In the Aboriginal Dreamtime myths, for example in the Nyungar tribe, Earth is seen as the great mother with the surface being her skin. Thus to pierce her skin is to wound her. It may be said that almost all Aboriginal mythology is based on the earth from which many of the ancestors arose with the landscape being a living of their Dreamtime actions. In fact, earth and humankind are intimately linked, and if a person’s country, over which he has custodianship, is injured, then the person becomes sic and dies.

“Aboriginal Mythology”. Mudrooroo” p 58