Myths

The Tiwi on Bathurst and Melville Islands also have a thriving tradition of body art. They decorate face and body in particularly strong designs for both Pukumani (funeral) and Kulama (yam) ceremonies. In northwest Queensland, men rub their foreheads with charcoal and paint a white band from either eyebrow down the front of the ear and along the shoulders and arms. White and red bands are painted across the chest and the rest of the body is covered in red.

Aboriginals use different items and ways to decorate the body include scars, feathers, shells, teeth, ornaments, face paint, and body paint. Symbols are greatly used and can represent many things about the person who uses it. It is often used to tell a spiritual story. Scarring used to be common practice done by males to denote their social status. Sharp shells or rocks were used to cut the skin and then rubbed with ash or other irritating material to inflict a permanent scar and skin discoloration. Only specific relatives are given the right to paint another woman’s body. It is not appropriate for women to paint themselves for ceremony. The long communal painting and decorating process is part of the entire ritual right through to the dance and main singing. At the end of each performance the body painting is smeared and disguised or obliterated, just as the stamping feet of performers ultimately destroys the design on the ground. Every type of painting and decoration corresponds to Aboriginal laws, regulations or convention, as well as religious functions. They also represent a particular region or tribe. Symbols are used to communicate the social status of a person, his or her age, totemic duties, and the role he or she plays within the family group. Hunting ceremonies, circumcision ceremonies for boys, as well as ceremonies that involve women undertakings are classic examples that involve body painting. For instance, boys from Arnhem Land display specific painting on their chests and the men who perform their rite-of-passage ceremony are also painted. When painting young girls, specific symbols are displayed on their body to encourage the growth of breasts. Despite social and environmental issues concerning the survival of Aboriginal culture, all indications point to the unceasing strong existence and perpetuation of their unique way of life. Aboriginal body art has revealed that their culture has flourished for thousands of years and will continue in the long, indefinite future.

At the beginning of the Dreamtime, the earth was flat and dry and empty. There were no trees, no rivers, no animals and no grass. It was a dry and flat land. One day, Goorialla, the rainbow serpent, woke from his sleep and set off to find his tribe. One day, Goorialla, the rainbow serpent woke from his sleep and set off to find his tribe. He crossed Australia from east to west and north to south, stopping to listen for his people. He crossed every part of the dry, flat Australia but found nothing. After searching for a long time, he grew tired and lay down to sleep. The land he lay down to sleep on was not the same land he had set out to search for his people on, though. As he had looked for his people, his big, long body had cut great gouges into the land. Goorialla lay in the sand all alone until he decided to create more life in the world. He called “Frogs, come out!” and frogs rose out of the ground with their bellies full of the water they stored. He tickled the frogs until the water burst from their mouth and filled the gouges in the land. These gouges made the rivers and streams we see today.

As the water flowed over the land, grass and trees began to grow and fill the land with colour. Now that there was grass to eat and water to drink, Goorialla woke the animals. The kookaburra laughed, the goanna walked, and the wombat climbed out of her burrow, all for the first time. Some animals lived in the sea, swimming back and forward. Some animals lived in the sky, flying with their friends to distant places. Some animals lived on the land, digging and playing in the sand. They were happy and gathered food and water to bring back to their own tribes.

The Rainbow Serpent made rules that all animals had to obey. He said “All animals that obey the rules will be rewarded by becoming humans. The animals that disobey the rules will be punished.” Some animals followed the rules and were rewarded by being turned into humans. Other animals disobeyed the rules and were turned into the stone that makes the mountains. One day, it started to rain. And it rained like it had never rained before. Rain fell for days and days, and the world was flooded by water. Two young men, Bilbil, or the Rainbow Lorikeet brothers had no shelter and they came to the Rainbow Serpent. They asked for help sheltering from the rain. The rainbow serpent was hungry and tricked the young men “I have no shelter, but you can hide in my mouth. You’ll be safe from the rain in there.” The young men climbed into Goorialla’s mouth

and he closed it shut, swallowing both men. He soon realised that people would notice the young men missing and come looking for them. He knew they would find their track leading right into his mouth. He didn’t want to be caught and so decided to hide in the only place he knew he would be safe: the sky. He hid in the sky away from the people chasing him and he saw their sadness at losing these two young men. He decided to try and make them happy again so turned his body into a big arc of beautiful colours. Now, every time, just after it rains, you can see the Rainbow Serpent sharing his beautiful colours with the people on the ground as his way of saying sorry for taking those Rainbow Lorikeet brothers.

In the Kulin nation in central Victoria Bunjil was regarded as one of two moiety (each of two social or ritual groups into which a people is divided) ancestors, the other being Waa the crow. Bunjil has two wives and a son, Binbeal the rainbow. His brother is Palian the bat. He is assisted by six wirmums or shamans who represent the clans of the Eaglehawk moiety: Djart-djart, the nankeen kestrel, Thara the quail hawk, Yukope the parakeet, Lar-guk the parrot, Walert the brushtail possum and Yurran the gliding possum.

According to one legend, after creating the mountains, rivers, flora, fauna, and laws for humans to live by, Bunjil gathered his wives and sons then asked Crow, who had charge of the winds, to open his bags and let out some wind. Crow opened a bag in which he kept his whirlwinds, creating a cyclone which uprooted trees. Bunjil asked for a stronger wind. Crow complied, and Bunjil and his people were blown upwards into the sky. Bunjil himself became the star Altair and his two wives, the black swans, became stars on either side. A Boonwurrung story tells of a time of conflict among the Kulin nations, when people argued and fought with one another, neglecting their families and the land. The mounting chaos and disunity angered the sea, which began to rise until it had covered the plains and threatened to flood the entire country. People went to Bunjil and asked him to help them stop the sea from rising; Bunjil agreed to do so, but only if the people would change their ways and respect the laws and each other. He then walked out to the sea, raised his spear and ordered the water to stop rising. It is believed by the Kulin and other Aboriginal peoples that, in the Dreamtime, Bunjil took shelter in a cave located in the part of Gariwerd that is now known as the Black Range Scenic Reserve, not far from Stawell. Bunjil's Shelter is today a popular tourist attraction and one of the most important Aboriginal rock art sites in the region. Many years ago this land that we now call Melbourne extended right out to the ocean.The country will always be protected by the creator, Bunjil, who travels as an eagle.

4. Thukeri as told by Veena Gollan, from the Yara ldi clan of the Ngarrindjeri people (River Murray and Coorong region of South Australia).

Two tribal men lived on the shores of Lake Alexandrina. They caught many breams, called ‘thukeri’, but refused to share them with a stranger. The stranger put many bones in the thukeri, so they could not be eaten. The men felt ashamed because they were punished.

About the story: The traditional practices of Indigenous peoples model a balanced way of living with the land. They did not deplete the breeding stock and their harvesting practices supported conservation. When the men broke this eco-farming rule, they had to be punished under the Law. Key ideas: We can live off the land. We should take only what we need. We should share. Everyone in your group feels ashamed when doing the wrong thing.

This is the creation story of Ngiyaampaa country, as well as the land belonging to Eaglehawk and Crow. Now long, long time ago of course, in the beginning, when there were no people, no trees, no plants whatever on this land, “Guthi-guthi”, the spirit of our ancestral being, he lived up in the sky. So, he came down and he wanted to create the special land for people and animals and birds to live in. So Guthi-guthi came down and he went on creating the land for the people, after he had set the borders in place and the sacred sights, the birthing places of all the Dreamings, where all our Dreamings were to come out of. Guthi-guthi put one foot on Gunderbooka Mountain and another one on Mount Grenfell.

And he looked out over the land and he could see that the land was bare. There was no water in sight, there was nothing growing. So Guthi-guthi knew that trapped in a mountain - Mount Minara - was the water serpent, Weowie; he was trapped in the mountain. So Guthi-guthi called out to him, “Weowie, Weowie”, but because Weowie was trapped right in the middle of the mountain, he couldn’t hear him. Guthi-guthi went back up into the sky and he called out once more, “Weowie”, but once again Weowie didn’t respond. So Guthi-guthi came down with a roar like thunder and banged on the mountain and the mountain split open. Weowie, the water serpent, came out. And where the water serpent travelled, he made waterholes, streams and depressions in the land. So once all that was finished, of course, Weowie went back into the mountain to live and that’s where Weowie lives now, in Mount Minara. The Cod, it was his duty to drag and create the river known as the Darling River. So, Cod came out with Mudlark, his little mate, and they set off from the north and they created the big river. It flows right down, water flows right throughout our country, right into the sea. And of course, this country was also created. The first two tribes put in our country were Eaglehawk and Crow. And from these two tribes came many tribal people, many tribes, and we call them sub-groups today. So, the Ngiyaampaa and the Barkandji peoples living downstream are descendants of Eaglehawk and Crow.

Baiame (Biame, Baayami, Baayama or Byamee) is the creator god and sky father in the Dreaming of several Aboriginal peoples of south-eastern Australia, such as the Wonnarua, Kamilaroi, Eora, Darkinjung, and Wiradjuri peoples.

The Baiame story tells how Baiame came down from the sky to the land and created rivers, mountains, and forests. He then gave the people their laws of life, traditions,

songs, and culture. He also created the first initiation site. This is known as a bora; a place where boys were initiated into manhood. When he had finished, he returned to the sky and people called him the Sky Hero or All Father or Sky Father. He is said to have two wives, Ganhanbili and Birrangulu, the latter often being identified with an emu, and with whom he has a son Dharramalan. In other stories Dharramalan is said to be brother to Baiame. It was forbidden to mention or talk about the name of Baiame publicly. Women were not allowed to see drawings of Baiame nor approach Baiame sites—which are often male initiation sites (boras). In rock paintings Baiame is often depicted as a human figure with a large head-dress or hairstyle, with lines of footsteps nearby. He is always painted in front view; Dharramalan is drawn in profile. Baiame is often shown with decorations such as waistbands, vertical lines running down the body, bands and dots.

There’s another legend that is connected to the formation of the Blue Mountains Three Sisters and offers up an explanation of how the rocks came to be. Tyawan, a witch doctor had three daughters: Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo. Whenever Tyawan had to pass by a hole to get food, he would leave his three daughters behind a rocky wall on a cliff. He did this because down this deep, dark hole there lived a Bunyip who was the most feared creature on the land. One day as Tyawan passed by the hole to get food, a large centipede crawled next to the girls and scared Meenhi so much that she threw a rock at it. The rock then fell down into the valley and angered the Bunyip. He came up to face the girls, and Tyawan who saw this from a distance turned his daughters into stones to protect them from the Bunyip with his magic bone. After he had done this, the Bunyip began chasing him so he turned himself into a lyrebird. All was well and everyone safe, however in the scuffle Tyawan had dropped his magic bone somewhere, leaving him a bird and his three daughters into the rock formations we see today. It’s said that you can still hear the call of the lyrebird around the rocks even now. It is Tyawan searching his magic bone.

Yet it’s not only the wonder of the landscape that captures the hearts of many travellers who sojourn to the Blue Mountains but the story behind the three rocks that stand tall. The ancient aboriginal legend tells the tale of three sisters – ‘Meehni’, ‘Wimlah’ and Gunnedoo’. These three enchanting girls lived in the heart of the Jamison Valley as part of the Katoomba tribe. Yet the girls were young and their hearts were captured by three brothers from a neighbouring tribe. However the law of the land forbid the girls from following their desires and marrying outside their own people.

The brothers decided to capture the girls and carry them away to be wed, a major battle ensued as the two tribes clashed and the blood ran thick. An elderly witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe feared for the safety of the beautiful sisters and cast a spell to turn them to stone to keep them safe from harm. Yet during the raging battle the witchdoctor was killed and unable to reverse the spell.

The sisters stand mournfully high above the Jamison Valley, doused in glory, bewitching in their enchantment but never able to return to the human form. Even for those who don’t believe the legend it still makes for a heart wrenching sight to gaze up at these powerful rocks carved from the earth and to remember the tragic tale. Whether you ride the scenic railway to capture a glimpse of the three sisters standing tall in the afternoon sun or whether you trek through the trails that wrap around Echo Point, the sisters are sure to ignite the spark in your imagination and to bring to life a touch of magic and myth with this dream time tale.

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When Darama, the Great Spirit, came down to the earth, he made all the animals and the birds. He gave them all their names. He also created Toonkoo and Ngaardi. One day, Toonkoo said to Ngaardi that he would go out hunting. He went out hunting kangaroos and emus, while Ngaardi stayed home and got some bush tucker. She was waiting and waiting, but Toonkoo never came home. She started worrying. Then she started crying and as the tears ran down her face, she made the rivers and creeks come down that mountain. She waited there all day for him to come back with the food, but he never came back. As Toonkoo was out there hunting, he chucked a spear and got a kangaroo. Then he walked a bit further and he looked up and saw Darama, the Great Spirit, up the sky,

watching him. He chucked a spear into the sky so as to hit Darama, but Darama caught it, bent it and chucked it back. As it came back, it turned into a boomerang. That’s how we got our boomerang. He was out hunting and he was still angry with Darama, so Darama took him away and put him on the moon. As the moon was coming up, Ngaardi was still crying. As she saw the moon coming up over the horizon, over the sea, she looked up into the full moon She went to the mountain and she laid down. She said to herself: “I’ll leave my heart on the mountain; whenever my husband will come back, he will find it. Today, her heart is the red flower called the Waratah.

In the Kulin nation in central Victoria he was regarded as one of two moiety ancestors, the other being Waa the crow. Bunjil has two wives and a son, Binbeal the rainbow. His brother is Palian the bat. He is assisted by six wirmums or shamans who represent the clans of the Eaglehawk moiety: Djartdjart the nankeen kestrel, Thara the quail hawk, Yukope the parakeet, Lar-guk the parrot, Walert the brushtail possum and Yurran the gliding possum. According to one legend, after creating the mountains, rivers, flora, fauna, and laws for humans to live by, Bunjil gathered his wives and sons then asked Crow, who had charge of the winds, to open his bags and let out some wind. Crow opened a bag in which he kept his whirlwinds, creating a cyclone which uprooted trees. Bunjil asked for a stronger wind. Crow complied, and Bunjil and his people were blown upwards into the sky. Bunjil himself became the star Altair and his two wives, the black swans, became stars on either side. A Boonwurrung story tells of a time of conflict among the Kulin nations, when people argued and fought with one another, neglecting their families and the land. The mounting chaos and disunity angered the sea, which began to rise until it had covered the plains and threatened to flood the entire country. The people went to Bunjil and asked him to help them stop the sea from rising; Bunjil agreed to do so, but only if the people would change their ways and respect the laws and each other. He then walked out to the sea, raised his spear and ordered the water to stop rising.

The Boonwurrung, are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who reside from Werribee River to Wilsons Prom, Victoria, Australia, including part of what is

now the city and suburbs of Melbourne. Before British colonisation, they lived as all people of the Kulin nation lived, sustainably on the land, for tens of thousands of years.

Bunjil, the eagle, was the creator of all living things for the Wurundjeri people. These people are the traditional owners of the greater Melbourne area that stretches from the mountains to the ocean. “Bunjil went back into the sky and looking down he decided to create things to move around through the plants. So, he created the animals; the kangaroo, the emu (ostrich), the goanna (lizard), the wombat, the echidna (spiny anteater), the cockatoo (sort of parrot) and all the animals.”

KKoockardFacebookTwitterPrintMore94 This is another Dreamtime story belonging to Ngiyaampaa and it’s called Koockard. Long, long time ago, two little nephews asked their old uncle to take them out and camp on the river so that he would teach them how to make spears, woomeras and boomerangs and also teach them how to hunt and how to identify animal tracks. Old uncle, he tried to put it off because they were too young, he thought, only eight years old. But the two little nephews, they kept pestering old uncle, ‘We’ve got to go, we must go now. Come on, we’ll go out tonight.’ So old uncle gave in and he said, ‘Okay, we’ll go out and we’ll set up camp on the river bend. Once we get our camp set up, we’ll make our brush gunyah, then we’ll go for a walk around the river bend and find some nice straight sticks to make your spears out of.’ So when they got out along the river bend and got their gunyah made, old uncle said, ‘Come on, we’ll go and find some straight sticks. Now remember, don’t look for crooked ones, don’t run or get any old stick. You must get a nice straight stick to make your spear out of.’ The two little fellas walked around the river bend looking for nice straight saplings to make their spear out of and when they found them, old uncle went up and he chopped them off with his stone axe. He showed the little fellas how to sit down and take all the bark off the saplings and trim them up nice and get all the notches off. He also showed them how to make the woomera, the little stick they needed to sit the spear in so they could spear the kangaroo or emu or whatever they were hunting for. When they had that done, old uncle said, ‘Come on, we’ll go back to camp now and tomorrow morning we’ll go out hunting.’ But the two little boys were really impatient and they said, ‘Oh come on, uncle, let us go now. Let us go for a walk around the river bend and see if we can find a kangaroo.’ Old uncle said, ‘No, wait till tomorrow morning and I’ll go with you’. ‘No, we’ll go, uncle. We’ll bring back whatever we find.’

So old uncle said to them when they were ready to go, ‘Listen. Before you go walking around the river bend, there’s something I want you to be very, very careful of. You must promise me that you will never, ever hurt it or harm it.’ They looked at each other as much as to say ‘what’s he talking about?’ Uncle said, ‘old Koockard, the great big river goanna. If ever you come across him, you must promise never to hurt or harm him in any way.’ So, the two little boys looked at their uncle and they promised him, ‘okay, uncle, we won’t hurt him or harm him.’ They went off, walking around the river bend; right around the river bend they kept walking. In those times the grass used to grow nice and tall. So, they’re walking around the river bends, when they got around the third bend and they saw the tall grass moving really quickly and then stopped moving. The two little fellas stood back and said, ‘that might be a kangaroo over there. Let us creep up and see what’s going on, what’s making the grass move.’ As they started creeping forwards towards where the grass was moving, the grass moved again, really quickly, then stopped. They walked a bit further and all of a sudden, they spotted old Koockard’s tail. That big river goanna, his tail was sticking out. So, they backed off; the two little fellas said to each another: ‘Remember what uncle told us? If ever we come across old Koockard, we mustn’t harm or hurt him.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, but what if we poke some fun at him? You get your spear and creep up right up around this side of old Koockard, to his left arm, level with his left shoulder and you lie down still. I’ll get my spear and I’ll go around this side, to his right arm. I’ll lie down there and when old Koockard puts his head down to bite the meat that he is eating (because this was what was happening. Koockard was putting his mouth down and biting the dead meat and shaking all the ants off before swallowing the meat). The two little fellas said, ‘we’ll go up there. We’ll have some fun with him. When he puts his head down to bite the meat, you tickle him under the arm with your spear. When he settles down again and he takes another bite, I’ll tickle him under this side with my spear.’ The two little fellas agreed to do this. So, they snuck up and lay down and as soon as old Koockard reached down to take a bite of the dead kangaroo, the little fella tickled him under the arm. So Koockard jumped up and looked around to see what touched him, but he was looking over the top of the tall grass, so he didn’t see the little boy lying down in the grass alongside of him. He settled down again and he took another bite and the little boy on the other side tickled him on that side. Koockard jumped up again and he was looking around, but because the grass was high, he couldn’t see anything. They kept going. One would tickle him on one side and the other would tickle him on the other side. Then one little boy, he got a fit of the giggles and he couldn’t stop laughing. He rolled over and as he rolled, his spear hit a log. So Koockard jumped and spun right around in a big circle and flattened the two little boys. Sitting in a gumtree close by were two Kookaburras; until that time, they couldn’t laugh. But as soon as they saw what happened to the two little boys, they just looked at each other and burst out laughing. So that’s the Dreamtime story of how the Kookaburras got their laugh.

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This is another Ngiyaampaa story and it’s about Eagle hawk and Crow.

Long, long time ago Eagle hawk, it was his turn to go hunting. So, Eagle hawk had a little baby, and he went over to his neighbour Crow and asked Crow if he’d look after his baby while he went hunting, because food was getting much scarcer and they had to go much further and further away from the camp.

So, Eagle hawk, he went to Crow and asked him. Crow didn’t want to look after the baby; he said “No, no I don’t want to look after the baby, he’s crying too much, he’ll cry all the time and disturb the camp”. But Eagle hawk said, “No, he’ll be right, Crow”. He said, “You take him away and you sit down there and talk to him, or sing to him and he’ll quieten down”. Crow was still reluctant to take the baby, he said, “No, I don’t want to look after the kid”. So anyway, Eagle hawk just handed the baby to Crow and said, “Okay, when we come back, whatever meat I get I’ll bring it here and I’ll share it with you”. Crow could not resist the offer and Eagle hawk went off with his young men. They had to walk a long, long distance away from the camp. But Crow, after he got the baby, he took it into his gunyah, his hut, and he sat down there with the baby and he was singing to it and talking to it, but the baby wouldn’t stop crying. Just kept on crying and crying and crying. So, Crow was getting really annoyed, no way he could stop the baby. So, Crow went out and he got his boondie -his hitting stick- and banged the little fella with the hitting stick and killed him. Then he got the baby and he put it up the back of his camp, right in the back of the gunyah. He put leaves all around it, and a bit of bark and a kangaroo skin. He had a kangaroo skin, a cloak, so he put that over the baby. And anyway, everything was quiet then, so Crow left his camp and started doing what he wanted to do. When Eagle hawk came back late in the afternoon, Crow ran back into the camp and he was sitting at the doorway and did as if he was singing to the baby. Crow’s sitting there and Eagle hawk came up to him and said “I’ve come to pick my baby up now, Crow. He’s very quiet, you must have sung him to sleep. And Crow said, “Yeah, he’s right in the back of the gunyah there, he’s right in the back of the camp. He’s sound asleep. Don’t wake him, leave him there. Eagle hawk said, “No, I’ll take him home now and look after him”. So, when Eagle hawk walked into the camp, the gunyah, to get his baby, he noticed that everything was really still, very still around him. So once Eagle hawk walked into the back of the camp and picked the baby up, Crow took off and he ran out and hid in the mallee, the thick scrub. So, Eagle hawk, he started yelling, “My baby, Crow killed my baby”, so all his other hunters came up to him with their spears and he said, “Go after him. Chase him into the thick mallee and get him. We’ll kill him”. So, they ran after Crow, but he got right into the centre of the mallee and they couldn’t find him. So, Eagle hawk said, “We’ll set a light to the mallee and we’ll burn him out. He’s got to be punished for what he did to my baby.” So, they set fire to the mallee, and they went right back, away from the fire and they’re sitting right out there, waiting for all the smoke to go away. And then they saw this black bird come flying out of the smoke. And Eagle hawk said, “That’s him. That’s Crow. He’s been punished now, his spirit turned into a black bird.”

And today, Eagle hawk and Crow are birds and they still carry on the fight. Crow will still go up to Eagle hawk’s nest and try to pick at his babies, the eyes of his babies. And in the air when Eagle hawk’s circling for food, Crow will go after him again and try to pick at him. So, they still carry on the fight after what happened when they were people years ago.

Once at a place called Nurrurrumba lived a person called Gandji and his children, and a man call Wurrpan, with his children. The men were brothers-in-law. One day, Gandji and his children went down to fish for stingray. When they got to the salt water, they saw the water was clean and clear to the bottom. It was easy to see all types of stingrays, which they started to spear as they walked through the water up to their knees. After spearing the stingrays, they went back to the shore and started gathering firewood and cooking the stingrays, separating the meat from the fat. They grabbed some bark and wrapped up the meat and the fat and went back to the camp where Wurrpan and his children were. When they got to the camp, they sat down and Gandji called out to one of the Wurrpan children to get their share. But when they had separated the fat and the meat, they had kept the sweet, fresh ones for themselves and gave the old bits to Wurrpan and his family. FacebookTwitterPrintMore292 So one of the Wurrpan children ran over and grabbed the bark parcel of stingray and took it over to his father, who quickly untied it. When he opened it, he noticed that he and his family had been given old stingray pieces, and then he said, ‘They must have kept the fresh, sweet ones for themselves.’ So, they ate what they had been given and then afterwards Wurrpan stood up and said, to the other family, ‘You gave me and my kids old stingrays, while you and your family had the fresh ones.’ So, they started arguing. Gandji said, ‘You should have gone stingray fishing for yourselves.’ So, they argued and argued and argued until Gandji grabbed a handful of hot coals and threw them at Wurrpan. He turned around and grabbed a smooth rock called Buyburu, which he used for grinding cycad nuts. He threw it at Wurrpan and hit him right on the chest. Then Gandji started jumping around in fear of what Wurrpan might do to him. From jumping he started flying, higher and higher. As he flew, he turned into a Jabiru without a beak and flew away. Then Wurrpan told his children to bring him his spear, which was called Wandhawarri Djimbarrmirri. He tried pointing the spear up in the air where Gandji was, but he noticed the spear was too long, because it was bending backwards. So, he told his children to bring a sharp rock to cut the spear shorter. The second time he aimed, it was just right. He aimed at Gandji and said to the spear, ‘Please, don’t let me miss.’ Then he threw the spear up into the sky where Gandji was flying around. The spear went right through Gandji, from his behind through to his face, until it poked out, making a beak. Gandji fell from the sky and landed at a place called Ngurruyurrdjurr. Wurrpan said to his children, ‘Let’s get out of here while we are still alive. Come on, as fast as we can. We’ll head towards Milindji Dhawarri.’ As they were running, they started to change into Emus. That made them move faster. Their feathers were grey because of the ash that Gandji threw and they had a bump on their front where the stone had hit.

Today, Yolngu remember this story in the way they cook Wurrpan meat in the fire. They always half-cook it, wiping off the ash before they eat it. That’s the story of the Emu and the Jabiru. Today, the Emu has eggs the same shape as the rock that hit him.

This story is about Gulaga, which is our mother mountain, our sacred mountain. It’s about her two sons Najanuga and Barranguba. Barranguba is Montague Island, that’s what the white people call it. Barranguba is the older son of Gulaga and the way the story goes is that, Gulaga she had two sonsBarranguba and Najanuga and Barranguba was the oldest. Just like the older son or older brother who gets sick of living near their mother, he moves away. So Barranguba asked his Mum could he move away from her side for a bit and he went out into the sea to watch the actions of all the fishes and whales. Take care of all that. The little brother, he saw the big brother going out and he said to Gulaga ‘Mum, mum, can I go out too? I’m big. I’m grown up, can I go out and watch the fish and the whales?’ She said, ‘No, son. You are too little. If I let you go out there, you’d get swallowed up by Gadu, the sea. I’ll put you down near the foot of me, so I can watch you and you can watch your brother out in the ocean.’ She put him down where he is now and that’s where he stayed, to watch the actions of his brother while under the eye of his mother. We call that little mountain `mummy’s little boy’, because he’s always with his mum.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, in the Dreamtime, lived a frog called Tiddalick. Tiddalick was the largest frog in the entire world. One very warm morning, he woke up with feeling very, very thirsty and started to drink the fresh water. He drank and he drank and he kept drinking until all the fresh water in the entire billabong was gone! When the other animals arrived at the billabong to get their morning drink, they found it was all dried up. This made them very sad. They knew Tiddalick the frog had drunk all the water. They knew they needed to come up with a plan to get the water back, but they didn’t know how. They thought and they thought and they thought until they realised that the best way to get the water back was to make Tiddalick laugh. If they could make him laugh then all the water would come spilling out of his mouth and back into the billabong! The first animal to try and make him laugh was the echidna. She rolled herself up into a tight little ball and rolled down the bank of the billabong like a bowling ball! The kangeroo laughed and so did the emu, but Tiddalick didn’t laugh. The next animal to try and make Tiddalick laugh was the wombat. The wombat stood up on his hind legs and danced around in a circle until he fell over in the dirt! The Galah laughed and so did the goanna, but Tiddalick didn’t laugh. The next animal to try and make Tiddalick laugh was the kookaburra. She perched herself on a branch close to Tiddalick and told her funniest story. It was so funny that she burst out laughing! But Tiddalick didn’t laugh. He just sat there with his big belly full of all the water.

Finally, the snake decided to try and make Tiddalick laugh. She started to dance and dance, wriggling and squirming all over the ground until she eventually tied herself into a knot. The knot was so tight that she struggled and struggled to untie herself but was stuck! Tiddalick watched her struggling, trying to untie herself, and let out a small chuckle. That small chuckle turned into a rumbling in his tummy before it turned into a great big belly laugh! The water came gushing out of his mouth and filled the billabong back up once again. All the animals jumped with joy as they took big, long, gulps of water to quench their thirst.

Way, way back in the first time, when everything was new, there was a group of Aboriginal people living on a mountain. It was a lovely place, but everyone was worried. It had not rained for a long, long time and they were very short of water. They had some wells but these, except for one, were empty. When it had rained before, the water had just run down the side of the mountain, into the sea, which was far, far away. Now, on the other side of the mountain, there were just big dry plains where nothing grew. Weeri and Walawidbit were two greedy men. They decided to steal the last of the water for themselves and then run away. Secretly they made a large water-carrier, which was called an eel-a-mun. When everyone was asleep, they stole the water from the last well and hurried off.

When the people woke up, there was no water for them. This was very bad, because there were babies and little children who needed water and also the old people. And also, it was very hot. The elders called all the people together and it was then that they saw that two men were missing. Looking around, they found the tracks of the two men. Quickly, the warriors followed these tracks, which led down the other side of the mountain to the big plains where they could see the men in the distance. The water-carrier was very heavy and Weeri and Walawidbit were walking slowly. This was because they thought they were safe. However, when they saw the warriors coming, they too started running. The best spearmen in the group ran to a cliff which jutted out and threw all the spears they had. One hit the eel-a-mun and it dropped off. However, it had made a hole in the water-carrier. On and on across the plains ran the two men. They did not notice that the water was leaking out of the carrier until it was almost empty. This was why they were able to run so fast but by this time, the warriors had caught up with them.

Now, this was way back in the first time, when very strange things happened. So, the warriors took the men back home and the elders called a big meeting. It was decided that the two men had to be punished for stealing and also, for thinking of themselves first and not of the community. So, the Wonmutta, the clever man, made some very strong magic and Weeree was changed into the very first emu. He went running down the mountain, out onto the plains, in shame. Walawidbit was changed into the very first blue-tongued lizard and he crawled away to hide in the rocks. But, a wonderful thing happened. Wherever the water had leaked onto the plains, there were now beautiful billabongs or waterholes. There was grass and flowers and