AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL BELIEFS AND SPIRITUALTIES

TERMINOLOGY

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Those people who are the original inhabitants

of any country

ABORIGINAL

Derived from the Latin ab origine, meaning “from the beginning”.

This is the term given to the Indigenous peoples of Australians by

the Europeans

Koori – (South) NSW, Victoria, Tasmania

Murri – Queensland

Yolngu – Northern Territory

Nunga – South Australia

Nyungah – Western Australia

TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERThe indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands which are located north of the Cape York Peninsula and south of Papua New Guinea.

Torres Strait Islanders often use the name of their island community: e.g. Badu, Murray, Yam

DREAMINGA complex concept of fundamental importance to Aboriginal culture, embracing:

• the creative era when the Spiritual Beings and Ancestral Beings roamed and instituted Aboriginal society

•the present and future

ANCESTRAL BEINGSCommonly, this term refers to deities/spirits regarded as direct ancestors that shaped creation in the Dreaming and founded the ceremonies, marriage laws and other laws of human society. They continue to exist.

COUNTRY

The term used by Aboriginal people to refer to the land in which they

belong and their place of Dreaming

SACRED SITES

The places where the ancestral beings became a part of the land (e.g. watering holes, rocks, trees).

Thus the Ancestral Beings remain present in the sacred sites, linking past and present, the people and the land.

KINSHIP

The system of relationships traditionally accepted by a

particular culture and rights and obligations they

involve

ELDERSKey persons and keepers of various sacred-secret knowledge within Aboriginal communities.

They are the overseers of the Dreaming tracks

Highly respected: matriarchal and patriarchal

Matriarchal/patriarchal: a form of social organisation in which the mother (L: mater – mother) or Father (L: pater – father) is the head of the family or social group

TOTEM

An object such as an animal, pant or particular landmark through which a

person is linked to the Ancestral Being

responsible for his or her existence