YDS READING PASSAGES / TEST 7 49. Soru

-17.AUSTRALIA'S ORIGINAL STORYTELLERS Before European settlers arrived in Australia late in the 18th century, the sole human inhabitants of the continent were the Aborigines. These people had no written language. Their songs, myths, legends and stories were part of an oral tradition which was handed down over centuries. Much of this tradition served to explain the origin of the land and of the people in the dreamtime, or the dreaming, a mythological period in which the natural world, its laws, and the human race were created. The land itself was the focal point of Aboriginal narratives, because it was the source of the people's livelihood. The stories also told of journeys across the land, of specific events connected with special places. The stories traced the origins of each tribe back to a revered ancestor. Not until well after Australia had become an extension of European civilisation were some of the Aboriginal stories collected and translated. One collection was published in 1896 by Catherine Langloh Parker under the title 'Australian Legendary Tales'. In 1952, Alan Marshall published 'People of the Dreamtime'. By the 1960s, Aboriginal writers were publishing their own works in English.

The Aboriginal oral tradition ------ .