I heard stories that whenever the Australia government want to do anything. Say they find aluminium and want to mine it. Aboriginals will come from all around and say that it’s a burial ground, or it’s sacred or something because then they can get more money because the government has a system for pay off the Aboriginals. I don’t know how true that is but I can believe it.
I chatted to an elder and he said they was building something in town so they asked him to come and ceremony for it. He refused. He said that as far as he knows no one ever lived there. He said sure people lived there, pointing over there, and there. But no one lived here. It’s no body’s land how can I talk about my ancestors if my ancestors didn’t live here. He then went on a rant about how he hates everyone saying they are aboriginal and getting free funding or money and stuff. Then there some black kid (they soemtimes described themselves as black or blackfellers in this part of Aus) not having access to a school or any funding for them.
It was really interesting.
But I got to admit there is a lot of shit the aboriginal get away with and they need both the government and the elders to treat people more like grown ups rather than as someone has been slighted and now has loads of excuses to act in shitty ways. Like recently seen a video of lot of damage done to Alice Springs, just because. So how sacred this thing is I don’t know.
But also me and my girlfriend was talking about how our housemates judged us for going out and doing stuff on Easter Sunday. But you could easily argue from a Christian point of view enjoying God’s creation is a form of worship. Wonder if they have different opinions like that in Australia.