Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands

Abstract

The prehistory of studies in religion in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands begins as far in the past as human beings possessed the ability to communicate, and wanted to communicate with others, by whatever means, about abstract matters including ideas about extramundane realities or religion. Speaking to others outside of one's immediate socio-cultural group demands a framework for understanding oneself. In our own times, we know that sacred stories differ among Australian Aboriginal people, for example, or among the people of the New Guinea Highlands. How did members of different groups speak to others of these differences in the past? And when outsiders such as the Macassan fishermen and traders came to Aboriginal camps, say in the Northern Territory of Australia, did they talk about religious matters and tell their stories one to another, whether out of curiosity or to better understand those with whom they were trading?