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Archaeological findings indicated that Aboriginals have lived in Australia for 40,000 - 100,000 years or longer. Aboriginal means, "the people who were here from the beginning".
For the Aboriginals of Australia, spirituality and the sacred was deeply rooted in the landscape and in their relationship to the environment which sustained them. Traditional Aboriginal lands were mainland Australia and most of the islands.
Aboriginals took care of the environment in Australia, making sure that all hunting and gathering activities were balanced and resources were conserved. Every part of an animal hunted or plant gathered was utilized in some way either as food, baskets, tools, etc. They also moved their camps around with the seasonal cycles, allowing the areas of their territory to rest and renew. There was no agreed upon term to identify Aboriginal Australian groups. Generally they lived in small groups called clans, bands, hearth groups, family groups or sub-tribes. A number of these smaller groups living in the same area of the land and sharing a Dreaming Track comprised a tribe. There were many different Aboriginal Australia tribes who had their own Dreamtime folklore, customs, languages and totems; but, there were also many commonalities they shared such as: strong kinship and family structures, totems, Elders, skin names, Dreaming, territoriality, ceremonies, songs, storytelling and strict boundaries between men's and women's business. The land was their life, their mother, their way, their nourishment and their spiritual connectedness. Dreaming Tracks delineated the area of land created by the Ancestral Spirits where a tribe was created, their Belonging Place. The Aboriginals belonged to the Land. By Taking Care, by singing their Country, by preserving their Sacred Teachings they have stood strong. May their campfires burn forever. Storytelling and Song often accompanied by dance movements have been a central element of Aboriginal Australian life since the beginning of time. There were songs for every event including: hunting, funerals, seasons, animals and landscapes. Stories of the Dreaming were told around campfires, where things of concern were also discussed and important information relayed. Dreaming law and lore told the tribe of their spiritual history, how to treat each other and how to conduct their daily life. Suitable punishments for individual transgressions of these tribal and Totemic Laws were determined by knowledgeable Aboriginal Elders.
Aboriginal law in Australia required respectful recognition of tribal boundaries. Anyone travelling outside their territory needed to obtain the permission of the tribes in neighboring territories to pass through their areas. Aboriginals traded and bartered with other Aboriginal groups in Australia on a regular basis, They held Corroborees where marriages were arranged, information on tribal practices and beliefs was shared and new songs were sung. Aboriginals belonged to a place, an area of land in Australia where their totemic ancestors were born, lived and died. This "Belonging Place" was the territory of land created for their kin group, their clan and their tribe during the Dreamtime. The sacred symbols of these totemic bloodlines were implanted in the Dreaming stories used by the Elders to teach the wisdom of the ancestors to each new generation. Aboriginals sang their country (Singing Country) and performed ceremonies for their country using ochre depictions of the Dreaming images. For the Aboriginal Australians the Dreamtime was their understanding of the how the Ancestral Spirits created the landscape and every living thing. It was also the beginning of knowledge and the stories of the laws of existence that ensured survival. Dreaming was the continuation of the Dreamtime. The propagating powers the Ancestral Spirits left behind in the country to ensure plenty were best accessed during corroborees through their Dreaming symbols and songlines. Aboriginal Australia music included traditional ceremonial songs handed down through the generations which replicated the songs sung by the Ancestral Spirits during the Dreamtime.
These were also increase centers where special ceremonies were performed for "Taking Care" of a particular species. When these songs were sung, living men felt they were in the Dreamtime. They also created new songs from time to time when there were significant historical happenings. Clapping sticks, Didgeridoo, rattles and two boomerangs clapped together were the most common musical instruments. Music, song and dance played an important part in Aboriginal Australia Culture. It was learned and passed on to others by performing the song and dance in Corroboree. Although dance techniques varied between tribal groups, most of the dancing was done with lots of foot stomping called shake a leg. There were also arm, foot and body movements that imitated the actions of birds and animals. Headdresses and body decorations enhanced the connection between dancer and totemic Dreaming.
There were sacred ritual dances. There were dances for Dreaming events, for rain and for successful hunts. There
were also campfire dances where women, children and men shared clan totem
dances.
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Prior to 1788 ACE, the Aboriginal
Australia population has been estimated at more than 750,000. The country then
was pristine and bountiful. Besides food (bush tucker), the land provided them
with natural remedies for healing (bush medicine). 
Starlore was passed down from generation to generation through the teachings and
storytelling of the Aboriginal Elders. The positions of the planets and stars were used by
the Aboriginal Australians for gathering food, for finding their way from one place to
another and for the timing of rituals and ceremonies. There were neutral
passageways between tribal lands.
The original Ancestral Spirits
taught the Elders many songs for healing, for controlling the weather and for
telling tribal history. Along the Dreaming Tracks there were Sacred Sites, areas
of land or sea where significant events took place during the Dreamtime.
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