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Aborigine Dreamtime in the Outback

Learn about these Australian natives and their beliefs.

Jenny and her mother were looking forward to their vacation in the Australian Outback.

Grandmother Maja was always lots of fun to visit. Maja was not only kind, warm, and funny, but a well-known Aboriginal storyteller. Jenny loved hearing her stories and hoped that she too could become a storyteller one day.

It was a long trip to her grandmother's small town m Australian wilderness. When Jenny and her mother arrived at Maja's cabin, Jenny asked. her grandmother how she had learned Aboriginal storytelling.

Maja replied, "I am so glad you like knowing about my stories. They were first told to me by my father. And they were told to him by his father. It is how the Aborigines learn their history, and how they are taught to respect the earth." She went on to explain the Dreamtime; according to Aboriginal tradition, the Dreamtime was a period in which their ancestors created everything that exists, through their dreams and ideas. For the Aborigines, Dreamtime could happen through private thoughts and sacred ceremonies.

In school, Jenny learned how the Aborigines came from Southeast Asia over 50,000 years ago, into what is now Australia. Groups of people spread across the continent, settling in deserts, rainforests, coastal plains, river banks, and on mountains. The women harvested plants, while the men used spears to hunt animals such as kangaroos, wallabies, birds, and reptiles. Aborigines also learned to throw a boomerang, and to play a wooden horn known as a didgeridoo. Many settlements developed their own languages.

After dinner that night, Jenny, her mother, and Maja set out to town for a gathering, also known as a corroboree. At the corroboree, people ate, sang, and danced. In the evening, several other people told fascinating tales about their ancestors. That night, as Jenny fell asleep, she began to dream.