Aboriginal Mythology

Australia’s Aboriginal mythology is char-acterized by two main features. First, it is a predominantly oral tradition. Aboriginalsociety was, and still is in many cases, one of hunter-gatherers. As the Aborigines movedin search of resources, and as seasons changed, the mythology developed regional variationsand differences peculiar to tribal groupings. Second, the mythology deals primarily withcreation and the way that humans and nature interact. To the Australian Aborigines,everything is permeated with life, and thislife is grouped into related families connected by a spiritual concept known as the Dreaming. In many cases, Aboriginal mythologyserves as a sort of oral map, defining theboundaries of tribal territory and identifying the natural features that mark those bound-aries. Local traditions generally stop at thepoint where another tribal grouping takes upcustodianship of the land. Therefore, tradi-tional tales are shared only by communitieswithin the same boundaries. And, as with thetribal groupings of people, things and animalsare classified and grouped by kinships as well.