Yr 12 Aboriginal Spiritualities

Question 1

The Dreaming - fundamental

Answer 1

The Dreaming is fundamental to Aboriginal cultures and societies because it explains the continual Indigenous connections to the earth, their people and the unseen spirit world

Question 2

Kinship (x4)

Answer 2

• Kinship refers to:
  
  • A large extended family where people are related
    through a complex web of Dreaming.
  • A system of classes or skins dictating relationships, roles and responsibilities
• It must be strictly followed (law) e.g. one cannot marry into one’s own skin group
• They have a reciprocal nature- rights and obligations, giving and receiving
• Totems unify clans and create a connection

Question 3

Ceremonial Life (x4)

Answer 3

• Ceremonies reaffirm the Dreaming.
• Ceremonies allow Aboriginals to become the embodiment of their Spirit Ancestors through stories, ritual and dance
• Ceremonies allow for the upholding of law and remembrance of Dreaming events
• Ceremonies mark ritual significance in Aboriginals’ lives e.g. death, initiation

Question 4

Obligations to the Land and People + Land is (x5)

Answer 4

• Land is inextricably linked to the Dreaming
• Land and people are part of a symbiotic relationship.
• Aboriginal People always see themselves as custodians of the land with rights and obligations.

Land is:
- The physical link through which the Dreaming is communicated (ceremonies, sites, totems).

• Dwelling place for Ancestral Beings.

Question 5

Obligations to the Land and People - what does kinship define? (x2)

Answer 5

• Where a person fits in to the community, binding people together in relationships of sharing and obligation to one another and the land.
• Roles and responsibilities within the community, e.g. it sets out obligations for raising and educating children as well as establishing the role of elders to pass down knowledge and stories.

Question 6

Implications of separation from the Land (x4)

Answer 6

• Aboriginals unable to travel along song lines
• Dreaming stories could not be told on location
• Loss of access to land meant they lost connection with ancestor spirits, totems and sacred sites
• Lost connection with ancestral birthplace

Question 7

Implications of separation from kinship groups (x3)

Answer 7

• Removed the sense of belonging to a community
• Broke up families
• Many losses

Question 8

The Stolen Generations (x3)

Answer 8

• This refers to those impacted by policies and legislation throughout the 21st century that removes them from their land and kinship groups
• Policies include assimilation, protectionism, self-determination
• Dispossession can be seen to contribute to incarceration rates, alcohol and drug abuse of those affected.

Question 9

Dispossession

Answer 9

The removal of Aboriginals from their land and kinship groups.

Question 10

Examples of separation from the land (x2)

Answer 10

• Loss of access to sacred site of the Waumunga people for women’s rituals of the Munga Munga Dreaming.
• Birripi Tribe could not care for their totem of the Shark

Question 11

Losses due to separation from kinship groups (qualities) (x6)

Answer 11

• Purpose and responsibility for individuals
• Laws on social behaviour
• Identity and totems
• Language specific to a kinship group
• Oral tradition of handing down and preserving the Dreaming
• Dreaming stories - absence of beliefs and loss of spiritual identity and connection with the Dreaming

Question 12

Example of a loss due to separation of kinship groups

Answer 12

Dreaming stories could no longer be passed down by elders to future generations

Question 13

Loss as a result of the Stolen Generation (x3)

Answer 13

• Aboriginals suffered a great sense of loss and separation from their cultural, spiritual and ancestral roots
• Policies denied access to spiritual inheritance and connections to family
• Broken off from oral transmission of dreaming stories, kinship systems, links to totems/ancestor spirits, language

Question 14

Native Title Act (x3)

Answer 14

• Put in place in 1993
• A term which recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people to the use and occupation of land
• Aboriginal people who can prove that they have had continued connection with the land and subject to that land not being alienated, may lodge a native title claim

Question 15

Mabo (x3)

Answer 15

• Overturned Terra Nullius and helped to remove the notion of Terra Nullius and return land rights to Indigenous Australians
• 20 May 1982, Mabo and others began their legal claim for ownership of their lands on the island of Mer in the Torres Strait
• By 1992, the judges held that British possession had not eliminated their title and that the people are entitled to possession occupation use and enjoyment of the lands of the Murray Islands

Question 16

Wik (x3)

Answer 16

• 1996 Wik vs Queensland determined that since condition on pastoral leases vary, each lease must be judged on its own merits
• Established that purchased leases and native title should coexist, however in the cast of disputes, pastoral leases would win favour
• John Howard proposed a 10 point plan to make Native Title workable - one of these included the reinstation placed on Aboriginal people to negotiate. This led to the Native Title Amendment Act (1998)

Question 17

Land Rights Movement Def

Answer 17

The movement which seeks to secure land rights for Aboriginal people so that their spiritual and cultural heritage is secure

Question 18

Analyse the importance of the Dreaming for the Land Rights Movement (x3)

Answer 18

• The declaration made by white settlers that Australia was terra nullius denied these foundational principles of aboriginal belief systems
• The land rights movement recognised the deep connection for the Dreaming and the Land
• The key decisions – Mabo, Wik and the native title act – clarified the Australia government’s response to land claims, and explored the rights of Aboriginal peoples who had maintained continual contact with their traditional land

Question 19

Importance of the Land for the Dreaming (x3)

Answer 19

• The ancestor spirits gave Aboriginals rights, obligations and responsibilities to care for the land and use it in the expression of spirituality
• Sacred places are critical for Aboriginal peoples’ ceremonial life
• The land is the home of totems, sacred objects and the spirits of the ancestors