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Australian Aboriginal culture includes a number of practices and ceremonies centered on a belief in the Dreamtime and other mythology. Reverence and respect for the land and oral traditions are emphasised. The words "law" and "lore", the latter relating to the customs and stories passed down through the generations, are commonly used ...
They contributed DNA to Aboriginal Australians and to present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in the Philippines known as Mamanwa. This study confirms Aboriginal Australians as one of the oldest living populations in the world. They are possibly the oldest outside Africa, and they may have the oldest continuous culture on the planet. [28]
According to Australian Aboriginal mythology and the animist framework developed in Aboriginal Australia, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral totemic spirit beings formed The Creation. The Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land. [75]
Australian culture is of primarily Western origins, and is derived from its British, Indigenous and migrant components.. Indigenous peoples arrived as early as 60,000 years ago, and evidence of Aboriginal art in Australia dates back at least 30,000 years. [1]
The Stolen Generations were those children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were forcibly removed [174] from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions for the purpose of eradicating Aboriginal culture, under acts of their respective parliaments.
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies was established as a statutory authority [6] [12] under an Act of Parliament in June 1964. [13] [14] The mission of the Institute at that time has been described as "to record language, song, art, material culture, ceremonial life and social structure before those traditions perished in the face of European ways".
[13] [14] [15] Since the 1980s, [16] First Nations and non-First Nations Australian academics have developed an understanding of a deeply rooted custodial obligation, or custodial ethic, that underpins Aboriginal Australian culture, and could offer significant benefits for sustainable land management and reconciliation in Australia. [17] [18] [19]
Aboriginal Australians make up approximately 2.5% of the population. [3] Australia's diverse migrant communities have brought with them food, lifestyle and cultural practices, which have been absorbed into mainstream Australian culture. [4] [5] From Federation until after the Second World War, Australia adhered to the White Australia policy.