What is the Dreamtime

Anne, in answer to your question re the "Dreamtime"and paintings titled Emu Dreaming etc...

Each Aboriginal painting we see is a story relating to this Dreamtime, every Aboriginal person inherits their Dreamtime stories from their parents. These stories go back generations to the Creation time when the Creator Spirit swept across the countryside creating the plants and animals, wind and rain, also at that same time people were created and they were each given responsibility for various aspects of nature. It may be a plant, an animal or an area.

These Dreamtime stories are the “blue-prints” for the way that the people live their lives and protect and nuture all living things on the land for future generations. They are the law. The stories tell about the way plants grow and animals live, where water and food can be found.

We see titles of paintings relating to the Dreamtime “Honey Ant Dreaming”, “Dingo Dreaming”, “Barramundi Dreaming”, these creatures are the responsibility of the people who have learnt about them from their elders. They are their sacred totems.