Dog Dreaming
Clip 3: Family
2 min 38 sec
Taken from the documentary Dog Dreaming (2001)
Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be G
Availability of the complete title
Please be aware that this clip may contain the names, images and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may now be deceased.
Curator’s clip description
The elder is sitting near a rock. His voice-over narration runs atop paintings depicting the relationship between people and dogs. The elder tells us the importance of dogs to the people of this area, and that in this country, the dogs are treated like human beings.
Curator’s notes
In Indigenous Dreaming stories, the Dreaming ancestors are powerful and revered beings. In this particular country, the dog is an important part of Indigenous society and is ‘like family’. The people with the dog totem cannot harm the dog or hurt it in any way, and the elder tells us the significance of dogs – not dingoes but actual dogs – in the relationships between people.
Romaine Moreton, curator
