Year 6 Red Centre ‘Dreaming’

The sky darkens as the rains of the east begin to fall over the great desert. The history of the great rock is untold and unknown. The lion god is sleeping in his den below the great red desert. The rains of El Niño begin to pour all throughout the desert, the caves of Eden begin to fill with water, every little hole is filled with water.

As the lion rests in his dark, gigantus den, he sees a drop of water trickle down the wall. He rises as he makes his way over to the source of water to see what disturbance is making the great red desert leak its nutrients.

He opens the hatch to figure out this mystery. As the hatch swings down and strikes the damp wall. A flood of water rushes in and the lion immediately tries to close the hatch. But before he can close it the water takes his feet out and he gets smashed into his hard rock wall.

In a struggle to escape he shoves his paw into the roof of his den, a divot begins to form in the roof but before he can break the surface the floods overcome his power and the den fills to the brim. The great lion god becomes a mark in history.

Little did he know that the divot he made with his paw had let thousands of local tribes climb to safety and avoid the great floods of El Niño. This event has gone down in aborigine history as the moment that the great lion god sacrificed his own life to let the eagle of the great red desert begin its journey. That’s how the great Uluṟu became what we know and admire today.

Edward, Hudson and Henry

How Uluru got its Colour

Over 60,000 years ago the Anangu people couldn't decide what colour Uluru was as it changed colour from the sand, the sun, the clouds and the sky. This means the Anangu people couldn’t see Uluru as it was camouflaged. Until one day the aboriginal people decided to paint it.

Crushing up rocks and using water to create paint, they spent many years turning Uluru into the rock we know today. They painted it brown as that resembled their culture and they were able to see it among the sky and vegetation.

Nowadays Uluru has returned to its original form. Changing its colour as the paint has faded and washed away. As Uluru slowly sinks back into the earth, old aboriginal artworks and paintings disappear beneath the earth. The colour of Uluru, sinking into the sand, turning it back to orange.

Lachlan, Tyler and Alexander

The sun was setting and it was a new year for the people of Uluru. It was the thirteenth year. That was the year they called 'Massacre'.

A strange roar came from the distance as we were sitting by the campfire telling ancient stories from our past; teaching the young our ways, preparing them for their future. A rock shaped like an animal, but nothing familiar, more like an animal from the great beyonds. It was five hundred men tall, and as long as the great river. The beast was none other than a ferocious tiger pouncing on everything in sight.

Once every thirteen years, the monster rose from its resting place, attempting to destroy everything in sight.

The aboriginal warriors defended their land constantly for generations, but enough was enough when the tiger was beginning to prey on children. The elders performed a ritual, making the tiger collapse on its resting place.

It became encased in red rock, and would never harm a single soul. If you look hard enough, you could make the outlining of a fearsome tiger, trapped in the form of a rock.

Hugo, Henry, Thomas and Owen

On a lonely day for the Anangu people during a great drought that had wiped away all water, a single snake lies next to an empty water hole on a rock. The Anangu people spotted the great snake basking in the sun. They were getting ready to grab the snake by the back of its neck, but then, it lunged and bit down on the rock it was basking on. The Anangu were confused but right then a massive swelling appeared on the rock that grew and grew until the rock was three hundred metres tall and kilometres long. Within this rock a small water hole appeared that the Anangu people drank from and quenched their thirst.

Xavier, Thomas and Riley

How Uluru Was Formed (and why it changes colours)

One day, long ago, a man named Ulu and his best companion, Ru, a kangaroo, were going off hunting with their tribe. Ulu was a cunning man, but often he was bullied for not being very fit. But on this day, Ulu came across a witch doctor from another tribe. This witch doctor was not nice! He was even more cunning than Ulu, but also very nasty.

The witch doctor asked what tribe

Ulu was from. Ulu replied, "With the Mala Tribe". The witch doctor jumped back in horror because a long time ago, the witch doctor's whole tribe was destroyed by a powerful spirit, summoned by a Mala witch doctor. It was because the Mala people were angry at the witch doctor’s tribe because they cursed their food. Ulu was kind, and asked how he could help the witch doctor. The witch doctor continued to stare piercingly at Ulu, his eyes yellow like lanterns. Ru saw what the witch doctor was doing, as the witch doctor picked up a huge bone and two native leaves. The witch doctor muttered something under his breath, and hurled the bone at Ulu.

Ulu was struck by the bone, which had the force of a khali. He was thrown backwards into a tree, and a large bruise started to appear on his cheek. He called Ru to start to run away.

They ran and ran, but eventually Ulu’s leg started to feel heavier than a stone. Ulu collapsed onto the ground, unable to get up. He curled into a small ball. Ru went over to try to comfort him, but as soon as Ru touched Ulu’s skin, a red pigment started to spread all across Ru’s body. Ulu stared at his kangaroo in horror, his skin now the colour of the ground. The two started to grow larger by the second. Their bodies fossilized as it happened. The two joined together, their bodies the colour of the earth around them. Right before they both turned completely into stone, a tear dribbled down Ulu’s face. The two eventually grew giant, and the tear became the many waterholes. When Ulu’s tribe returned they saw the horrors that unfolded. In honour of Ulu and his best companion Ru, the tribe named the rock Uluru. The witch doctor heard of this news and was delighted that his spell had worked. The witch doctor went exploring Uluru, but every time he tried to touch the walls of the rock, a stone fell and hit him. He eventually died from the rocks, and you can still see holes from where the rocks fell on him.

A few days after the event occurred, a huge storm started to sweep across Uluru. Ulu and Ru were very sad at this news, and so the rock changed from a happy bright orange to a sad pale blue. To this day, you can see the mood of Ulu and Ru, the happy orange during the day and a bit sadder during the night. And that’s how Uluru was formed, and why it changes colours.

Wei-Yi, Harley and Michael

One day the spirit of the 'Acacia Kempeana' (witchetty grub) was fed up with the Anangu eating all their loved ones. The women of the tribe went to collect the bush-tucker for dinner. The women collected the witchetty grubs for the last time. The 'Acacia Kempeana' were fed up with all the women collecting their loved ones for food. They made a march towards Uluru to destroy the homes of the Anangu tribe.

Once the 'Acacia Kempeana' got to Uluru they started eating holes in the big rock. The elders were enraged with this so they called on the spirit of Keafpea the one who looked after them. Keafpea was enraged by the 'Acacia Kempeana' and turned all of them to stone. To this day you can still see the mark they made on Uluru. It looks as if a brain was cut in half. That is the story of the revenge of the 'Acacia Kempeana'.

Billy, Monty and Connor

Once upon a Dreaming, there was a drought. This drought spanned over one tribe and sucked the water straight out of the ground so the tribe looked for help. But the tribe that they asked water from was very selfish and didn’t share so only naturally they went to carve a ferocious dog like creature. Then they used their gods to smite the tribe with the curse of the dingo. The dingos ravaged the tribe and soon the people attempted to evacuate the area. But the dingos surrounded them and the dingos killed everyone in that tribe. When the dingos returned to the first tribe they were set free as they had done their job.

Now the dingos roam free hunting in the outback stealing backpacks and plates surviving alone in the outback.

Oliver, Sam and Oscar

The Pillars of Fire

The Earth was flat at the start. Completely flat. You could see a tree one hundred kilometres away really clearly. Only shrubs and trees could survive the plains of death. Life was almost impossible, for the temperature was too cold, water was too rare and prey could not be found. Until the Earth began shaking. Shrubs were torn out of the ground, trees fell and the Earth revealed seven great holes in the ground. It seemed like that was it, but five seconds later, great fires exploded out of the holes. These fires were massive, five hundred metres tall and one hundred metres wide. These raging fires heated up the earth really quickly. The temperature rose, and rose, and rose until it could not rise anymore.

Water evaporated and made clouds, these clouds made it rain, and this rain turned the great fires into stone. Great mountains remained when the rain stopped. But the heat stayed. Heat can not be driven away. The rain made lakes which made life possible, and so life came. That is how the outback was formed.

Jan

This story begins with the devil labrador. The devil labrador was a fearsome rock monster three times as big as a dingo. The devil labrador could not be killed for its impenetrable hide could not be pierced by any spear. The labrador would eat twenty men and twenty women. The devil labrador would hunt at night and sleep during the day.

Eventually, after fifty tribes had been eaten the rest of the tribes came together to stop this terrible threat. None of their ideas would work and as all hope seemed lost, the Mala tribe came in with a solution. They said that they would dig a hole where the labrador would be sleeping. Then they would bury the labrador and leave its head up so the sun could bake it into the ground and the labrador wouldn’t wake up.

So when they found the labrador sleeping near the rocks, they put their plans into action. They dug the hole then filled it in. At the end of the day the labrador was hardened by the cruel heat of the sun.

From then on, when you visit Uluru, you will see the head of the fierce and always hated labrador, still fast asleep.

Baxter, Hamish and William

Thorny Devil Dreaming Story

The thorny devil never started out with spikes all over his body. He used to be a very smooth elegant lizard but he was very proud and boastful of his appearance. Everyday all the other animals would have to listen to the thorny devil boast about his appearance until a new animal came into the desert, a vulture.

The vulture was lost and had been flying and looking for food for so long. He was really tired and needed food but he was so weary that he couldn’t see any other animal apart from the thorny devil with all of his bright colours. The thorny devil had to run and hide in a thorny bush with the vulture waiting outside. He waited there for so long that the spikes had rubbed off all of his bright colours and the spikes had stuck onto his back.

When the thorny devil had left the bush everyone was teasing and taunting him. He didn’t want to see anyone ever again, he hated people and that is why the thorny devil lives a solitary life.

Julian, Andy and Toby

One day millions of years ago, there was a massive explosion inside the core of the earth. Lava burst through the surface of the earth and sprouted into the sky and as it hit the ground it formed into twenty eight huge domes made of white rock, the highest one being over five hundred metres tall.

Over thousands of decades in the future, the rocks were significantly burnt by the scorching sun that made it a red colour that matched the desert sand. Since then the Olgas, now known as Kata Tjuta, have been a meeting place for aboriginals and also a tourist destination for people all around the world.

Lenny, Toby and Felix

How the dingo got its fur

Once there was a man and another man who went hunting. They saw a dingo and lunged their spears at it so they could feast on it for the rest of the warm season. After they had killed the dingo they realised that they had loads of food to eat for the rest of the season.

So they dug a hole and put the dingo in it and covered it in mud and water and leaves to preserve it until the cold season. Little did the two men know the dingo was one of the gods' dingoes and when they killed him the gods cried. That’s where they got the water from and the water when it touched the dingo brought it back to life.

Later in the winter season it was found to have many young baby dingos each sharing the same features. That's how the dingo got its fur.

Aaron, Will and Caleb

It started with a man and a woman and they were hunting with their sharp, long spears. The woman was holding seeds, shrubs and leaves in her bowl.

They suddenly witnessed a dingo. The dingo had bare skin with no fur. The man and the woman saw the dingo and lunged the spear into its body. They were going to preserve the food for winter so they covered the dingo in leaves, shrubs, water and mud. In a few days, the materials were combined into a thick skin which could grow fur. The other dingos were observing the combination and decided to do it themselves. They were protected from the cold during the winter season. That’s how dingos fur was made.

Aaron, Will and Caleb

Daryl

the Dingo

I woke up to the sound of a howl. I unzipped my tent to see something in the distance. I tried to get a better look but the dust was roaring across the surface. I decided to go back to the tent, but my feet were melting into the sand like ice. I finally got back to the tent and to my surprise there he was, Daryl the dingo. The dingo death-stared at me as I tried to tiptoe away from him. I looked back behind me and to my luck it was Daryl’s brother. I was trapped!! I tried to bribe Daryl and his brother by giving them my lollies that I had smuggled in from the airport. It wasn’t enough!

Daryl took a step towards us. I swiftly glanced back and Daryl’s brother inched forward. There closing in, I could feel my heart beating in my chest, breathing became heavy and beads of sweat were dripping from my forehead.

I feel like the end was close and I was terrified. Daryl took another step forward. I closed my eyes. I knew in seconds I would be chewed into tiny little pieces. The seconds turned into minutes. I then forced my eyes open and to my absolute bewilderment Daryll and his brother vanished.

I turned around and looked across the dry, expansive outback. Off in the distance I could just make out two dogs and a very tall indigenous man with black curly hair and a white painted face.

He raised his hand and waved and then they all disappeared over the hill. I let out a huge sigh of relief and fell to the ground.

Josh, Harry and Hugo