 Chatwin went to Australia to learn more about Aboriginal culture , specifically the songlines or dreaming tracks . Each songline is a personal story and functions as a creation tale and a map , and each Aboriginal Australian has their own songline . Chatwin thought the songlines could be a metaphor he could use to support his ideas about humans ' need to wander , which he believed was genetic . However , he struggled to fully understand and describe the songlines and their place in Aboriginal culture . This was due to Chatwin 's approach to learning about the songlines . He spent several weeks in 1983 and 1984 in Australia , during which he primarily relied on non @-@ Aboriginal people for information . Chatwin was limited by his inability to speak the Aboriginal languages . He interviewed people involved in the Land Rights movement , and he alienated many of them because he was oblivious to the politics and also because he was an admirer of Strehlow 's work . 
