religion

dreaming - terminology

Indigenous People

**Those people who are the original inhabitants of any country**

Aboriginal

**This is the term given to the Indigenous peoples of Australia by  Europeans**

What are the general names for indigenous groups based on areas

Koori _ (south) NSW, Victoria, Tasmania

Murri - Queensland

Yolngu - Northern Territory

Nunga - South Australia

Nyungah - Western Australia

Torres Strait Islander

**The indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands which are located north of the Cape York Peninsula and south of Papua New Guinea**

what are the names of the island community that Torres Strait Islanders often use?

Badu, Murray, Yam

Dreaming

A complex concept of fundamental importance to Aboriginal culture

What does the concept of Dreaming embrace?

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

Ancestral Beings

Refers to the deities/spirits regarded as direct ancestors that shaped creation in the Dreaming and founded the ceremonies, marriage laws and other laws of human society. These continue to exist

Country

The term used by Aboriginals 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)

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

Kinship

The system of family relationships traditionally accepted by a particular culture and rights and obligations they involve

Elders

Key persons & 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, plant or particular landmark through which a person is linked to the Ancestral Being responsible for his or her existence**