, life supported
including humans. The Aboriginals are part of land and its part of them).
Kinship:
Kinship is the system of relationships traditionally accepted by a particular culture
(Aboriginals) and the rights and obligations they involve - Fabric of Aboriginal society.
Dreaming Stories:
- Serves many purposes - inform, teach, guide, give instructions, etc.
- structure varies from tribal area to tribal area but - oral mainly.
- Interpreted on many levels depending on age, status, position (elder).
- Sometimes has a moral or lesson
- Practical purpose - 'spoken maps' eg Geography, dangers, hunting and
camping sites.
Aboriginal Art: - Rock painting, thousands of years old are believed to have been left behind by
Ancestor beings.
- Much Aboriginal art is the form of maps of 'My Country'.
- Aboriginal maps of the desert region have a number of different features:
 Extremely abstract.
 Mythological
 Contains signs like circle and lines, which have a number of different meanings.
There is two types of art:
 Traditional exposed art which is less secret.
 Sacred/symbolic art which is usually abstracted but it contained meaning/symbolism
Aboriginal Songs: Song-cycles were used to recall the tracks of Ancestral beings.
- Each song-cycle comprised many verses which recalled the actions of one
being at a particular site.
- Songs were an integral part of the rituals as the singing accompanied
dancing.
-Those who knew/performed the songs earned respect and status.
The Ceremonies Initiation: Formal admission into a group the rights and responsibilities are also set
out.
Birth: Dreaming is a continual cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
-It was the entry of the spirit into the body rather than the physical art of copulation
that made a woman pregnant.
Initation: - The most important event in Aboriginal life.
- An incredible amount of knowledge of land people and law was needed to become
a full member of Aboriginal society.
- Boys initiation is more public than girls - making young men.
- Boys undergo serve test of self discipline eg isolation, physical scaring.
- The ceremonies lasted several days with the public/secret ceremonies.
-On the boys return to the group as men, they are given a weapon (proper) and sent out to live off
the land.
Death and Burial: For Aborigines death was not the end of life but the last ceremony in the present
life.
- they believed the spirits of the dead returned to the Dreaming places they had come
from, part of the external transition of the life force of Dreaming.
Womens Rituals/Business: Gathering of food, birth of the children, holders of certain ritual that
men can't access, cultural knowledge of the Dreaming, womens business is more private/sacred.
Q.
How have Aboriginal people maintained cultural identity and spirituality?
A.
Kinship ties, traditional story telling, art/religion along with attachment to the land have
helped maintained cultural identity/pride.
Q.
Describe common characteristics of Aboriginal spiritualities today?
A
1.
Aboriginal spirituality is the belief and feeling within yourself that allows you to
become part of the whole environment around you. (Birth, life, death are all part of it).
2.
Aboriginal spirituality is the belief that all objects are living and share the same soul/spirit
that Aboriginal share (kinship with the environment)
3.
Aboriginal spirituality is the belief that the soul and spirit will continue on after our physical
form has passed away through death.
4.
Aboriginal spirituality is not the equal of the European ideology of reincarnation.
-Eddie Kneebone.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY AND NONABORIGINAL BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
In aboriginal society, the 'religion' is based on the concept of the Dreaming.
Dreaming:
A complex concept of fundamental importance to Aboriginal culture, embracing the
creative era, long past (when ancestral beings instituted Aboriginal society) as well as the present
and the future (it is the closest translation of the Aboriginal concept on how the world works).
• The Dreaming as a basic of all aspects of life in traditional Aboriginal society included:
- Social organisation
- Relationships
-Rituals
- Division of Labour
-Territorial rights
-Art
• Then non-Aboriginal, European settlement came in and invaded this concept of the Dreaming,
preaching a world beyond the clouds. "Their spirits would not return to their land but would move
to this heavenly 'land'.
• The Church preached a message of love and peace, yet it enforced mission policies based upon
hate, fear, violence, division - Genocidal.
• Aboriginal peoples' religious expressions were assimilated into western expressions.
1.
Normal Theology
• Over the years, many Aboriginals have been forced into mission stations/reserves by "Christians
of good will".
•People were baptised in their thousands, preached at and converted to the Christian religion often
by force.
• Aboriginals were forced to attend church services, go to Sunday school, etc - No going resulted in
punishment eg restriction of food supplies
• Many Aboriginals became Christians as they had no choice.
2.
CONSERVATIVE THEOLOGY
• In time this forced contact led to a blending of beliefs. Aboriginals 'absorbed" western/white
European conservative theology.
• Most to all conservative adherents have a pre-occupation with sin and salvation which has lead to
a rejection of their own Aboriginal identity and culture.
• It continues today in Aboriginal Pentecostal and evangelical expressions.
3.
LIBERAL THEOLOGY
• Loyal to their respective denominations yet they raise issues of Justice, equity and try to
incorporate dreaming based spirituality into their Christian theology. eg United Church - Rev
Oyiniyini Gondarra, Anglican Church - Arthur Malcom (first Aboriginal Bishop).
4.
STORY -TELLING THEOLOGY
• Aboriginal story telling theology explains traditional/cultural teachings and preserves a link
between the Dreaming stories and biblical scripture.
• Many use this form to bring a greater understanding of the theology to make it more relevant to
their lives.
• By using Dreaming stories, Aboriginal theologians are able to bring to life the teachings of the
Gospel eg song and dance - traditional ceremonies.
5.
ABORIGINAL THEOLOGY
• It aims at the creation of an indigenous theology, leaning heavily on notions of biblical justice.
• It measures traditional Aboriginal religion as the desire grounding for contemporary/risk/identity.
• It also holds the Dreaming as a timeless guide for active engagement eg Aboriginal and Islander
Commission of the National Council of Churches in Australia, in 1991, organised the participation
of Aboriginal and islander people in the World Council of Churches Seventh Assembly in
Canberra.
CONSEQUENCES OF EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT FOR ABORIGINAL BELIEF
SYSTEMS CULTURE AND SPIRITUALITY
• Governor Phillip's people lived in a tradition that stressed private ownership fenced houses and
villages their religion and philosophy grew from and reinforced this tradition.
• Before the arrival of Europeans, 500 groups (distinct) of Aboriginal peoples existed. Many of
these groups, their cultures and their languages have been devastated by white settlement, warfare,
disease, religion, education and economic exploitation - Almost totally destroyed, eg Port Phillip
area, 10000 was reduced to less than 2000 in only 8 years due to, disease, malnutrition, white
violence.
• Terra Nullis had the effect of non-Aboriginal people ignoring cultural practices, land rights, social
organisations and sacred sites. This caused massive dispossession.
• Without enough people to maintain complex religious and cultural practices, Aboriginal identity
became difficult to uphold eg Tribal Law, hunter-gather economy and kinship with the land was
undermined by white contact and Destruction.
• Spiritual authority was pushed aside for some unknown world beyond the clouds (After death,
their spirits would not return to their land but would travel to the heavenly 'land')
MISSIONS AND RESERVES
•½ of the nineteenth century, many roaming Aboriginals were rounded up and kept and reserves
(Christian Missionaries)
• Both the church and state were anxious to "Europeanise" the Aboriginals eg Enforce the policy of
Assimilation and marriage to whites to assimilate into society.
• The right to consume alcohol, control one's own financial affairs or to vote was denied those
detained on reserves. They were 'controlled' by white protectors.
• The children became wards of the State and removed from parents from white authorities.eg The
Stolen Generation.
• Catholics eg Kimberly and Top End.
• United Church eg Northern Arnhem Land, Gulf of Carpenteria, Anglicans were south of these
destinations.
• Lutherans eg Up the south coast as far as central Australia.
• Others eg United Aborigines Mission (UAM) and Aboriginal Inland Mission (AIM).
• Evaluations of missions and heavily divided in Australia.
• Some missionary organisations had a disastrous effect on Aboriginal culture. Others were
responsible for the survival of Aborigines.
TODAY
• Remnants of traditional Aboriginal cultures, sound practices and languages remain in isolated
parts of Australian. Still under threat from European pressures.
• Aboriginals still survived, despite the horrors of the nineteenth century and the injustice, poverty
and racism of the twentieth century.
• Kinship ties, traditional story telling, art/religion along with a strong attachment to the land, have
all helped to maintain cultural identity and pride.
REVIVAL OF ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY
Contemporary aboriginal spirituality
• Religious beliefs, physical environment and life all share some spirit (son) from the dreamtime, no
one thing is important than another, the same spirit takes different shapes.
• Adaptation to Christianity has been in the form of a balanced exchange, not a swap of old for new
but rather a compromise between Aboriginal and Christian world views, finding common points. "I
believe in both ways - our own and the Christian. We believe in the old law and the bible too. So we
have selected the good laws from both and put them together.
Evangelical revivals and the move towards an indigenous church
• Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity is now sweeping much of Aboriginal Australia.
• In QLD, January 1967 and in WA December 1967, two groups with identical names were formed.
The Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship (AEF). They merged in 1970.
• The AEF was established to promote Aboriginals proclaiming the gospel to Aboriginals.
• In recent times, mainstream Christian churches (and other religious groups) have responded to the
call and have been active in promoting 'reconciliation' between indigenous and non-indigenous
Australia, both within their congregations and at a political level. Religious leaders have argued that
non-Aboriginal Australians have a moral duty to recognise and work to address, injustice suffered
by indigenous Australians. In 1998, as part of a national 'Sorry Day' a number of Church leaders
offered public apologies to those Aboriginal Australians, who suffered as a result of government
and Church policies of removing Aboriginal children from their families.
LINK BETWEEN THE LAND BASED NATURE OF THE DREAMING AND
THE ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHT MOVEMENT
Dreaming: A complex concept of fundamental importance to Aboriginal culture, embracing the
creation era long past (when ancestral beings roamed and instituted Aboriginal society) as well as
the present and the future.
• In driving the Aboriginals off their land, the whites did more than deprive them of their property.
They deprived them of their independence, their culture and their spiritual world.
• 1967 the overwhelming 'Yes" vote in the Referendum that Aboriginal people were counted in the
Census and the Commonwealth given power to make laws for them.
• Land rights is about land but for all indigenous people, and eventually Australian Aborigines. It is
everything that goes with the land.
• Land rights is about land but for all indigenous people, and eventually Australian Aborigines. It is
everything that goes with the land.
• Native title is traditional Aboriginal right to access, use of occupation of land.
Q.
What have been the effects of the legal fiction of "Terra Nullius" on Aboriginal people?
A.
Terra Nullius is a term used to describe 'land belonging to no one"
- this doctrine allowed the settlers to ignore totally Aboriginal cultural practices, scared rites
and their right to land.
Q.
What did the high court's native title MABO decision do, as regards to "Terra Nallius" and
its effect on Aboriginal identity?
A.
On 3 June 1992, the High Court handed down a decision that has exposed the myth of Terra
Nullius.
- Mabo destroyed forever the legal concept that Australia was Terra Nullius - an empty land
- before Europeans arrived.
-Justice Brennan said" the fiction by which the rights/interests of indigenous inhabitants in
land were treated as non-existent was justified by a policy which has no place in contemporary
laws in this country".
MABO 1992
• Identity taken when control of land and lives taken.
• Had to improve continuos contact with land, prove that traditional law was still very important hard when under supervision of 'protection authorities.
• Desire for land rights to protect sacred sites - linked to Aboriginal responsibilities for land and
Ancestral beings.
• Need for the right to use for the land, need for ritual rights - connected to individual dreaming
aspect of spirituality.
• Desire for return to land use patterns of traditional aboriginals, closely related to identity
(dreaming) and kinship laws (economics).
• Need for maintaining traditional relationship with land to maintain respect for mind relationships
with people, sharing, respect.
WIK (WIK People V's Queensland)
• Started 1993 - Claim native title over land in Cape York Peninsula on land that combined two
pastoral leases granted by Govt. (Qld).
• Ended 1996 - WIK Decision - native title may co-exist with Pastoral leases where conflict arises
the pastoralist will prevail.
10 Point Plan
• 1997 Prime Minster Howard, under mine gains made by WIK and Native Title Act - opposed.
NT Act 1993
• Extended hope for Native Title.
NT Amendment Act 1998
• Retracting any hope, any identity or spiritual gains extended by 1993 Act.
"Tent Embassy"
• 1972 - Aboriginal protests against denial of rights and abysmal living conditions
• Media attention increased awareness among Australians.
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation
• Established 1991
• Affects Native title and Deaths in Custody - Brings hope, reconciliation is about new
understanding and recognition of property and personal rights.