Indigenous Relationships In Australia

Environmentalist Aldo Leopold once wrote, “ We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” This refers to us that land gives the power to stay safe and secure; we should also love our land. Although we practise to use it as we trait for it, but there would have been no action without land. We deal with the land as per our own way. Notably, indigenous people around the world often have very different sets of beliefs and traditions, a special bond with the land is a common factor. Indians tribe Mandan respect their the cultural hero. Whereas Momaday's return back to home reminds him of his grandmother's identity on that land.

In Aboriginal culture, the land is life and culture cannot be separated from the land.

Within the Aboriginal ways of knowing it is suggested that “land is the heart of Creation, a realm where humans are among a vast array of creatures” (Belanger, 2014, p. 7). In essence, the Aboriginal people have looked upon the earth as a source of resources that may be utilized but must be honored. This is further substantiated by Belanger when he states that “human beings began to measure their existence in terms of how well they ensured the land’s health and safety, as opposed to how well they acquired wealth and personal gain” (Belanger, 2014, p. 8). As a result of this deeply ingrained relationship between the Aboriginal person and Creation, it comes as no surprise to learn that the Aboriginal people of Canada have decided to revolt

Unique traditions, language, beliefs and values all comprise Indigenous culture. It is critical that a meaningful appreciation of their culture

An innate understanding that all beings on the planet are important for the subsistence of each other is a large part of Indigenous ideology, as well as the respect for the vast ways with which beings on the planet interact; whether they are “animate” or “inanimate”, they are all apart of the “web of relationships” (Battiste & Henderson, 2000, p. 44). Drawing from this view, most Indigenous Peoples believe that every member of a community has their own thoughts, gifts, and knowledge that they are able to contribute to the group. This means that there is also a large appreciation of Reciprocity because all knowledge is good knowledge, and that means all knowledge holds some validity and truth. Dreams, for example, are seen as premonitions and fact. As it happens, Indigenous Peoples place much of their societal values into facets of life that are intangible, such as emotions, spirituality, and mentality. It is for this reason that maintaining healthy and Respect-based Relationships amongst all beings on the planet is such an important part of Indigenous identity. The holistic understanding of the world can only occur if individuals are listening to each other as well as sharing whatever knowledge that they have to share.

There is recurrent tension between the maintenance of Indigenous culture and essentially assimilating to the rules and regulations of the predominantly white society in Australia (Dockrey, 2010). Australia’s Aboriginal culture represented the oldest surviving culture in the world (Aboriginal culture, 2017). The traditions include having at least 270 different language groups and 500 dialects in the indigenous community (Shareourpride.org.au, n.d). The vast amount of languages and dialects were present to represent the intellect of Indigenous Australians. Language is a strong aspect of Indigenous culture as it connects and influences many Indigenous tribes as it is their form of communication. The environment also connects aboriginal people spiritually to their land and provides them with a sense of identity (Jackson 1999). Although there were many different groups and clans in the past, the tribes fighting over the land was a rare occurrence (Treatyrepublic.net 1996). This showcases the connection and respect they exhibited for the land and maintaining structure was their main priority. Additionally common law was a way that Indigenous Australians could preserve the ecosystem and cultural integrity, through their spiritual and emotional connection with the land (Langton 1996, p.10). However due to the colonization, there was less formal acknowledgement for Indigenous

The land is the centre of aboriginal spirituality, it is the core of their religion. The land is the people and the people are the land. The land is where they believe the ancestors are. To aboriginals their “god” is not one singular god up in the sky but many ancestors that are part of the earth and formed and are part of everything natural that is seen today. They believe that the ancestors came through the earth

"For Indigenous Australians the land is the core of all spirituality." (www.dreamtime.net.au, 2003, p.1). All land is important in some way, but some places are more sacred than others. These 'sacred

Aboriginal spirituality is a celebration of connectedness. The relationships which the Indigenous people form with their environment reflects that their spirituality is far more complex than a religion, rather, it is an identity. For theses ancient people there is no separation between the people, flora and fauna, and the land (Korff, What is Aboriginal Spirituality?, 2017). All of these elements are profoundly connected through song, dance, sacred stories and art, which are the pillars of Aboriginal spirituality. These traditions also allow the Indigenous people to connect with and understand the earth, therefor understanding ancestor spirits who are ever present within the land. Ancestors may have come to rest within specific land forms (Australian Museum, 2015). These connections create an inextricable relationship with the land; not only in a spiritual sense, but also as a way of understanding one’s history. “The land is our food, our culture, our spirit and identity” (Korff, What is Aboriginal Spirituality?, 2017). This report will explore the connection between Indigenous spirituality, land rights, European settlement and the impact colonisation had on the Australian Aboriginal peoples.

In the last 60,000 years Australian indigenous knowledge has advanced through generations. Unlike western culture where knowledge becomes known through written text 's,Indigenous knowledge is developed by images, words, patterns, sounds, smells and tastes on different canvases such as sand, soil, the body and rocks (Blair 2008). Furthermore, Since British colonisation in 1788 threats to traditional indigenous knowledge existed then and more now in modern society. Main threats include agricultural and industrial developments, territorial pressures including deforestation, social and economic pressures including assimilation, poverty, education, loss of languages,political pressures,the recognition and standing of indigenous traditional knowledge including involvement in policy and legislative development, cultural integrity and globalisation. It is important that these threats are resolved and Indigenous knowledge is contexulizised into our education systems as it can bring a better understanding to Australian indigenous history.It is important that teachers incorporate indiginoues knowledge into classroom as It can also give students the ability to think comprehensively when exploring social problems in the environment and the awareness of the relationship that people share with their environment and also increase understanding and respect of other cultures (Rahman,2013)

The poem “Then and Now” portrays the unwelcomed changes which are taking place in the Aboriginal land and lifestyles. The happy life that aborigines led by hunting, digging yams, dancing corroboree, enjoying the didjeridoo, living

“Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human History. We reflect on their past

Atkinsons (2005) states that within Indigenous communities,Land and Country are interchangeably used to illustrate as “a resource,which behaves as a living being,and a life support system for humans”. Indigenous model of health revolves around a number of components such as nourishments, stress reduction, interaction with the land with a higher emphasize being placed on traditional land, personal identification and culture playing a significant role contributing towards a balanced health outcome (‘Yotti’ Kingsley, Townsend, Phillips & Aldous, 2009). As highlighted in Lutschini, 2005, association of native individuals to their country, sense of group and family is essential to the experience of wellbeing. As identified in literature, land plays a crucial and central figure in Indigenous identity encompassing physical,spiritual,cultural and emotional bonds (Richmond, Elliott, Matthews & Elliott, 2005). Throughout centuries through to present

My research paper will examine how racialized political implications impact aboriginal family life and intimate relations. The central issues in this paper will focus on social and political historical oppressions such as the Sixties Scoop, The Indian Act, and Residential Schooling, to examine how colonialism has, and still negatively affects intimate relations within aboriginal families and communities, and their ways of "doing family".

In the chapter Saving Clayoquot: Wilderness and the politics of Indigeneity, author Bruce Braun argues that although indigeneity is one of postcolonial environmentalism's most privileged terms, it risks indigenous peoples becoming subsumed within the “natural history” of being saved. The image I chose symbolizes how indigeneity in contemporary eco-politics simply inserts indigenous people into a pre-existing natural landscape. It paints an image that indigenous people are only an element in nature to be objectively ordered and described. We see this type of cultural objectification in many mainstream environmental advertisements that celebrate indigenous culture by banishing it to the past or mourning the loss of wildlife in association to