What Aboriginal Totem systems can teach us about culture
Across Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples protect flora and fauna pertinent to their lands. And this special relationship with nature extends beyond the physical realm.
Floating about in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef with Dreamtime Dive & Snorkel © Tourism Australia
Imagine you were bestowed a plant, an animal or a geographical feature that protects you for your entire life – you’re not permitted to hurt or damage that object in any way. Ever. In fact, it’s your job to protect it. Now imagine if everyone around Australia was given the same task…
“It’s a Totem, and it’s a simple way to care for our Country,” says Jai Singleton, a guide on Dreamtime Dive & Snorkel’s cruise expeditions from Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef.
“Having a Totem is the most basic form of conservation ever,” Jai says. “It’s a simple concept – yet so effective.” So effective it has been practiced for millennia. “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have always had Totems. It might be one of the fundamental reasons why the country is still so biodiverse today,” says Jai.
Jai’s Totem is the turtle, which is fitting, given that six of the world’s seven species of marine turtles call the Coral Sea – Jai’s backyard – home. He was assigned his Totem at birth, and from that moment it has been his job to protect it. He cannot eat it or harm it and, if given the opportunity, must go out of his way to nurture it. Sustainability 101.
Cassowary in the Daintree Rainforest at Mossman Gorge, Queensland © Tourism Australia
Across Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples protect flora and fauna pertinent to their lands. And this special relationship with nature extends beyond the physical realm.
At Mossman in Tropical North Queensland, artist Brian “Binna” Swindley owns Janbal Gallery, a place to showcase his own art as well as works from other Indigenous creatives. Binna’s Totem is the cassowary – a large, elusive bird that lives in the surrounding rainforest. The cassowary appears in his paintings, and it also impacts his interactions with the world – at times Binna’s “spirit animal” guides him through the wilderness.
Discovering Aboriginal totems and symbols at Janbal Gallery © Tourism Australia
Also in Mossman, Roy Gibson, cultural advisor at the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre credits his own totem, the white-tailed kingfisher, for saving his life one unforgettable morning: ‘I was sitting down thinking about witchetty grub. Suddenly a big rotten tree fell down about 10 metres away. I was thinking that’s the right tree for witchetty grubs. I walked into the forest to get an axe – and a white-tailed kingfisher flew right in my face. He looked down on the ground at the tree then back at me. I walked a few steps and he flew in my face again, telling me go back, go back. I took one more step and he was so close, he slapped me in the face. I stood still. I looked down a metre away – and saw the biggest red belly black snake I’d ever seen on the ground. ‘The kingfisher chased the snake away and saved my life.’
Uncle Roy Gibson, cultural advisor, Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre, Queensland © Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia
Many communities also play homage to their Totems through performance. Take a Tiwi by Design tour with SeaLink Northern Territory, for example, and your journey through the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin / Garramilla reveals artists telling their Totem tales through dance, song and music; depicting the animals and plants that have sustained the community for millennia.
A traditional Tiwi dance ceremony on a SeaLink NT Tiwi by Design tour, NT © Tourism Australia
