Uluru |
According to the Aṉangu, traditional landowners of Uluru:
The world was once a featureless place. None of the places we know existed until creator beings, in the forms of people, plants and animals, traveled widely across the land. Then, in a process of creation and destruction, they formed the landscape as we know it today. Aṉangu land is still inhabited by the spirits of dozens of these ancestral creator beings which are referred to as Tjukuritja or Waparitja.
Two other accounts are given: The first tells of serpent beings who waged
many wars around Uluru, scarring the rock. The second tells of two tribes of
ancestral spirits who were invited to a feast, but were distracted by the
beautiful Sleepy Lizard Women and did not show up. In response, the angry hosts
sang evil into a mud sculpture that came to life as the dingo. There followed a
great battle, which ended in the deaths of the leaders of both tribes. The
earth itself rose up in grief at the bloodshed, becoming Uluru.
Kakadu |
The Songlines
"Songlines,
also called Dreaming tracks by Indigenous Australiana within the
animist indigenous belief system, are paths across the land (or, sometimes
the sky) which mark the route followed by localised 'creator-beings' during the
Dreaming. The paths of the songlines are recorded in traditional songs,
stories, dance, and painting.
A knowledgeable person is able to navigate across the land by repeating the
words of the song, which describe the location of landmarks, waterholes, and
other natural phenomena. In
some cases, the paths of the creator-beings are said to be evident from their
marks, or petrosomatoglyphs, on the land, such as large depressions in the land
which are said to be their footprints.
By singing the songs in the appropriate sequence, Indigenous people
could navigate vast distances, often travelling through the deserts of
Australia's interior."
- from Wikipedia
Sydney |
Lizard Island / Sydney |
Sydney |