Religion and Belief Systems in Australia post-1945 Flashcards
The Dreaming
A European term that refers to the essence of truth in Aboriginal religious belief which is passed down through generations of Aboriginality
Expressed through the land and people, totems, values and kinship systems
Kinship
A feature of Aboriginal social organisation and family relationships that determines how people relate to each other and their roles, responsibilities and obligations in relation to one another, ceremonial business and land.
In order to function within an Aboriginal society, an individual must have a position within it.
The importance centres on an individual’s position and the role played within the community.
For this reason, it is difficult for Aboriginal people to interact with others outside their communities as there is a lack of order which governs social behaviours
All relationships interlink and overlap and every person is bound to every other person
Ceremonial Life
A Western term which indicates an Aboriginal ceremony, usually in the form of dance.
Ceremonies often centre on retellings of Dreaming stories through singing, dancing, music and mime.
Often an actor is decorated to represent the spirit he or she is portraying.
Initiation Ceremonies (Bora) Held to mark a person’s development and new role in the group E.g. Rite of Passage: A member of the tribe is initiated into adulthood
Obligation to the land and people
The reciprocal relationship between people and the land underpins all aspects in life for Aboriginal people.
This relationship remains fundamental to the identity and way of life of many indigenous people.
Rather than owning the land, each person belongs to a specific piece of land which they are related to through the kinship system
Laws of kinship encourage the growth and maintenance of a complex network by dependence and support that extends beyond family groups.
Dreaming stories also connect each Aboriginal group to the land which they inhabit (custodians)
The protection and custodianship of that land
Dispossession Definition
Refers to the forceful removal of Aboriginal people by European settlers from their land.
Terra Nullius Definition
meaning ‘Land belonging to no one.’: The doctrine that Australia was owned by no one and thus open to European settlement.
Term designed to enable European settlement without compensation for the dispossession of Aboriginal people → Led to an attempted extermination of Aboriginal people (cultural genocide)
Colonization
The establishment of British colonies within Australia.
Removed Aboriginal people from their traditional lands, destroyed their sacred sites and essential resources, disrupted hunting and gathering and killed their means of sustenance
Also introduced foreign diseased such as tuberculosis, measles etc
Colonization institutionalized the systematic exploitation of Aboriginal people
Missionisation
the policy of compelling Aboriginal peoples to reject their own religion and accept Christianity.
Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their mothers and fathers
These families were split up and placed in distant institutions (destroyed kinship + fundamental links to elders who held the knowledge of their spirituality)
Created the Stolen Generations which destroyed the fabric of Aboriginal family and cultural life.
Policies
Assimilation
Self Determination
Assimilation
A policy of absorbing Aboriginal people into white society through the removal of Aboriginal children from their families with the ultimate goal of destroying Aboriginal society.
Policy theoretically worked towards the goal of ‘one nation’
Self Determination
A trend which enabled Aboriginal Australians to determine and control their own businesses.
Led to the development of several government agencies for Aboriginal self - determination including National Aboriginal Council, departments and state offices of Aboriginal affairs.
Government programs for Aboriginals including the Training for Aboriginals Program have been developed.
Self-determination is dictated to Aboriginal people by Australian government policy and practice
Began era of commonwealth control of Aboriginal interests
Separation from the Land
The deliberate act of physically setting Aboriginals apart from white settlement
A deliberate attempt to destroy Aboriginal spirituality and their religious links to the land.
Over time, the connectedness between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the land was broken
The land had an economic value to white settlers which led the government to reclaim reserve land and establish control over the people already living on the reserve
The protectorate system in Australia became a mechanism to physically remove Aboriginal pests from their own land.
Traumatic impact of being separated from the land
Not able to access food on the land
Cultural practices and ceremonies associated with the land could not be carried out
Unable to draw effectively on spiritual power of the Dreaming and the Ancestral Spirits
Restricted in their access to sacred sites
Much tribal lore and law was lost
All aspects of Aboriginal spirituality are intertwined and cannot exist without the other:
Separation from kinship groups
Government policies such as assimilation forcibly removed Aboriginal people from their Kinship groups causing a loss of identity and belonging, not only to their land, but to each other
Policy of self determination created a sense of abandonment which outcast Aboriginal people from their culture but also Western cultures
Health problems such as kidney disease, loss of eyesight, higher suicide rates and rates of incarceration
Stolen Generations
The term applied to Aboriginal children in Australia who were taken from their families and raised to be assimilated into the white community in institutions or through foster care with white families.
PERCEPTION: To protect them from the perceived abuses of the Indigenous communities, to ensure they were given a good education, and to help them assimilate into Western society.
Ongoing effects of the Stolen Generation
Today: Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have lost touch with the specific knowledge and culture of their tribes
Ongoing corrosion of spirituality through restricted access to spiritual truth via elders
Health problems such as kidney disease, loss of eyesight, higher suicide rates and rates of incarceration
Drug and alcohol problems which stem from endured despair
Lack of education opportunities
Problems of housing and access to community services
Land Rights Movement
An ongoing religion-political movement that seeks to secure the inherent rights of Aboriginal people to their land and to ensure the preservation of their religious, spiritual and cultural integrity.
Significant Step: 1967 Referendum: Overwhelming support (over 90%) to allow Aboriginal people to be counted in the census AND to provide the Commonwealth Government with power to make laws regarding Aboriginal peoples.
Native Title Definition
A legal term which recognises the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to the use and occupation of lands with which they have maintained a continuing, traditional connection.
This issue has often been misunderstood and caused sharp divisions among the Australian people.
1976: Fraser government passes the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Aboriginal people could claim unused Crown land.
1985: Aboriginal people were handed ownership of Uluru
1993: Native Title Act was passed Accepted the notion of native title in law and recognised the rights of owners of freehold property. Validated the existence of non-indigenous Australia’s interest in land. Established a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund to enable dispossessed Aboriginal people to acquire land.
Mabo Case
1970’s: Queensland government began to remove the rights of the people of Murray Island in the Torres Strait.
Eddie Mabo took the Queensland government to court (1992) (Eventually repealed in the High Court)
High Court decided in favour of the Meriam people: Recognised the principle of native title (1994)
MPORTANCE : Through accepting the principle of native title, the notion of terra nullius was overturned. Native title to land existed before the arrival of European settlers.
Wik Case
Insecurity of the Native Title Act was dealt with by the Wik decision of 1996.
AIM: So that native title could coexist with the rights of leaseholders.
Led to the 1998 Native Title (Amendment) Act which stated that….
Native title and leasehold rights could coexist, but that, in any conflict of interest, the rights of the leaseholder would come first.
Returned power to state governments who could disregard native title in national interest.
Importance of the Dreaming for the Land Rights movement
Land Rights are essential to Aboriginal spiritualities because the land is the medium through which the Dreaming is communicated.
Dependence on the Dreaming for ceremonial life, kinship and overall cultural preservation, fuelled the Land Rights movement to save the disintegration of Aboriginal Spirituality by restoring the central aspects of religious expression,
The Dreaming provides an eternal link between Ancestral beings by creating kinship bonds and relationships through their association with and bestowal of the land.
Vitality of the Dreaming is enforced through the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976
Allowed Aboriginal people to claim unused Crown land and consequently heal the severance of the link between the land and the Dreaming.
Religion Definition
A complex of beliefs and practices which point to a set of values and an understanding of the meaning of existence
TREND: Movement towards a more secular society
CENSUS DATA
Christianity: Movement away from Christianity: 88.2% (1966) to 52.1% (2016)
Anglicanism: Movement away: 20.7% (2001) to 13.3% (2016)
Catholicism: Movement away: 26.6% (2001) to 22.6% (2016)
Non-Christian Religions: Increase in other religions: 0.7% (1966) to 8.2% (2016)
Islam (2.6%): Growth of 1.1% (2001 - 16)
Buddhism (2.4%): Growth of 0.5% (2001 - 16)
Hinduism (1.9%): Growth of 1.5% (2001 - 16)
Judaism (0.4%): Growth of 0% (2001 - 16)
Non-Religion: Increase in non-religion to the largest single group: 0.8% (1966) to 30.1% (2016)
SUMMARY OF CENSUS DATA
Largest growth occurred in non-religion to become the single largest group at 30.1% of the population
Accelerating trend over decades
Largest decline occurred in Christianity although it remains the most popular religious affiliation with 52.1%
Next most common religions = Islam and Buddhism
Largest growth occurred in Hinduism and Islam.
Slowest growth in Judaism
