Australian Aboriginal Beliefs

1
Australian Aboriginal Beliefs

• By
• Caitlin Peterson
• Constance McIntosh
• Chris Cochran

2
Australia
3
Indigenous Peoples of Australia

• There are two recognized Indigenous peoples in
  Australia the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait
  Islanders.
• This presentation will focus on the Aboriginal
  people and their beliefs.

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Aboriginal People and their Beliefs

• The Aboriginal people migrated from Southeast
  Asia to Australia between 40,000-150,000 years
  ago, making them one of the oldest and longest
  surviving cultures in the world.
• One hunting technique they found useful was
  called Firestick Farming. This entailed the
  burning of large areas to let fresh grazing
  grasses grow. These grasses attracted game
  animals such as the kangaroo.

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Aboriginal People and their Beliefs

• They were hunter-gatherers who liked to explore
  and go on "walkabouts.
• Walkabouts" also had a spiritual meaning to the
  Aboriginal. They viewed the land as sacred and
  their journeys became a dream journey connecting
  them to Dreamtime.
• They would recount their walkabouts in songs and
  pass them on through the generations. These
  songs, also known as songlines, depicted their
  journey through sacred pathways and would convey
  a spiritual message.
• The Dream Journey is the Aboriginal path to
  spiritual renewal because the people and the land
  are inseparable. These are a people in deep
  harmony with nature.
  
• Source About Dreamtime web site on 15 Nov. 2004
  http//projects.edtech.sandi.net/dailard/oceanarts
  /Dreamtime.html

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Dreamtime

• The expression 'Dreamtime' is most often used to
  refer to the 'time before time', or 'the time of
  the creation of all things', while 'Dreaming' is
  often used to refer to an individual's or group's
  set of beliefs or spirituality
• Source Indigenous Australia web site on 14 Nov.
  04 http//www.dreamtime.net.au/dreaming/dreamtime.
  htm

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Dreamtime

• Aboriginal spirituality and beliefs are centered
  around creation stories.
• These stories are recounted during their
  Dreamtime ceremonies and through oral traditions.
• The stories tech how their ancestors left their
  mark on the land and are manifested in particular
  sacred sites all over Australia.

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Dreamtime

• The group or tribe would be called together,
  sometimes with the use of the yidaki (also known
  as the didjeridu), and tell great stories of how
  everything was created in a ceremonial
  performance.
• These ceremonial performances passed on the laws
  and beliefs of and individual tribe and increased
  creative energy within the world.
• Side note The Yidaki origins are sacred and only
  known to Yolngu men of the Northern Territory.

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Totemism

• Totemism", was a very central part of their
  belief system. They identified with plants,
  animals, and anything they considered natural
  phenomena.
• They believed that they could influence and
  manipulate these totems by performing an
  increase ceremony conducted by fully initiated
  men in their tribe. These ceremonies insured the
  survival of their tribe and were a sacred part of
  their ritual life.
• At birth, each Aborigine is presented with a
  totem, also called Dreamings, by their
  grandfather. As they get older, they are taught
  the "Dreaming" dance associated with their totem.
  While performing the Dreaming dance they
  spiritually connect with the land and bring the
  power of the Dreaming to life.

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Vision Quest

• Dreamtime is also called a Vision Quest which is
  an attempt to make contact with a spirit for
  protection and/or to acquire a supernatural
  power.
• Vision Quests are brought about by fasting,
  isolation, and extreme exposure to the elements.
• Vision Quests are normally performed by male
  youths as a right of passage into maturity.

11
Language

• There are many different language groups
  including Kamilaroi, Bandalang, Walmajarri,
  Gumati, Pitjantjatjara, Nganyatjarr,
  Wik-Mungkan, and Kunja/Mardgong.

• A mixture of English and Aboriginal language has
  developed over time.
• Its called Creole and it makes communication
  between different language groups possible.

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Kamilaroi and Bandalang

• Kamilaroi Language
• Giwiir man
• Yinarr woman
• Gaay child
• Baayina father
• Barran boomerang
• Yaraay sun

• Bandalang Language
• Jahjam child
• Mahmang father
• Wajungjar mother
• Babar sky
• Yalngan sun
• Bargan boomerang
• Uabur one
• Bulahbu two

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Ceremonial Dress

• Body paint and headdresses help the Australians
  to connect their physical bodies to the spirit
  world.
• Each language group has their own type of
  ceremonial dress.

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Feasts and Festivals

• Ceremonies are held that involve people from
  different language groups.
• They bring gifts and raw materials to trade.
• Aborigines perform songs and dances to celebrate
  daily activities.
• After the feast the elders meet to discuss laws
  and ensure the survival of the Dreaming.

15
Artwork and Ochre Paint

• Ochre is one of the main mediums used in
  paintings and body paint.
• In order to make ochre paint you first need to
  crush the ochre stone into soft powder. Then,
  using a stick, stir in either emu egg yolk or gum
  from a Eucalyptus tree.
• Ochre is easiest to find near rivers or streams
  where the rock surface has been eroded.

16
A Soakage in Sandhill Country

• An important aspect of aboriginal stories
  involves where water can be found.
• This is a depiction of a waterhole that is
  surrounded by sweeping sandhills.

17
Mina Mina Dreaming

• In the Dreamtime there was a huge fight between
  Yarla and Ngarlajiyi.
• This is a picture of the Ngarlajiyi plant with
  yatura (roots), and ngama (surface tendrils).

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Fire Dreaming

• This painting depicts a fire that is set by the
  people in order to flush out Liwirringki
  (burrowing skinks) so that they can be more
  easily caught for food.

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"Brock Brock" Frog Dreaming

• Brock Brock, or Wulwarna, is the frog that
  senses the coming of the rains and comes out to
  sing in them.
• He is the focus of the Jardiwampa ceremonies.

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Australian Aboriginal Land Beliefs

• In the beginning . . .
• When European settlers first arrived in Australia
  they found the Aborigines living as nomads on the
  land. Since European notions of land ownership
  left no room for this kind of behavior they
  assumed that the natives had no connection to the
  land. They could not have been more wrong.

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Religious Significance of the Land

• The land is the Aborigines tie to the Dreaming
  sacred sites mark where ancestors went down
  and serve as ties to ancestors. A persons link
  to one part of the land cannot be transferred to
  any other part.
• Aboriginal worship practices all center on the
  land maintaining certain sites, preserving
  certain species, etc.
• Songs about the Dreaming are so concerned with
  the land that they can be used as maps, even
  across unfamiliar terrain. Land is a record of
  the Dreaming.

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Social Significance of the Land

• The land is the source of a persons identity.
  Totem is determined by where a person was
  conceived.
• Relationship to a certain ancestor gives
  significance to certain sites or features of the
  land.
• Aborigines would rather die than let their land
  be desecrated. When Europeans arrived they had
  to slaughter hundreds of Aborigines in order to
  settle the land.

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History of the Land

• At first Aborigines lived as nomads on the land,
  moving from one sacred site to another as their
  beliefs demanded.
• When Europeans began to settle, Aborigines died
  by the hundreds defending their land.
• After many court battles, Aborigines now have
  rights to most sacred and historically
  significant sites.
• They impose strict rules on the visitation of
  these sites to protect them from desecration. An
  elder must accompany any visitor to holy sites
  and some sites may not be visited at any time.

24
Aboriginal Social Structure

• The Aboriginal Australian people have a very
  highly defined and complicated social structure.
  Regulated by totemic laws and land customs they
  constructed a very sophisticated social system.

25
Language Distribution Map

• Aboriginal people view themselves in terms of
  their language-groups.
• These language groups are divided into clans
  which are either patrilineal or matrilineal
• Members of these clans are not allowed to marry
  within the clan, so there are very complicated
  relations between the clans within each
  language-group to regulate these cross-clan
  marriages

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Some Social Customs

• Everything done within a language group is done
  for the sake of the community or with the
  community in mind. Results of hunting are shared
  based on very specific traditions so that
  everyone is provided for.
• Some members of the community are prohibited from
  speaking to each other but this, they specify, is
  a sign of respect.
• Members of the community who behave in a way that
  is destructive to the community are publicly
  punished by the Elders in order to discourage
  such behaviors in the future.