Australia Day (Remember the (Ab)originals!)

The first penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales was founded on 26th January 1788 which has now become Australia day, celebrated annually. Thus if a modern day Australian has descended from one of the initial inmates, guards, cooks, builders or other support people they would be about the 10th generation of white men since the beginning. It’s quite amazing, travelling around the boomerang coast where most of the inhabitants live, to see just what has been achieved and built in such a relatively short time. To me, Australia is a 50-50 cross between England and the USA with a touch of Aborigine thrown in; especially regarding place names. On the same generation scale the Aborigines have been here for between 2000 to 2500 generations and appear to have built very little, other than how to survive and propagate in such a hostile environment. The Aborigine people appeared in Australia thousands of years BEFORE Neanderthal man died out in Europe.

The Aborigine people declined fast during the first 150 years of white occupation, mainly from diseases such as smallpox and syphilis but nobody complained if the Indigenous populations were killed for sport or gain; there were no laws protecting them like there was for white men. These people took everything that nature threw at them for over 40,000 years but completely collapsed when “western civilization” hit them. Now, for the most part, they seem to have lost their self respect along with respect from others; even after 10 generations of white people they can’t adjust. It has to be something to do with their beliefs and culture over thousands of generations with so little change.

The Aboriginals believe that, in the beginning, the earth was featureless, flat and grey. There were no mountain ranges, no rivers, no billabongs, no birds or animals - in fact not one living thing. Then long, long ago came the Dreamtime. The Dreamtime was a time when giant creatures rose up out of the grey plains where they had been slumbering for countless ages. These mythical Beings looked like animals or plants or insects, but they behaved just like humans. They wandered across the vast grey wastes, digging for water and searching for food and as they searched, because of their giant size, they made huge ravines and rivers in the land. Thus the world took on the shape it has today.

Aboriginal people believe that in the Dreamtime the traditional Aboriginal way of life was established by these mythical Beings; this way of life is still followed in traditional Aboriginal society today. They believe that their ancestors were taught about their tribal lands by the mythical Beings, and were told how they, as descendants of these Beings, should behave. This was their Dreamtime and this teaching is as important to them as the "Ten commandments were to the ancient Hebrews. The Dreamtime ended, no one knows how or why, and time and life, as we know it, began. For Aboriginal people the land has a very special meaning for all over the land there are features which are reminders of those giant Beings of the Dreamtime. When they see a mountain or river, a rock or a tree, they think of the mythical Beings that had a part in their own creation. The Aboriginals believe that they are directly descended from these mythical Beings. When the Dreamtime ended, the people were left with a social and cultural heritage which came from their ancestors. All the rites and ceremonies are, and always were, aimed at preserving this heritage. Their ancestors from the Dreamtime also gave them possession of tribal lands, and hence tribal land, and all forms of life contained within it, is regarded as a sacred trust.
The bonds with the mythical Beings of the Dreamtime are such that they believe in a united world of body and spirit for every form of life in the land, both living and non-living. This then means that the rocks, rivers and waterholes are far more than just a reminder or a symbol of the Dreamtime they represent reality and eternal truth. Let the Aborigine people, once again, rise to their proper place in this huge beautiful land; lets ALL celebrate Australia Day!