Aboriginal history and relationship with land In Aboriginal culture prior to European settlement, each clan's survival was dependent upon its understanding of food, water and other resources within its own country – a discrete area of land to which it had more or less exclusive claim. When other Aboriginal people travelled onto another tribe's land, a ceremony was performed to determine whether the travellers were peaceful and then to show that the travellers were welcome. A smoking ceremony may have been used to transfer the scent of the home tribe onto the visitors in order to indicate to others the travellers had been welcomed and to avoid animals fleeing at a strange scent. The term
Country has a particular meaning to many Aboriginal peoples, encompassing an interdependent relationship between an individual or a people and their ancestral or traditional lands and seas. The connection to land involves
culture,
spirituality,
language,
law/lore,
kin relationships and
identity. The Welcome to Country has been a long tradition among Aboriginal Australian groups to welcome peoples from other areas. Today it serves also as a symbol which signifies the recognition of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' presence in Australia before colonisation and an end to their past exclusion from Australian history and society, aiding to
reconciliation with Australia's First Nations.
Connection to Country means more than just the land or waters in Aboriginal culture. There is no equivalent in the English language to describe that which permeates all aspects of existence: culture, spirituality, language, law, family and identity. Aboriginal people did not own land as property in the past, but their relationship to an area of land provides a deep sense of "identity, purpose and belonging" and is a relationship of reciprocity and respect. "Country includes all living things ... It embraces the
seasons, stories and
creation spirits." The history of a people with an area ("country") can go back for thousands of years and the relationship with the land is nurtured and sustained by cultural knowledge and by the environment. Disconnection from the land can impact health and wellbeing. This connection is also reflected in such phrases as "caring for country" or "living on country" and related to the importance of
land rights and
native title. Indigenous groups have also had some of their legal rights that arise under their traditional laws and customs recognised in the form of
native title, since the
Mabo judgment and the passage of the
Native Title Act 1993.
Evolution of the greetings Welcomes are a form of
Aboriginal ceremony used to welcome other peoples from other areas The 1973
Aquarius Festival held in
Nimbin, New South Wales, by the
Australian Union of Students (AUS) has been documented as Australia's first publicly observed Welcome to Country, although it was not called this at the time. Organisers of the
alternative lifestyle festival, considered Australia's "
Woodstock", were challenged by Indigenous activist
Gary Foley to seek permission from traditional owners to hold the festival on their land. The ceremony was conducted by Uncle Lyle Roberts and song man Uncle Dickee Donnelly. The second recorded Welcome to Country occurred in 1976, when entertainers
Richard Walley and
Ernie Dingo developed a ceremony to welcome a group of
Māori artists who were participating in the
Perth International Arts Festival. The welcome, extended on behalf of the
Noongar people, was intended to mirror the visitors' own traditions, while incorporating elements of Aboriginal culture. Walley recalled that Māori performers were uncomfortable performing their cultural act without having been acknowledged or welcomed by the people of the land. Arts administrator
Rhoda Roberts, and daughter of Uncle Frank Roberts from the 1973 Aquarius Festival, coined the term
Welcome to Country in the 1980s and helped develop both welcomes and acknowledgements to country by beginning each show she was involved with a Welcome. Welcomes and acknowledgements have since been incorporated into openings of meetings and other events across Australia, by all levels of government, universities, community groups, arts and other organisations. In 2008, a Welcome to Country was performed at the ceremonial opening of the
Parliament of Australia and the following day Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd made the
Apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples. ==Significance==