Totemism

An important aspect of religious belief was the Dreaming or Dreamtime. This term does not mean the same as an ordinary dream. Aborigines believed that the great creative and spirit beings were present at the beginning of things. These beings shaped the world as it is now and made everything, including people and their traditional way of life. After that, some of them went into the sky or into the ground, or merged into hills, rocks, or water holes. But although these beings died, their spirits lived on. In Aboriginal belief, they are just as alive today as they ever were, and they will continue to live on into the future. The idea of Dreaming relates to the idea of eternity in religious belief, to the patterns of life that were established in the beginning and continue to be vital and relevant now and in the future.

Totemism is best understood through the idea of the Dreaming. It can be regarded as a philosophy. The totem (symbol) in the form of an animal, plant, object, or some natural force, such as wind, is a visible expression of the Aboriginal people's relationship to their gods and mythical characters and to the natural environment. In some areas, a persons totem was regarded as being of the same flesh as the person, and the person could not eat it. Men and women claiming a particular animal as their totem were responsible for performing special increase rites (seasonal renewal rites) designed to increase the number of the animal.

The totem for the Ngoorabul people remains today as the Koala.

Courtesy World Book