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Australian Mythology
Australian mythology stems largely from Europeans who colonised the country from 1788, subsequent domestic innovation, as well as other immigrant and Indigenous Australian traditions, many of which relate to Dreamtime stories. Australian mythology survives through a combination of word of mouth, historical accounts and the continued practice and belief in Dreamtime within Aboriginal communities. Dreamtime The beginnings of Australian mythology center on the Aboriginal belief system known as Dreamtime, which dates back as far as 65,000 years. Aboriginals believed Earth was created by spiritual beings who physically represented the land, sea, animals and people. 'Everything in the natural world is a symbolic footprint of the metaphysical beings whose actions created our world." Through practices such as storytelling, dance and art, Dreamtime provided the foundation for Aboriginal culture and spirituality. Colonial myths and folklore Since European settlement, Australian myt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australians
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Australian. Australian law does not provide for a racial or ethnic component of nationality, instead relying on citizenship as a legal status. Since the postwar period, Australia has pursued an official policy of multiculturalism and has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30 percent of the population in 2019. Between European colonisation in 1788 and the Second World War, the vast majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles (principally England, Ireland and Scotland), although there was significant immigration from China and Germany during the 19th century. Many early settlements were initially pen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrative as a myth can be highly controversial. Many adherents of religions view their own religions' stories as truth and so object to their characterization as myth, the way they see the stories of other religions. As such, some scholars label all religious narratives "myths" for practical reasons, such as to avoid depreciating any one tradition because cultures interpret each other differently relative to one another. Other scholars avoid using the term "myth" altogether and instead use different terms like "sacred history", "holy story", or simply "history" to avoid placing pejorative overtones on any sacred narrative. Myths are often endorsed by secular and religious authorities and are closely linked to religion or spirituality. Many soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples of the Australian mainland and Tasmania, and the Torres Strait Islander peoples from the seas between Queensland and Papua New Guinea. The term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or the person's specific cultural group, is often preferred, though the terms First Nations of Australia, First Peoples of Australia and First Australians are also increasingly common; 812,728 people self-identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the 2021 Australian Census, representing 3.2% of the total population of Australia. Of these indigenous Australians, 91.4% identified as Aboriginal; 4.2% identified as Torres Strait Islander; while 4.4% identified with both groups. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dreamtime
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology, Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis James Gillen, Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his colleague Walter Baldwin Spencer, Baldwin Spencer and thereafter popularised by A. P. Elkin, who, however, later revised his views. The Dreaming is used to represent Aboriginal concepts of ''Everywhen'', during which the land was inhabited by ancestral figures, often of heroic proportions or with supernatural abilities. These figures were often distinct from gods, as they did not control the material world and were not worshipped but only reverence (emotion), revered. The concept of the Dreamtime has subsequently become widely adopted beyond its original Australian context and is now part of global popular culture. The term is based on a rendition of the Arandic languages, Arandic word '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aboriginal Art Carnarvon Gorge
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see List of indigenous peoples, including: **Aboriginal Australians (Aborigine is an archaic term that is considered offensive) **Indigenous peoples in Canada, also known as Aboriginal Canadians **Orang Asli or Malayan aborigines **Taiwanese indigenous peoples, formerly known as Taiwanese aborigines See also * * *Australian Aboriginal English *Australian Aboriginal identity *Aboriginal English in Canada *First Nations (other) {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Gold Rushes
During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of New South Wales (Victoria did not become a separate colony until 1 July 1851) had suppressed the news out of the fear that it would reduce the workforce and so destabilise the economy. After the California Gold Rush began in 1848, many people went there from Australia, so the New South Wales government sought approval from the British Colonial Office for the exploitation of mineral resources, and offered rewards for finding gold. History of discovery The first gold rush in Australia began in May 1851 after prospector Edward Hargraves claimed to have discovered payable gold near Orange, at a site he called Ophir. Hargraves had been to the Californian goldfields and had learned new gold prospecting techniques such as panning and cradling. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digger (soldier)
Digger is a military slang term for primarily infantry soldiers from Australia and New Zealand. Evidence of its use has been found in those countries as early as the 1850s, but its current usage in a military context did not become prominent until World War I, when Australian and New Zealand troops began using it on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around 1916–17. Evolving out of its usage during the war, the term has been linked to the concept of the Anzac spirit, Anzac legend, but within a wider social context, it is linked to the concept of "egalitarianism, egalitarian mateship". Origin Before World War I, the term "digger" was widely used in Australasia to mean a mining, miner, and also referred to a Kauri gum-digger in New Zealand. In Australia and New Zealand, the term "digger" has egalitarian connotations from the Victoria (Australia), Victorian Eureka Rebellion, Eureka Stockade Rebellion of 1854, and was closely associated with the principles of mate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bunyip
The bunyip is a creature from the aboriginal mythology of southeastern Australia, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. Name The origin of the word ''bunyip'' has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of the Aboriginal people of Victoria, in South-Eastern Australia. The word ''bunyip'' is usually translated by Aboriginal Australians today as "devil" or "evil spirit". This contemporary translation may not accurately represent the role of the bunyip in pre-contact Aboriginal mythology or its possible origins before written accounts were made. Some modern sources allude to a linguistic connection between the bunyip and Bunjil, "a mythic 'Great Man' who made the mountains, rivers, man, and all the animals". The word ''bahnyip'' first appeared in the ''Sydney Gazette'' in 1812. It was used by James Ives to describe "a large black animal like a seal, with a terrible voice which creates terror among the blacks". Distribution The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billabong
Billabong ( ) is an Australian term for an oxbow lake, an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course. Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end. As a result of the arid Australian climate in which these "dead rivers" are often found, billabongs fill with water seasonally but can be dry for a greater part of the year. Etymology The etymology of the word ''billabong'' is disputed. The word is most likely derived from the Wiradjuri term ''bilabaŋ'', which means "a watercourse that runs only after rain". It is derived from ''bila'', meaning "river", It may have been combined with ''bong'' or ''bung'', meaning "dead". One source, however, claims that the term is of Scottish Gaelic origin. Billabongs were significant because they held water longer than parts of rivers; it was important for people to identify and name these areas. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drop Bear
The drop bear (sometimes dropbear) is a hoax in contemporary Australian folklore featuring a predatory, carnivorous version of the koala. This imaginary animal is commonly spoken about in tall tales designed to scare tourists. While koalas are typically docile herbivores (and are not bears), drop bears are described as unusually large and vicious marsupials that inhabit treetops and attack unsuspecting people (or other prey) that walk beneath them by dropping onto their heads from above. Origin The origin of the drop bear myth is unknown. The earliest written reference found by the National Library of Australia is a passing mention in a classified advertisement in the ''Canberra Times'' in 1982, but the term was in popular usage well before then, especially to scare scouts camping, or city tourists who came to visit the country. Stories and tall tales Stories about drop bears are generally used as an in-joke intended to frighten and confuse outsiders while amusing locals, simil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yowie
Yowie is one of several names for an Australian folklore entity that is reputed to live in the Outback. The creature has its roots in Aboriginal oral history. In parts of Queensland, they are known as ''quinkin'' (or as a type of quinkin), and as ''joogabinna'', in parts of New South Wales they are called ''Ghindaring'', ''jurrawarra'', ''myngawin'', ''puttikan'', ''doolaga'', ''gulaga'' and ''thoolagal''. Other names include ''yaroma'', ''noocoonah'', ''wawee'', ''pangkarlangu'', ''jimbra'' and ''tjangara''. Yowie-type creatures are common in Aboriginal Australian legends, particularly in the eastern Australian states. Description The yowie is usually described as a hairy and ape-like creature standing upright at between and . The yowie's feet are described as much larger than a human's, but alleged yowie tracks are inconsistent in shape and toe number, and the descriptions of yowie foot and footprints provided by yowie witnesses are even more varied than those of Bigfoot. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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