"The Dreaming" is the belief of many Aboriginal groups that Aboriginal people have been in Australia since the beginning.
During this significant period, the ancestral spirits came up out of the earth and down from the sky to walk on the land where they created and shaped its land formations, rivers, mountains, forests, and deserts. These were created while the ancestors traveled, hunted, and fought. They also created all the people, animals, and vegetation that were to be a part of the land and laid down the patterns their lives were to follow. It was the spirit ancestors who gave Aboriginal people the lores, customs, and codes of conduct, and who are the source of the songs, dances, designs, languages, and rituals that are the basis of Aboriginal religious expression. These ancestors were spirits who appeared in a variety of forms. When their work was completed the ancestral spirits went back into the earth, the sky, and into the animals, land formation, and rivers. The ancestors-beings are ‘alive’ in the spirit of Australian Ancestors.