Zigas, Georgio, Bishop, Robbie , Michailou, Nicholas , Moraitakis, Thomas , Tsolakis, Nicolas

Religion in Australia Before White Settlement

Event Description (What? Where? When?

Before white settlement in Australia 1788 aboriganal spirituality had existed for tens of thousands of years. Aboriginals
believed in a deep connection with the land, their beliefs are shown through the spiritual dreamtime stories showing how
the earth is there for them and how they believe it was created. At the time of the arrival of The White Settlers the
Aboriginal Spirituality and DreamTime Stories were accepted as a practice of religion and this confrontation led to conflict
but created a bond between each worldview and later allowed there to be religious freedom and respect for every
adherent and their beliefs therefore to strengthen their faith.

People involved
What was their role?
Explain how these actions/events helped to shape the way that the Catholic Church fulfils its mission in Australia.
Why did this happen? (Cause)
In what way did this help the Catholic Church fulfil its mission? (Effect)

Aboriginal Indigenous Adherents

The Indigenous Aboriginals were the original custodians of the Australian land from the Flora, fauna and the Indigenous
Spirituality of the DreamTime stories which wasn’t accepted upon the arrival of the First Fleet due to the descendent
religion of Catholicism within the Convicts beliefs.
The confrontation to Aboriginal Spirituality created a strong sense/presence if Catholic beliefs within the society of
Australia during that time.
The encounter between Aboriginal DreamTime and Catholic Convicts helped the Catholic Community and Catholic Church in
relation to Vatican II to respect religious freedom even though going through times of conflict has brought the idea and
allowance of religious freedom and being able to explore another worldview to even strengthen an adherents faith.

Torres Strait Islanders

The Native inhabitants of the islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea. In this, they spread the Melanesian
Spirituality
The Melanesian Spiritually is centred on the cosmos (space) and we are a part of it. The spread of the Melanesians
continued across the Torres Strait Islanders due to word of mouth.
The Torres Strait Islanders influenced the way the Catholic Church fulfills its mission in Australia as it explores the
principle of each adherent being granted religious freedom allowing the Church to follow the mission of the Church within
Australia.

White Settlers
There were many different convicts, who first arrived in Australian. Some were Irish priests. These convict priests
established a Catholic community, before white settlement.
One-tenth of all convicts transported to Australia were Catholic, and half of these were born in Ireland. Because of this
the catholic religion flourished in the further years.
Due to the many catholics arriving over the years the Catholic Church fulfils its mission by spreading religion. The effect
of being able to continue to spread the catholic religion to migrants and more convicts resulted in a total of 2086 just
Irish convicts who were all Catholic, by the year 1803.