Aboriginal+Spirituality+-+SSTs+in+Context+Answers

Aboriginal spirituality is not so much a religion as it is a culture and a way of life. At the centre of Aboriginal spirituality is the Dreaming, a complex concept of fundamental importance that explains the creation of the world by the Ancestral Beings and the significance of the sacred sites where they reside. Each of the hundreds of Aboriginal peoples across Australia has their own Dreaming, such as Honey Ant, Yam and Shark Dreaming, and hence their own totem, which forms part of their spiritual identity. A totem is a plant, animal or landmark through which the people of a particular Dreaming are connected to the Ancestral Being resposible for their existence. A person's country determines their particular Dreaming and it is considered a serious infringement of Aboriginal law to falsely claim the Dreaming of another peoples' country as your own. Within the Dreaming there are also Dreamtime stories, passed down by the elders of the community, which provide moral, social and ethical guidleines for the Aboriginal peoples, and are expressed in the form of intricate kinship systems within a community.
 * __Aboriginal Spirituality and the Dreaming__**

When Europeans first settled in Australia, they considered the Aboriginal people to be a dying race. After several decades though, it was realised that the Aboriginal people were not in fact dying, and so had to be 'protected'. The Aboriginal people were dispossessed and placed in missions and reserves, completely segregated from White society. As well as offering 'protection', this allowed the government to seize large amounts of land for pastoral purposes and gave Christian missionaries the opportunity to evangalise to the Aboriginal people. It was expected that by becoming 'civilised' and Christianised, the Aboriginal people would give up their original identity and customs to assimilate into White society. As part of the effort to aid assimilation, up to 100 000 Aboriginal and part-Aboriginal children were forcilby separated from their families. These children, now known as the Stolen Generations, were either put into government or church-run institutions, adopted by White families or fostered by White families, in the hope that they would adopt European culture and behaviour.
 * __Dispossession__**

Assimilation lasted till the late 1960s, when it was replaced by 'integration', a policy that still required Aboriginal people to participate fully in mainstream Australian society, but allowed them to retain their distinct Aboriginal identity. The dispossession they had faced though, deprived them of their essential spiritual connection to the land, their culture and their sense of belonging and identity.

Land rights is the term given to the claims of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to the repossession and compensation of White use of their land and sacred sites. Crucial to the land rights movement were Mabo, native title and Wik.
 * __Land rights__**

In 1992, Eddie Mabo led a group of Indigenous plaintiffs from the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait to win a law suit regarding the ownership of their land. The High Court judgement in the //Mabo v Queensland// case overthrew the legal status of //terra nullius// as it applied to Australia, recognising Indigenous ownership of land when the Europeans first arrived. The High Court ruling found that native title existed on all land at the time of European arrival and would continue to exist provided that subsequent government legislation allows it to and provided that Indigenous peoples continue to observe their traditional laws and customs. Native title recognises and protects Indigenous peoples' rights to land.

In 1996, the Wik and Thayorre people of Queensland took their claim for native title on land that was held under pastoral leases to the High Court of Australia. The High Court ruled that native title could co-exist with pastoral leases, however, the rights of pastoralists would prevail if there were any inconsistencies with rights under native title.

__**Moving Forward**__ After these many struggles for the retention of their land, spirituality and identity, the policy of self-determination gave the Aboriginal people every opportunity to become full and active participants in Australian society, whilst giving them full recognition for their cultural distinctiveness and diversity.

The process of reconciliation is currently underway and aims to bridge the gap between Aboriginal and White societies. The process of reconciliation firstly involves the acknowledgement of the dispossession and injustice suffered by the Aboriginal people in the past. Reconciliation then aims to rectify these wrongs so that the position of the Aboriginal people can improve in the future. Reconciliation aids both groups in moving on from their past experiences and so that harmony can be reached between the two societies.