Aboriginal Spirituality - After European settlement and the Westernisation of Australia the indigenous people of Australia lost and suffered greatly, especially in regards of their land and spirituality.

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Year 12 Studies of Religion- 2unit

Research Task, Aboriginal Spirituality

Elise Reed

        After European settlement and the Westernisation of Australia the indigenous people of Australia lost and suffered greatly, especially in regards of their land and spirituality. These losses are now being recognised, thus the beginning of the mass amount of Land Rights claims being lodged by the Aboriginal people to regain their land and sacred sites lost during colonisation. One such claim includes the Kenbi, Cox Peninsula, Land Claim number 37, beginning its lengthy process on 20th March 1979. The claim investigated the Aboriginal spiritual affiliation with the land, the dreaming stories associated with this area, the Western development of the area and the politics involved in the claim.

        The purpose of the inquiry was to discover the group with primary spirituality responsibility and the traditional Aboriginal owners, a group of Aboriginals who have a common spiritual affiliation with the land and are entitled, by Aboriginal tradition, rights to the land. Four Aboriginal groups claimed right to the land; Tommy Lyons, Belyuen, Larrakia and Danggalaba groups. The Tommy Lyons group was found to have strong spiritual connection with the area as they use the land for ceremonial purposes, physically and spiritually sustaining them. The same result was found with regard to the Belyuen group, a ceremonial purpose of the land. There are numerous dreaming stories and sacred stories associated by all groups with the Kenbi area, all commonly linked by the element of water. The most significant of these dreaming stories originates from Wariyn, on the west coast of the Cox Peninsula, the Wariyn said to be a male supreme creator being. This is represented by a large rock, representing the dreaming, and a smaller rock represents the wife of the dreaming. Damage to this site will result in sickness and death. At Ngalwatnyini there is a manta ray dreaming, represented by the triangular reef, close to the beach and visible in the water. The site is used for initiation purposes for young men from the Belyuen community. The Tapa Bay area, Bagadjat and Gurraitjgurratiji, associates with a dreaming called Pederra. A dangerous hairy man pursues successful hunters carrying meat, only being deferred by fire. As well as the common theme of water in the infinite dreaming stories, the secret men’s initiation and interactions is a regular theme.

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        The land associated with this claim includes not only the Cox Peninsula, but also the islands around the area and the reefs (fig. 2) to the west of the Cox Peninsula (refer to figure 1, for a full map of the claim area). The area associated with the claim was the original ‘centre’ of the city of Darwin; the new Parliament House was proposed to be constructed here as well as the office of accommodation for the Northern Territory government. This process to make the small peninsula the ‘centre’ of Darwin was undermined when other areas such as Casuarina ...

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