Dreamtime is a word, first used by a European anthropologist, in the early 1900s, to define what he perceived to be a religion. He used this word to describe the all-encompassing mystical period of the beginning of the aborigines.

However, the Aborigines do not worship any Deity or other Gods. They did not build monoliths, monuments, or idols, nor did they have an organized religion. They lived according to the tradition of the Creator and the Ancestral Spirits of Australia’s various landscapes, sky, creatures and plants.

The art, stories, songs, and dances became well known as part of the Dreaming, but are still little understood. The Dreamtime is part of the oral tradition, and is only one aspect of a very complex spiritual belief system, the Dream.

Dreamtime stories are the oral form of spiritual Dreaming, comprising: Art – the visual form, Customs – the practical form, Music – the acoustic form, Totems – the spiritual forms, Lore – the cultural form, Lands – the physical form forms

Together, they form an all-encompassing mystical whole. For the last 220 years, since the colonization of Australia, non-indigenous people have perceived these art forms as separate entities, rather than part of a whole. The result has been a fragmented overview of Aboriginal culture.

Dream Stories are more than myths, legends, fables, parables or picturesque tales. They are definitely not fairy tales for the amusement of children. For generations, Aboriginal stories were told orally but never written down. They were the oral textbooks, of their accumulated knowledge, spirituality and wisdom, since the beginning of time.

The structure and form of a traditional Dreamtime story is quite unique and cannot be easily copied. A ten-minute long Dreamtime oral story, can cover various themes and topics, and be suitable for all age groups. They are structured with valuable lessons for children, or to bring renewed understanding to older people.

For example, twenty or more lessons can be found in a story, teaching topics such as: The spiritual belief system, Customs, Animal behavior, Animal psychology, Territorial map of the region, Hunting and gathering skills, Cultural norms, Moral behaviors , Survival skills. , Food resources.

In the book, Gadi Mirrabooka, the stories: “Brolga” and “First Platypus” are excellent examples of Stranger Danger and “The Murray Cod”, is a Creation Map story. Every genre of storytelling and hundreds of categories are used within The Dreamtime stories.

When the Aboriginal community regularly sat around the campfire after dinner and listened to storytellers recount the Dreamtime stories, or recount daily events such as hunts, battles, etc., the role of the storyteller’s custodian was really that of culture educator.

As the aboriginal culture was oral, the written word was unknown to these people. The storyteller’s role was not only to entertain, but also to preserve his culture while educating the growing generation of children and youth in the history, traditional values ​​and traditions of his people.

Stories were often told to children by ‘aunts’ (older women) to help protect them from danger, both within and outside the camp boundaries, and to enforce clan taboos and traditions.

The women took girls approaching puberty aside and taught them secret “women’s business”, preparing them for their roles as wives and mothers, for the next generation. There were many “secret women” stories, broadcast at this time, that men could not tell.

The men told hunting stories, teaching the youngsters vital information. Stories about survival and bushcraft were integrated into the stories they told. Storytelling played its part in sacred initiation ceremonies in which “secret” information was passed on to young men approaching adulthood. Women were not allowed to know these stories.

When telling the stories to the children, the narrator did not give any explanation of the meaning of the stories. All the stories they told contained hidden knowledge that reached a much deeper level of understanding. Aboriginal storytelling was similar to peeling an onion. Familiarity with the story eliminated different levels of knowledge, until the vital information contained in the story was finally revealed.

When the people heard the stories again, they were asked to repeat them to each other, and gradually, with repetition, understanding came.

Some stories conveyed information about their Dreamland heritage, the song lines. Through history, they learned vital survival information, such as how people found the water sources and the mythology associated with it.

Often a storyteller would tell stories of the night sky and how the figures of animals and people they could see in the collections of stars above them came to live in the sky. Through the stories, they learned to identify major stars, which could help them navigate the country, helping them survive when they find themselves in uncharted territory. There were space stories, explaining the arrival of meteor showers from outer space.

They learned the habits of all living creatures, animals, birds, fish, insects and plants and were told stories that explained the behavior of the creatures in certain seasons. This information provided in the form of oral histories taught them how these creatures fed and how to track them as they foraged. They were taught which berries and fruits were safe to eat and when they were ripe for harvest.

Stories were told that warned listeners of the dangers of witchcraft, magic and poison, of the wild forces of nature such as “eddy” winds, violent thunderstorms, floods and forest fires and the best way to survive them.

There were stories that told of battles and the heroic achievements of their ancient warriors, while other stories told of sorcery and duplicity. All the stories had to be entertaining, so that the Aboriginal storytellers could capture the attention of their audience. In this way, the narrator’s custodian held a highly respected place in Aboriginal society.

Storytelling seems complicated when one is looking for a particular Aboriginal story, because there can be 700 ways to tell the story, depending on the people, the land region, the type of country, and the creature’s habitat. For example: There are as many different versions of “How the Kangaroo Got Her Pouch” as there are of “Cinderella” in European culture.

Some of the early European anthropologists who had come to study the aborigines brought back some of the “secret stories of secret men and women” and the “secret and sacred stories” and published them. An unfortunate lack of understanding by outsiders of the meaning of these special stories, which Aboriginal people considered sacred and part of their cultural property, greatly offended Aboriginal people. They had shared their deepest secrets with these men and their permission to share or publish them had not been sought!

Note: It’s polite, if you find an Australian Aboriginal story you want to tell, always try to find the source and ask Aboriginal elders for permission to tell it.