Aboriginal Spirituality and its influence on the community.

Aboriginal people have a sophisticated belief in creation, culture and spirits that distinguishes
them from other beliefs across the world. Aboriginal people are rich in culture due to the
influence of their spirituality and their history. Aboriginal Spirituality is the feeling of
oneness and belonging. It is “an interconnectedness with all that lives and breathes, even
with all that does not live or breathe.” (Us Mob, Mudrooroo, 1995, p.33). It is the core of
Aboriginal beings and gives meaning to all aspects of life. Aboriginal spirituality is based on
the spiritual realm of dreaming and its inextricable connection to the land and its identity.
Through this basis, the fundamental aspects of Aboriginal Spirituality are established and the
‘gift’ of their spirituality is provided to all non-Indigenous Australians. However, many non-
Indigenous Australians refuse this ‘gift’ and neglect the unique culture that the Aboriginals
have to provide. By doing so, Aboriginal people question the effects it may have on society
and the knowledge it can provide that may enlighten the minds of non-Indigenous Australians
and may allow them to understand the culture and beliefs of Aboriginal people.

In Aboriginal spirituality, Aboriginals have an inextricable connection between the

Dreaming, the land and the identity. In the Aboriginal belief as it is known today, humans
and other creatures are part of an unchanged interconnected community that is traced back to
the great Ancestor Spirits of Dreaming. Dreaming for Aboriginal people is a term used to
describe how life came to be and the story behind creation. This dictates their way of life,
their beliefs and their values. Through Dreaming, Aboriginal people are able to create a
connection in their spirituality with the land and their identity. The Dreaming and the land
have an inextricable connection and is commonly compared by Aboriginals to like “picking
up a piece of dirt and saying this is where I started and this is where I’ll go. The land is our
food, our culture, our spirit and identity.” (S. KNIGHT 1996). Aboriginal people believe that
the land is a place where their ancestors continue to live on and so, many aspects of
Aboriginal culture are created such as stories, rituals and worship. This allows Aboriginal
people to experience and express their relationship with the land and their ancestors. It also
demonstrates a connection between the land, dreaming and identity as they hold significance
for Aboriginal communities because of the tribute it pays to the work of the ancestral beings.
Within Aboriginal Spirituality, the sense of identity is “resolved in the Aboriginal
consciousness by knowing the full implications of where I am”, (Living the Dreaming, Sandra
Cutts). A person’s identity in Aboriginal spirituality is only discovered from the idea of
‘place’. The idea of ‘place’ in Aboriginal spirituality can only be acquired from “a variety of
sources, such as inheritance and place of conception, birth and residence”, (Living the
Dreaming, Sandra Cutts). This presents the connection that an Aboriginal person’s identity is
identified by the land they live in.

One of the most well-known qualities of Aboriginal Spirituality is the sense of ‘gift’ built
upon by their rich beliefs and culture. David Mowaljarlai, senior Lawman of the Ngarinyin
people defines the gift as “Pattern thinking”. He describes it as,
“The culture which is blood of this country, of Aboriginal groups, of the ecology, of
the land itself” (David Mowaljarlai, ABC Radio 1995)
Mowaljarlai conveys that it is engraved into his culture and that it is the lifeblood of the
people and is the source of inner strength within a person. Other Aboriginal people such as
Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr- Baumann identify the ‘gift’ as ‘Dadirri’. Miriam- Rose exclaims
that it is a form of contemplation or deep sleep which allows Aboriginal people to strengthen
and renew their inner selves. Miriam- Rose also explains that a big part of Dadirri is listening
to the past stories that have carried on since the time of creation. Through these
interpretations, Aboriginal people are able to derive a sense of ‘gift’ in their spirituality which
is built by the richness of their beliefs and culture.

Although Aboriginal people proclaim proudly that the ‘gift’ is what ‘Australians are thirsting
for’ (Miram- Rose, Farrelly 2003), many non-indigenous Australians still choose to neglect
this unique quality that may change their thoughts on the Aboriginal culture. David
Mowaljarlai talks about the impact of the gift and confesses;
“We are really sorry for you people. We cry for you because you haven’t
got meaning of culture in this country. We have a gift we want to
give you. We keep getting blocked from giving you that gift. We get
blocked by politics and politicians. We get blocked by media, by
process of law. All we want to do is come out from under all of this
and give you this gift” (ABC Radio 1995).
He proclaims that the gift is needed in society and is essential for people to understand the
culture of the country. If the gift was to be accepted into Australian society, Miriam Rose
conveys that the burdens of people would be reduced and they would be able to find peace
much easier through nature. The gift would also open the minds of non-Indigenous
Australians and would allow them to understand the traditions, beliefs and rituals that take
place within the Aboriginal culture. This would result in much of the land being repaid back
to the Aboriginal people and the deforestation of forests to induce a halt. This would be due
to the fact that non-indigenous Australians would understand that they would be destroying
sacred land that carries the spirits of the Aboriginal people’s ancestors and would have a
larger appreciation for nature. The gift would also remove any discrimination between
Aboriginal people and non-Indigenous Australians as everyone will be people who celebrate
together and respect each other. A negative of receiving this gift however, would result in
less infrastructure being built as destroying Aboriginal people’s land would violate one of the
ideas of the ‘gift’ and would cause dispute due to the obstruction of sacred land. Through
these factors, Australian Society would receive numerous changes if the ‘gift’ was accepted
into society.

In conclusion, Aboriginal people have a deeply rich culture and Spirituality. Through
dreaming, they have an inextricable connection of the land and identity which allows them to
bestow the ‘gift’ for Australians who do not yet understand the culture. By accepting the gift,
Australian society would be impacted and many changes would talk place as a result.
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By James Cole
2018