!core one: religion and belief systems post 1945 (Aboriginal dreaming) Flashcards
What is the Dreaming for Aboriginal people?
The dreaming is the basis of all aspects of life in traditional Aboriginal societies. It is the beginning of all things.
What is Kinship?
Kinship refers to the highly sophisticated networks of relationships that govern the interactions between members of language groups.
Kinship systems define where a person fits into a community, binding people together in relationships of sharing and obligation.
What are the 3 levels of Kinship
- Moiety
- Totem
- Skin Names
What is Moiety?
Determined by either father or mothers side.. and people who share the Moiety are considered siblings (forbidden to marry) but have a responsibility to support each other as if they were blood related.
What is Totem?
Each person has four Totem’s (personal, clan, national and family) linking person to land, air, water and geographical features. Individuals must protect and preserve their Totem’s for future generations.
What are Skin Names?
Indicates a persons bloodline (similar to that of a surname). It conveys information such as how generations are linked and how they should interact.
Obligation to land for Aboriginal people
For Aboriginal people, ownership of the land means that they have a responsibility to care for it.
The land and all the forms of life are regarded as a sacred trust, to be preserved and passed on in a timeless cycle of mutual dependence.
The area of land for which Aboriginal people have responsibility for is their ritual estate. It is this ritual estate that is ‘my country’ and contains the sites of spiritual significance or ‘sacred sites’.
The impacts of Dispossession of culture on Aboriginal Peoples
The Dispossession put upon Indigenous Australian’s (initiated through a Protection policy) outlined the ‘importance’ of ‘smoothing the pillow of a dying race’. Protection to White Australians meant the segregation and isolation from Kinship groups, and dispersion sacred communities. As a result of this, Indigenous Australian’s were derived of their independence, their culture - their spiritual world. Christian Missionaries established in the hopes of ‘civilising’ half-cast Aboriginal children which inevitably destroyed Aboriginal culture, banished sacred ceremonies and outsider Kin.
What is the Mabo decision, 3rd of June 1992?
The High court ruling that recognised Native Title to land had existed from 1788 and continued to exist despite substantial extinguishment by acts of the government.
What is the Native Title Act, 1st of January 1994?
A legislation which recognised the existence of Aboriginal Native Title in Federal Law.
What is the WIK decision, 1996?
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Examples of early protest?
- 1963 Yirrkala people, The Bark Petition for land to the Commonwealth government.. first traditional documents by Indigenous Australian’s to be recognized by the Australian government
- In 1966 the Bark petition gained momentum as the Gurindji people went on strike (led by Vincent Lingiari) at Wave Hill Pastoral Station to press their claims against the exportation of Aboriginal people’s labour and homeland.
- It was Vincent Lingiari who kicked off the Land rights movement when Gogh Whitlam handed the Gurindji people a portion of their land in 1975.
- in 1972, Tent Embassy occurred on the lawns of Parliament house it highlighted both the claim for land rights and the awful living conditions of most Aboriginal people.
When was the term Land-Rights first used?
Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) 1976.
What is Native Title?
The title given to Indigenous people of that land in which outlines and acknowledges their presence as the first nations people.
The importance of the dreaming for the land rights.
The dreaming is essential for Aboriginal peoples and the expression of their spirituality. It is the basis for all aspects of Indigenous life and the beginning of all creation. Similarly, the land is of great importance to the dreaming as they are inextricably linked.
The land rights movement is built upon the concepts of the dreaming and its importance in recognising Native Title and allowing for proper expression of the Indigenous Dreaming.
