The Australian Aboriginal ‘Dreamtime’ (Its History, Cosmogenesis Cosmology and Ontology)
The Australian Aboriginal ‘Dreamtime’ (Its History, Cosmogenesis Cosmology and Ontology) Thesis
School of Humanities
- Author(s): Dean, C
- Published: 1996
- Publisher: Deakin University
Abstract: At present the only information on the Aboriginal 'dreamtime' is interspersed throughout anthropological literature. This information ranges from being adequate, to being almost useless, from being detailed, to being vague. In some cases two ethnologies will contradict one another in important detail, in other cases anthropologists will draw conclusions where the Aborigines themselves give contradictory evidence. This thesis then is an attempt to bring the available information together in one work. The synthesizing of material highlights the fact that there is a wide range of variation amongst Aboriginal communities and anthropologists, in the way they conceptualise the 'dreamtime'. By not realising this variation, a false universality has been applied to the 'dreamtime', in regard to the finer metaphysical points; thus creating an order, or unity, [as if a consensus of opinion is held] about the 'dreamtime' within Aboriginal Australia. In looking at the ethnologies, which deal with the 'dreamtime', it is apparent that the conclusions anthropologists draw are in fact dependent upon the questions asked, and how the anthropologist understands the answers. In most cases a different set of questions need to be asked in order to get a clearer picture of the 'dreamtime', and a different set of presuppositions need to be held in order to filter the answer. In some cases the Aboriginal cultures have disappeared, in others they have become Westernised. In both cases we may never know what they believed about the 'dreamtime'. In regard to the answers given to the questions asked by certain anthropologists, certain consequences or conclusions can be drawn about 'Dreamtime' metaphysics when looking at the ethnographies of these anthropologists: R. and C. Berndt [Ooldea], R. Berndt [Wuradjeri, Murngin], D. Bell [Warrabri], E. Kolig [Fitzroy Aborigines], J. Meggitt [Wailbiri], C. Mountford [Tiwi], C. Mountford and R. Tonkinson [Jigalong], W.E.H. Stanner [Murinbata]. Thus, in these ethnographies a number of variations on 'Dreamtime' ontology appear. For some Aboriginal communities the 'Dreamtime' is: 1) a past reality [Tiwi, Wuradjeri, Jigalong], 2) at the same time a past reality and a concurrent reality with the present reality [Mardudjara, Murngin, Wailbiri, Ooldea, Warrabri]. For those communities where the 'Dreamtime' is at the same time a past reality and a concurrent reality with the present these are two variations: a) the concurrent reality is parallel with the present [Murngin, Wailbiri, Ooldea, Warrabri]. b) the concurrent reality is within the present reality [Murinbata, Mardudjara]. These variations on 'Dreamtime' metaphysics makes the posing of universalistic claims about 'Dreamtime' metaphysics tenuous. The inadequacy of certain universalistic claims in regard to 'Dreamtime' metaphysics is seen with regard to some of A.P. Elkin's claims. Elkin creates a false universality when he claims the 'Dreamtime' is "...the condition or ground of existence... in which the past ['Dreamtime'] underlies and is within the present". This claim by Elkin [it will be seen (ch.4)] is only valid for the Murinbata and perhaps the Mardudjara, but not for the Jigalong, Fitzroy Aborigines, Wuradjeri, Murngin, Warrabri, Wailbiri, Ooldea and Tiwi, because for these groups the 'Dreamtime' is parallel to the present reality and not within it. The above discussion points out: 1) the variability and complexity of 'Dreamtime' metaphysics and 2) the danger of for all-encompassing universalistic theories to explain 'Dreamtime' metaphysics. The demonstration of this complexity and variability of 'Dreamtime' metaphysics, within this thesis, is an attempt to prove W.E.H. Stanner's claim that the 'Dreamtime' is "...much more complex philosophically than we have so far realised."