saudi...just obeying the koran, page-18

The aborigines were living 'one with the land' & were were spiritual in their believing of the Great Spirit as were the North American indians. That was/is their truth. Then the so called oz so called christian founders come along and introduce, disease,take away the land because they had a peice of paper with a signature on it, give them the dole,(when they had all worked for living) & introduced materialism. Then breeding between the whites & blacks further complicated matters but that is the way it is & so all concerned have to deal with any problems as they see fit. I just empathise with what the aborigines had to suffer because of so called 'christian ideals'.

http://www.mcauley.acu.edu.au/~yuri/ethics/aborig.html

If a solution to the Land Rights issue is to be found it will be necessary for us in our age to come to an understanding and appreciation of the history, culture, feelings and needs of the Aboriginal people. It is necessary to understand the impact of the history of Australian colonisation. We are told by archaeologists that Aborigines have been residing on Australian soil for over 50,000 years, and that during that time they have developed their own cultures and traditions. They achieved a very delicate balance with their environments and they came to understand it since they had great dependence upon it. We should pause to consider that, even before the Old Testament books were written, the Aboriginal people were living on Australian soil:

All that we know of written history and civilisation has taken place since the invention of writing, sometime before 3000 B.C. In other words, only in the last third of the time during which Aborigines were the masters of the Australian continent have the ancestors of the other races and people of the earth lived in any way differently from them. (Carne, 14).

It would be naive in the extreme to deny that after so many years the Aboriginal people would not have developed a highly organised way of life with a unique culture and tradition. Made up of many tribes, these people had their own tribal laws, language, ceremonies and a very unique relationship with the land. This relationship was deeply spiritual and covered many aspects of their lives.

The next reading will allow you to have a better grasp of the very notion of what constitutes 'Aboriginality.' The article by Professor Max Charlesworth examines the way early colonialists perceived the indigenous people of Australia. It is hoped that this reading will allow you to depth out a more sensitive understanding of aboriginal mysticism, symbolism, the religious importance of the 'Dreaming' and their spiritual attachment to the land.