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Aboriginal is a term which is specifically used to refer to the natives or the indigenous people of the Australia, who are believed to have occupied the land long before the arrival of the white settlers in the year 1788. Historical researchers indicate that they migrated from Asia as hunters and gatherers at around 42,000 to 48,000 year ago and were constituted of at least 500 -600 separate groups who shared unifying factors. Some of such unifying links included myths, spiritual beliefs, and oral cultures. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006), Aborigines are sparsely distributed within the Australian territories and constitute around 2.6% of the total population. The Statistics further indicate that the highest percentage which is about 63% live in Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales. While 28% live in the Northern Territory and the Western Australia; 9% occupies the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania while 32% of the total population occupying the Northern Territory are believed to be Aboriginals. Lastly, the statistics indicate that 4% of the aboriginals are distributed in other parts of Australia (Dudgeon, Wright, Paradies, Garvey and Walker, 2010). The aim of the paper is to give a reflection on the themes such as myths, Dreamtime, dreaming, local descent groups, the clan, and the band as discussed in the Aboriginal traditions and policy unit.
Aboriginal traditions and policies such as spiritual world and the oral culture are fundamentally founded on the Dreamtime or Dreaming. Dreamtime refers to the several inter-related stories (myths) with the intention of communicating the pattern of life for the indigenous people. Dreamtime is mainly characterized by four elements which include a reflection on the beginning of all things, reflection on the life and the impact of the ancestors, reflection of life and death, and reflection on the sources of power in the course of life. Though dreaming stories differ among the indigenous people, they communicate similar themes and issues. For example, different distinct groups of people among the Aboriginals have different stories on how birds acquired different colours. However, the stories communicate a similar theme of creation (Babidge, 2016). Within the Aboriginals, Dreaming has a sole purpose of establishing rules that guide social behaviour, set the structures that aid in the societal operations, and to identify the ceremonies to be performed in the community to facilitate generational continuity. Such established structures promote adherence to the communal policies and regulations (Lohoar, Butera, and Kennedy, 2014).
In addition, Dreaming oversees the communal laws, cultural lore, as well as how people are expected to behave within their communities. In the Aboriginal traditions, Dreaming is believed to be met when community members uphold the communal law and live according to the cultural lore. Furthermore, to ensure adherence to the dreaming, the community members must perpetuate the initiation ceremonies, singing the songs, transmission of dreaming, and painting of the song lines, dancing of dances, and telling stories. Through the perpetuations of such customs, Aboriginal people pass the traditions to the later generations thus, enhancing continuity of the traditions and their policies (Mitchell and MacLeod, 2014).
Myths about the Aboriginal people are varied and performed using different languages. They communicate essential truths about various groups and the environs. Viewed together the myths effectively create an image of the whole Australian continent while expressing diverse and profound knowledge and wisdom of the aboriginal ancestors since their existence. Strictly, the Aboriginal mythologies act as the catechism manual, geography manual, and liturgical manual of the natives. Myths of the Aboriginal people serve an essential social role of ordering the day today livelihood, and of influencing their perception of the world as well as their social interactions (Rumsey, 2009). Aboriginals being a religious people believe that everything that results from a supreme being either informs of Ancestral, Totemic, or creational deities.
In the indigenous traditions, local descent groups refer to a group of people who have the right to a given tract of land as well as ceremonies and symbols identified with that land. The connection of the local descent groups is either through lineages or the clans with patrilineal lineage. A clan within this tradition is perceived as a group of people who claim a common ancestor and can either be patrilineal or matrilineal. The AIATSIS map used to illustrate the distribution of the indigenous Aboriginals demonstrate a close cultural relationship which has existed between the Aboriginals with the land and the sea. Also, the map shows that Aboriginals were grouped into various grouping based either on the language, tribal affiliation, trade boundaries, or the cultural relationship between the groups (Yu, 2012).
Aboriginals' traditions are defineable by unique and effective cultural and social governing systems. Bands are established to ensure all members of the community feel part and parcel of the community. Band, refer to a group of people who occupy a particular land with the purpose of food hunting and gathering without the actual land ownership (Whallon, Lovis and Hitchcock, 2011). People without land were allowed to occupy reserve land without necessarily owning the land. Following such structures, Aboriginals can reduce poverty within their communities and ensure every member of the community enjoy the privileges that befit every family.
In conclusion, the Aboriginals mythologies and Dreaming though distinct due to various groupings have one similarity. They facilitate the establishing well-articulated structures that enhance smooth running of the society and ensure continuity of the traditions. It is also evident that the diversity of their oral culture does not divide them rather it unifies them. Similarly, it is clear that the Indigenous Aboriginals traditions have undergone massive changes due to various policies which have been introduced. Policies such as integration, protection, and the assimilation have resulted in detrimental effects on the Aboriginal communities and their traditions. Such policies are responsible for the loss of religion, language, and identity for the community (Kenny, Faries, Fiske, and Voyageur, 2014). The Australian government, therefore, must ensure effective implementation of reconciliation and the self-determination policies to safeguard the indigenous people.
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