Songline facts for kids

A songline, also known as a dreaming track, is like a special map across the land (or sometimes the sky). It's part of the beliefs of Aboriginal cultures in Australia. These paths show the routes that "creator-beings" followed long ago in a time called the Dreaming.

The stories of these songlines are kept alive through traditional songs, stories, dances, and art. They are often the basis for important ceremonies. Songlines are a super important part of Aboriginal culture because they connect people deeply to their land.

What are Songlines?

The Dreaming is a sacred story about how the world was created. It's seen as a never-ending process that links Aboriginal people to their past. It's believed that Ancestors played a big part in creating sacred places as they traveled across the continent a very long time ago. Animals were also created in the Dreaming and helped shape the land and the stars.

Songlines connect different places and the events that happened during Creation. The ceremonies linked to these places are also part of the songlines. Old stories about places and journeys are passed down through song cycles. Every Aboriginal person has special duties related to their birthplace. The songs become the basis for ceremonies held in specific spots along the songlines.

A songline is like a "dreaming track" because it marks a path across the land or sky. This path was followed by one of the creator-beings or ancestors during the Dreaming.

How Songlines Help People Navigate

Someone who knows the songs well can travel across the land by singing the words. The songs describe where landmarks, waterholes, and other natural things are. Sometimes, it's believed that the paths of the creator-beings can still be seen as marks on the land. For example, large dips in the ground might be thought of as their footprints.

By singing the songs in the right order, Aboriginal people could travel huge distances. They often went through the deserts in the middle of Australia. Australia has a massive network of songlines. Some are only a few kilometers long, while others stretch for hundreds of kilometers. They can pass through the lands of many different Aboriginal groups. These groups might speak very different languages and have unique traditions.

One songline covers a 3,500 km (about 2,175 miles) route. It connects the Central Desert Region to the east coast, near a place now called Byron Bay. Desert people traveled to the ocean to learn about fishing. Coastal people traveled inland to sacred sites like Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

Since a songline can go through the lands of several language groups, different parts of the song might be in different languages. But language isn't a problem because the tune of the song describes the land it passes over. The rhythm is the most important part for understanding the song. Listening to the song of the land is like walking on the songline and seeing the land for yourself. Songlines have been called a "cultural passport." When sung in the language of a specific area and group, they show respect to the people of that land.

Connecting Cultures and Lands

Neighboring groups are connected because the song cycles criss-cross all over Australia. All Aboriginal groups traditionally share beliefs in the ancestors and their laws. People from different groups interacted with each other based on their duties along the songlines.

Sometimes, a songline has a specific direction. Walking the wrong way along a songline can be seen as disrespectful. For example, climbing up Uluru is considered wrong, as the correct direction is down. Aboriginal people see all land as sacred. The songs must be sung all the time to keep the land "alive." Their "connection to country" means a very strong and deep relationship with the land of their ancestors, or their "mob." Aboriginal identity is often linked to their language groups and the traditional country of their ancestors. Songlines don't just map routes and share culture; they also show this deep connection to country.

Songlines are often passed down through families. This way, important knowledge and cultural values are shared from one generation to the next.

Anthropologist Robert Tonkinson wrote about Mardu songlines in his 1978 book The Mardudjara Aborigines - Living The Dream In Australia's Desert. He explained that singing is key in most Mardudjara ceremonies. The songline usually follows the path of the beings it describes, highlighting their important and everyday actions. Most songs have both a geographical and a mythical meaning. By learning the songline, men learn about thousands of places, even if they've never been there. All these places become part of their mental map of the desert world.

In his 1987 book The Songlines, British writer Bruce Chatwin described songlines as:

... the maze of invisible paths that wander all over Australia and are known to Europeans as "Dreaming-tracks" or "Songlines"; to the Aboriginals as the "Footprints of the Ancestors" or the "Way of the Lore".

Aboriginal Creation myths tell of the legendary spirit beings who traveled over the continent in the Dreamtime. They sang out the name of everything they saw – birds, animals, plants, rocks, waterholes – and by singing, they brought the world into existence.

Examples of Songlines

• The Yolngu people from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory tell the story of Barnumbirr. This creator-being is linked to the planet Venus. Barnumbirr came from the island of Baralku in the East. They guided the first humans to Australia. Then, they flew across the land from East to West, naming and creating the animals, plants, and natural features of the land.
• The Yarralin people of the Victoria River Valley respect the spirit Walujapi. Walujapi is the Dreaming Spirit of the black-headed python. It's said that Walujapi carved a snake-like track along a cliff-face. Walujapi also left an impression of her bottom when she sat down to make camp. Both these signs can still be seen today.
• The Native Cat Dreaming Spirits are said to have started their journey at the sea. They moved north into the Simpson Desert. As they traveled, they crossed the lands of the Aranda, Kaititja, Ngalia, Kukatja, and Unmatjera peoples. Each group sings the part of the Native Cat Dreaming that relates to the songlines they are responsible for.
• In the Sydney region, the soft Sydney sandstone means valleys often end in canyons or cliffs. So, traveling along the ridge lines was much easier than traveling in the valleys. Because of this, the songlines often follow the ridge lines. This is also where much of the sacred art, like the Sydney rock engravings, is found. In other parts of Australia, songlines often follow valleys, where water is easier to find.
• Songlines have been connected to Aboriginal art sites in the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales.

See Also

• Australian Aboriginal culture
• Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology
• Oral history
• Songlines (Alphaville video)
• "The Dreaming (song)"