What is the term for the network of Dreaming tracks across Australia? The term is songlines, also called dreaming tracks.
Songlines are routes across land or sky associated with the journeys of ancestral or creator beings in Aboriginal Australian traditions. Their paths are preserved through song cycles, stories, ceremony, dance and art. The knowledge encoded in them can identify landmarks, waterholes, food sources and sites of cultural responsibility.
A songline is not simply an Aboriginal road map. Different sections may belong to different language groups, and the songs connect people to Country, law, history and obligations. Skilled knowledge-holders can use the sequence of place references and melodies to navigate long distances, including through arid regions.
The word is often associated with Bruce Chatwin’s 1987 book The Songlines, but the cultural traditions themselves are far older. A common mistake is to treat songlines as one single continental network with identical meanings everywhere; their forms and responsibilities vary substantially between communities.