A note on terms

All persons or groups have the right to define themselves in their own way. This might be by personal association, clan, language group or broader community group, and may vary according to context of use. For these exhibitions, we have had to choose terms that may not be acceptable to everyone. The following terms and definitions reflect our understanding.

Aboriginal people—refers to Australian Aboriginal people generally, either in Victoria or in other parts of Australia.

Indigenous Australians—refers to both groups of Indigenous peoples in Australia, that is, Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people.

Indigenous peoples—refers to colonized peoples throughout the world.

Non-Indigenous Australians—refers to people who live or have lived in Australia who are not Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islander people.

Koori—refers to Aboriginal people in south-east Australia. This term has been widely used since the 1970s. Many people prefer to use more local terms such as Gunai or Yorta Yorta.
Clan and language names from across Australia are also used, for example: Woi wurrung, Boon wurrung, Watha wurrung—groups from around the Melbourne region. [Wall plaque at beginning of exhibit in Melbourne Museum]

Archeological evidence of Aboriginal habitation goes back beyond 60,000 years. Torres Strait islanders have occupied traditional lands and seas for at least 10,000 years. When the Europeans arrived, there were from 300,000 to 1,000,000 indigenous people in Australia. They spoke over 250 languages and 500 dialects.

As of 1996, indigenous people in Australia numbered 386,000, 2% of the total population. Over half of them lived in New South Wales and Queensland; 73% in urban areas. Only 15% of the indigenous population in 1996 spoke an indigenous language. [Fact File: Cultural Diversity. Immigration Museum, Melbourne]

The Dreaming

Many legends of the Dreaming contain accounts of Ancestral Beings rising from the earth, assuming an identity, stretching up tot he sun, announcing; "I am...!" "I am Ant!" "I am Snake!" "I am Kangaroo!" "I am Wallaby!" "I am Emu!," and as they called out their names they created sacred songs which brought aspects of the land into being. Each region would be influenced by several powerful figures and those Ancestral Beings would then continue to support and resource the communities living within that region that had been created all those thousands of years ago.

As the Ancestral Beings moved across the land, an intricate network of rivers, deserts and mountains were "sung" into existence, each with their own story of creation. In that way a web of Songlines was created over the country.

In turn, as they travelled the Ancestors ate, hunted, made love, sang and danced along the trails of the Songlines. When their journey finally ended, the Ancestral Beings sang their way back into the earth from whence they came, where they lie sleeping, ready to be called up by the prescribed ritual performed by the "clever man."

The Dreaming has deep and sacred meanings. It is inaccurate to refer to Dreaming stories as fables or folklore as the Dreaming is not fictitious to Aboriginal people. It is a real and meaningful belief system that has been passed on from one generation to the next over many thousands of years and is still an active component of Aboriginal culture.

Ancestral Beings arrived from spirit homes far off in the Dreaming and it is their custom to visit those parts of the land for which they had responsibility. They left behind their life essence, which was expressed through the natural environment in many forms: plants, animals, minerals, rocks, water, the winds and people. In this way, Aboriginal people form part of a world which has been created by Ancestral Beings and as a result have profound respect for their environment and for the creatures and land forms which make it up. [Pieta O'Shaughnessy, A Traveller's Guide to Aboriginal Australia]

The Story of Ngurunderi, Dreaming Ancestor

Ngurunderi is perhaps the most important Dreaming Ancestor of the Murray River and lakes. The Murray River follows Ngurunderi's journey along many hundreds of kilometres, staring from the upper reaches of what is now known as the Murray River, originally just a small stream, down to the coast lakes, along beaches to the west, finally reaching Kangaroo Island in South Australia.

Ngurunderi was searching for his wives who had run away from him. On his journey down the stream in his bark canoe, Ngurunderi followed a great fish, the Murray Cod. The noise he made caused the Cod to swish his tail back and forth. As he did so he washed water over the banks, forming swamps and making the bends of the river.

At last Ngurunderi's relation, Nepele, speared the mighty fish, which Ngurunderi began to cut into pieces. As he cut each piece with his stone knife he threw it into the lake, and as each piece fell into the water, he named the fish it created. In this way, the catfish, bony bream, mud fish and many other fish families were formed.

Along the journey Ngurunderi met some people who ran into the bushes in fear of the Ancestral Being poling his canoe along the river. All of a sudden those people turned into birds. Many of those bird families live in the Lignum bushes of the Murray River today.

In the meantime, Ngurunderi's two wives had made camp and were cooking the forbidden fish, bony bream. He smelt the fish cooking and let his canoe which he put into the sky and which became the Milky Way. Ngurunderi's wives heard hi coming and escaped across the lake on a raft of reeds and grass trees.

The chase continued to the mouth of the Murray River and along the coast to what is now Victor Harbour. Ngurunderi became angry when he reached Victor Harbour, and threw his spears into the sea, creating the islands that can be seen there today. He created the Bluff by hurling his club to the ground and made a fishing ground at Middleton by throwing a large tree into the sea.

Ngurunderi caught up with his wives at Cape Jervis. They saw him coming and ran across the causeway, which connected Kangaroo Island to the mainland at that time. Ngurunderi commanded the waters to rise and the two women were swept from their path by huge waves and were drowned. They can still be seen as the rocky Pages Islands.

Then Ngurunderi crossed to Kangaroo Island, travelling to the western end of the island. He threw his spears into the sea and dived in. We can see Ngurunderi each night as a star in the Milky Way. [Pieta O'Shaughnessy, A Traveller's Guide to Aboriginal Australia]

Introduction to New Zealand's Mythology

Before the beginning there alone was Io, Io-the-parentless, Io-the-endless, Io-the-timeless, Io-without-limit.

He moved and the Great Nothingness was born. In the spiralling currents it followed itself and searched. It found heart and became ignited. It thought as does a mind. And desired as does a dream. It took form and breathed. And in a second that was a million years, it multiplied and grew. To become a shadow. A darkness. A night. A night of gestation. A night for bearing the Ancients.

There was Ranginui, the virile male, sky-bound and active. There was Papatuanuku, the female, land-bound and passive. They breathed together as lovers and in the Night-that-knows-no-end there were born to them seventy mighty sons. There was Whiro-the-dominant whose wrath was as an axe upon the tree, and Tawhiri-of-the-elements, whose breath was the wind itself. There was Tangaroa-of-the-seas, whose ceaseless waves would chisel away the land. There was Tu-of-the-red-face, by whose hand mankind would know war, and Turongo-the-gentle who would lay down the foundations of peace. There was Haumia-the-abundant who was lord over the fruits of the earth and Ruaumoko-the-lastborn, whose one tiny movement would cause the earth herself to quake and tremor. Finally there was Tane-the-thoughtful, whose actions and deeds would produce the world and all its parts.

It was Tane who separated their parents to produce the sky above and the land below. And when his grieving parents' tears filled the world, he turned his mother over to stop Ranginui from having to look upon her face and be reminded of their separation.

Tane brought light to the world by placing the stars in the sky, the sun at its zenith and the moon lower down on his father's head. He build the first house of nobility and it remains to this day the blueprint from which all homes are templated. He filled it with the knowledge of the gods, which he retrieved from the summit of the heavens at the instruction of Io-the-creator himself. He produced the trees, the birds, the insects and fish to clothe and adorn his mother, the earth. Finally, he created the first human, a woman from whom all peoples are descended. The world of eternal light where all beings were kin, no matter who or what, was born.

Many times did summer and winter struggle in rivalry before Maui-of-the-topknot, half-man, half-god, was gifted to the world. Raised by his priestly elder, Tamanui, he was shown the secrets of the universe; the kinship that existed between all things that would allow him to take on the form of the tree, the bird, the fish, the lizard. He mastered himself and returned to his family ready to conquer.

With a fearless heart he secured the magic jawbone of knowledge of his ancestress Murirangawhenua. And with it he caught and slowed down the sun, which sped across the heavens at will with little thought for the activities of man. He made fire available to people by forcing the very last flame of the Keeper-of-the-fires, Mahuika, to become imbued into the heartwood of the tree. He visited the spirit world to find his father and before his death at the hands of the Goddess-of-dearh, Hine-nui-te-po, he fished up these sacred isles.

Using the sacred jawbone as a hook, Maui-the-relentless hauled up his great fish from the depths of Te Moananui a Kiwa, the Pacific ocean. But as he paid homage to the gods for having given him such a wondrous gift, with greed in their eyes and lies on their tongues his four brothers took to the fish with knives. In its death throes it became torn and shredded with gullies and gorges, hills and mountains. In time, the stingray-like fish became the North island of New Zealand while the canoe of Maui became the South Island.

The head of the fish is at our capital city, Wellington. The ridge of mountain ranges that run down the centre of the island is its backbone. To the east coast and west to Taranaki can be seen its fins. The stomach is Lake Taupo while the heart is at Maunga Pohatu in the Ureweras. Northland is the whipping tail of the stingray. From tip to tip, fish to canoe, can be seen the myriad of extremities of this once virgin land.

And many centuries ago, when the voyager Kupe with his family and wife came upon these islands shrouded in mist and cloud they named them Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud. [Chris Winitana, Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook, pp. 11-12]

Two Letters to the Editor in Christchurch, New Zealand

A Mere Column
I was disappointed that the latter question in What Is Maori? Who Is Pakeha? was gifted a mere column. New Zealand's search for a national identity rests on discovering what makes us as a people unique. The use of the term Pakeha could well be the catalyst to this long overdue debate.

As a Pakeha New Zealander, I can only describe the word as it applies to me. I am a young woman of largely Irish descent who can date the arrival of ancestors into this country pre-treaty. Like most New Zealanders my age, I understand the meaning of, and use in preference to English equivalents, words such as "mana" and "whanau." I believe in the concept of "turangawaewae" and know mine is here.

I am not European. The irony of this seems lost on Anthony Hoeke who, unlike myself, by virtue of having an English mother is entitled to a European Union passport. I refute his assertion that my ethnicity is only important in relation to a Maori context. I do not become Irish by leaving New Zealand. I cannot because I am not. I am Pakeha. His wife is not; unless she was born in new Zealand, unless when she is away form new Zealand she yearns to be home, unless when she sees beautiful mountains and sunsets elsewhere she compares them unfavourably with New Zealand's beauty--as New Zealanders are wont to do; she is Belgian.
I am not "tau-iwi." As a seventh generation New Zealander I refuse to be considered a foreigner. I have the good fortune of "looking like a kiwi." My friends of Asian descent--even those whose great-grandparents arrived on the goldfields of Otago--are not so lucky and suffer for it. Until New Zealanders are allowed to be just that, without reference to long-forgotten ancestral homelands, New Zealand will struggle for national identity.

Keep up the thought provoking articles.
Kate Thompson
Wellington

Time to Be Blunt
After glancing through the article What Is Maori? Who Is Pakeha (August) I think it's time to be blunt and say that the New Zealand obsession with racial origins has gone completely over the top.

My European ancestors can be traced in this country for at least 110 years so I find it absurd to be referred to as a European after all this time. I'm also one-sixteenth Maori but even most Maori would find it hilarious for me to insist on being called one of the tangata whenua, especially in light of my more Irish than Irish name and pale features.

It's time everyone did a bit of growing up. The Maori were here first, despite the popular mythology surround the Moriori, and they deserve to have democratically elected and accountable leaders to best serve their needs in accordance with the traditional concept of mana, as opposed to the self-serving rubbish that is now dubbed "mana" by money-grabbing swine among Maori leaders.

It must also be faced by Maori that about half of the whites in this country (and quite a fair number of Asians) have been here at least three generations and simply don't have the option of going back to the country of their ancestors. They too need to be accorded some respect. They have earned the right to be called tangata whenua and be accorded the same degree of respect as that which the Maori have often demanded for themselves.

It's time to put away the genealogical charts, stop fussing over whose ancestors came here in canoes and whose ancestors came over by sailing ships, and to finally cut the ties with mother England. Only then can we start to mature as a truly independent and sovereign nation in which everyone here has a place and everyone has a contribution to make.

Miles Lacey
Porirua

"There are two landscapes to New Zealand, the Maori and the Pakeha (European). I began writing and continue writing to ensure that the Maori landscape of New Zealand is taken into account. I am Maori. I write about Maori people. They are my commitment--and I am committed not only in my writing, but also in my career and my whole life." --Witi Ihimaera [Contemporary Authors Online]