we are the original inhabitants of this
land called Australia by the white men
we have been here since the beginning of
time since the dream time when
everything we know who was created my
people know how to sing each and every
place of this sacred country while we
contemplate gee the Sun God each song is
a living map which describes a specific
path the course of a river a montien of
forest if you brought together all these
songs which are passed down from
generation to generation and which come
from dreams we would compose the map of
Australia at Twilight the humming of the
didgeridoo our religious instrument
reminds us who we are and what we are
doing here it is the b2r tradition which
keeps us United and attached to the line
you
I am old yucca Gary Miller an Australian
Aborigine as foreigners call us and I'm
going to tell you what a world is like
Oh
my country is enormous it is an island
that could be a continent it is the most
beautiful country in the world we have
deserts jungles savanna plateaus and
mountains with the deep canyons carved
by furious torrents the sea is all
around along our coast there are bays
and inlets and sacred cliffs like this
one of bcurtin island this is where I
live
have everyone here
we Helders have the important task of
initiating the young into our customs
explaining our history to them and
teaching them to respect the traditional
laws our people our culture are the
oldest in the world we were already here
thousands of years ago we were around at
the same time as what the white men
called Homo sapiens in these caves and
caverns we can feel the influence of the
spirits of our ancestors if you sleep
here you can see them in your dreams and
receive their messages they come and
fill you with their strength and when
you wake you feel very good these are
sacred places for us in the past people
lived in caves and natural shelters like
these across all our territory you can
find paintings made by our forefathers
in which speak of the dream time the
creation and now they lived fifty
thousand years ago
you
in the kakadu national park lies ogloc
where the rainbow serpent stopped after
creating the world and was painted on a
rock so that people could see her over
time our forefathers left on the rocks a
complete collection of images which
depict their way of life and never
leaves
they painted the animals they hunted or
fished so the spirits would help them
capture them in this way we know to what
extent these animals are the same ones
as those we eat today but a moody fish
long necked tortoises kangaroos
crocodiles one of these
we know that they knew what many of the
animals they drew were like inside their
skeletons and some of the entrails
the paintings and some of the most
inaccessible places were made by the
minis the lesser spirits which are the
cause of everything that happens to us
good or bad
according to the legend with a long thin
bodies they glided to the very top of
the cave took pieces of rock brought
them down to the ground painted them and
then can bank on the ceiling
on these ancient rocks they also drew
figures of the men of that time warriors
and the hunters who used these same
Spears and harpoons as we do now
you