For the Aboriginals of Australia, spirituality and the sacred is deeply rooted in the landscape and in their relationship to the environment which sustains them. Traditional Aboriginal lands are mainland Australia and most of the islands.Prior to 1788, the Aboriginal Australia population has been estimated at more than 750,000. The country then was pristine and bountiful. Besides food, "bush tucker", the land provided them with natural remedies for healing, "bush medicine". Aboriginals took care of the environment in Australia, making sure that all hunting and gathering activities were balanced; and, resources were conserved.
Every part of an animal hunted or plant gathered was utilized in some way either as food, baskets, tools, etc. They also moved their camps around with the seasonal cycles, allowing the areas of their territory to rest and renew.
There is no agreed upon term to identify Aboriginal Australian groups. Generally they lived in small groups called clans, bands, hearth groups, family groups, or sub-tribes. A number of these smaller groups living in the same area of the land, sharing a Dreaming Track, comprised a tribe.
There are many different Aboriginal Australia tribes who have their own Dreamtime folklore, customs, languages, and totems; but, there are also many commonalities they share such as: strong kinship and family structures, totems, Elders, skin names, Dreaming, territoriality, ceremonies, songs, storytelling, and strict boundaries between men's and women's business.
The land is their life, their mother, their way, their nourishment, and their spiritual connectedness.
Dreaming Tracks delineate the area of land created by the Ancestral Spirits where a tribe was created, their belonging place... Storytelling and Song often accompanied by dance movements have been a central element of Aboriginal Australian life since the beginning of time. There are songs for every event including: hunting, funerals, seasons, animals, and landscapes. Stories of the Dreaming were told around campfires, where things of concern were also discussed and important information relayed. Dreaming law and lore told the tribe about their spiritual history, how to treat each other, and how to conduct their daily life. Suitable punishments for individual transgressions of these tribal and Totemic Laws were determined by knowledgeable Elders of the Aborigines.
Starlore was passed down from generation to generation through the teachings and storytelling of the Aborigine Elders. The positions of the planets and stars were used by the Aboriginal Australians for gathering food; for finding their way from one place to another; and for the timing of rituals and ceremonies. There were neutral passageways between tribal lands.
Aboriginal law in Australia required respectful recognition of tribal boundaries. Anyone travelling outside their territory needed to obtain the permission of the tribes in neighbouring territories to pass through their areas.
Aboriginals traded and bartered with other groups in Australia on a regular basis, holding Corroborees where marriages were arranged; information about tribal practices and beliefs was shared; and, new songs were sung. 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 kin group, their clan, and their tribe during the Dreamtime.
The sacred symbols of these totemic bloodlines were implanted in the Dreaming stories used by the Elders to teach the wisdom of the ancestors to each new generation. Aboriginals sing their country; and, perform ceremonies for their country, "Singing Country", using ochre depictions of the Dreaming images... ... Read More