Paper short abstract:

Australian practitioners of alternative spiritualities often seek an alternative regime of land value; a value that arises from the recognition of places with spiritual and/or Aboriginal associations. However, knowledge of prior Aboriginal claims to land can also discomfort the non-indigenous enjoyment of spiritual value.

Paper long abstract:

The Australian landscape has enormous significance for many Australian practitioners of alternative spiritualities. It is not only the conduit for recognition of an essential unity between human and non-human nature but also stands in for the perceived deep spirituality of Australia's indigenous peoples.

This significance is frequently represented, enacted, and understood by reference to sites with purported supernatural associations: places with particular energies, historical associations, or where spiritual beings have been encountered. Recognition and knowledge of such places - particularly those perceived to have an Aboriginal history - both celebrates and lays claim to the land. That is, the land can render up spiritual values that exist as an alternative to economic values and legal property rights whilst also justifying the non-indigenous presence in - and/or ownership of - the land.

However, although Aboriginal peoples serve as a synonym for the land itself, and thus are intrinsic to much of the land's spiritual value, their prior claims to the ownership of the land, and seemingly greater spiritual knowledge and connection to place, can sometimes also discomfort the consumption and enjoyment of spiritual value by non-Aboriginal practitioners of alternative spiritualities.