Religion in Australia Post-1945

Question 1

The Dreaming

Answer 1

The mythic time of Australian Aboriginal religion when the Ancestors inhabited the earth

Question 2

Totem

Answer 2

A natural object or animal believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and adopted by it as an emblem.

Question 3

Dispossession

Answer 3

Removal by force of the Aboriginal people from their native lands, thus cutting ties with their spiritual and culture identities as a result.

Question 4

Kinship

Answer 4

The system that shows how family relationships exist between people, and the rights and obligations that come with those relationships.

Question 5

Stolen Generations

Answer 5

A term used to describe the children who were forcefully taken from their families and placed, expecting to fully assimilate, into European families.

Question 6

Metatemporal

Answer 6

The concept that incorporates the past, present and future into one present reality.

Question 7

Native title

Answer 7

A land title given to the Aboriginal people recognising them as the rightful owners of the traditional land.

Question 8

Sacred sites

Answer 8

Certain places (mostly kept secret) that hold significant spiritual value to the Aboriginal people where they are connected to ancestral beings from the Dreaming.

Question 9

Terra Nullius

Answer 9

Means “Land belonging to no one.” This was the doctrine used in the justification of the European’s invasion and colonisation of the Aboriginal people in Australia.

Question 10

Assimilation policy

Answer 10

The official government policy that focused on integrating the smaller cultural groups (Immigrants and Aboriginals) into the dominant group (Europeans) which led to the loss of cultural, traditional identities due to the taking on of the dominant group’s identity.

Question 11

Corroboree

Answer 11

Aboriginal ceremony, usually in the form of a dance for either a sacred ritual or an informal gathering.

Question 12

Rite of passage

Answer 12

Ritual that marks an individual’s progression through various stages in a community, initiation into adulthood being the most important ritual.

Question 13

Balance rites

Answer 13

Aboriginal rituals aimed to create harmony in nature in the hopes that there will be an increase in the reproduction of certain animal, bird or plant that is connected to an ancestral being from the Dreaming.

Question 14

Ancestral beings

Answer 14

Spiritual or mythical beings whose existence preceded human life on earth and who through their epic journeys created the landscape as it is today.

Question 15

Nation

Answer 15

a group of people with a common culture living in a territory and having a strong sense of unity.

Question 16

Self-determination

Answer 16

Concept that ethnicities have the right to govern themselves.

Question 17

Land rights

Answer 17

The rights of indigenous peoples to traditional ownership over land.

Question 18

Reconciliation

Answer 18

Strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians.

Question 19

Missions

Answer 19

Settlements controlled by the Church in Australian history, which aimed to ‘protect’ Aboriginal people but largely tried to ‘assimilate’ them into white society.

Question 20

Denomination

Answer 20

A division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body.

Question 21

Catholicism

Answer 21

The system, doctrine, and practice of the Roman Catholic Church.

Question 22

Church of England/Anglican Church

Answer 22

The national church of England, founded by King Henry VIII. It included both Roman Catholic and Protestant ideas.

Question 23

Sectarianism

Answer 23

a narrow-minded adherence to a particular sect or party or denomination

Question 24

Sabbatarianism

Answer 24

Reform movement that aimed to prevent business on Sundays

Question 25

(Royal) Flying Doctor Service

Answer 25

provides aeromedical emergency and general health care to people living in rural and remote areas of Australia

Question 26

Bush brotherhood

Answer 26

a ministry of the Church of England to the people of the Australian outback. Taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the men travelled in pairs through different regions of the countryside.

Question 27

Colonisation

Answer 27

the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.

Question 28

Ecumenism

Answer 28

the principle or aim of promoting unity among the world's Christian churches.

Question 29

Interfaith dialogue

Answer 29

Open and honest discussions between the major world religions

Question 30

Secularism

Answer 30

An indifference to religion and a belief that religion should be excluded from civic affairs and public education.

Question 31

NCCA

Answer 31

National Council of Churches of Australia

Question 32

NSW Ecumenical Council

Answer 32

Christian Ecumenical movement formed in 1982 and consists of 16 churches located in NSW and ACT.

Question 33

Uniting Church

Answer 33

-formed June 1977 -Methodist Church of Australasia, the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Congregational Union of Australia came together -an example of ecumenism

Question 34

Immigration

Answer 34

Movement of individuals into a population

Question 35

White Australia Policy

Answer 35

A policy that intentionally restricted non-white immigration to Australia. Abolished 1973 under Gough Whitlam.

Question 36

Protection policy

Answer 36

Official government policy that began in the late nineteenth century which aimed to remove Aboriginal people from unsuitable environments and place them in the 'protection' of the state by detaining them on missions and reserves.