Culture & the Dreaming
The Cultural Wheel
lAND
DREAMING
"aboriginal lore"
Medicine
Knowledge
& Wisdom
Social Organisation
Territorial Rights
Trade
Routes
Housing
Economy
Secret &Sacred Objects
Education
Totemic
System
Land Management
Spirituality
Song/Dance
Plants & Animals
Language
Hunting &
Gathering
Technology
& Tools
Division of Labour
Creation & Mythology
Ceremony Men's & Women's Business
The Cultural Wheel represents the holisitic nature of Aboriginal traditional culture and is where their beliefs, morals and values systems stem from. Each section of the wheel is integral to Aboriginal culture as a whole. The Dreaming is the hub of the wheel. Connections to all things are centred on the land, Mother Earth.
“We are the oldest and the strongest people, we're here all of the time, we're constant through the Dreaming which is happening now, there's no such thing as the Dreamtime”.
- Karl Telfer, senior culture-bearer for
Kaurna people, Adelaide
The term 'Lore' refers to the customs and stories the Aboriginal peoples learned from the Dreamtime. Aboriginal lore was passed on through the generations through songs, stories and dance and it governed all aspects of traditional life.
The individual spokes represent the elements of Aboriginal culture held in place by their connections to the land and the Dreaming. This is where Aboriginal 'Lore' stems from to give Aboriginal people spiritual understanding and a way of being. There are a range of practices and ceremonies that are centred on the Dreaming and the Creation period. There are Lore’s for living together with all things, which Aboriginal people respect, and are responsible for, as keepers of the land.
“What we draw on from our memories, and think, imagine and create in our daily lives is our dreaming.”
- Djon Mundine
Bundjalung man and Aboriginal Curator
"'The Dreaming' or 'the Dreamtime' indicates a psychic state in which or during which contact is made with the ancestral spirits, or the Law, or that special period of the beginning”.
- Mudrooroo, Aboriginal writer