In order to learn more about the complexities of the Dreamtime, I began searching through other books about the Indigenous Australians. In the beginning of Dreamkeepers: A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia, the author encountered an Aboriginal man who was angry because of the ‘Whitefellas’ desire to hear and re-tell the Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories. He said: “It’s like… I’m wearing the gold watch my father gave me and you ask me the time. So I tell you the time. But I don’t give you the watch, too, do I?” He felt that by listening to stories and then selling them off we were ‘taking the watch‘. He also said the he didn’t have to power to give away the story because it belonged to his people, not just to him.
This man’s opinions surprised me because in Western Society it is not uncommon to encounter a missionary who’s desire it is to convert you to their religion. In the Aboriginal society, it seems they are not so eager to share, wishing to protect their culture by keeping it to themselves. The man continued to say that this was just his opinion, and that others felt differently. In class we learned that a cultural is dynamic, not static, which means it is always changing. Although this man seemed to accept some aspects of the changes occurring in his culture, he was angered by others.
The forced assimilation of Aboriginal children from 1910 to the 1970s probably contributes to the Indigenous People’s mistrust of ‘Whitefellas’ with their culture. The victims of the forced assimilation, referred to as the Stolen Generation, were children who were taken from their families and put in orphanages and told that their families either didn’t want them or had died. These children were then placed in white Australian society, never learning about their own culture. The policy makers behind this decision believed ‘the color could be "bred out of them" [the mixed children]… while the fully black population, regarded as irredeemably primitive, was expected to simply die out.’ (quoted from the Times article)
I have significantly more understanding for the Aboriginal’s mistrust; especially now that I know what the Dreamtime is and how large a part of their culture it is. As I learned before, each member of Indigenous Society holds a special place in the group, performing certain ceremonies etc. to maintain the balance between humans, life, and non-life. If these children never were able to fill their place in the group, then I would think the Aboriginals would have felt the balance was lost. I see now that the man isn’t against sharing his culture, he is against having it taken away from him.
This man’s opinions surprised me because in Western Society it is not uncommon to encounter a missionary who’s desire it is to convert you to their religion. In the Aboriginal society, it seems they are not so eager to share, wishing to protect their culture by keeping it to themselves. The man continued to say that this was just his opinion, and that others felt differently. In class we learned that a cultural is dynamic, not static, which means it is always changing. Although this man seemed to accept some aspects of the changes occurring in his culture, he was angered by others.
The forced assimilation of Aboriginal children from 1910 to the 1970s probably contributes to the Indigenous People’s mistrust of ‘Whitefellas’ with their culture. The victims of the forced assimilation, referred to as the Stolen Generation, were children who were taken from their families and put in orphanages and told that their families either didn’t want them or had died. These children were then placed in white Australian society, never learning about their own culture. The policy makers behind this decision believed ‘the color could be "bred out of them" [the mixed children]… while the fully black population, regarded as irredeemably primitive, was expected to simply die out.’ (quoted from the Times article)
I have significantly more understanding for the Aboriginal’s mistrust; especially now that I know what the Dreamtime is and how large a part of their culture it is. As I learned before, each member of Indigenous Society holds a special place in the group, performing certain ceremonies etc. to maintain the balance between humans, life, and non-life. If these children never were able to fill their place in the group, then I would think the Aboriginals would have felt the balance was lost. I see now that the man isn’t against sharing his culture, he is against having it taken away from him.
Works Cited:
Arden, Harvey
1994 Dreamkeepers. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
McCarthy/Sydney, Terry
2000 The Stolen Generation. Electronic document,
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998067,00.html, accessed Oct 7.
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