The authors suggest that, as well as failing to follow the recommendations of the Royal Commission in relation to some of these offences, the Victorian government has refused to modify the severe penalties applicable to some of these offences under the Summary Offences Act. The authors also argue that the offence of indecent language is used by Police against Aboriginal people, despite mounting evidence of cultural differences in the use of such language. The paper examines the subjects of oral communication, myth and performance in traditional indigenous cultures. Indigenous cultures are oral cultures and they share common modes and means for the production and memorisation of important social, religious and customary law and conventions. Unlike text-based cultures, which preserve their ideas and laws in books, oral cultures communicate through song, dance and story.
Performance is a key to social interaction and the preservation of traditions.
These traditions are to be found in the myths of a culture. Myths are the storehouse, or library, of a group's identity and history. The paper also describes the role of poets in an oral culture. Aboriginal culture is discussed in terms of its oral forms, including the important place of song, story-telling and dance. The main wellspring of myth in Aboriginal culture is the Dreaming, which is discussed mainly in general terms.