Many of the elements ascribed to traditional Aboriginal beliefs and practices are the result of contact with external peoples - Melanesians and Indonesians, as well as Europeans. This controversial and provocative book is the first detailed and continent-wide study of the impact of outsiders on Australian Aboriginal world-views. The author separates out a common core of religious beliefs which reflect the precontact spirituality of Australian Aborigines. This book investigates Aboriginal myth, ritual, cosmology and philosophy, and also examines social organisation, subsistence patterns and cultural change. It will be of great interest to readers in anthropology, religious studies, comparative philosophy and Aboriginal studies.