Smoking ceremonies have been performed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for thousands of years to cleanse people and places of evil spirits and to treat sickness. These ceremonies promote good health and wellbeing by fostering connection to culture and the health benefits of traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medicine.
They are regarded as essential for connecting people to the country and protecting them from the dangers posed by the spiritual beings that inhabit the land and waters.
The practice of smoking to cleanse a house or person is used in many cultures around the world, and often involves burning herbs, special wood and bark, such as white sage, among aboriginal Americans.
Similarly, in Aboriginal Australian medical practices, emu bush (Eremophila longifolia) is highly valued for smoking, and scientific research has supported its antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties. The leaves of the emu bush are placed on hot embers to produce wet, steamy smoke, which kills bacterial or fungal pathogens. This can be beneficial for individuals who are sick, for preventing the spread of illness, and for use during childbirth.
There are many different plants used in smoking ceremonies and for medicine. The type of leaf used for smoking varies by region and availability, but can include emu bush, native peppermint (Agonis flexuosa), cauliflower bush (Cassinia Longifolia), sandalwood (Santalum spicatum), and various eucalyptus, tea tree, and paperbark leaves. Smoking ceremonies are used for burial, celebration, healing, and cleansing, and they also serve as a gesture of goodwill that brings people together. Performing the ceremony for another is a gift and a blessing.
Smoking ceremonies can also be a way of connecting with the country by speaking to and acknowledging the ancestors or ‘Old People’.
Across many Nations, the intention behind a smoking ceremony is just as important as the materials used. The person conducting the ceremony will carry cultural knowledge passed down through Elders, ensuring that the ritual is performed with respect, purpose, and cultural authority. This reinforces the understanding that smoking ceremonies are not simply a ‘performance’, but a profoundly spiritual practice tied to kinship, Country, and community wellbeing.
The ceremony itself may involve slow, gentle movements with leaves and embers, encouraging the smoke to drift over participants, objects, or spaces. People may cup the smoke over their bodies to invite protection, healing, or clarity. While each community has its own protocols, the common thread is the recognition that smoke acts as a bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds, creating a safe, cleansed environment.
In contemporary settings, smoking ceremonies are often incorporated into public events, school programs, and organisational gatherings. When done respectfully and led by a knowledge holder, these ceremonies help non-Indigenous people gain a deeper appreciation of Aboriginal cultural practices, while still honouring the ceremonial significance that has existed for millennia.
Importantly, not all Aboriginal people perform smoking ceremonies, and not all Nations use the same materials or processes. Respecting local knowledge and engaging the appropriate Traditional Custodians ensures cultural integrity is maintained.
What is a Traditional Country?
'Traditional Country' means something beyond the dictionary definition of the word. For Aboriginal Australians, this might mean their homeland, or tribal or clan territory, and it may mean more than just a place on a map. Country is a word for all the values, places, resources, stories and cultural obligations associated with that territory... It describes the totality of our ancestral domains. While they may no longer all hold title to the land, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians remain connected to their ancestral country, and most consider themselves custodians or stewards of their land.
Want to Understand the Importance of Welcome To Country?
Welcome to Country is delivered by Traditional Owners, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who have been permitted to welcome visitors to their Country.
Incorporating Welcome to Country into meetings, gatherings, and events shows respect by upholding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols.
Protocols for welcoming visitors to the country have always been a part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Crossing into another group’s Country required a request for permission to enter.
When permission is granted, the people of that part of the country welcome the visitors, offering them safe passage and protection of their spiritual being while in that part of the country. Visitors must respect the protocols and rules of the landowner group while on their Property.
Today, while these protocols have been adapted to contemporary circumstances, the essential elements remain: welcoming visitors and respecting the country.
First Nations Education advise on organising a Welcome to Country by a Traditional Owner in your area.
Welcome to Country occurs at the beginning of a formal event and can take many forms, including singing, dancing, smoking ceremonies, and/or a speech.
Protocols for welcoming visitors to Country have always been a part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Boundaries were clear, and crossing into another group’s Country required a request for permission to enter.
When permission was granted, the hosting group would welcome the visitors, offering them safe passage and protection of their spiritual being during the journey. Visitors had to respect the protocols and rules of the landowner group while on the landowner's property.
Today, while these protocols have been adapted to contemporary circumstances, the essential elements remain: welcoming visitors and respecting the country.
Welcome to Country occurs at the beginning of a formal event and can take many forms, most commonly with a speech; however, it can also incorporate singing, dancing, and smoking ceremonies.
A Welcome to Country is far more than a ceremonial greeting, it is an acknowledgment of the deep, ongoing relationship between First Nations people and their ancestral lands. When a Traditional Owner offers a Welcome, they are drawing upon the authority and responsibility passed down through generations to safeguard and speak for that particular Country. This connection is cultural, spiritual, and genealogical, rather than symbolic.
The process of determining who has the right to conduct a Welcome is deeply rooted in kinship systems, lore, and local governance structures. It is not interchangeable; only those with the correct lineage, cultural permission, and community recognition may formally welcome others onto their Country. This ensures that the integrity of the practice is honoured and that cultural authority remains with the rightful knowledge holders.
Welcoming visitors also reaffirms the reciprocal obligations that have existed since time immemorial, the visitors’ responsibility to behave respectfully, and the host community’s responsibility to ensure their safe passage. These cultural obligations continue into the present day, reminding all involved that Country is not just a backdrop, but an active, living presence that must be respected.
In modern contexts, a Welcome to Country plays a vital role in setting the tone for gatherings. It encourages participants to pause, reflect, and recognise the enduring sovereignty and cultural heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Many organisations find that incorporating a Welcome to Country deepens understanding, fosters cultural safety, and strengthens relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
It is also important to distinguish a Welcome to Country from an Acknowledgement of Country. While a Welcome can only be given by a Traditional Owner, anyone — Indigenous or non-Indigenous — can deliver an Acknowledgement of Country as a gesture of respect. Understanding this distinction helps to uphold proper cultural protocols.
For larger events, a Welcome to Country may also include cultural performances, storytelling, or ceremonial elements that share aspects of the local Nation’s identity. These additions provide participants with an opportunity to learn about the land they are on and the people who have cared for it for tens of thousands of years.
The Dreaming
Aboriginal Dreaming.... The Dreaming recounts the journey and actions of Ancestral Beings who created the natural world. Ancestral Beings are supernatural and creator beings who travelled across the unshaped world in both human and non-human forms, shaping the landscape, making people, and laying down laws of social and religious behaviour.
The Dreaming is infinite, linking the past to the present and determining the future. If life on Earth is to continue, these rules, almost lost to the world, must be followed.
Dreaming is an English word commonly used by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people alike to describe Aboriginal cosmology and the genesis of the world. The Dreaming encompasses the ancestral narratives about the supernatural and ancestral beings, as well as their epic deeds of creation.
Each narrative is known as a 'Dreaming'. The entire Australian continent is covered in an intricate web of Dreamings or ancestral tracks.
In the beginning, the land was a flat, featureless, barren plain.
No animals or plants lived on it, and no birds flew over it. However, during The Dreaming, ancestral beings, the forerunners of all living species, began stirring and finally emerged from the land, the sea, and the sky to embark on a series of odysseys that carried them throughout the length and breadth of Australia.
The Rainbow Serpent is one of the Dreamtime creators. Dreamtime stories can vary between tribes; however, the Rainbow Serpent is one of the few common to all.
The Rainbow Serpent lay sleeping under the ground. When it was time, she pushed herself up, with all the animals in her belly waiting to be born. Calling the animals out of their sleep, she threw the land out, creating mountains and hills, and spilled water over it, forming rivers and lakes. She made the fire, the sun, and all the colours. The creation of the Australian landscape's topography as we see it today.
The landscape was also shaped by ceremonies performed by these ancestral beings as they recalled their wanderings and feats in dance and song. The remnants of these ceremonies (decorations, feathers, dried blood, stone chips, etc.) have turned into rocks, trees, and plants that can still be seen. For example, blood from wounds incurred in battles became deposits of red ochre, and parts of bodies hewn off became trees or rock outcrops. The places where these major events left their imprints on the landscape are typically described as 'sacred sites' or 'sites of significance.
Not only does it connect Aboriginal tribes, but it also unites people from diverse cultures and walks of life worldwide.
The Dreaming is not simply a story of the past; it refers to a living system of law, identity, and cultural practice that continues to guide Aboriginal life today. For many First Nations people, the Dreaming remains an active force that informs relationships with family, community, and Country. This means that ancestral beings are not confined to a distant mythological past — they are present, watching, and shaping the world as it unfolds.
Because of this, the Dreaming plays a central role in governance, kinship structures, land management, and ceremonial obligations. Knowledge of particular Dreamings is often held by specific families, clans, or language groups and is carefully passed down through generations. Some aspects are public, while others are restricted, gendered, or only shared during certain ceremonies. This system ensures that cultural authority is respected and that sacred knowledge is protected.
Dreaming stories also encode ecological knowledge accumulated over tens of thousands of years. Many narratives describe the movements of animals, seasonal changes, star patterns, and the behaviour of plants or waterways. These teachings helped communities understand how to live sustainably with their environment and continue to inform land care practices today.
Importantly, Dreamings are place-based. Every rock, river, hill, or waterhole may be connected to a narrative or ancestor, giving the landscape itself a spiritual identity. When Aboriginal people speak of 'Country', they are referring not just to land, but to the stories, laws, and ancestral energies that reside there. This is why damaging a sacred site, even accidentally, can cause deep cultural harm.
For non-Indigenous people learning about the Dreaming, it is essential to understand that no single story or explanation can represent all Aboriginal cultures. Each Nation has its own Dreamings, ceremonies, languages, and interpretations of ancestral events. Respecting these differences is part of honouring the diversity and complexity of the world’s oldest living cultures.
Today, Dreaming stories continue to inspire art, performance, literature, and cultural education programs across Australia. They serve as bridges between generations and between cultures, helping people from all walks of life appreciate the depth and sophistication of Aboriginal knowledge systems.
