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14 Law Context: A Socio-Legal J. 107 (1996)
Law and Indigenous Peoples: The Impact of Colonialism on Indigenous Cultures

handle is hein.journals/lwincntx14 and id is 119 raw text is: Law and Indigenous Peoples: the impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures Irene Watson In any discussionl of Aboriginal culture it is important to note that the ceremony or the 'corroboree' was fundamental and central to the lives and general well-being of Nungas.2 To discuss culture and the history of this country without proper consideration of the 'ceremony' perpetuates an alienation from the mother earth; the spiritual centre of ourselves as Aboriginal Peoples. I once listened to an elder speaking about the 'law'and how important it was to respect the 'law' and its protocols. He spoke of the time when Captain Cook first come to this country we now call Australia, and of how Cook had come through the wrong way or process. That is, the ceremony is important in establishing how we begin, because it becomes fundamental to the outcome. And if the powers behind Cook had begun with this same wisdom, the story we are left to tell would perhaps be different. The ceremony begins by remembering the mother, mother earth, she is not merely an idea but reality; from which all things grow, she nurtures us all. In honouring the mother we come closer to appreciating the Aboriginal laws and cultures of this land. Aboriginal laws live under the weight of the imposed colonial legal system. And from the time Cook landed the Aboriginal laws of the land were dishonoured. The ceremonies were ripped from the peoples through the invasion and the impact of genocide. There has never been a real understanding by non-indigenous peoples of the Aboriginal laws and their intricate and holistic relationship with all aspects of the environment and humanity. The law, land and peoples are one integrated whole. When the ceremonies, more commonly known as corroborees, began to stop, a state of amnesia descended. Aboriginal peoples began to bury the memory of ceremonies and important obligations to the land-the mother. The love of the land, caring and sharing, these laws began to fade into the oblivion of genocide and the impact of colonialim.

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