A songline, also known as a dreaming track, is a path across the land or sky that is part of the spirit-based beliefs of Aboriginal cultures in Australia. These paths show the journey of special spirit beings during the Dreaming, which is the time when the world was created. The paths are passed down through songs, stories, dances, and artwork. They are also used in important ceremonies.

Description

The Dreaming, or the Dreamtime, is a special story about how the world was created. This story is seen as an ongoing process that connects Aboriginal people to their origins. Ancestors are thought to have a big role in creating sacred places as they traveled across the continent long ago. Animals were made during the Dreaming and helped shape the land and the stars in the sky. Songlines connect places and events from the creation story, as well as the ceremonies held there. Oral history about places and journeys is passed down through song cycles. Each Aboriginal person has responsibilities to the place where they were born. These songs form the basis of ceremonies that take place along the songlines.

A songline is sometimes called a "dreaming track" because it shows the path taken by a creator-being or ancestor during the Dreaming. A knowledgeable person can travel across the land by singing the words of the song, which describe the location of landmarks, waterholes, and other natural features. In some cases, the paths of the creator-beings are visible as marks on the land, such as large depressions that are believed to be their footprints.

By singing the songs in the correct order, Aboriginal people could travel long distances, often across the deserts in the center of Australia. Australia has many songlines, some covering only a few kilometers, while others stretch hundreds of kilometers through lands where many different Aboriginal groups live. These groups may speak different languages and have different cultural traditions. One songline covers a 3,500-kilometer route from the Central Desert Region to the east coast, near a place now called Byron Bay. People from the desert traveled to the ocean to watch fishing practices, and coastal people traveled inland to visit sacred places like Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

Since a songline may cross lands where several language groups live, different parts of the song are sometimes sung in those languages. However, the melody of the song helps people understand the land it describes. The rhythm of the song is most important for understanding it. Listening to the song is like walking along the songline and observing the land. Songlines are sometimes called a "cultural passport" because singing the song in the language of a particular region shows respect to the people who live there.

Groups living near each other are connected because song cycles overlap across the continent. All Aboriginal groups traditionally believe in ancestors and share related laws. People from different groups interacted with each other based on their responsibilities along the songlines.

In some cases, a songline has a specific direction, and walking the wrong way along it may be considered wrong or disrespectful. Aboriginal people see all land as sacred, and they believe the songs must be sung regularly to keep the land "alive." Their "connection to country" describes a deep and complex relationship with the land of their ancestors, or "mob." Aboriginal identity is often linked to their language group and the traditional land of their ancestors. Songlines not only map routes across the continent and share culture, but also show how people are connected to their land.

Songlines are often taught within families, helping to pass down important knowledge and cultural values.

Molyneaux and Vitebsky note that the Dreaming Spirits also placed the spirits of unborn children and shaped the forms of human society, creating tribal laws and rules about family groups and symbols.

Descriptions and definitions

In 1978, anthropologist Robert Tonkinson wrote about Mardu songlines in his book The Mardudjara Aborigines – Living The Dream In Australia's Desert.

In his 1987 book The Songlines, British author and traveler Bruce Chatwin described songlines as:

Margo Ngawa Neale, an important Indigenous art and history curator in Australia's National Museum, says:

Examples

• The Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory share a story about Barnumbirr, a special being connected to the planet Venus. Barnumbirr came from an island called Baralku in the east, helped the first humans reach Australia, and then traveled across the land from east to west. Along the way, Barnumbirr named and created animals, plants, and natural features.
• The Yarralin people of the Victoria River Valley honor Walujapi, a spirit linked to the black-headed python. Walujapi is said to have carved a snake-like path on a cliff face and left a mark when she sat to rest. These signs can still be seen today.
• The Native Cat Dreaming Spirits are believed to have started their journey at the sea and moved north into the Simpson Desert. As they traveled, they passed through the lands of the Aranda, Kaititja, Ngalia, Kukatja, and Unmatjera peoples. Each group sings the part of the Native Cat Dreaming that relates to the songlines connected to their land.
• In the Sydney region, the soft sandstone causes valleys to end in canyons or cliffs, making it easier to travel along ridge lines. Because of this, songlines in Sydney often follow ridge lines, where much of the sacred art, such as the Sydney Rock Engravings, is found. In other parts of Australia, songlines often follow valleys, where water is more easily available.
• Songlines are connected to Aboriginal art sites in Wollemi National Park in New South Wales.