Experience of Place in Australian Identity and Theology

Arguing that the experience of place is an important element in the development of an Australian identity, spirituality and theology, this essay reviews some Australian voices, both indigenous and non-indigenous, which have highlighted the significance of land and place. It maintains that the “Australian soul” will remain underdeveloped and diminutive until the shadows in the nation's history are fully acknowledged and the reconciliation process embraced unreservedly. A robust Australian theology will involve a grafting of the new and more recently arrived upon the old. It will involve the convergence of that ancient and abiding sense of sacred place with a vibrant, contemporary experience of land and place. The experience of land and place is one important pathway towards a maturing sense both of Australian theology and, indeed, of Australian identity as a whole.