Australia, a vast land dominated by desert and semi-desert landscapes, was first inhabited by the Aborigines (pronounced ab-uh-RIJ-uh-neez). The mythology of Australia comes from these people and has been influenced by their very close relationship with the natural environment. Most of the myths deal with the features of the landscape, how they were created, and their importance to the Aborigines.
In Australian mythology, there are no standard versions of individual myths. Instead, a tale about a particular character varies from region to region. The reason for these variations in the mythology lies in the lifestyle of the Aborigines.
The first humans to inhabit Australia, the Aborigines, may have arrived more than fifty thousand years ago. They probably came from the islands north of the Australian continent, now known as Indonesia, or from islands in the Pacific Ocean. Some scholars believe that the earliest inhabitants traveled overland across a land bridge that once connected
Australia and southeastern Asia. Later people arrived by raft or boat after the ocean rose, covering the land route.
The early inhabitants were semi-nomads who survived by hunting wild animals, fishing, and gathering fruits and plants. Each group had a home territory where their ancestors had originally settled; however, most groups moved with the seasons as they ran out of food and fresh water. This semi-nomadic lifestyle exposed some Aborigines to new regions and brought various groups into contact with one another.
For thousands ofyears, the Aboriginal way oflife was hardly touched by outside influences. Then, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, European colonists began to arrive in Australia. Today the Aborigines make up little more than 2 percent of Australia’s population, and few of them maintain their traditional way of life. Aware that the breakdown of their semi-nomadic lifestyle and oral traditions could lead to a loss of their heritage, some Aborigines are making an effort to collect and record their myths and legends for future generations.
By participating in certain rituals, individuals are able to reenact the journeys of their ancestors. The ritual reenactment of a myth is as important as the story itself. The rituals involve singing, dancing, and painting, which, according to the Aborigines, nurtures the land, the people, and the ancestral beings. The individuals who perform the ritual call upon the ancestral beings and later sing a song to return them to their place of emergence.
Aboriginal rituals also include the creation of mythological designs, such as the body paintings, ground paintings, rock paintings, and engravings found throughout Australia. The Aborigines decorate sacred objects and weapons to represent certain myths. They chant a myth to attach it to the object being decorated. When a sacred object or place is touched, struck, or rubbed, it releases the spirit that inhabits it. Such rituals are preserved and repeated to establish ties between past, present, and future generations.
World History
