The Aboriginal people here still maintain many traditional beliefs surrounding the dreaming. Each clan/tribe/mob/community has their own beliefs. They maintain their traditional family systems and laws. They uphold women's and men's business, pay back. They don't believe death occurs due to natural causes but that they are the result of evil spirits/spells. When someone dies the community holds 'sorry business' and all of that persons belongings are burned. They are not spoken of again.
They also believe in the Kurdaitcha Man (pronounce kur-die-cha) - akin to the boogey man. He comes out at night.
Our local language here is Arrente (Ah-ren-da) and our kids all learn it at primary school.
Spoke to some friends and they say the first point of call is to contact your local council, they should be able to put you in touch with some local First Australians.
It HAS been a long time since my post!
I completely forgot about it
I've been quite involved with my local Reconciliation Action Group, actually, and two weeks ago made a presentation to Council about the group, our aims and how council can support us (they already are - two shires involved). In fact, the council I'm in until recently wasn't that great with their record and has been taking guidance from the neighbouring council.
The local Aboriginal people, due to the nature of dispossession here in Vic, are not cohesive and there is dispute about who does what. So, there are people who just do stuff and let it fall into place from there The Learning Stones project is just one of those things and it may be the ripple effect we need.
Thanks for your replies! A bit sad how long my post was left to collect dust before interested people replied, and comforting to know there ARE interested people
I'm into a lot of different indigenous cultures, I'm just miffed I didn't see this before (or it could have been posted when I was on a self-imposed ban & I missed it that way)
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The Learning Stones project is just one of those things and it may be the ripple effect we need.
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