Aboriginal spirituality holds an interest for many people. Aboriginal religion or spirituality is the Dreaming, the spirit of the Land. This page introduces the subject and offers further suggested reading on the Dreaming and associated literature on the subject of spirituality.

"We walk together on sacred ground. Black feet, white feet, footprints soft upon the land. The Tjukurpa (the Pitjantjatjara word for Dreaming) moves beneath our feet. The landscape is alive."

- Anon

The Beginning of Time
At the beginning of time, or at least at the beginning of the time of the Dreaming ancestors, the world was largely unformed. It is important to make this qualification. All things stated here are illustrative rather than purporting to be the whole story, for there are many stories. Apart from the Ancestral beings dreaming narratives occassionally make mention of other people, raising the possibility of another previous epoch of dreams.

Dreaming as Knowledge
In the featureless landscape, Ancestors, the progenitors of life, came from the earth below to create species, landscapes, rivers, lakes and water holes and the night sky above. Or at least modify what already existed. The stars depending on the regional culture are explained as the campfires of these ancestral beings or constellations of stars may be regarded as particular ancestral beings or objects belonging to these beings. Such a detailed knowledge of the night sky also provides highly detailed navigational information indicating some of the many aspects of dreaming as knowledge.

Kinship
The world is constant proof of their existence and the narratives of this past world provide the map of the country and the law of the land. Kinship relations and relations between people and nature re-enact the dreaming. In most stories kinship, the rules governing relations between people are set out. Although they are interesting narratives in their own right with fully developed characters they also operate as metaphors about the human condition, of law and of social obligation. Characters can also be understood as personifications of good or evil and even represent the seasons.

Ngurunderi of the Murray River and lakes
The story of Ngurunderi contains many of these elements. He is perhaps the most important dreaming ancestor of the Murray River and lakes. He travels many hundreds of kilometres from the upper reaches of the river to the coast lakes, along the beaches westwards and finally to Kangaroo Island in South Australia, a place between this world and the world of dreams.

The Murray River in its path across much of south east Australia journeys through many different cultures. The narrative of his journey is thus enormous and river cultures far distant from each other may not necessarily know the details of all that happened in this odyssey. It is only one dreaming of so many that interlace the continent. That one story represents many volumes of text. Following is a small excerpt from this story. For more detail, please visit our shop:

The creation of the Murray River and lakes:
Ngurunderi in search of his wives

Making the bends of the river
Ngurunderi followed the great Murray Cod down the river, poling his canoe. The sound of the canoe pole frightened the Cod and as a result it swished its tail, making the bends of the river; wash of the water went over its banks, forming swamps....

Making the fish
Ngurunderi's brother-in-law , Nepeli, speared the Cod. "... When Ngurunderi arrived, he took up his stone knife and began cutting the fish into pieces. One piece he held up and, as he threw it into the Lake, he called, 'You boney bream!' Another, 'You catfish! Yet another, 'You, mud fish', So he cut all the pieces, throwing them into the water, making the fish.

Making the birds
..." He went, poling his canoe to Kranakung (near Wellington) and landed ...he saw people. They were frightened of him and hid in the lignum bushes,... Ngurunderi spoke and all of a sudden they turned into birds. All of those birds are now in the lignum bushes.

Making the Milkyway
Carrying his canoe, he walked back to Lalanganggel and sat there resting. When he smelt fish cooking. His two wives were there. ...When he smelt that fish (which was taboo), he knew who was there, so he lifted up his canoe and put it in the sky. It is there now, said Karloan, We see that canoe and call it Ngurunderi's canoe (the Milky Way)...

Ronald Berndt and Catherine Berndt. "A World that was, the Yaraldi of the Murray River and the lakes", MUP 1993, pp223-224

Metaphors of the Human Condition
In the Yaraldi story above some of the elements that make the Dreaming complex are intimated. On the one hand there is the act of creation but within that is also information about Aboriginal law and the many characters of these stories also indicate metaphors of the human condition. It has many names and many translations and interpretations.

A big concept expressed in a single word, one that many books have been written about. It is especially difficult for Western people to understand given that the notions of the sacred and the spiritual are so tied to places that have been constructed on the land whereas Aboriginal land is sacred over all. The landscape is alive with the sacra of the spirit world.

Finding Balance
Many Dreaming stories are deceptively simple. As Mandawuy Yunupingu of the internationally famous rock band, Yothu Yindi, says:

"Often we Yolngu talk of natural processes or the everyday practices as fundamental to Yolngu life. But you should not think that this means that it is only practical things that matter in Aboriginal life. we are talking about natural processes but meaning at another level."

Mandawuy Yunupingu "Yothu Yindi: finding balance in Race and Class", volume 35 number 4, p.118

He tells a story about the production of bread from the cycad tree, the making of ngathu (bread). The collection of the big red and yellow nuts begins a process involving many people.

The nuts containing poison have to be carefully prepared and this needs knowledgable people to take care of the process. At the end there is much bread for many people.

As he concludes "I am telling you this because I think the ngathu analogy can serve as an inspiration for the work ahead of all of us as Australians."

Interest of the International community
The contemporary international community finds the Dreaming of great relevance, adding as it does, to our store of knowledge about the relationship between people, other species and the planet. Aboriginal religion is a land based spiritual belief system that has a proven ability to guide, sustain and satisfy the material and non-material needs of a society for tens of thousands of years. It is the oldest belief system on the planet.

A new spirituality for all Australians?
There is growing interest from mainstream religions to understand the power and relevance of the religion. In Australia considerable interest exists in how the Dreaming can aid the process of re-defining national identity; a country where the land is of such central importance. More importantly following the Yothu Yindi concept of balance spirituality is also about broader knowledge.

Spirituality and Indigenous knowledge
Aboriginal Knowledge is knowledge directly read from the landscape and living environment of Australia. Through this way of knowing, the Dreaming, the country and relations between people, species and both the terrestrial and celestial landscapes are explained. Life in the dreaming commences with narratives of birth of the planet, struggle, conflict and other human frailties. These stories also introduce ways to attain harmony through the process and value placed on nurturing, balance and collaboration. Apart from the literature and the art there is also the opportunity to visit, make friendships and learn from the experts, Aboriginal people themselves in the country of their Dreaming.

A Course in Aboriginal Spirituality
A course in Aboriginal spirituality and knowledge is available through Desert Tracks and the Spirit of the Land foundation. Amongst other activities one of greatest travel opportunities is to undertake an educational camp within Dreaming country. Participants are able to stay in the Mann Ranges, a most beautiful and sacred place not so far from Uluru (Ayer's Rock). At Angatja, small groups of people are looked after and have the opportunity to experience the pleasure and illumination contained in the fusion of religion with daily cultural practice. Please visit the Spirit of the Land - Desert Tracks page for more information.

Recommended reading available in the shop

‘Winin: Why the emu cannot fly’ by Charles, M.
A traditional story about foolishness and jealousy told by the most senior language speaker of the Nyul Nyul people. Delightfully illustrated by Francine Ngardarb Riches, a Bardi woman who also grew up on the Dampier Peninsula.

‘Yarrtji: Six women’s stories from the Great Sandy Desert’ by Napanangka, T. Napangarti, M. et al.
This super book is filled with life stories inter-woven with more than 700 photographs and reproductions. It forms a journey with these women sharing their country and culture. They are all storytellers, dancers, singers, healers and artists.

‘Aboriginal Gift: Spirituality for a Nation’ by Stockton, E.
Despite loss of land, language, law, ceremony and social structure, Aboriginal spirituality has persisted into modern times as a core of values, attitudes and practices.

‘Paperbark: A collection of Black Australian Writings’ by Davis, J. Muecke, S. Mudrooroo and Shoemaker, A.
This is the first collection to span the diverse range of black Australian writing prose, poetry, song, drama and polemic. Thirty six Aboriginal and Islander authors are represented including David Unaipon, Gery Bostock and Ruby Langford.

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