A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia.
Notably, the melodic contours and rhythmic nuances of the songs transcend linguistic barriers, facilitating cross-cultural understanding as different language groups interact and share the essence of these ancient narratives.
A unique facet of songlines lies in their role as cultural passports, denoting respect and recognition for specific regions and their inhabitants when the songs are sung in the appropriate languages.
[citation needed] By singing the songs in the appropriate sequence, Aboriginal people could navigate vast distances, often travelling through the deserts of Australia's interior.
[citation needed] One songline marks a 3,500-kilometre (2,200 mi) route connecting the Central Desert Region with the east coast, to the place now called Byron Bay.
[citation needed] Songlines have been described as a "cultural passport" which, when sung in the language of a particular region and mob, show respect to the people of that country.
[9] Anthropologist Robert Tonkinson described Mardu songlines in his 1978 monograph The Mardudjara Aborigines - Living The Dream In Australia's Desert.
Most songs, then, have a geographical as well as mythical referent, so by learning the songline men become familiar with literally thousands of sites even though they have never visited them; all become part of their cognitive map of the desert world.
Margo Ngawa Neale, senior Indigenous art and history curator at the National Museum of Australia, says:[12]Songlines can be visualised as corridors or pathways of knowledge that crisscross the entire continent, sky and water.