The Dreaming

Examine the significance of the land as central to the Dreaming for Aboriginal
people. Support your response with research and specific examples (500 words )
The land for the Aboriginal is not just soil or rocks or minerals but the whole natural
environment and is of utmost significance to the Aboriginal people as it is central to the
Dreaming. The land owns Aboriginal people and every aspect of their lives has a profound
spiritual connection to the land, Aboriginal law and spirituality are intertwined with the
connection between the people and the land. The land is significant to the Dreaming as
Ancestor Spirits came to earth in human form and created everything natural within the world
forming the land we know today, and creating relationships between people, the land and
animals. Once the world was created the Ancestor spirits did not leave the world instead
taking form in the in the land as rocks, stars trees and other natural objects. The sites in
which the ancestral spirits now reside make the land a living museum of the ancestors
including dreaming sites, archaeological sites, water holes and burial grounds.
The Ancestral spirits did not leave the land, instead remaining within the land and nature,
this is why the Dreaming is never-ending because the ancestors are the ones linking the
past and the present, the people and the land. As the ancestors created and are a part of the
land, the health of the land is central to their culture. The land is seen to be their 'Mother' and
is ingrained into the Dreaming whilst also giving the indigenous people the responsibility to
care for it. The connection to the land gives Aboriginal people their identity and a sense of
belonging.
The land also has a great significance as it is home to many of the sacred texts in the form
of rock art (an example to the right). Sacred texts are significant
through the connection to the higher power. The earliest Indigenous
art was paintings or engravings on boulders or on the walls of rock
shelters and caves. The focus of these texts are the actions of the
ancestral beings in creating the land, and guidelines for the Dreaming.
These images are sacred, and the land in which they are presented
on as they demonstrate the continuing ancestral presence in
Aboriginal life.
The significance in the creation and of the land can be demonstrated
through the Dreaming story The Rainbow Serpent. The Rainbow
Serpent is a recount of the Dreaming belief of how the land was created also creating the
rules of the Dreaming. Those who broke the rules were to be turned into rocks or stone.
From this story Aboriginal people are constantly reminded by their surroundings (rocks and
mountains) to adhere to the rules of the Dreaming. Therefore the land is highly significant to
the Dreaming as it reminds the Aboriginal people of the laws and reinforces the
consequences of breaking these rules.
The significance of the land as central to the Dreaming for Aboriginal people can be summed
up by Tasmanian Aboriginal activist Jim Everett. The land not only holds material evidence
of our ancestors lifestyles, influenced by ice ages, isolation, climate changes and eventually
colonisation, but also a spiritual connection to country and the identity of place and spiritual
belonging.