studies of religion hsc course foundation study one aboriginal belief systems and spirituality

STUDIES OF RELIGIONSTUDIES OF RELIGION

HSC Course HSC Course

Foundation Study OneFoundation Study One

Aboriginal belief Aboriginal belief systems and systems and spiritualityspirituality

Aboriginal belief Aboriginal belief systems and systems and spiritualityspirituality

The opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games acknowledged the significance of our ancient land's Indigenous culture.

Recognition of Aboriginal belief systems is growing and there is also today an

increased understanding of issues relevant to Indigenous spirituality .

(page 1Macquarie Revision Guide, 2003)

HSC COURSE - FOUNDATION STUDY 1

ABORIGINAL BELIEF SYSTEMS & SPIRITUALITY.

Students learn about:

1. THE NATURE OF ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY

• The Dreaming as being fundamental to Aboriginal cultures & societies.

• Aboriginal spirituality and its inextricable connection to the land.

• The diversity of expression of Aboriginal belief systems and spirituality today.

• The integration of Christianity and Aboriginal belief systems by many Aboriginal people.




2. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ABORIGINAL

BELIEF SYSTEMS & NON-ABORIGINAL BELIEF SYSTEMS• The impact of European colonisation on Aboriginal belief

systems and society.

• The effect of missions and missionary activity on Aboriginal belief systems from the original contact period through to more recent times.



Students learn about: 3. THE LAND RIGHTS

MOVEMENT• Aboriginal spirituality and its inextricable connection to the land, eg. The Mabo and Wik judgements & other current issues.

• Aboriginal spirituality and its inextricable connection to the land.


4. THE WAYS IN WHICH ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY HAS INFLUENCED SOME CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS.

Traditional Indigenous ReligionWhen the early settlers arrived in Australia they could not observe the phenomena usually associated with religious beliefs and practices as

they knew it.

Because of this they assumed that the Aboriginal people had no religion.

There were no temples or churches, no priests or ministers,

no sacred books, no ceremonies similar to known religious rituals

and no word for God.

Earlier definitions of religion were narrower and focussed on systems

that centred on a belief on a god or gods.

This excluded Aboriginal systems.Christian Research Association - 2001

As definitions of religion have been broadened, it has been recognised that Aboriginal systems of beliefs provide answers to

the great universal religious questions of humankind, the questions about origins, meaning, purpose and destiny.

An anthropologist, Ian Keen, writes of the Yolngu people in north-east Arnhem Land, he noted that they did not isolate a domain and label it with a term synonymous with 'religion', but that religion "did indeed penetrate

all aspects of Yolngu social life." (Keen, 1994: 2)

Because there was no separation of domains of secular and religious life, allegiance to the traditional Aboriginal belief and ritual systems was

not an option or a matter of choice. To be a member of the societies each person had to accept this allegiance as part of his or her living as

a member of the society.

Christian Research Association - 2001

Traditional Indigenous Religion

The nature of aboriginal spirituality:

There is not one single Aboriginal nation or one single Torres Strait Islander clan. There

are, rather, many different Indigenous groupings. Each of these at one stage had their own language. Aboriginal people and

Torres Strait Islander people are collectively called Indigenous Australians.Although each group is different, there are features that all

Indigenous groups have in common


Features of Indigenous Society:

Nomadic or semi-nomadic


Closely associated with

nature

Highly developed social systems

Deeply Spiritual


Australia’s Indigenous population in the 2001 census was 410 003, approximately 2% of the

total Australian population of 18 800 000.


More than 10% of the total Indigenous population lives in Sydney and there are also sizeable communities living in Brisbane and

Perth.Those living in traditional reserves are a tiny minority of the total Indigenous population. Many urban Aboriginal people, however, see themselves as the repositories of law and as

the custodians of traditional culture.

Living in capital cities – 30%

Living in NSW outside Sydney – 20%

Living in Qld outside Brisbane – 20%

Living in rural parts of Northern Territory – 11%

Living in rural parts of Western Australia – 9%

Living in other parts not listed – 10%

The 2001 urban – rural distribution of indigenous Australians by state and territory.

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001

The 2001 urban – rural distribution of indigenous Australians by size of settlement.

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

4% 20% 31%

East

4% live on stations or reserves such as Arnhem Land. 20% live in Aboriginal towns.

31% live in small non-Aboriginal towns. 45% live in cities.


The unity of Aboriginal

cultures, as illustrated in

the accompanying

diagram, is based on the

belief in what is known in

English as The Dreaming.

One of the dichotomies which exist in Western thought is that of past/present. The Dreaming concept illustrates the difference between

Western and Aboriginal thought forms.

Previously this concept was referred to as Dreamtime until, in a paper first published in 1956, Professor Stanner introduced the term Dreaming

to indicate that the Aboriginal usage is not based on the Western concept of linear time. (Stanner, 1998: 227)


The Dreaming as fundamental to Aboriginal cultures and society

For Aboriginal people the dream world is the fundamental reality and not a reflection of the real world. The terms which are translated as Dreaming

are associated with the concepts of story and word and refer to each group's stories which enshrine their understanding about their origins.

The Dreaming does not assume the creation of the world from nothing, a creatio ex nihilo, but a pre-existing substance such as a

featureless plain or a watery expanse. Spirit Beings lay dormant under the surface of this substance.


The Dreaming continued

While the term Dreamtime had suggested a past era when, through the activities of the spirit beings, things as we know them today, came into

being, the use of Dreaming recognises that there is an element of timelessness in the concept.

Through ritual, humans are able to enter into a direct relationship with the Dreaming and each generation experiences it as a present reality.

On emerging from the land at points which are now water holes, cracks in rocks, or sea shores, the Spirit Beings moved across the surface of the

earth, performing the everyday activities of humans and the species they represented, sometimes as humans hunting, making weapons, fighting,

lighting a fire or dancing, and at other times as the animal or plant species, hopping across a sandhill, digging for water, building a nest or

munching grass.


The Dreaming continuedThe Dreaming stories relate the adventures of these beings who emerged from this formless earth and assumed forms and identities which mostly

combined features of humans and of the various animal and plant species which inhabit the various environments.

For example they appeared as kangaroo-men, brolga-women, bower bird-women, serpent-men and women, murray cod-men and native tomato-

women.

For example, three small water holes on a low rock outcrop are evidence that the kangaroo-man, euro-man and owl-man dug for water,

each leaving their own waterhole. The winding track of the water serpent, wanampi, became a watercourse, a bush shelter built by a

group of sisters, the kungkarangkalpa, became a cave and these sisters went into the sky to become the star constellation known to Europeans

as the Pleiades. Christian Research Association - 2001

As the Spirit Beings travelled, their bodies, tracks, artefacts and activities were transformed into the rocks, mountains, waterholes, caves, sandhills,

trees, watercourses, stars and other phenomena of the environment. Some mountains, rocks, trees or other physical features of the

environment are seen as the metamorphosed bodies of the Spirit Beings.

Watercourses, sandhills and cracks in rocks are seen as the imprinted tracks marking the passage of the Spirit Beings over the landscape.

Waterholes, piles of rocks and other features are seen as the result of their activities.

Aboriginal spirituality and its inextricable connection to the land.

A spiritual view of life based in the Dreaming cannot be separated from the land. In Aboriginal spirituality, the land means not only earth or rocks but also the whole environment. That is, it is not just the ground

but also all that the earth supports and all that can be seen from the earth, such as clouds, the sun, the moon and the sky. The Dreaming links the whole

environment, including people. To some extent all land is sacred because it is alive with power and with

the Ancestors who live in it.

(page 5 Macquarie Revision Guide, 2003)

Diversity of expression of Aboriginal belief systems and spirituality today.

RAINBOW SPIRIT THEOLOGY

A Term applied to one attempt to integrate Christian beliefs with Aboriginal

spirituality. A number of Aboriginal Christian leaders from the Catholic,

Anglican, Lutheran and Uniting Churches met for the discussions in 1994 and 1995

and developed several ideas.(page 6 Macquarie Revision Guide, 2003)


Takes its title from a book by the Rainbow Spirit elders –

Rainbow Spirit Theology: towards an Aboriginal theology, 1997. It grew from interdenominational

workshops of Aboriginal Christian leaders from North Queensland who sought to

interrelate their Christian faith with Aboriginal culture and spirituality…. It brings together Aboriginal world views

and Christian theology.

(page 277 Living Religion 2nd Edition, 2001)

•God the creator speaks through Aboriginal spirituality

•Rainbow Serpent represents the Creator spirit

•Both traditions distinguish between good and bad

•Wisdom of Christian writings and traditions

•Importance of bonds between the land and the people

•For Indigenous Christians, Christ is an Indigenous Jesus

•Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation of the mystery of Creator Spirit and the Old Testament

•Through Christ, the land and the people are reconciled with the Creator Spirit.



The cover painting of the book – Rainbow Spirit Theology.

By Jasmine Corowa

The Creator Spirit is represented by the circle which surrounds the other symbols.

At the centre is the Rainbow Spirit symbol.

The emu represents Aboriginal culture; the kookaburra represents the gospel; the sheep represents the Bible and church traditions.

Each of these symbols is located against the background of the land.

The colours used – brown, ochre and green – are those associated with the land.

Integration of Christianity and Aboriginal belief systems

By the beginning of the 21st C there had been several generations of Christian missionary activity among and by Aboriginal people. The

Christian Scriptures have been translated into Indigenous languages and are used by Aboriginal clergy and laypeople.

Aboriginal people have studied theology at graduate and post graduate levels. These factors have helped in the development of an

Indigenous Christian theology.


If there are opposite principles in the Christian and indigenous spiritualities, there may be efforts to reconcile or syncretise them.

More often, Aboriginal theologians have used the symbols and rituals from their own Indigenous culture to express their Christian

theology. The integration of Christianity and Aboriginal belief systems into an Indigenous contextualised theology has been one

of the most significant Australian contributions to Christian theology in the last 30 years.

Examples of Contextualised Theology:

Saibo Mabo – National Anglican Torres Strait Islander Bishop in 2001 – sees Dreaming values and Christian values as

complementary. For communion, he uses symbols from his own Torres Strait Islander Culture : damper rather than wafer, yam rather

than bread and coconut milk rather than wine or grape juice.

(page 7,8 Macquarie Revision Guide, 2003)

Gloria Shipp – first Aboriginal woman to be ordained to the Anglican priesthood. At her ordination there was an Aboriginal Bishop present and an Aboriginal dancing group. Music was

provided by a didgeridoo and clapping sticks. On arriving at the church, the congregation walked through a traditional smoking

ceremony of burning gum leaves. When Shipp was newly ordained, Indigenous women smeared her with white OCHRE, which

represents purity and spirituality

Integration of Christianity and Aboriginal belief systems

For many Aboriginal people today, the old ways are taking on new significance. Aboriginal people may combine belief in the Christin

god of heaven with the Aboriginal concept of the earth mother. Unlike many early missionaries who considered all Aboriginal

concepts of religion to be pagan, many Christian churches today are accepting this blend of complementary beliefs.


The second Aboriginal woman to be ordained to the clergy in the Uniting Church is Carole Broome. She states:

I was brought up as a Christian. My grandparents were Anglicans. The whole idea was to Christianise these savages – even though many of our rituals had God in them. I try to mix my Indigenous Spirituality and my Christianity. God

had made all people and he’d given us an Indigenous Spirituality that was good. Our people knew about God as creator but didn’t have an

understanding of Jesus. We knew about cleansing through waters in an Indigenous context. Today I am discovering and integrating more of my own spirituality. Three times a years our tribal elders come down and teach us.

Aboriginal Catholic MinistryArchdiocese of Sydney

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/default.htm

Site updated: 17 February, 2004

The Words of Deacon Boniface Perdjert of Port Keats

The Aboriginal Women's Healing House

The ACM Church & Office at La Perouse

The ACM City Office at Alexandria

Reconciliation and Justice Issues

Aboriginal Spirituality and Aboriginal Catholic Spirituality

Frequently Asked Questions

God did not begin to take an interest in people with the incarnation of the Son, nor with Abraham. Our people existed here in Australia thousands of years before Abraham. In all that time God was with our people. God worked through our culture. God was saving us despite human weakness. We were being prepared for the day when God would see the features of Aboriginals in the image of the Son. So we must recognise, we must use the things of God that are in our culture. We must use them in God's service. If we do not do this, our faith and our service are shallow. They are a pretending. They belong to some one else, not to us. We are called to love God and each other with whole mind, heart and soul. So we must give ourselves to God as an Aboriginal people. This is what God wants or God would not have made us what we are.

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/HHouse/awhh.htm

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/HHouse/awhh.htm

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/laPerouse.htm


http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/cityoffice.htm

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/cityoffice.htm

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/reconJust.htm

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/reconJust.htm

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/Spirituality/spirituality.htm

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/Spirituality/spirituality.htm

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/faq.htm

. Who established the ACM at Alexandria?In its present form the ACM at 77 Buckland St Alexandria, ( a property owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney), was set up by Brenda McDonnell (Coordinator) and Ruth Ryan (Welfare Officer), with the support of Fr Joe Kelly (Priest Assistant), in July of 2001. This property, though previously used for Aboriginal Ministry, was a somewhat rundown state, and had to cleaned and renovated.Immediately prior to this move the ACM operated out of a property owned by the Erskineville Catholic Parish, at 56 Swanson St., Erskineville.





When was the ACM at Alexandria established?The ACM does in fact have a previous history in Alexandria. In 1974 Fr A Mithen, a Pallotine Priest was appointed the first full time chaplain to the Aboriginal People of Sydney, by Cardinal Freeman, and he was located at a house in 77 Buckland St Alexandria, where he set up and office and Hospitality Centre. In 1980 Fr Mithen succeeded by the well known Fr Eugene Stockton. During the nineteen eighties, this house evolved into a Hostel, called Dundara, which gave preference to Aboriginal People from the country who came to Sydney for medical treatment. The ACM was refounded by Fr Frank Fletcher MSC in 1988 at St Mary's Parish Erskineville. It began in a small room in the presbytery. Fr Frank was soon joined by Barbra Asplet and Elsie Heiss, who are still with the ACM. As time went on the small group received some funding from the diocese and from the MSC Order. In the late nineties the ACM was given the use of a building at 56 Swanson Street Erskineville, and assistance from the diocese increased substantially. The story of how the Reconciliation Church and the Aboriginal Women's Healing House became available to the ACM are to be found on the Web Site. But in its present form at Alexandria with Brenda McDonnell as Coordinator it was established in July 2001. So the ACM began in the seventies at Alexandria, then in the eighties it moved to Erskineville, and in July 2001, it moved back to Alexandria. For more information go to www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/barani then under THEMES go to Involvement With the Church.



• Why was the ACM in Alexandria established?These are the AIMS of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry:

• A. In General: To develop a ministry of Aboriginal People ministering to Aboriginal People.

• B. In Particular:- To offer pastoral care to Aboriginal Catholics; to provide Masses, Baptisms, Confirmations, First Communions, Funerals and prayer groups in a manner that respects Aboriginal Culture.-To help individuals to relate their Aboriginal spirituality to Christian Faith and prayer. This is the basis for the inculturation of Faith, and for culturally appropriate manner of offering the Mass.- To offer care and support to the general Aboriginal community, whether they be Catholic or not.- To work to educate and raise the awareness of non-indigenous Australians in regard to various Indigenous issues, such as justice, history, special needs, special problems etc.

• What type of work does the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry do in the Community? The Aboriginal Catholic Ministry is part of the general work of ministry by the Sydney Archdiocese. It is funded by the Charitable Works Fund, and has 4 Permanent, and 4 casual staff, as well as a Priest Assistant. The ACM has been commissioned by the Sydney Archdiocese to promote Reconciliation, to work for mutual understanding between people, and help put an end to racism and prejudice. It is also commissioned to minister to those in need, to work to heal those who have been hurt especially the Stolen Generation, and to take responsibility for the pastoral care of Catholic Aborigines. From its small beginnings in St Mary’s Parish based in the presbytery, the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry now operates from 3 centers, The Main Office, The Aboriginal Women's Healing House, The Reconciliation Church

• The main office is situated in 77 Buckland St Alexandria, in a house provided by the Sydney Archdiocese. From this office Indigenous Speakers respond to requests from parishes and schools, to speak on various issues especially Reconciliation, or to provide some aspect of liturgical expression, such as the Smoking Ceremony. We also answer queries, or even provide interviews for those who wish to find out more about Aboriginal Issues and the Catholic Church. We help with the planning of the Liturgy for funerals, the preparation of the Church, and usually the people request the Service be held here at St Mary’s and conducted by the priest Assistant.A Welfare Office called the St Mary’s Mum-Shirl St Vincent de Paul Conference is also based here. Food provided by St Vincent de Paul is distributed to the needy by our Welfare Officer. The Welfare Officer can also help with travel costs, and funeral costs in special circumstances. The Welfare officer also refers people to other specialist welfare outlets where appropriate.




• The Aboriginal Women's Healing HouseThe ACM, at the request of the Sydney Archdiocese, has very recently set up the Aboriginal Women’s Healing House in the country, on Mt Razorback near Picton It has accommodation for about 18. Since its Official Opening on March 11 of 2000, many groups of women have benefited from its Healing Programs, besides local groups, and young women from the Redfern Community, Aboriginal Women have come from Nambucca Heads, Coonabarabran and other country Areas. The Healing House also runs Reconciliation Retreat/Workshops for non-Indigenous people. The Archdiocese has commissioned the Healing House to minister particularly to women who have suffered trauma associated with the Stolen Generation, either having themselves been stolen, or having had children or relatives stolen. The Healing Programs use traditional and contemporary healing therapy, and those who have been through the program have expressed heartfelt appreciation for the experience.

Aboriginal Women's Healing House:30 Mt View Close, Razorback, via Picton. 2517.Phone: 0246366085 Fax: 0246366075. STAFF: Barbra Asplett ( Coordinator ). Sr

Cath Dulhunty ( Assistant to Coordinator )

• The Reconciliation Church and Office are situated at La Perouse, at 11 Yarra Road, Yarra Bay.

• This Church is part of the parish of St Andrew’s at Malabar. The Church is now being refurbished in the spirit of Aboriginal Culture and Art. The work is a joint venture of St Andrew’s Parish and the ACM. The Church has an office which operates two days a week, and besides its role of pastoral care to the Catholics, the office also ministers to those in need, especially those who have lost loved ones and need help with funerals. Personnel also go out from this office in response to requests from the Catholic Church, sometimes these requests are from Bishops in country areas, sometimes schools and parishes in the Sydney Region, sometimes from Catholic Organizations, both Indigenous and non-indigenous.


• Finally, the ACM is also associated with The Gathering Place

• This Ministry grew out of the long established Ministry of Fr Ted Kennedy and Team at Redfern, and in its present form began when Sr Pat Ormesher RSCJ and her sister Sr Dorothy Ormesher RSCJ moved into Caroline St., Redfern, and began their own ministry there, near 'The Block' about 14 years ago. Their house has become known as the Gathering Place, and people are always welcome. This ministry with the local people is one of Friendship, Mutuality, Hospitality, Sharing and Prayer. It develops and grows out of a deepening relationship with the People who live on The Block, and in its vicinity. It is a ministry which attempts to serve the stated needs of the people, and which encourages their enterprise. Though not officially part of the ACM, the two ministries work in partnership.


Madonna

and Child

by an

Aboriginal

artist


The ways in which Aboriginal spirituality has influenced some Christian denominations.

Example: Aboriginal spirituality and the Catholic Church

•Aboriginal rituals included in some Catholic celebrations. E.g. Aboriginal smoking ceremony at Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II (beatification of

Mary MacKillop).•Water ceremonies used in Eucharistic

celebrations by Aboriginal people in

desert.•Eucharistic prayers

translated into Aboriginal languages.

•Aboriginal art expressing Bible

stories.•Kimberley region of WA:

Good Friday seen as “sorry time” - paint faces in ochre, sign of sorrow.

•There are now Aboriginal Christian church movements, particularly among Protestant churches.

“I believe in both ways - our own and the Christian … we believe in the old Law and we want to keep it; and we believe in the Bible too. So we have selected the good laws from both and put them together.”

Badangga, Elcho Island.•Increasing number of indigenous church leaders - Aboriginal elders, deacons and pastors in several

Christian denominations.

1975 Patrick Dodson - first Aboriginal Catholic priest.

1991 Liyapidiny Marika - first Aboriginal woman ordained in Uniting Church.

1985 - Arthur Malcolm - first Aboriginal Bishop

1996 - Gloria Shipp - first Aboriginal female Anglican priest.

Differences between Aboriginal beliefs and spirituality and non-Aboriginal religious

beliefs and practices.

TEACHING AND VALUES

BELIEFS ABOUT LAND

BELIEFS ABOUT THE SACREDToday, nearly 240 years since the initial contact between the 2 groups, there has been much integration of values and belief

systems. Indigenous communities in cities and in various rural settings, however, still today reflect many of their traditional values.

Aboriginal spirituality also makes a significant contribution to the nature of religious experience in Australia.


Differences between Aboriginal beliefs and spirituality and non-Aboriginal religious

beliefs and practices.One area where Aboriginal belief systems are compatible with

Christianity is in the valuing of the natural environment.

(page 12, 13 Macquarie Revision Guide, 2003)

Christian teaching that is different from or challenges Aboriginal spirituality is the Aboriginal circular view of time. The celebration of communion not only remembers but renews God’s saving act in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Some Aboriginal Protestants have difficulty with this and see rituals only as remembering and nothing

mystical happens.

The belief systems of Christian Indigenous Australians and their denomination often reflect the ecclesiastical or church history in

the region the Aboriginal people belong to.

Impact of European Colonisation on Aboriginal belief systems and society.

At first – tolerated or ignored

•Enormous loss of Indigenous life from indiscriminate killing, disease, hunger and depression

•Dispossession and displacement – either from being forced off and cattle or sheep being introduced, or

mining, or from the indigenous people voluntarily or involuntarily moving away.

(page 14, Macquarie Revision Guide, 2003)

When the destruction of Aboriginal society could no longer be ignored, a policy f protection was brought in. Indigenous people were given little or no say in whether, or how, they wanted to be protected. It was paternalistic and involved.

•Segregating in reserves or church missions

•Aboriginal Protection Boards set up in states and territories

Impact of European Colonisation on Aboriginal belief systems and society.

Part of the expectation that distinctive Indigenous societies would die out was the idea that the remaining

Indigenous people should assimilate.

(page 14, Macquarie Revision Guide, 2003)

Tolerating Destruction

Segregation

Assimilation

Self Determination

•With the changing of immigration policy and the White Australia policy, and as Australia came to accept the idea of a society of pluralism and multiculturalism, attitudes and policies towards Indigenous Australians changed:Self determination – allowing Indigenous People to determine their needs and priorities and

affirmative action in providing some financial resources to allow these needs to be met.

DISPOSSESSING ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF THEIR LAND•Loss of personal identity

•Denial of status

•Loss of economic base - rely on welfare

•Need to understand European legal system to fight against dispossession.

•19th & 20th warfare - Aboriginal resistance

•Martial law - to put down resistance

•Spread of European diseases

•Legislation to force Aboriginal people on to reserves.

•Family life destroyed

•Legal rights denied

•Loss of language

•The Stolen Generation

THE IMPACT OF CONTACT

•IMPACT OF CONTACT

•IMPACT OF EUROPEAN COLONISATION ON ABORIGINAL BELIEF SYSYTEMS & SOCIETY

•EFFECT OF MISSIONS AND MISSIONARY ACITIVITY ON ABORIGINAL BELIEF SYSTEMS

•terra nullius

•colonisation

•missionisation

•segregation

•protection

•assimilation

•self-determination

•White Australia Policy

•LAND RIGHTS MOVEMENT

•LAND RIGHTS AND NATIVE TITLE

LAND RIGHTS AND NATIVE TITLE

1992 NATIVE TITLE (MABO) JUDGEMENT

•end of terra nullius concept

•British claims to sovereignty did not extinguish Aboriginal native

title.

1993 NATIVE TITLE ACT

•recognised existence of Aboriginal native title in Aust

federal law.

WIK DECISION 1996

•native title may co-exist with pastoral leases.

•pastoralists’ rights prevail where there is conflict between the two.

WHAT DOES ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITY HAVE TO

OFFER AUSTRALIA?•The experience of the sacred

in the lives , land and stories of Aboriginal people enhances the

experience of God.

•Australia has a diverse people - the story of the Aboriginal people can be a spirituality that offers wholeness and right relationships

and provides a national identity.

•Australians today are appreciating the contribution of Aboriginal spirituality to life on this continent.

Acknowledgment of sacred sites

Appreciation for Indigenous music

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Advisory Council (NATSIAC)

Aboriginal culture inspiring ballet and dance

Exposure to Aboriginal art Collections Knowledge of craft and native flora and fauna Reclaiming Indigenous languages

Encouraging Indigenous culture in schools

Reconciliation

PEOPLE -

MUTUAL INDEBTEDNESS

HOLISTIC RELATIONSHIP TO LIFE

TIME -

TIMELESSNESS

“DADIRRI” inner deep listening & quiet still awareness

WHOLENESS AND RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS

• RELATIONSHIP TO & REVERANCE FOR THE LAND

Fr Eugene Stockton,

The Aboriginal Gift: Spirituality for a Nation.

The marks of Dadirri:COMPASSION

PATIENCE

GENTLENESS

SIMPLICITY

Let us pray together. (This prayer. was written by the Aboriginal People for their meeting with Pope

John Paul in Alice Springs in 1986 ;We say it together in solidarity.)

Father of all, you gave us The Dreaming. You have always spoken to us through our beliefs. You then made your love clear to us in the person

of Jesus. We thank you for your care.

You own us, you are our hope! Make us strong as we face the problem of change.

We ask you to help the people of Australia to listen to us and respect our culture.

We can only know you and ourselves through our culture.

Make the knowledge of you grow strong in all People

so that you can find a home in us, and we can make a home for everyone in our land.

http://www.aboriginalcm.cathcomm.org/aboriginalCM/HHouse/journey.htm

studies of religion hsc course foundation study one aboriginal belief systems and spirituality

Documents