Religion and Belief systems in Australia post 1945

Contemporary Aboriginal Spiritualities

• Indigenous languages today

  • More than 250 Indigenous Australian languages including 800 dialectal varieties were spoken on the continent at the time of European settlement in 1788

  • Only 13 traditional Indigenous languages are still acquired by children

  • Approximately another 100 or so are spoken to various degrees by older generations, with many of these languages at risk as Elders pass away

  • 3.2% of Australia is Indigenous as of 2021 census data

• The Dreaming

  • The Dreaming is the basis for all aspects of Traditional aboriginal societies

  • Aboriginal people believe they are part of the natural world. It gives them advantages but also imposes responsibilities of preservation and education

    • Conservation of the natural and social environment

    • Teaching and learning of the laws and taboos (role of the Elders)

  • The knowledge is transmitted throughs torytelling

  • The Dreaming explains how to hunt, gather food, make tools where clay and ochre can be found, how to use them in ceremonies, wher eto find the sacred sites, and also how to behave in society, who you can talk to, marry, and where you can work.

  • The Dreaming not only describes the journeys of Creation and ancestors over the land, but also information on the societal organisation

• Kinship

  • Kinship is a non-aboriginal noun created by anthropologists to explain the complex organisation underlying aboriginal societies

  • The term kinship describes all relationships that link Aboriginal people together

  • Contrary to what colonial power understood, the organisation of the Aboriginal society is complex

  • It defines a person’s position inside the network of relations.

  • Learning the intricate pattern of kinship is an important part of Aboriginal children’s education. Everyone is in a specific kinship relationship which involves roles and responsibilities

  • Examples:

    • An aunt can ONLY be the father’s sister, and an uncle ONLY the mother’s brother

    • The mother’s sister is called mother and not aunt, and vice versa for the father’s brother

• Kinship laws

  • Every known person is in a certain category of kin, and can be addressed or referred to with a kin term

  • Kinship defines behavioral expectations

  • Kinship also regulates the politics and economics in Aboriginal society, as it organises and defines behaviour, rights, and duties

• Ceremonial life

  • 4 main roles

    • Rite of passage

      • Inform all of the new status of the individual (initiation rites/funerals)

    • Passing on social information

      • From older to younger people. The Elders are the custodians of social history

    • Spiritual role

      • Connect people with the Dreaming

    • Personal

      • Support friendship, personal, and group activities

  • Men and women have different roles. Each gender has specific ceremonies

  • Large variety of ceremonies depending on the geography

  • Celebrations are important as they “re-create” the groups. When a creation story of a nation is being told in a dance or a song, then the nation is being recreated. Creation stories are not just stories of the past; they are alive and remain alive as the Dreaming is passed on from one generation to another.

• Balance rites

  • Balance rites are about maintaining balance in nature and connects people with the land and ensuring that their totems are flourishing to preserve the environment

• Obligation to the land

  • Stories of the Dreaming connect each group with their land

  • Aboriginal people call the land their Country. THey are given custody on the land by the Ancestral spirits

  • The land is their ritual estate as it contains the sacred sites

  • “We don’t own the land, the land owns us”

• Disposession

  • The process that started at the beginning of the British colonisation that aims at taking the land away from Indigenous Australia

    • Terra Nullius

    • 1967 Referendum as Citizens of Australia

    • 1992 Terra Nullius reversed

    • Native Title Act

    • Stolen Generation

  • Effects of dispossession

    • Reduced life expectancy

    • Increased infant mortality

    • Over-representation in prison

    • Educational disadvantages

    • Higher rates of unemployment

    • Higher use of drugs and alcoho

    • Higher use of government services

    • Loss of spiritual identity

    • Loss of purpose in life

    • Loss of the sense of belonging

• Separation from the kinship groups

  • Loss of sense of belonging to humanity

  • Loss of purpose and responsibility

  • It corrupts the whole organisation of the society

  • Loss of their (social) place in the Dreaming

• Native title and Mabo case

  • Native Title is a legal term that shows the Rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands people to use and occupy the land they have kept a connection with

  • In the 1970s the government of Queensland started to spoliate the people of the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait

  • Eddie Mabo took the government to court and then to the High Court of Australia in Canberra which decided in favour of the Meriam people and recognised for thefirst time the principle of Native Title in 1992

• The Wik decision

  • Concerned land subject to pastoral leases

  • Pastoral leases are a from of land tenure unique to Australia

  • The Wik case established that native title and other interests in land could co-exist

• Explain the impact the Native Title, Mabo Case and Wik Decision had on Aboriginal Spiritualities (5)

• “too many elders have passed away who hold the information and language necessary to connect dispossessed Aboriginal groups with the land” Sydney Morning Herald, 2007 With reference to the statement and using your own knowledge, discuss the continuing effect of dispossession on Aboriginal Spiritualities (5)

• Analyse the continuing effect of dispossession in respect to separation from the land (5)

  • Define the main component of the topic (eg. dispossession)

  • Link to the specific section of the syllabus and demonstrate your understanding of it (eg. separation from land)

  • Use a specific example to illustrate the connection

  • Concluding statement summarising your premise

  • NEVER start by repeating the stimulus or question - you do not have time for this. Every sentence must have a fact - not a generalisation.

    • Dispossession defines the forced loss of land, the traditions it informs, and the subsequent impact on all aspects of spiritual and cultural life for Aboriginal peoples. As land is foundational to Dreaming in determining relationships and responsibilities, the ccontinuing effect of separation is immeasurable in relation to loss of kinship and identitity.

    • This connection is illustrated through the traditional peoples of Karul Karlu. Prior to the 2002 Native Title decision in their favour, the four languaage groups had limited access to this site that is central to udnerstanding cultural responsibilities determined by Aakiy and Ngappa Dreamings. As a result of this separation, ancient knowledge was greatly diminished, something traditional owners still attempt to redress.

    • Social ramifications of dispossession are evidenced in reports such as ‘CLosing the Gap’ 2019 where only two of the seven targets are on track. These ‘gaps’, loss of traditional languages and connections to the ceremonial life of a particular country cannot be easily rectified, and in many instances, will never be restored.

• Reconciliation

  • Different groups work on reconciliation:

    • Reconciliation Australia

    • Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR)

  • The Catholic Church

    • It made an important step towards reconciliation in 1986 when John Paul II visited Alice Springs

    • In 1998 the Catholic Church released a statement called “Towards Reconciliation and Aboriginal Australians”

    • 2006, the Australian Catholic Bishop Conference was devoted to reconciliation. The conference was called “The heart of our Country, Dignity, and Justice for our Indigenous sisters and brothers”

    • In 2016, Pope Francis wrote an address

    • The Anglican Church

      • It expressed support in 1998 at the general synod and encourages many initiatives

      • Provides funding along with the Uniting Church and the World Council of Churches and support the National Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders Ecumenical Conference (NATSIEC)

    • Anglicare

    • Uniting Church

      • It has been involved in reconciliation since its creation

      • It is written in the Church’s constitution

    • NCCA

      • National Council of Churches Australia

      • Ecumenical (it all comes together)

      • Host breakfast for ATSI peoples for Australian of the Year

      • GARMA festival to acknowledge land rights

    • Caritas

      • Early 1960’s when funds were raised to provide a deep-sea fishing boat for the people of Melville Island, west of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. In the 1970’s, Caritas Australia began to fund First Australian projects, and since then has continued to support First Australian communities through long-term development programs.

      • Provide recent employment, training, and donations for development in Indigenous Australian territories

      • Reduce the overrepresentation of ATSI peoples in prison

    • Uniting Church

      • The Uniting Church is committed to truth-telling about our shared history, acknowledging the trauma and grief that endures as a result of deeply unjust, colonial policies such as the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their culture and communities.

    • Judaism

      • Jewish religious leaders have committed their community to work for reconciliation

      • This is because of their shared history of discrimination

      • Committed to a three-point plan

        • Penitence (saying sorry)

        • Prayer

        • Justice

• The religious landscape from 1945 to the present

  • Since WWII the religious landscape of Australia has experienced a number of changes due to:

    • Immigration

    • Conversion

    • The rise of New Age religions

    • Increasing Secularism

    • Emergence of Atheism

  • Despite a relative decline of Christianity (due to the emergence of other religions), it remains the main religious tradition (43.9% in 2021)

  • Christianity underpins the Australian cultural, legal, and political system

• Religious landscape

  • According to 2021 census:

    • Christianity remains the biggest religion with 43.9% compared to 52.1% in 2016 and 63.9% in 2006

    • Increase of people reporting no religion (38.9%) cmpared to 22.3% in 2011 and 30.1% in 2016

    • The biggest non Christian denomination is Islam (3.2%) then Hinduism (2.7%) and Buddhism (2.4%)

    • Hinduism is still the fastest growing religion