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At The Time Of European Settlement, The Belief Held By

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At the time of European settlement, the belief held by the invading people was that the Indigenous People were simple and uncivilised given the lack of technological advances and any relatable society links. However, this view was entirely misplaced with respect the Australian Indigenous People who “had a rich system of kinship, … trading networks and well developed systems of governance with complex interlocking rights, responsibilities, privileges and entitlements to the land.” (Henry, 2013) For tens of thousands of years, both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people maintained a holistic and interconnected cultural system through spiritual beliefs, social kinship and economic practices. The indigenous cultures of Australia and …show more content…

(AIATSIS, 2017)

The Aboriginal People are comprised of a diverse array of language and nation groups, and live on mainland Australia and Tasmania. Torres Strait Islander peoples come from the islands of the Torres Strait, between Cape York in Queensland and Papua New Guinea. “Torres Strait Islanders are of Melanesian origin with their own distinct identity, history and cultural traditions” (Australia Human Rights Commission, 2005). Whilst these two indigenous cultural systems are often intrinsically linked with many similarities given their shared cultural heritage, there are significant differences that exist in the fundamentals of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples culture connected with their spiritual, social and economic structures.

The form and expression of spirituality for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders People is similar given that both exist within a Dreaming worldview. Both have a profound spiritual connection to the land and environment in which they live with law and spirituality intertwined with the land, the people and creation, and this is the basis upon the view that the land owns the people it is their mother and they have been charged with the responsibility to care for it. The difference in spirituality that exists for the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People is within the interpretation of the Dreaming. Aboriginal spirituality is

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