Aboriginals believe in two forms of time; two parallel streams of activity. One is the daily objective activity, the other is an infinite spiritual cycle called the "dreamtime", more real than reality itself. Whatever happens in the dreamtime establishes the values, symbols, and laws of Aboriginal society. It was believed that some people of unusual spiritual powers had contact with the dreamtime.

Indigenous Australians' oral tradition and spiritual values are based upon reverence for the land and a belief in this dreamtime. The Dreaming is at once both the ancient time of creation and the present day reality of Dreaming. There were a great many different groups, each with their own individual culture, belief structure, and language.

"The Dreaming" was the time of creation.

Dreaming stories vary throughout Australia, and there are different versions on the same theme. For example, the story of how the birds got their colors is different in New South Wales and in Western Australia. Stories cover many themes and topics, as there are stories about creation of sacred places, land, people, animals and plants, law and custom. It is a complex network of knowledge, faith, and practices that derive from stories of creation, and which pervades and informs all spiritual and physical aspects of an indigenous Australian's life.

They believe that every person in an essential way exists eternally in the Dreaming. This eternal part existed before the life of the individual begins, and continues to exist when the life of the individual ends. Both before and after life, it is believed that this spirit-child exists in the Dreaming and is only initiated into life by being born through a mother. The spirit of the child is culturally understood to enter the developing fetus during the 5th month of pregnancy. When the mother felt the child move in the womb for the first time, it was thought that this was the work of the spirit of the land in which the mother then stood. Upon birth, the child is considered to be a special custodian of that part of their country and taught of the stories and songlines of that place. As Wolf states: "A black 'fella' may regard his totem or the place from which his spirit came as his Dreaming. He may also regard tribal law as his Dreaming."

One of the beliefs was that before animals and humans and plants were created, there were souls and they knew that they would become physical,but not know when. They then knew the time was right and they all one by one all said "we will do our very best to try to help the one that takes care of us all." Then they all became animals and the plants. Then the last soul became the human. That is why Aboriginal people respect the environment and want to be with the nature because they are their friends.

Traditional Australian indigenous peoples embrace all phenomena and life as part of a vast and complex system-reticulum of relationships which can be traced directly back to the ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings of The Dreaming. This structure of relations, including food taboos, was important to the maintenance of the biological diversity of the indigenous environment and may have contributed to the prevention of over-hunting of particular species.

These cultures overlapped to a greater or lesser extent, and evolved over time. The Rainbow Serpent is a major Ancestral being for many Aboriginal people across Australia, whereas Baiame or Bunjil are regarded as the primary creator spirits in South-East Australia. Dingo Dreaming is a significant Ancestor in the interior regions of Bandiyan as Dingo formed the songlines that cross the continent from north to south and east to west. The Yowie and Bunyip are other ancestral beings.

The Rainbow Serpent (also known as the Rainbow Snake) is an important mythological being for Aboriginal people across Australia, although the creation myths associated with it are best known from northern Australia.

The Rainbow Serpent is seen as the inhabitant of permanent waterholes and is in control of life's most precious resource, water. He is the underlying Aboriginal mythology for the famous Outback "bunyip". He is the sometimes unpredictable Rainbow Serpent, who vies with the ever-reliable Sun, that replenishes the stores of water, forming gullies and deep channels as he slithered across the landscape, allowing for the collection and distribution of water.

Dreamtime stories tell of the great Spirits during creation, in animal and human form they molded the barren and featureless earth. The Rainbow Serpent came from beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains and gorges as it pushed upward. The Rainbow Serpent is known as Ngalyod by the Gunwinggu and Borlung by the Miali. He is a serpent of immense proportions which inhabits deep permanent waterholes.

Serpent stories vary according to environmental differences. Tribes of the monsoonal areas depict an epic interaction of the Sun, Serpent and wind in their Dreamtime stories, whereas tribes of the central desert experience less drastic seasonal shifts and their stories reflect this.

It is known both as a benevolent protector of its people (the groups from the country around) and as a malevolent punisher of law breakers. The rainbow serpent's mythology is closely linked to land, water, life, social relationships and fertility.

There are innumerable names and stories associated with the serpent, all of which communicate the significance and power of this being within Aboriginal traditions.

The myth of the Rainbow serpent is sometimes associated with Wonambi naracoortensis, a large snake of the now extinct megafauna of Australia.

Australian Aborigines were almost exterminated by the English colonizers. Today, they represent only 1% of the Australian population, roughly estimated at around 200,000 people. When Captain Cook arrived in 1770, there were about 300,000 of them. The Aborigines inhabited Australia for at least 25,000 years (this was proven by Carbon 14 on paintings left on rocks). At that time, Australia was probably connected with Papua-New Guinea, and had many more rivers and forests in contrast to the desert that it is today.

By 1965, the population of "Pure Aboriginals" was little more than 40,000 people. They were literally massacred by the colonizers and expelled from their land, especially from productive land. They were pushed to the North of the country, where temperatures reach 50 degree Celsius in very wet or extremely dry areas. The Aborigines are extremely spiritual people and by 1770 they were so primitive that they didn't know what metal was. Most instruments and artifacts were made from wood, rock or bones. The boomerang itself was primarily a toy used to entertain the villagers, only later being used as a hunting and war device.
Note: It is very difficult today in Australia to find someone who knows how to throw a Boomerang, despite the fact that they are sold in every souvenir shop!

By 1806, racism from colonizers and soldiers reached a very high point. Not only were sacred Aboriginal places violated and desecrated, the Aboriginals themselves became hunted like kangaroos for pleasure and fun, like trophy prizes. The soldiers used to visit Aboriginal villages offering gifts, while the real purpose of the visit was to contaminate the village water supply with arsenic. Whole communities including children, elderly, women and men were removed by arsenic poisoning. Rum, initially imported from England, was freely offered to Villagers. The introduction of rum made many villagers drunk for a whole week until death arrived from alcoholic comas. The English soldiers took advantage of this stage of alcoholism to create wars between friendly villages, leaving them to kill each other. It was a massacre.

Later, the Aborigines were recruited to work on cattle farms. Payment was ridiculous low, compared to a white mans wage. To justify this act, the farmers made allegations that the Aborigines had no feelings with horses (which was true due to the fact that they were nomads and used to travel by foot). Secondly, the Aboriginals spiritual life style was totally connected with the environment. In reality, the Aborigines didn't understand why they had to raise horses and sheep when the sea and nature provided everything necessary for living. They were considered lazy and insolent. But, they worked for less than 2 pounds per week as payment, while the white man never worked for less than 9 pounds. Also, because of their dark skin, the Aborigines were able to work for long period of time under the hot sun, while the whites used to get sunburned very quickly.
Note: Many Australian farms today use helicopters or all terrain vehicles to deal with the cattle. Some farms have such big properties, that from the gate to the main house, it can take 45 minutes to cover the distance, traveling in a car at 140 km per hour.

After Australia gained independence from England, (but still with a very strong racial discrimination against anyone not descendant from the British) something much worse happened to the Aborigines. It is called "The lost Generation"; where Aboriginal children were kidnapped never to be seen again by their families. The government target was to physiologically break any interference from Aboriginal people on the "white" politics. At the time John Howard was the Australian Prime Minister, he acknowledged the fact, but refused to officially say sorry to the Aboriginal people. Kevin Ruud the new prime minister elected in 2007 said he will. Many believe that this is why Aboriginals receive very high financial compensation from the Australian government in various forms.