The land and the people
For the Gija people, the land is extremely sacred and significant: it holds burial sites, ceremonial grounds, hunting places, history and Ngarranggarni. The landforms are all part of the Ngarranggarni and hold utmost importance. As custodians of the land, Gija people have certain obligations to care for the resting places of their spiritual ancestors and to ensure the land continues to be plentiful. Land is not something they own, but something that is a part of them and over which they have traditional rights. It is the basis of their spirituality. As custodians of the Ngarranggarni stories, Gija people have obligations to conduct ceremonies. To satisfy these, they need to visit the land.

Through Art Centre activities, artists take their families to visit country and pass on Gija knowledge of those places. Painting the places and the stories also helps to keep the culture strong.
Ngarranggarni (the Dreaming)

For Aboriginal people there is a common belief that people came from the land on which they live, and that they have occupied that land since the creation era known as the Dreaming. It is believed that during this time, spirit beings roamed across the land performing certain actions that modified or created natural features, made waterholes, springs and rivers, and filled the whole land with a spirituality that remains vitally potent to this day.

There is no, one Dreaming that is accepted by all Aboriginal people as the ‘creation story'. This concept is recognised by different names in different areas. The local Gija people refer to the concept as ‘Ngarranggarni'.

In the Ngarranggarni, Spirit Beings roamed across the land modifying or creating natural features: waterholes, springs, hills, rocks and rivers. These Beings, who are able to change between human forms, spirits, animals, plants and rocks, filled the land with a spirituality that remains vitally potent. Whilst the Ngarranggarni provides a framework for Gija people to explain and relate to times long ago or to the time of their grandparents, it also provides an important link to the present. Gija people do not think of the Ngarranggarni in the past tense, it is something that is, was, and will continue to be into the future.