The dingo has been an important part of many Aborignal communities around Australia for thousands of years. They adopted the dingo as a companion animal, using it to assist with hunting and for warmth on cold nights. (The terms "two-dog night" and "three-dog night" are believed to come from Aboriginal idiom, describing the overnight temperature).

The Butchulla people of Fraser Island are no different in this respect, their history is also intertwined with the dingo.

“The dingo, he come part and parcel with the land... Like I say Kevin Costner can dance with wolves, we dance with dingo."
Joe Gala - descendent of Fraser Island's Butchulla tribe.
Last Of The Dingoes (Catalyst – tv program ABC)
Reporter: Jonica Newby
Producer: Caroline Penry-Davey
Researcher: Leonie Hansell

The following was taken from the Australian Heritage Database.

The dingo plays a vital role in Aboriginal culture, both past and present, as illustrated by the following excerpts:

The Dreamtime is the spiritual past of the Aboriginal people. There is no one Dreaming which is accepted by all aboriginal people as the creation story, and this is recognised by different names and different stories in different areas.

From the Dreamtime comes the belief that the dingo can see into the supernatural, it is a watchdog, warning of the approach of evil spirits. In dog dreaming their ancestor was part human, part dingo from which all people came, this was the belief in some areas. Aboriginal stories of the mythical giant creatures of the Dreamtime are passed from generation to generation and enshrine memories of the past (see Roughsey and Trezise1973).

In many Dreamtime stories the ancestral beings metamorphosed during the story to become a natural landmark that may still be in existence today. Mountains and rock formations are often said to represent ancestral beings, and their existence is often explained by a Dreamtime story. Similarly, caves and hills, watercourses, lakes, trees and celestial formations also are often linked to Dreamtime stories. Dreaming stories also provide a set of rules governing and explaining behaviour and relationships amongst people, animals and with areas of land. It meets the following criteria

(a) the dingo was important in the course or pattern of the history of Indigenous Australians. Dingoes were (and still are) an integral part of Aboriginal life and culture and helped to shape not only their way of life, but also their spiritual past. The dingo also has an importance in Australia's more recent history. Australian people have long been fascinated with this animal. The dingo holds an important place in Australia's identity.

(g) The dingo has a significant place in Australian culture. Indigenous Australians have a special cultural and spiritual association with this animal. The dingo also has a strong social cultural significance to Australians after European settlement.

(i) The dingo has a vital place in Indigenous tradition. There is a continuing traditional association between Aboriginal people and dingoes throughout the region.

Dingoes are important across Australia

AT least 20,000 years ago, Aboriginal tribes began recording their
stories on the rock walls of the Grampians region (Victoria, Australia).

The Grampians region has close to 200 known rock art sites, more than
any other part of southeastern Australia, though only five are
open to the public.

One of the most culturally significant is Bunjil's Shelter, depicting the traditional creator of the land and his two dingo helpers.

This excerpt was from part of an article appearing in the Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne); 22/04/2007