KOALAS ARE A TOTEM FOR MANY FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE The koala is a totem for many Aboriginal people, and totems are a very significant part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and identity.
In the eyes of an aboriginal person, animals were not only a food source, but they were also way closer to the peoples. They were like friends and even closer more like family. known as the “The master of skies”. Represents love, great significance to one another, balances, focus, strength, peace, and leadership.
Some Aboriginal people may have several totems and these come from animals, plants, landscape features and the weather. People who share the same totem have a special relationship with each other. Knowing a person's totem means understanding a person's relationship to the language group and to other people.
Sacred sites are places within the landscape that have a special meaning or significance under Aboriginal tradition. Hills, rocks, waterholes, trees, plains, lakes, billabongs and other natural features can be sacred sites.
The Port River Tribe's totem was Kudlyo, the Black Swan. The Kaurna People have a strong spiritual attachment to and partnership with the land, and the rich and diverse eco-zone of the Port Adelaide region prior to European settlement, provided them with food, shelter, and areas of spiritual significance.
Bunjil, also spelt Bundjil, is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being, often depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle in Australian Aboriginal mythology of some of the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria.
In Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Crow is a trickster, culture hero and ancestral being. In the Kulin nation in central Victoria he is known as Waang (also Wahn or Waa) and is regarded as one of two moiety ancestors, the other being the more sombre eaglehawk Bunjil.
Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, NT
The literal and spiritual heart of Australia, Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park encompasses an area centred on Uluru and Kata Tjuta, two immense sandstone formations rising out of the red sand of the Central Australian desert.
Ritual objects such as the calumet, rattles, drums, masks, medicine wheels, medicine bundles and ritual sanctuaries are filled with spiritual power. Various Indigenous oral histories tell of contacts made between humans and the world beyond.
Aboriginal people are very religious and spiritual, but rather than praying to a single god they cannot see, each group generally believes in a number of different deities, whose image is often depicted in some tangible, recognisable form.
Plants and animals are totems for Aboriginal Peoples. Aboriginal Peoples share the land with them and their relationship is fundamental to the continued practice, and cultural responsibility – for food, health, shelter, cultural expression and spiritual wellbeing.
Honesty – Gwekwaadziwin
Honesty is represented by either the raven or the sabe. They both understand who they are how to walk in their life. “Sabe reminds us to be ourselves and not someone we are not.
The most important number is four, the symbol of the horizontal picture of the world, which is most clearly represented among North American Indians: “In its essence, this symbolism stays for a cycle associated with fertility.
Cedar serves as a protector. Tobacco a sign of respect to the Creator and Sage protects against negativity. The Medicine Circle, commonly known as the Medicine Wheel, refers to life's journey and teaches how the physical, spiritual, mental and emotional aspects of life are connected.
There is no symbol that represents all indigenous religions. They each may have objects special to their beliefs. For instance, the Sioux hold the hoop, or circle, as a sacred symbol of unity.
Since the start of European arrival and settlement with the British in 1788, and with subsequent immigration, Christianity has been the most widely professed faith.
Tasmania had the highest rate of citizens reporting no religion, at 50% while the rate was lowest in New South Wales (33%).
In many Australian Aboriginal cultures Bush Stone-Curlews have close associations with death.
Many stories speak of men who are able to harness the power of the Rainbow Serpents because they know the location of certain crystals or can conduct the appropriate rituals. People who lack this knowledge are thought to be at the mercy of the creatures. There are, of course, many many dragons in Aboriginal mythology.
The Native Owl Symbol represents a bird of wisdom and intuition, magic and prophecy. Owls are often seen as messengers. Some healers call upon the Owl for insight into the truth of ill-intent. Some First Nations believed that the sound of the Owl was a call to summon the spirit world.