The land is the spiritual heart of traditional Indigenous heritage and culture, with the people’s identity aligned with the natural world. Pictured are a group of Indigenous children in WA’s Kimberley region, taking part in a local clean-up program.
LAND
The land, and all the living things it supports, is at the core of Indigenous people’s traditional spiritual beliefs and their lifestyle.
White settlement brought concepts of ownership, fences, farming and development that were very foreign to Indigenous people.
For thousands of years they had survived as hunters and gatherers on the land, living with its seasonal changes and geographical wonders.
Rather than owning the land, Indigenous people viewed the land as part of themselves – the land is where they belonged and was their spiritual core.
Land was never owned or traded but Indigenous people acted as custodians to the land they belong to.
Nyoongar Elder Fred Collard described the land as the ‘mother’ of Indigenous people – it provided everything they needed, from food and shelter to spiritual sustenance.
Indigenous people's traditional way is to treat the land as part of themselves – with respect and care, and through ceremonies, teaching young people intimate details about its cycles and how to live from its produce.
Through their spiritual beliefs, Indigenous people have obligations to specific parts of the country and cannot go everywhere or use everything. They have territories which hold personal significance and live within those areas.
From their earliest awareness, they learn to understand the land and to recognise signs of changing seasons, how to find water, understand movements of wildlife and the significance of finding a flowering plant in a particular place or at a certain time.
Through their spiritual beliefs, Indigenous people have obligations to specific parts of the country and cannot go everywhere or use everything. They have territories which hold personal significance and live within those areas.
The relationship between people and the land comes from the time of Creation when the Ancestral Beings shaped the earth. These beings then passed on rules for living to the people.
This period is said to follow a time of darkness and dormancy. The Ancestral Beings then energised the environment and all the living things, and created the physical world as we now know it.
Spiritual ancestors could change at will into any human, animal or other form, and build the landscapes which make the whole landscape ‘alive’ with spiritual significance.
Traditional beliefs say that spirits remain in Indigenous people and in the land, and some sites have particular spiritual significance because of their relationship to the Creation time and important all-powerful Creator spirits.
There are many all-powerful creation beings in different parts of the continent, while some beings travel long distances and become part of the shared heritage of many groups.
The Kimberley is home to one such spirit, Wandjina, who controls the rains and pattern of seasons in the Kimberley. Wandjina spirits live in rock-face images in Kimberley caves and hold deep spiritual significance to local Indigenous people.
Around Perth, the Creator spirit is the Rainbow Serpent or Wagyl and is associated with the Swan River.
The relationship between people and the land comes from the time of Creation when the Ancestral Beings shaped the earth. These beings then passed on rules for living to the people.
An individual’s conception place is where the spirit he or she identifies with was conceived or born or concentrated much of its energy and where the person’s spirit will return when the body dies.
The connection between Indigenous spiritual beliefs and the land was generally misunderstood and overlooked by early settlers.
This has caused considerable pain to Indigenous people and caused great conflict between Indigenous and other Australian people since colonisation.
In recent times efforts have been made to rectify this and now the belief's of Indigenous people are respected through government action to return land and sites to their original inhabitants.
