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that the Aboriginal people had established their culture which has been traced back at least 40,000 years. It developed in isolation on that land mass known as Australia. Now it has virtually disappeared from all the choice parts of the country. The history and beliefs of that culture have continued until the present time, but only right out in the very hard desert areas where people do not really want to live. The Aboriginal culture still survives, but twenty or thirty years ago, it was doubtful as to whether their culture would survive at all. Fortunately, there have been definite improvements in the last two or three decades, and I want to tell you briefly something about this interesting culture and these interesting people.
Their spirituality is very much belonging to the earth. In the European culture, people save up their money and they go and buy a block of land. They have a piece of land surveyed, pay thousands of dollars and say, "That's mine now. I'll build my house." The Aboriginal people feel that they belong to the land, not that the land belongs to them. This explains why the government policies were so destructive of their culture, for whole tribes, en masse, were moved to different areas altogether from the places with which their culture identified. These nomadic people were expected to give up their whole lifestyle and stay in government housing. For 40,000 years they had been nomadic hunters, but they were put in houses beside people of opposing tribes, with whom, for the past 40,000 years, their rituals had forbidden contact. Then an alcohol shop was opened next door and the tensions and alienation resulted in social dissolution.
As the land is returned to the traditional owners, the traditional law is coming back. Initiation is continuing and the culture is becoming strong again. About thirty years ago, the infant mortality rate in some areas was up to fifty percent, one in two babies were dying, but now the situation is much better.
The Aboriginal people believe in a dreamtime. In an ancient time, every person belonged to a race which was half-animal and half-human; it might have been a kangaroo, emu, lizard or such animal, and their spirituality consists of living in their country in relation to that dreamtime two factors are there, the people will be alright, they do not need very much from the Europeans at all. But if the land and the dreaming are broken then no amount of anything is going to fix up their spirit or soul.
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