ABSTRACT
The starting point of my enquiry was to look at popular ideas about Aboriginal environmental knowledge which compare it with, or estimate it to be superior to, scientific knowledge of the Australian environment. These ideas about science are relatively novel. Ideas that see Aboriginal environmental knowledge tied up with religion are more familiar and accepted. A review of what has been set out so far will show that these views of the religious nature of Aboriginal environmental knowledge are not contradicted by anything examined here. Aboriginal environmental knowledge does have a strong religious component, but the religious is found to be tied more to the practical management of the environment than is usually suggested, both in terms of linking the storage of important environmental information to the sacred and in terms of using religious institutions to reinforce attitudes appropriate for group survival.
