Returning to Country
The healing that comes from returning to one's traditional lands.
For Aboriginal people separated from their country, returning brings profound healing. The land recognizes its people and the people are renewed by contact with their source. This return is both physical and spiritual homecoming.
When I went back to my country, my spirit came home.
Return to country is increasingly recognized as essential to Aboriginal wellbeing.
Oral Tradition
Written about in
- What Aboriginal Australians mean by belonging to Country
For people separated from their Country, going back is described as a homecoming in both senses — the land recognises its people, and the people are restored by the contact. This is why displacement is treated as an injury rather than an inconvenience.
- What Aboriginal tradition says about grief
For people separated from their country, going back is described as healing — the land recognising its own. Grief for a place and grief for a person are treated as the same kind of wound, and both are answered by return.