Aboriginal Spirituality

1. Aboriginal Spirituality

2. The Dreaming • A Metatemporal concept – Past, present and future. • Links to Spirit Ancestors, totems, law and oral teachings. • Inextricably linked to land. • Spiritual belief containing all knowledge and understanding therefore it is both a metaphysicsand cosmology. • Fundamental to understanding of life, creation, land and identity. Rainbow Spirit painting showing creative Spirit Being in Aboriginal Spirituality. Part of oral tradition. It is also called Biame.

3. Spirit Ancestors • Transcend and Link Aborigines to the physicalenvironment and the spirit world. • Inhabit land, plants and animals through totems • Established relationships between groups • Continue to guide and teach through oraltradition, elders and Dreaming. This is Wandjina - the God who made the Earth and Sea and everything else. He gave Man to live in this Earth, for this World, this Tribal Country.

4. Kinship and Moiety • A system of classes or skins ( moiety) dictating relationships, roles and responsibilities. • It must be strictly followed (law) e.g. one cannot marry into one’s own skin group. • Aboriginals belong to a place, an area of land in Australia where their totemic ancestors were born, lived, and died. This "belonging place" was the territory of land created for their kinship group, their clan, and their tribe during the Dreamtime. • Linked to Dreaming stories through totems and passed on by elders to each generation.

5. Ceremonial Life • Art, incorporating Ancestor Spirits is incorporated in ceremony and daily life • Ceremonies allow aborigines to become the embodiment of their Spirit Ancestors through stories, ritual and Dance thus making a link with the Dreamingand their land. • Smoking Ceremony used in ritual to cleanse and heal. • Ceremonies mark ritual significance in their lives .e.g. death elder Max Eulo conducts a smoking ceremony for World Vision staff

6. Obligations to the Land and its People • Land –inextricablylinked to the Dreaming. • Land is the physical link through which the Dreaming is communicated. • Dwelling place for Ancestral Beings. • Aborigines are responsible for SacredSites and Ritual Estate on their land. • Totems link to land, plants, animals and land forms. • Aborigines always see themselves as Custodiansof the Land.

7. Dispossession • Colonisation– separation from land, kinship, culture, and language. • Aborigines were dislocatedanddispossessed. • Protectionism– White Government adopted this policy to remove Aboriginals from what was considered “unsuitable living conditions”. • In effect- they wanted the native culture to die out. • Impact of fragmentation- loss of identity. • Assimilationpolicy to integrate those of lighter skin into white society by force. • Aborigines – unable to fulfill ritualresponsibilities • Health- European diseases killed large numbers of indigenous people.

8. Stolen Generation • 1900 – 1972 Many Aboriginal children with light skin were stolen from their families and placed in Missions and Government stationsto adopt white ways. • Some Aborigines were harshly treated and exploited. • Links with land, culture, kinship and language were severed. Aboriginal man in chains on a government station

9. Nancy De Vries: The Stolen Generation • “I think it is important that people realize that these kids were taken from their families, separated from their culture, their identity, had to put up with dreadful, dreadful things. How many have survived sane I don’t know, and I realize many of us have died of alcohol. I was lucky, as I grew up, that alcohol never agreed with me. Instead of the slow death of alcohol, I tried the quick death of pills and hanging. I always tell people I cut my wrists here cutting a jam tin, because it is very embarrassing admitting that I tried to commit suicide. I tried to kill myself. I was lonely. I was unhappy. I wanted my mother, I wanted my identity, I felt cheated, I wanted to be me” • Nancy de Vries was taken from her birth mother as a 15-month-old baby. She lived in 22 places before she was 18 years old. It was a shameful 53 years before she was reunited with her mother. Nancy de Vries was the human face of past government policies of dispossession.

10. Land Rights Movement • 1966 Vincent Lingiari instigated the modern “ LandRights Movement” • 1975 Whitlam Govt. grants some land to Gurindji people. • Inextricable connection to the land seen as the impetus to further the movement and links to the Dreaming. • Sacred Sites add to the cause and claim for recognition. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam symbolically pours a handful of sand through Gurindji elder Vincent Lingiari's hands at the handback of the Gurindj's traditional lands in 1975.

11. Mabo • 1992 A court action brought by Eddie Mabo overturned the term “ Terra Nullius” which had stood since 1788. • Therefore a form of “Native Title” could now exist under law. i.e. indigenous ownership could now be recognised. • Eddie Mabo died before the ruling but remains as an enigmatic figure in the fight for Native Title rights.

12. Native Title • 1993 Native Title Act – Keating Govt. • Conditions of claim – proof of existence on land for hundreds of years and that native title has not been extinguished by freehold title. • However, Native Title itself did not always guarantee access to some sacred sites. Native Title being handing over. Patrick Dodson speaking on the occasion.

13. Wik • 1996 Leasehold and Native title can co-exist. • Native title would override Leasehold (pastoralists) title but in areas of dispute, the leasehold title would hold out over Native title. • Wik necessary to address questions not answered by Mabo. • Thus mining companies can mine on native lands in return for compensation. History rewritten as Wik regain their land. Justice Richard Cooper with children celebrating the Wik ruling.

14. 10 Point Plan Amendment to Wik • 1998 Howard Government amended the Native Title act in response to pressure from Rural investors. This is referred to as the 10 point plan. • What is meant was that leasehold title could be upgraded to transfer to freehold title thus making Native Title more difficult to obtain. • Sunset clause in 10 point plan set a cut off date for Native Title claims effectively making it impossible for many rightful claimants to negate their claim. It has left many groups unhappy. • The cartoon shows that aborigines are having to wait a long time for the government to acknowledge them.

15. Talking about a Treaty • Australia has never formally recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by way of a treaty or treaties. • Terra Nullius overturning in 1992, created some uncertainty between indigenous people and the Australian state. • Mabo, Native title and Wik and its amendments have made some progress but there may be a need to provide a more concrete framework which will address further issues. • Today there is talk about a treaty to meet those needs. Treaty

16. Analysis of the Dreaming • Dreaming links land to Spirit Ancestors and is significant in kinship, culture and identity. • Aboriginals define their being from their inextricable connection to the land, it is a part of them, their kin groups and relationships. • Land is central to the understanding of their cosmology and ontology. (being)

17. Analysis of the Dreaming • Mabo and Wik began recognition of the Native Title and the essence and importance of land to the aboriginal community. 10 point plan amendment to Wik may be seen to reduce some claims to Native Title, but nevertheless, it still recognises a need to address issues. • The significance of Sacred Sites to Dreaming, Land and identity is now recognised in the land rights campaign. • Ritual responsibility is thus acknowledged along with Totemic significance and Ancestor Spirits.

18. Land rights significant moments

19. Land of the Australian Aborigines " OUR LAND OUR LIFE " 'We don't own the land, the land owns us' 'The Land is my mother, my mother is the land'