At one with the land

Songlines are another aspect of Aboriginal culture that seems strange to the European mind. It’s what’s colloquially referred to when an Aboriginal ‘goes walkabout’. There’s nothing in European culture that equates with Songlines except maybe pilgrimage.

While in Broome, Western Australia I met Micklo Corpus, a local custodian of a sacred area called Minyirr. He invited me to Dabudabagun – sand dunes overlooking the stunning Cable Beach on the edge of the Indian Ocean. Minyirr is at the beginning of the Lurujarri Dreaming Trail, a Songline for the Bardi people of the Dampier Peninsula.

As we sat on a midden of ancient seashells, collected and eaten by countless generations of Broome’s first people, he told me something about Songlines.

Micklo explained that “a Songline is like a living map of the land; it guides people from place to place, taking them to where there is good water and abundant seasonal tucker.” But it is much more than an ancient guide to the best places to eat and drink. 

There are important locations along every Songline where the law of the land and its people are remembered, reinforced and celebrated.  The Songline is also part of the tribe’s traditional education for young people who are schooled in the arts and nature of the land, their people and their ancestors.

Micklo emphasised that “if you follow a Songline with an open mind, you will discover how the land is a living presence and it will teach you what you need to know.  e problem with whitefellas,” he said, “is that they can’t stop talking and analysing long enough to listen and feel what the land has to tell them.” A Songline is as much Patrick Mung Mung’s painting of his walkabout, a story from his childhood. a personal experience as a journey so it will be diff erent for diff erent people. 

The essence of Aboriginal culture is so ancient and so intimate with the land that it is beyond the comprehension of most technologically dependent urban dwellers. But its alternative sense of values and harmony with the environment is increasingly being recognised as something we have lost. We have a lot to learn (or remember) from these ancient peoples, about respecting the land rather than treating it as an infi nite resource for our exploitation.

Travel writer Peter Lynch has travelled the world for his new book Wildlife and Conservation Volunteering - the complete guide (Bradt Travel Guides, £13.99), but Australia is still his favourite destination.

Further information

• The Rebecca Hossack Galleries in London specialise in aboriginal art and also have a large art reference library although some books are available for purchase. It’s possible to preview current exhibitions on their website at www.r-h-g.co.uk . Both galleries are open from 10-6 but closed on Sundays.
• Aboriginal Australia is an online exhibition and shop wholly owned and run by an aboriginal community based in Alice Springs. It is an excellent source for viewing or purchasing aboriginal artwork, books and music and is found at www.aboriginalaustralia.com/catalog/