Contemporary Aboriginal Spiritualities

Question 1

Define ‘kinship’

Answer 1

• system of relationships (biological & non), traditionally accepted by a particular culture. This defined a person’s place in a community.
• rights & obligations involved
  The Aboriginal children were educated in this; not unusual to have many mothers, fathers, uncles, etc.
  Each kinship had own totems, sacred sites, etc. -> responsibilities

Question 2

Define ‘Ceremonial life’ in terms of the Aboriginal spirituality and the Dreaming.
Outline some examples.
What were the roles of the Creation ceremonies?

Answer 2

Celebrating/commemorating something or someone
Included rites of passage, burial rituals, initiation, birth ceremonies, passing on of social information, spiritual, etc.
Gender specific ceremonies -> e.g. birth (women) & initiation (men)
Recreating the tribes -> creation story of a tribe is told. Creation stories are not just the past, the are the present also.
Kept the Dreaming alive

Question 3

Describe birth ceremonies

Answer 3

The woman giving birth went outside the camp to a shelter, with another woman who had given birth another time. This second woman would assist with the delivery & perform the rituals.
The placenta was buried -> child’s connection to the earth
Smoking ceremony -> small fire made of green leaves. The mother would sit over the fire -> assist cleansing & make sure of plenty of milk. The child was also held over it to make it strong & quiet. It was then rubbed with ashes to make it dark-skinned.
Only afterwards was the father allowed to see his child.

Question 4

Describe the death ceremony. What were some beliefs held about death?

Answer 4

• believed that death was not the end of life. The spirit went back to the land, to the Dreaming sites. These spirits & sites were held in great respect.
  Possessions were destroyed, the camp moved, & their names were not to be spoken again. One must be buried in one’s own country & sung to rest.
  Differed between tribes

Question 5

What were some of the obligations to the land? Why were they so important

Answer 5

• attachment to land through Dreaming stories
• country is given by ancestor spirits -> very special
  Must respect, nurture & maintain balance -> each tribes’ responsibility.
  -> protecting cultural sites, stories & song lines
  -> seasonal harvesting
  -> recording plants (modern)
  -> remove seeds & weeds
  -> teach others about land
  -> perform rituals
  -> Look after Dreaming sites, archaeological sites, waterholes, burial grounds
  Ceremonies help renew spiritual connection to the land & sacred sites.

Question 6

Quote 1

Answer 6

“We don’t own the land, the land owns us.”

Question 7

Quote 2

Answer 7

“The Land is our food, our culture, our spirit and identity.”

Question 8

Quote 3

Answer 8

“The land is my backbone… I only stand straight, happy, proud and not ashamed about my colour because I have land… the history of my nation.”

Question 9

Quote 4 - Jeffrey Lee

Answer 9

“When you dig holes in that country, you’re killing me. Money don’t mean nothing to me. Country is very important to me.”

Question 10

Quote 5

Answer 10

“Destruction is like ripping pages from our library books, it is like cutting the hearts of our people, cutting our identity and our cultural philosophy that sustains our spiritual connectedness to country.”

Question 11

What is the effect of dispossession in terms of separation from the land?

Answer 11

• loss of identity
• loss of culture -> no more Dreaming ceremonies
• spirituality mocked

Question 12

What is the effect of dispossession from kinship -> Stolen Generations

Answer 12

• unused to white food -> health issues
• reduced life expectancy
• education disadvantages
• couldn’t perform ceremonies -> lost
• totems, oral tradition, lifestyle lost

Question 13

Describe the Mabo Case

Answer 13

Law case between Murray Islander Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo and the QLD government.
Labelled ‘terra nullius’ as legal fiction, that the land had never been empty, & that in this case, native title did still exist.
1992

Question 14

Define Native title

Answer 14

The Aboriginal people’s right to own land.
Mabo found that it had existed pre-settlement and could still exist if not extinguished by government acts.
Land available to claim if the claimant could prove a continuing connection to the land.

Question 15

Outline the Wik case

Answer 15

Law case between the government & the Wik people.

Found that native title could co-exist with leased land.