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'An Indigenous „spirituality‟ 1 has survived in Australia despite the impact of White colonial settlement since 1788. It is found in a multitude of forms, both because of the diversity of Indigenous communities in Australia and because it is an ethos of deep connections between one‟s Ancestors, and land or „country.‟ These connections are traced back to ancestral beings who formed the land through their deeds in „the Dreaming.‟ Though the rites, songs, iconography, and sometimes even the stories themselves were suppressed and often lost among some communities, I argue that the subtle, near-intangible ethos was passed on. The forty-thousand-year-old spirituality could not be suppressed by two hundred years of colonialism. This spirituality was maintained through rites and religious institutions in many communities, but survived by other means among those where formal religion was destroyed. This spirituality has been revived in various forms, but nevertheless survives in the work of Indigenous activism, particularly the struggle for land rights. Indigenous national identities have remained intact and are imbued with spiritual significance. ' (Author's introduction)
