Aboriginals connection to their land

For aboriginal people, the Dreaming explains the origin of the universe, the
workings of nature, the nature of humanity, and the cycle of life and death. It
shapes and structures Aboriginal life by regulating kinship, ceremonial life and
the relationship between male and female, with a network of obligations
involving people, land and spirits. It even affects the rights of Aboriginal people
to land through sacred sites. Within the Dreaming, the creator, through the spirit
beings, shaped the land, making its mountains, valleys, hills, gullies, rivers,
streams, flora and fauna. These are formed as a result of the action and
interaction of spirit beings.
For Aboriginals, all elements within the world coexist; they are connected and
linked together. The importance of this connection between the things of creation
is expressed through totemism. The ritual performances associated with this are
believed to influence and ensure the reproduction of both the natural and the
human sphere, as well as the natural cycle of seasons. During the course of
many thousand years Aboriginal people have developed an intimate relationship
between themselves and their environment. Moreover, their relationship with
this environment is not for domination or manipulation.
An Aboriginals sacred sites are natural land formations; places where ancestral
spirits interacted with creation and in so doing based Aboriginal ownership on
their spiritual identification and association with their land. Through the bestowal
of land by their ancestors, Aboriginal people share in the preservation of their
interconnection with the natural environment. This is done through shared
responsibilities and obligations, through totemic relationships, through custodial
maintenance of particular sacred sites, and through rituals and ceremonies that
are performed at particular times every year. For Aboriginal people, Aboriginal
mythology is the embodiment of truth. This is the basis of Aboriginals
association with the land of the Ancestral spirits action in, and interaction with,
creation- rock formations, trees, rivers, mountains and so on.
Sacred literature within Aboriginal society is identified as sacred objects, sacred
paintings and sacred sites. Songs and dances tell the stories of the significance
of the spirit beings interaction with people and their bestowal of land upon
particular language groups. Aboriginal symbolism and art tell stories that have
many layers of meaning, some of which are secret-sacred. The first layer is the
surface layer, which is the most obvious open and accessible to all. It consists
of such elements as colour, texture, movement, sound and so on. It is the
surface layer that is first notices. The second layer and further layers are not
obvious and usually require some degree of experience of, or relationship with,
Aboriginal people or culture in order to understand them. Sometimes this means
visiting a particular area of land; other times it means being in a relationship with
a particular Aboriginal person or community.
On the whole, Aboriginals view their relationship to the land not only as a
religious one but also an economic one. The ancestral bestowal of land on
Aboriginal people gave them ownership, which includes control of all the lands
resources as well as the maintenance of its territorial integrity. Aboriginal
economies are based on the land, which is both spiritual and material resource.
Throughout Australia, Aboriginals have always had their needs met by the
tremendous variety of the lands natural resources.
Aboriginal people have never manipulated the environment to suit them but
rather have adapted to the land, of which they themselves are a part. Land has
never been seen as a commodity or as a capital to be bought, sold or traded.
Rather, Aboriginals have always believed that the land is an extension of life.
They often refer to it as the land, our mother.