Tjukurpa  

Their ancestors created everything that formed the world

They behaved like human beings hunting, fighting, loving and ageing.

They taught their descendants the sacred rituals and the symbols and designs used in body painting.

As these mythical creatures tired of their life they disappeared under the earth again. Often these places are marked by rocky outcrops and trees and so have special religious significance to aboriginal people.

• Tjukurpa is an aboriginal word that we interpret as the Dreamtime.

• To Aborigines, the Tjukurpa means the existence in the past, present and future.

• The Dreamtime continues as the "Dreaming" in the spiritual lives of aboriginal people today. The events of the ancient era of creation are enacted in ceremonies and danced in mime form. Song chant incessantly to the accompaniment of the didgeridoo or clap sticks relates the story of events of those early times and brings to the power of the dreaming to bear of life today.