SOR ASSIGNMENT
Discuss the implications of dispossession of the land for the spirituality of Aboriginal people?
To Aboriginal people land is fundamental to their wellbeing, it’s the core of their spirituality We cultivated our land, but in a way different from the white man. We endeavoured to live with the land; they seemed to live off it. I was taught to preserve, never to destroy -.
Aborigine Tom Dystra
The Indegenous Australians use the land for Diversity, their relationship with others, languages and stories. Stories are expressed through Art, Dance, dreamtime, family, ceremony, religion and sports.
Dreaming was extremely important to the aboriginies it’s the heart of aboriginal spirituality and is fundamental to their culture, Dreaming was used to label all knowledge and understanding about life, dreaming involving Land contributed to most stories. Dream stories involve the ancestors coming to the earth as humans and as they moved through the land they created nature and animals, this created relationships and connection to the land with groups and or individuals so for Aboriginals all that is sacred lies in the land. “Living and working or creating in the land of their birth is vital for an artist’s connection to country,” says Edwina Circuitt, manager of the Warakurna Art Centre in Western Australia. Land sustains Aboriginal lives in every aspect, spiritually, physically, socially and culturally. The notion of landscape as their second skin is central to every Aboriginal art form whether it be theatre, dance, music or painting.
So when the white people arrived and claimed the land as terra nullius meaning land of no one. All rights to their land and home was lost destroying the system of totemic responsibilities. The dispossession of land had a huge impact contributing to loss of identity as familes were separated and the burden of not being able to fulfil ritual responsibilities, the loss of launguage made it impossible to pass beliefs in a unique way.
The white people introduced many new policy’s involving the Aboriginals way of life this involved protection polices which stated aim to remove aboriginal people from unsuitable enviroments and