Songlines The Power and Promise -a review

Songlines cover image

Songlines form part of the culture of Indigenous Australians. If we want to know about our First Nations people, we can start by reading about their rich and beautiful culture.

In their book, Songlines: The Power and the Promise, Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly provide an in depth discussion of Songlines. They also show a way in which all Australians can benefit from an increased understanding of Aboriginal culture.

Stories are…embodied in the land, sea and skies to be remembered and passed on through song, dance, art, ceremony and, most importantly, through attachment to Country.

From the back cover, Songlines: The Power and Promise.

Songlines can be large or small. Some are confined to a small space. Some are localised instructions about, say, hunting for wallabies or digging for yams at a particular site.

Photo of Margo Neale
Photo of Lynne Kelly

The importance of Country

For Aboriginal people, Country holds all the information they need to function in their world. Country embodies knowledge, stories, history and secrets. The knowledge includes medicine, ecology and astronomy. It also covers social behaviour and social organisation, such as kinship and moiety systems.

Indigenous knowledge does not stay static but grows both organically and dynamically. As people travel, sing songs of Country and teach others, the stories they tell incorporate new knowledge and experiences. For example, the defeat of the recent referendum about recognising First Nations people by including their Voice to Parliament will be added to the cultural store of stories.

Neale and Kelly say,

The Songlines or Dreamings are like a big sponge that keeps on absorbing new stuff, and releasing it with a little pressure.

When white settlers claimed Australian land (Country) and banished its owners, songs and songlines became lost or broken. However, when the owners returned and sang songs, the Country revived and sang back.

Songlines and other names

First Nations people memorise information. At appropriate times and places, they bring this knowledge to life in song, dance, ceremony and ‘yarning’.

Neale and Kelly say,

Songlines…or Dreaming tracks, connect sites of knowledge embodied in the features of he land. It is along these tracks that people travelled to learn from Country.

Bruce Chatwin coined the relatively new term ‘The Songlines’ in his book of the same name (1987). Now widely accepted by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, more words for the same concept are Tjukurpa, Alytyerre, and Kujika. More familiar words include ‘the Dreaming’ or ‘the Law’.

Many, if not most, Indigenous cultures around the world have their own forms of songlines, which they call tracks, trails, stories and songlines.

Archives

The concept of archives throws new light on Western and Indigenous knowledge. In all archives, existing knowledge is guarded. But the archivist also adds and engages creatively with it. An archive can open new and exciting directions for the future. Here are three types of archives

Archive 1

First Nations people order their world within an oral archive which includes extensive knowledge transmitted through song, dance, ceremony and art. Traditional practices govern how knowledge is passed on. They consider gender, status and family when knowledge is shared.

According to Neale and Kelly, ‘Songlines are archives held in Country’.

Archive 2

The second type of archive occurs when Westerners store their knowledge in books, libraries, museums and increasingly in digital space.

Several decades ago an exciting new movement began. Indigenous staff in museums in Australia consulted with Aboriginal owners. As a result, some museums in Australia now house collections of material which belong to Indigenous communities and families.

Archive 3

A new form of archive of Indigenous knowledge emerged when First Nations painters began to inscribe their knowledge of Country on canvas. Painting uses both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems. Galleries hang paintings. Thus a third archive, incorporating both Western and Indigenous knowledge, developed.

The Seven Sisters Songlines

Although songlines often recount small episodes, the Seven Sisters Songlines tell epic stories. They encompass incredible long journeys and involve several major language groups. Each group adds their own knowledge to the whole.

The story tells of seven sisters who are chased across almost the whole of the continent of Australia by a shape-changing sorcerer.

Memory, stories, creativity

In their book, Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly decry the fact that they did not learn Aboriginal culture when they were young. Like most of us, they learned, instead, a somewhat demeaning history of the people whose lands Westerners invaded.

But they also suggest that we can learn from, and not just about, Indigenous culture. If we did that, we would be richly rewarded.

The chapter, ‘The Promise of Songlines’ makes interesting reading about brain plasticity and creativity. The development and maintenance of Songlines demand both. Both enthrall me.

Songlines: The Power and the Promise

This book provides a wealth of knowledge. Both informative and entertaining, it contains useful footnotes and explanations. Several illustrations make salient points. There is an index and a list of further reading for those who want to pursue particular ideas.

Details of Songlines, the power and the promise.

This book would make a wonderful contribution to libraries everywhere, and especially to school libraries. It would be welcome reading for everyone who wishes to learn about Australian Aboriginal culture or to increase their knowledge.

signature, maureen helen
maureen helen photo

By Maureen Helen

Dr Maureen Helen is a creative retiree, writer and blogger. She is also grandmother and greatgrandmother to many children. She believes that learning is a life-long pursuit and takes place at any age.

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