Locke, Morality, and God

Australian

Aboriginal

Beliefs

By:

Chris Cochran

Fall 2004, PHI3033

Professor:

Dr. Hawkins

This paper will be a discourse on Australian Aboriginal beliefs, their history, common practices of the past and present, and the impact of European settlers. I will start off by talking a little bit about where they came from and one of their methods for hunting. Then I will discuss how their beliefs and practices have been handed down by songlines and dreamtime over the generations. Finally, I will show what kind of impact the European settlers have had on the Aborigines and their culture.

Australia is considered to have two indigenous people, the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders. No one knows exactly when the Aborigines came to Australia. Some of the estimates go back to over 150,000 years ago, but the generally accepted migration of the Aborigines is said to have occurred around 50,000 years ago[1] when they migrated over the land bridge connecting Southeast Asia to Australia. This makes them one of the oldest and longest surviving cultures in the world. The Torres Strait Islanders migrated from Papua New Guinea sometime after the Aborigines, but no one knows for sure when the actual migration took place.

The aborigines were hunter-gathers and one hunting technique they found useful was called “Firestick Farming“.[2] This entailed the burning of large areas to let fresh grazing grasses grow. These grasses attracted large game animals, such as the kangaroo, for easy hunting. One important thing to point out here is that the Aborigines did not go around burning huge quantities of land. They only burned small areas at a time and killed only what they needed to survive. This ensured that there would be more food available to hunt in the future.

Because they were hunter-gatherers, they liked to explore and go on "walkabouts“, where they would just walk all over and explore the land. During these walkabouts, the Aboriginals would connect with the land spiritually. They viewed the land as sacred and their journeys became a dream journey. Part of their teaching methods included passing along the stories of their walkabouts to the younger generation.

They would recount their walkabouts in songs, also known as “songlines”, these songs depicted their journey through sacred pathways and would convey a spiritual message. Not only would they convey a spiritual message, but the songs would also give vital geographic and survival information, such as which route to take and where to find watering holes.

As I stated earlier, the Aborigines viewed the land as sacred and their journeys became a dream journey, “The Dream Journey is the Aboriginal path to spiritual renewal because the people and the land are inseparable. These are a people in deep harmony with nature.”[3] Aboriginal spirituality and beliefs are centered on and around creation stories. These stories are recounted during their Dreamtime ceremonies and through oral traditions. The stories tech how their ancestors left their mark on the land and are manifested in particular sacred sites all over Australia.

“The expression 'Dreamtime' is most often used to refer to the 'time before time', or 'the time of the creation of all things', while 'Dreaming' is often used to refer to an individual's or group's set of beliefs or spirituality.”[4] The group or tribe would be called together, sometimes with the use of the yidaki (also known as the didjeridu), and tell great stories of how everything was created in a ceremonial performance. These ceremonial performances passed on the laws and beliefs of and individual tribe and increased creative energy within the world and would also confer upon the people their specific totem for the area they were in.

“Totemism", was and still is a very central part of their belief system. They identified with plants, animals, and anything they considered natural phenomena. They believed that they could influence and manipulate these totems by performing an “increase” ceremony conducted by fully initiated men in their tribe. These ceremonies insured the survival of their tribe and were a sacred part of their ritual life. At birth, each Aborigine is presented with a totem, also called “Dreamings”, by their grandfather. As they get older, they are taught the "Dreaming" dance associated with their totem. While performing the Dreaming dance they spiritually connect with the land and bring the power of the Dreaming to life.

Through the last 50,000 years or so, the Aboriginal beliefs and practices have gone through many changes, but none more so than after the first Europeans came to Australia. In 1770, Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay and was the first European to set foot in this new land. Eight years later, in 1778, the first European settlers and over 700 convicts arrived in Australia, led by Captain Arthur Phillip.[5] Since then, there have been a lot of changes. Europeans viewed the Aborigines as nomads with no real central ties to the land and forced their way into areas that were sacred to the Aborigines. The Aborigines were no match for the Europeans and gave in to them. The Europeans took over and it wasn’t until the Aborigine Referendum[6] was passed in 1967 that the Aboriginal people even had a right to vote in the government that controlled their land. The following was excerpted from section 20.3.30 of the “NATIONAL REPORT VOLUME 2 - VOTING AND CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS”:

Colonial takeover denied Aboriginal people the right to live by their own rules, to decide on their own policies. They were denied the freedom to run their own economic and family life. They were also denied the right to own land, to earn a secure living as farmers, merchants, or in the labour market at their own discretion, to earn a family wage, to receive welfare benefits, to live where they pleased. Under various policies their private, reproductive lives were under scrutiny by government and missionary officials. They could not necessarily marry the person they chose, fraternise with people of their choice, speak to people of a certain colour skin, live in a particular street or on a particular reserve.[7]

Eventually the Aborigines gained back a lot of the land that was taken from them and now have a say in what goes on in the government of Australia.

In conclusion, I have shown some Aboriginal beliefs, given an insight to some of their history and common practices of the past and present, and what the impact of European settlers had on the Aborigines and their culture. Though, the true impact of the Europeans settlers may never be fully realized, at least the aborigines have survived and are reclaiming their heritage.