Although Cook described the Australian Aboriginal people with obvious sympathy, the first European settlers who arrived in Australia in the late 18th century viewed them as savages, victims of divine curse, harmless naive individuals who provoked laughter, and some even saw them as embodiments of everything morally unacceptable. Later explorers described them as anthropological remnants of the Stone Age because they had no writing system and lived at the level of hunters and gatherers. They were considered a biological curiosity because they lived naked and barefoot under the Australian open sky, where daily temperatures oscillate between 0-40°C, and as “noble savages” practically incapable of fitting into cultural life and unable to lead a “responsible and purposeful life”.
The absence of recognizable material evidence of civilization achievements among the Aboriginal people led Europeans down the wrong path, and therefore the stance of most early researchers was stubbornly dismissive. It was believed that the indigenous people possessed any form of religion and culture. In a note from a missionary from the mid-19th century it is written: “The Aborigines do not have priests, altars or sacrifices, nor do they have religious services; their superstitious rituals can hardly be marked as God’s service…” The missionaries were convinced that the Aborigines wandered in darkness and that they brought them the light of truth.
Such attitudes of Europeans were primarily a result of their lack of knowledge about this distant culture and the misconception of the cultural superiority of the white man. The understanding that the Aborigines have a living tradition and a strong spiritual life came gradually. Today it is considered that the tradition of the Australian indigenous people is the longest uninterrupted tradition on the Earth. According to some estimates, it is believed to be between 65,000 and 150,000 years old, while an elder of one tribe tells: “They say we have been here for sixty thousand years, but we have been here much longer. We have been here since before the beginning of time. We came straight from the Dreamtime of our creation ancestors. We have lived and maintained…” “The land as it was on the first day…”
Aboriginal World
The tradition of the Aboriginal people can be described as primitive, meaning that its origins are ancient and cannot be connected to any specific historical time, place, personality, event, or sacred text. Like all archaic traditions, there is no distinction between religion and culture in Aboriginal culture, they form an inseparable unity. Its main characteristic is a strong connection to the natural world and a belief in spiritual forces that fill the world, which is expressed through the unique relationship of the Aboriginal people with the entire cosmos.
The Aboriginal tradition is based on the memory of the Beginning, or the so-called “Dreamtime,” when gods and mythical ancestors created and organized the world, and passed on the foundations of culture to humans. They believe that the world was created to perfection according to the power, wisdom, and intention of mythical ancestors, and their task is to maintain it in its primordial state, as it was in the beginning, which is why material progress is considered to be unimportant. They considered it completely insignificant.
From this focus on mythical sources, patterns of everyday life and an extremely spiritual value system emerged, remaining unchanged for 150,000 years.
Their mythical stories, which have been orally transmitted from generation to generation since the Dreamtime, may seem simple and naive at first glance, like children’s stories. However, to truly understand them, a good knowledge of Aboriginal tradition is necessary as they are laden with complex symbolism.
Aboriginal spirituality was primarily expressed through rituals and ceremonies, as well as through art that conveys the most complex metaphysical ideas and spiritual messages with a rich symbolic vocabulary.
Through their rich symbolic vocabulary, Aboriginal art conveys the most complex metaphysical ideas and spiritual messages.
Dreamtime
The key concept of Aboriginal tradition, “Dreamtime,” or “Dreaming,” was coined by anthropologists B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, who traveled through the Australian interior in the second half of the 19th century studying the life of indigenous people and their customs. Namely, there are no words in contemporary European languages that express the omnipresent phenomena that different tribes across Australia have different names for: altjira, dzjugur, wongar, lalan, bugari, etc. Most likely, the coins accurately describe what they represent, as the Aboriginal people themselves later adopted them, although in some parts of Australia, instead of “Dreamtime,” the indigenous people use the translation “Story.” The Arunta tribe from central Australia say “altyerre ileme” which means “to tell a story,” and that term also means “dream.”
Although “Dreamtime” and “Dreaming” have become rooted in the designation of different, but interconnected meanings related to Aboriginal spirituality, these concepts are vague, partly due to the archaic worldview they belong to, and partly because dreaming is often associated with something unreal in European languages. Arno. No, Aboriginal “dreamtime” is not a fantasy or an illusion, but a profound spiritual reality.
From a very young age, children are taught to read tracks so that when they reach maturity, they can differentiate the tracks of 200-300 tribe members.
Dreaming is the action of the supreme being and mythical ancestors through which they brought the world as we know it into existence from the “dreamtime”. Aboriginal people say that everything was created from one original source. The creative force that created the world is called by different names: Baiame, Bunjil, Daramulan, Nurelli, Mangela, Wandjina. This force is anthropomorphic, male, creative, resides in the sky, and has a paternal relationship with all creation, which could best be translated as “All-Father”. This deity is unchanging and eternal, existing before all things. Interestingly, in some parts of Australia, this creative force carries female attributes and is called “All-Mother”.
The ceremony of the sacred pole, Arunta tribe, central Australia. The pole symbolizes the invisible thread by which the initiated ascends to the heavens. I would like to experience the mystery of the Dreamtime.
The stories from the Dreamtime mainly tell about mythical ancestors: how they traveled, hunted, gathered fruits, fought, set up camps, entertained themselves, and through all these activities shaped the original void into topographical features: mountains, valleys, rivers, gorges, natural elements. The mythical ancestors had animal and human forms and were able to transform from one form to another. The ancestors also created the Moon, Sun, stars, animals, and humans… When the world took its final shape and became filled with different forms of life, which were different transformations of creative forces, the ancestors established laws and eventually withdrew into the earth, the sky, the clouds, the created beings, and thus their spiritual power remained interwoven in everything that was created. That is why for the Aboriginal people, all of nature is inspired, everything pulsates, every thing is alive and important, and magic is hidden in everything.
For the Aboriginal people, every form of life, whether it is light, rock, or tree. whole thing has its external, visible form and an unseen, internal aspect that dreams and continues to dream the Dream once started… There is a strong connection between the visible and the invisible realm, as well as between the actual and the potential: through dreaming, the invisible potentials become visible. Nothing in the world exists separate from the rest of creation, nor is anything left to chance in this intricately woven web. Beneath the seemingly separate appearances in the visible world, yuti, lies a network of connections and interrelationships laid down by the mythical ancestors and infused with their dreaming.
The wooden vessels used by the Aborigines: the large one for carrying food and water, ngunma, and the smaller one used for digging, wira. Wooden vessels like these, along with bags woven from grass, are the only containers used by Australian indigenous people. They never made earthenware vessels, nor do they know ways of preserving food because they enjoy freshly gathered fruits.
Imprints of mythical ancestors
For the Aborigines, Australian The continent is crisscrossed with traces of divine ancestors: places they traveled, where they stopped and stayed, are dedicated to their presence and create a sacred map of Australia. The journeys of the ancestors have been preserved through rituals, stories, songs, and art. The majority of their sacred art aimed to preserve the tribal knowledge of the mythic landscape, as for the Aboriginal people, knowing the land means knowing how a certain place came into being.
Unlike perhaps any other culture, the land is a symbol and memory of the primordial Dreamtime for the Aboriginal people. Every formation on the land hints at hidden meaning and significance through its shape, as the landscapes are imprints left by the spiritual forces of the ancestors who created it. Mircea Eliade says, “For the religious person, nature is never solely natural; it always has a certain religious value. This is understandable because the Cosmos is a divine creation; as it emerged from the hands of the gods, the world forever remains imbued with sacredness. The gods are manifested in every aspect of the natural world.” “But different modalities of the sacred in the very structure of the world and cosmic phenomena.”
“For Aborigines, scars and marks on the body emphasize beauty because they reveal inner strength, courage, and resilience.”
“The manifest world is the dream of the great ancestors, but for Aborigines, neither the dream nor reality are illusions, but together they constitute a real whole. The task of the Aborigines is to respect this Dream, so that their actions and customs reflect the intentions of the creative ancestors.”
“Like their ancient ancestors, Aborigines have been traveling through their vast land for millennia, and they maintain a connection to the Dreamtime, or their spiritual roots, through constantly present music and dance ceremonies, rituals, and initiations. The rituals enable repeated entry into the Dreamtime, and through symbolic re-enactment of the actions of mythical beings, Aborigines revive the primordial holiness and thus renew the world.”
“The keepers of Aboriginal tradition are karadjis, ‘wise people’ or shamans, who serve as bridges between the spiritual and earthly world.” a. In addition to healing and defending the tribe against “black” magic, their role is to preserve the mythological and ceremonial heritage.
Before the arrival of European conquerors, who marked the beginning of the end of this archaic culture, there were approximately 300,000 indigenous people in Australia according to British sources, while according to Aboriginals, there were around one and a half million, speaking over 650 completely different languages among themselves. Today, there are about 60,000 of them in the Australian bush, mostly living a traditional lifestyle, while around 140,000 have embraced Western way of life, living either in rural or urban areas.
The traditional culture of the Aboriginals, which emerged from the Dreamtime, contains a deeply collective memory of humanity’s origins. To a person of modern culture, who frantically tries to fill the inner void with material progress, this culture stands as a reminder of the values we have neglected and forgotten. In comparison to their rich spirituality, ours is poor and barbaric in contrast. Aboriginals see us whites as People say they have “lost their dreams”. It is time to revive them and dream again.
How the Flinders Ranges in South Australia Came to Be
Once upon a time, the land was flat, there were no mountains. There was a male kangaroo called Urdlu and a male wallaby called Mandya who lived together in Puthadamathanhi and traveled the same land together. One of their favorite foods was the wild pear root, which they named ngarndi wari.
An Indigenous bark painting from the Oenpelli tribe in the Arnhem Land depicts two kangaroos holding hands. Aboriginal people believe that through ceremonies, they maintain the spirit of the land gentle and noble, just like kangaroos.
Urdlu said to Mandya, “There is something good in the bag over there. You can take it.”
While eating, Mandya said, “This is really good food! Where did you find it?”
Urdlu replied, waving his hand, “Oh, over there, far away.”
Then the two of them went to sleep. In the morning, Urdlu woke up first, He set off to find drinking water. While searching for water, Mandya got up and went in search of the hole where Urdlu dug his food. He found Urdlu’s tracks and followed them until he reached his hole. When he found it, he dug up a large pile of dirt. Satisfied, he got so carried away that he kept digging and eating without looking up.
Meanwhile, Urdlu returned with water. “Where has Mandya disappeared to? … I know! He went to my hole!” He went after Mandya. His fresh tracks led straight to his hole. As he approached, he saw that Mandya had dug up the soil.
When Urdlu reached the hole, Mandya, busy digging, didn’t even notice that Urdlu was there. He was digging furiously. Urdlu shouted, “Why did you come to my hole?” Mandya said he was dying of hunger and that Urdlu was so dishonest that he wouldn’t tell him where to find food. Mandya continued to eat freely, which greatly angered Urdlu. A fierce fight broke out over the food. Mandya stretched out Urdlu’s arms and everything. He stretched him. Uke stretched his fingers, stretched his legs, and they became very elongated.
Then Urdlu squeezed Mandy’s fingers and legs; he squeezed his back, his chest, and threw him away. Then they separated. Injured, Mandy dragged himself to Vadaardlanha to spend the night. As he lay there trying to fall asleep, he began to feel pain in his side. In fact, he had a wound. He reached down and pulled out a pebble from the wound. He blew on the stone, and at that moment hills emerged from the plains. Moreover, several mountain ranges were formed. The more Mandy blew, the more hills were created.
Meanwhile, Urdlu headed towards Varaarti (Baratta). As he walked, he pushed a large plain in front of him. He stretched along the plain and when he looked back and saw the hills merging into the plain, he said, “Hey! What is my friend doing? If he continues like this, I won’t have a place to live!” Urdlu then struck the chain with a mighty swing of his tail to where it is today. You can see where it happened, north of Vardna-wartathinha; on this very spot. On the wide plain, there is never any grass.
This is called Urdlurunha-vitana, which means “kangaroo plain”. Urdlu then created Munda (Lake Frome) to have a constant source of water, but Mandya was so jealous that he added salt to the water. To this day, kangaroos do not drink water from this lake because it is salty. Mandya was up in the hills behind Vadaardlanhe, from where he looked back and said, “Look at how my friend moved that massive plain!” And as he looked back, he turned into a ghost. He is called thudupinha and can still be seen sitting there. The earth below him is red because he bled after a great battle with Urdlu. This place is called Mandya Arti, which means “Mandya’s blood”.