Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Mparntwe Sacred Sites (2004)

play May contain names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
clip Wild Dog Dreaming education content clip 1

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

Aerial views show Mount Gillen. The voice-over narration tells us about the Wild Dog Dreaming, when a local dog ancestor battled an intruder dog and eventually transformed into a rock embedded into the ground. Shots show the sacred rock in the bustling town of Alice Springs. This site is an example of a site that became unusable for ceremony due to its location. A custodian tells the Wild Dog Dreaming story during a National Native Title Tribunal Hearing in 1997.

Curator’s notes

The Dreaming stories are of significant importance to their Indigenous custodians, and they are also important within the Western legal system when Indigenous groups are seeking Native Title. In this clip, we see how the Dreaming stories offer proof within the Western legal system of connection to land.