POST 1945 - Aboriginal Spirituality

Question 1

What is the dreaming?

Answer 1

It is an Aboriginal belief system which encompasses a holistic approach to their spiritual and social worlds. It is the basis of all aspects of Aboriginal Life

Question 2

How is the dreaming expressed?

Answer 2

• Expressed in rituals, ceremonies, dance, song and art

• Seen through the obligations to care for the land of
their ancestors

• Acted out in the obligations between different
members of the community

Question 3

What is Kinship?

Answer 3

Kinship is a complex network of social relationships which connects members of the clan/nation where each member knows their kin and social position in society.

Question 4

The dreaming communicates the people’s kinship ties by:

Answer 4

• Assigning responsibilities to transmit knowledge of
the dreaming from elders to younger generations

• Providing the basis on which aboriginal society is
structured on

• Defining spiritual and temporal identity to the
Aboriginal people

Question 5

What are totems?

Answer 5

• A totem is the spiritual connection to place.

• Ancestral totems are a symbol of the connection
between Ancestral Beings and their land.

• All Aboriginals are connected to the land through
their totem.

Question 6

What do Aboriginal ceremonies do?

Answer 6

Ceremonies communicate Aboriginal spirituality
• The Dreaming is recognised and admired in
ceremonial life

Question 7

What are 2 types of Aboriginal ceremonies?

Answer 7

1. Balance Rites

2. Death and Burial ceremony

Question 8

What is a Balance Rite?

Answer 8

Balance rites assist in maintaining the balance of the universe.

It assists the proliferation of a particular species, which embody an individual’s ancestral spirit being as they existed in the Dreaming.

Question 9

What are Death and Burial Rites

Answer 9

• Death is not the end of life but the last ceremony in
the present life –> spirits return to the Dreaming
places they had come from

• All attachment is removed so the spirit can return to
the country it came from –> no name said,
possessions and shelters destroyed

• Burial customs vary widely

Question 10

How is the dreaming connected to the land?

Answer 10

• The land is the context of the Dreaming stories, a
constant around which their spiritual world revolved.

• The land is the physical medium through which the
dreaming is lived out

• Land provides the foundation for Aboriginal beliefs,
traditions, rituals and laws

Question 11

What is disposession?

Answer 11

The action of depriving someone of possessions (including property and land)

–> The forced removal of Indigenous Australians from
the land

Question 12

What are the 3 sections of dispossession?

Answer 12

1. Period of non-recognition
2. Period of protectionism
3. Period of assimilation

Question 13

What was the period of Non-recognition?

Answer 13

• The settlement of Europeans in Australia marked the
commencement of dispossession

• Characterised by the proclamation of terra nullius

• Aborigninals were removed from their land for
cultivation
–> Not official government policy; removal of Aboriginals
from land was sporadic

• Darwinism suggested that complete eradication of
the Aboriginal race by natural selection was
imminent

• The introduction of terminal European diseases,
shootings, poisonings, massacres

Question 14

What was the impact of Non-recognition?

Answer 14

Non-recognition led to the mass eradication of the Aboriginal race, such that it was near extinction by the mid to late 1880s

Question 15

What was the period of Protectionism?

Answer 15

• Characterised by paternalism

• Large-scale organisational dispossession began in
the mid-1880s

• Aimed to remove Aboriginal people from unsuitable
environments (reserves or mission station)

• Believed that the policy assisted the development of
the race –> aiming to ‘save the race from extinction’
and ‘civilise’ them

Question 16

What was the impact of Protectionism?

Answer 16

IMPACT:
• Led to the removal of Aboriginal children from their
families
• Impacted kinship and individual morality, ethicality
and identity
• Inability to learn about the nature and implications of
the Dreaming
• Loss of Aboriginal cultural identity
–> Suppression of the kinship system, totems and
ceremonial rituals

Question 17

What was the period of Assimilation?

Answer 17

• Period of assimilation commenced in the early to mid-
1900s

• Characterised by the removal of Aboriginal children
from their parents

• To assimilate children into mainstream white society
–> Aboriginals prohibited to engage in traditional
cultural practices, including language, rituals,
stories, dress, food

• Intended to sever Aboriginal children from their cultural
identity
• Intended to eradicate Aboriginal culture

Question 18

What was the impact of Assimilation?

Answer 18

• Stoped the Elders teaching children their knowledge of the Dreaming

• English language prevented the transfer of traditional
beliefs

• Burdened by being unable to fulfil ritual
responsibilities (e.g. protection of totems)

Question 19

What is Paternalism?

Answer 19

The policy or practice that limits a person’s or group’s liberty or autonomy and is intended to promote their own good

Question 20

What is the continual effect of dispossession?

Answer 20

1. Seperation from the land
2. Seperation from kinship groups
3. The Stolen Generations

Question 21

What was the land rights movement?

Answer 21

A series of government decisions in response to land claims which explored the right of Aboriginal peoples who had maintained continual contact with their traditional lands for hundreds of years before settlement

Question 22

What is Native Title?

Answer 22

The communal or individual rights or interests of Aboriginals in relation to traditional land and water

Question 23

What is the Native Title Act, 1993

Answer 23

• The Native Title Act 1993 is the legislation that recognised the existence of Aboriginal native title in Australian federal law and the native title rights of Aboriginal people
• It validated the existence of non-Indigenous interest in land such as freehold leases and other grants and licenses

Question 24

What did the Native Title Act, 1993 allow?

Answer 24

• The act allows Aboriginal people to claim ownership of traditional land under ‘Native Title’ with proof.
• To claim Native Title:

1. Land must not be owned by anyone else
2. Aboriginal people must show a traditional and ongoing connection with the land since 1788

Question 25

What was the Mabo Case/Movement?

Answer 25

• A court battle ledd by Eddie Mabo against the high court of Australia in 1992

Question 26

What did the Mabo Case do?

Answer 26

• It overthrew the legal fiction terra nullius, acknowledging that Australia was occupied by Aboriginal people in 1788 when British settlement took place.

Question 27

What was the Wik case/movement?

Answer 27

• In 1996, The Wik people argued that pastoral leases granted over their area of claim didn’t extinguish their Native Title rights
• The High Court of Australia decided that native title rights could co-exist with the rights of pastoralists.

Question 28

What did the Wik Case do?

Answer 28

• Lead to an amendment to the Native Title Act in 1998
• Abolished the right of Native Title claimants to negotiate with the government for land that the government wished to acquire
• Empowered states and territories to legislate their own native title regimes

Question 29

What is the Importance of the Dreaming for the Land Rights Movement?

Answer 29

• The Dreaming is fundamental as it makes land rights and Native Title possible
• The existence of Dreaming sites and knowledge forms the basis of land claims under land rights laws
• Demonstration of an ongoing spiritual affiliation with the land is the required proof of entitlement
• Stories, songs, dances and sacred objects relating to the dreaming constitute the ‘evidence’

• Land is at the heart of the Dreaming and all relationships within Aboriginal communities are determined through relationships with the land.
• The declaration of terra nullius made by the white settlers denied foundational principles of the Aboriginal belief systems
 The inextricable connection to the land
 Daily life, Rituals and Ceremonies reflect and revolve around the land and are dependent upon it to be whole, without it these practices cannot be observed

• Land Rights provided a means of returning to land, find their spirit and reconnect with the Dreaming in a tangible way
• Resolving land rights has enabled aspects of spirituality- sacred sites, art, totems

Question 30

What is the Importance of the Dreaming for the Land Rights Movement?

Answer 30

• Land is at the heart of the Dreaming and all
relationships within Aboriginal communities are
determined through relationships with the land.

• The declaration of terra nullius made by the white
settlers denied foundational principles of the
Aboriginal belief systems

• Land Rights provided a means of returning to land,
find their spirit and reconnect with the Dreaming in a
tangible way