white outline massive native instruments

For thousands of years information has been passed on through stories and songs.

Today storytelling in Indigenous Australia is still a very important way of passing on information to people. This is how Dreaming stories have been passed down for thousands of years and continue to be passed on today. Storytelling ensures that Aboriginal heritage is passed on to the younger people. Once a person becomes an adult they are responsible for passing on the information they had learned to the younger people. As children grew older more information is passed on about their culture. Stories are told while walking down to the waterhole or grinding up seeds to make damper (bread) or sitting around the campfire at night. The elders use every opportunity to educate the children about the way of life of their people. For example, some sacred information can only be told to certain initiated women or men after they have carried out certain initiation rites. Some information can only be revealed to certain people. However, not all information can be known by all people. Dreaming stories pass on information to young people about creation, how the land was formed and populated, creation of plants, animals and humans, information about ancestral beings and places, the boundaries of peoples' tribal lands, how ancestors came to Australia, how people migrated across the country and arrived in a particular part of the country. Stories are also used to explain peoples' spirituality, heritage and the laws. It is used to teach children how they should behave and why, and to pass on knowledge about everyday life such as how and when to find certain foods. Storytelling is used in a variety of ways. Storytelling is not only about entertaining people but is also vital in educating children about life. In Aboriginal Australian society storytelling makes up a large part of everyday life. Passing the Culture to Children - Storytelling The government policies in which families and communities were separated were more than just heartbreaking for the individuals involved - they also effectively halted the passing of cultural knowledge from one generation to another. However, some knowledges are secret and are revealed only when the child is ready.

Indigenous education stresses the relationship between the child and its social and natural environment, which children learn by close observation and practice. Therefore, the raising, care, education and discipline of children are the responsibility of everyone - male, female, young and old. Children are not just the concern of the biological parents, but the entire community.

Indigenous communities have strong family values that are rarely endorsed or understood by government authorities.

White outline massive native instruments