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https://starling.rinet.ru/kozmin/tales/austral.h

Waterman, Patricia Panyity. Tale type

index of Australian Aboriginal oral
narratives. Helsinki: FFC, 1987
1. The flat earth.
(1) The earth is flat and surrounded by
water. It was dark until the "old people"
who then inhabited it created the sun.
The sun went into a hole. - Kulin:
Howitt 1904, 432. Wogal: Howitt 1904,
426. Wurunjerri, Jajaurung: Howitt
1904, 427.
3. The layered universe. See also 3040.
(1) The earth is a male. Beneath it there
is a layer of water and under that two
monsters who are the wives of the earth.
Below them are three monsters whom
they nurse, although they are not children
and continually make a roaring. ó
Adelaide: Cawthorne 1925 ó 1926, 71.
(2) Below the earth is another world
inhabited by men with very large mouths
and teeth, while in the sky above live the
old time people. -Murngin; Warner
1958, 170-171.
(3) The earth is flat and unlimited. The
universe has four levels; (1) the dark
underworld, without plants or animals
(2) earth (3) the sky world where live
the sun, stars, lightning, rain women and
families of the Milky Way (4) the upper
world, daytime home of the star women
and man and of the wet season spirits
when it is dry on earth. Like earth but
without a sea. The stars are fires. ó
Tiwi: Mountford 1958, 170ó171; Sims
1978, 165.
6. The sky raising. See also 710.
(1) The sky first rested on the earth and
prevented the sun from moving. The
magpie propped it up with a long stick
and the sun now moved about the earth. -
Unidentified: Mountford and Roberts
1972, 16. Wotjobaluk: Howitt 1904,
427.
9. The sky props.
(1) The sky land ("gum tree country")
was propped up on poles. If these rotted,
the sky would fall drowning those on
earth as the cloud reservoirs burst.
People were once told that the props had
rotted and new stone axes must be sent.
ó Woi-worung: Howitt 1884, 186.
Jajaurung, Wurunjerri, Wiimbaio:
Howitt 1904, 427.
(2) A Man who lived at the end of the
world was in charge of the sky props. -
Wurunjerri: Howitt 1904, 427 (quoting
Buckley in Morgan 1852).
20. Greedy moon man and the magic
growing tree.
(1) When an ancestral man (muramura )
did not share food with his two young
sons they sent him to climb a tree full of
edible grubs, then caused the tree to
grow taller. Setting fire to the tree, the
boys threw the moon man a skin to
protect himself from the heat. Now the
moon shows dark spots where the skin
covered him. ó Dieri: Howitt 1902, 406-
407; Howitt 1904, 428.
(2) The moon man refused food to his
nephew who consequently sent him up a
tree to collect grubs and then blew on
the tree to make it taller. Telling the
moon man to grasp the sky, he made the
tree small. The boy then slept with his
uncle's wives. When the women later
stole away leaving talking feces to
answer in their stead, the young man
stepped in them and cursed the women. -
Bagundji: Blows 1975, 31 (quoting
Beckett 1951).
23. Moon boy and the tall tree.
This item is a possible variant
containing the motifs of ascent from tall
tree and proclamation of immortality.
(1) A young boy became restless in
camp and climbed into a tall tree. His
mother and her sister tried to pull him
down but he went right up into the sky,
his belly expanded and he became the
moon. He decreed that he would die
only three days but all other living things
would die permanently. ó Djinang:
Groger-Wiirm 1973, 118 ó 120.
26. Greedy moon man and the drowned
sons.
(1) When moon man's sons secretly
killed and ate a whistling duck, he put
them in a carrying bag and drowned
them. His wives set fire to his hut and
watched him burn. Changing first to a
crescent, then to a full sphere, moon man
climbed to the top of a pine tree,
proclaimed his own immortality and the
mortality of others. Marks on the moon
are burn scars. - Millingimbi: Mountford
1956, 488-489-
(2) Moon man's sons repeatedly refused
to share food with him, so he bound them
in a net and drowned them. Their
mothers placed the bodies on a burial
platform and then set fire to moon man's
hut. He climbed a tall tree, belly
expanding, and as the moon called that
he would live again while others died. ó
Northeastern Arnhem Land: Berndt and
Berndt 1964, 336-338.
(3) Angered because his sons would not
share food with him, moon man bound
them in a net and drowned them.
Discovering this his wives came to kill
him, but he fled to the sky as the moon.
The wives are now brolgas, still chasing
him and crying. ó Yirrkala: Yunupingu,
42ó45 in Bunug 1976.
29. Greedy moon man and the burned
nephew.
(1) Moon man was annoyed at having to
provide food for his wife's small
orphaned brother. Discovering that his
wife took scraps of meat from his
children and fed them to her brother, he
threw hot coals on the boy. The wife
threw hot ashes on moon man, and he
went to the sky as the moon with dark
spots; boy became the robin. ó Murray
River Tribe: Massola 1968, 96.
32. Lazy moon man and the extinguished
fire.
(1) A lazy man stayed in camp growing
fat while his wives hunted. One day he
let the fire go out, and the angry women
chased him with axe and digging stick.
As he ran, they knocked fat from him
until, thin, he climbed a tall tree into the
sky. As the moon he becomes fat again
until his wives knock off fat as before. -
Yirrkalla: Wells 1964, 18-21.
35. Moon man and the sparrow-hawk
brothers.
This is unusual narrative in portraying
the moon as helpful. (1) Two sparrow-
hawk brothers hunted, and one wedged
his arm into a tree hole searching for
honey. No one would help extract him
until their maternal uncle, the moon man,
climbed to the top of the tree, sneezed
into the hollow freeing the captive's arm.
In retaliation against those who had
refused aid, the sparrow-hawk men set
fire to the camp three times. To protect
the moon he was first buried, then
placed in a tree, finally high in the sky. -
Princess Charlotte Bay: Roth 1903, 7.
38. Greedy moon man and the magically
raised rock.
(1) Fat old moon man used his dogs
(bull-dog ant, brown snake, etc.) to aid
in hunting. Because he was greedy, his
two young relative assistants fled his
camp leaving talking feces to speak in
their place. Killing an emu (food
tabooed to them) they called to moon
man to throw a fat piece of emu meat up
to the rock on which they sat. This
released them from the food taboo, and
they invited moon man to climb up and
join them in a feast. Twice he cut sapling
poles to climb up, and twice the young
men raised the rock. The third time he
climbed up the young men pushed the
pole away. Moon man and his dogs fell
to the ground. The dogs died, and now
the new moon walks with a bent back.
Song given for ceremonial. ó
Wongaibon: Mathews 1905, 156-159.
41. The old man and the anus stone.
(1) A grandfather refused food to his
grandsons. They persuaded him to kneel
to drink a cooked kangaroo's gravy, then
pushed a hot stone into his anus. The old
man jumped into a waterhole, dried it up
and the stone came out. He said, "Going
to the moon"; left his dog on the rock.
The old man is now the full moon, young
men are the new and waning moon; dogs
bark at the moon. ó Kattang: Holmer
1969, 36-37.
44. Moon as a tossed bone. See also 7
IE.
(1) Moon man climbed to the sky with a
stone knife, went west and climbed back
down to hunt opossum. He returned east
in a man's armpit and there climbed a
tree to the sky. He grew fat eating
opossum, then thin. Changing to a grey
kangaroo, he was speared by boys who
cooked and ate him. One boy threw a
collarbone into the water claiming it
was only a tadpole that had jumped. The
new moon rose from this bone. -
Aranda: Strehlow 1907, 123.
(2) A dog pursued the moon man who
climbed to the sky and wandered west,
jumping into the ocean and rolling to
shore. He became fat from eating
opossums, then thin and tired. Changing
to a grey kangaroo, he was speared by
some boys who cooked and ate him. One
boy threw a collarbone into the water
claiming it was only a tadpole that had
jumped. The new moon rose from this
bone. -Loritja: Strehlow 1908, 8.
(3) A boy was given a piece of kangaroo
meat and threw a bone to the sky where
it stuck as the moon. Now the moon man
walks around by the south in the
daytime. - Wiradjuri: Howitt 1904, 429.
47. Amorphous moon man.
(1) The ancestral moon man (muramura)
came out of the earth as an unformed
mass and cut his features and limbs with
a knife. Lacking tools, he used his hip
bone to remove cooking food from the
fire. Shadows on the moon are these
scars. ó Dieri: Siebert 1910, 45.
50. Moon in shield.
(1) The moon was an opossum man who
came out of the earth and was carried
about by another opossum man in a
shield. A seed man tried to steal the
shield and moon. Opossum man told the
moon to escape into the sky. - Aranda:
Spencer and Gillen 1968, 564-565;
Spencer and Gillen 1969, 625.
Waduman: Spencer 1966, 332.
(2) A man carried the moon in a shield
and it shed light while he hunted
opossums at night. He met a man
carrying a star in a shield who attempted
to steal the moon. They fought. The thief
fled to the sky with the moon, the moon's
owner with the star. Star shows dimly
all the time, moon is brighter but waxes
and wanes. ó Aranda: Strehlow 1907,
123.
53. Moon man from cave.
(1) A man lived for a long time in a great
cave in the west. He had three dogs and
a kangaroo. When he died, his spirit
became the moon, the dogs and
kangaroo, shadows on the moon. -
Waduman: Spencer 1966,
56. Moon for ceremonial.
(1) There was no moon. The old men
asked for a moon to light their nighttime
ceremonials. Now a new moon sets the
ceremonial time. ó Dieyerie: Smyth
1878, 431 (quoting Gason 1874).
59. Moon man, stolen woman and
revenge.
(1) The moon rose in the form of a man
who came down from the sea to where
many women were living. He stole a
woman from the wrong marriage sub-
class, then a woman from the right class
whom he left when she had a child. In
succession, he stole eight wrong women
leaving each when she bore a child. He
settled with many wives and instructed
men in proper rules of marriage. An old
man when his one wife died, a stone
marks her spot. Moon man killed another
who objected to his theft of a woman,
using an axe. He went into the sky
holding the axe. - Arunta: Spencer and
Gillen 1899, 625-626. Kaitish: Spencer
and Gillen 1899, 412-413.
(2) The moon man wandered from east
to west. People greeted, him hospitably
and gave him wives. This continued until
he was killed with a bullroarer, because
he had stolen a woman. His spirit went
to the sky as the moon. - Garadjeri:
Capell 1950, 152-154.
(3) Moon came from the east to a camp
where they welcomed him. He camped
apart with a young girl, killing rats and
asking her to give him a thin one. When
he left, her body was swollen, and she
called him evil. Travelled, took another
girl. Four men failed to kill him with
spears; killed him with pointed clubs. -
Northwest Australia: Worms 1940, 233-
234.
(4) This item is a possible fragmentary
variant of version (1) depicting the moon
as an old man holding an axe. The moon
came from the north as a very old man.
Sorry, he returned. A stone marks his
sitting place. He can be seen in the sky
carrying a large stone axe. His woman
lives at the place where he sets. -
Kaitish: Spencer and Gillen 1899, 625.
62. Moon, abducted woman and
children.
(1) The moon man had no wife. He
abducted a woman and her three
children as they sat around their evening
fire. They can be seen on the face of the
moon under the moon trees. ó Groote
Eylandt: Mountford 1966, 484.
65. Moon man, the woman and the
hawks' grass fire. For hawks' creation of
fire see 1845.
(1) The moon arose as a man and
tracked a woman. As they sat close
together talking, the two hawks who had
just discovered fire set the grass alight.
The woman was alarmed but the moon
man calmed her. She burned and died but
was revived on being sprinkled with
blood from moon man's vein. Both rose
to the sky. - Warraminga: Spencer and
Gillen 1969, 626.
68. Moon man abducts sun's wife.
(1) The moon travelled about. He went
east to the sun's place and stole the sun's
wife. He went further east and stayed at
Miliwindi. -Njulnjul: Capell 1950, 160-
161.
71. Life of moon man.
For moon as tossed bone see 44; as
creator see 430. Male into female see
720.
(1) A. Once there were only men, no
women or children. The scrub bee man
had fire but no shelter; the forest bee
man had shelter but no fire. Forest bee's
hornet stung scrub bee when he tried to
enter the house, scrub bee's wasp stung
forest bee when he tried to steal fire.
B. Moon man (younger brother of bat
man) saw young eagle-hawk man with
his wet hair plastered about him like a
woman's. Moon first tried to make a
woman by cutting holes in a rock, then
cut off eagle-hawk's penis and testicles,
threw them into the river and cut a
vagina.
C. Moon man made a baby inside his
"wife". Into the vagina put milkwood
juice to swell the breasts, bloodwood
juice to make stopped menstruation, bag
with red flowers and long and round
yams (penis and testicles for son), yam
to make the passage slippery. Copulated.
Child born in one day; now all men have
wives and children. People were angry
at his wife making. Rat man magically
killed his child.
D. River flooded. Chicken-hawk,
desiring moon's wife, persuaded moon
man to cross a cane bridge first while
carrying his dead son. People cut the
bridge. Child and bridge became rocks.
Moon man was chased down river and
speared, pulled from water and left as
dead. Twice he sprang up saying "I'm not
dead". Third time they watched for a
week, then left; he disappeared and a
rock stood in his place. Totemic spot.
E. Now there was no light. Moon man's
ghost took a bone shaped like a
boomerang from the side of blue-tongued
lizard and threw it far to sea. First it was
small and gave little light; it grew, then
shrank and died. Comes to life again.
Chicken-hawk took eagle woman to his
country where they had many children.
Daughters were given to other people,
and marriage rules established. - Koko-
yalunyu: McConnel 1931, 9-25; Roth
1903, 62, 83.
74. Moon stone and flood.
This item, like 71, connects the moon, a
totemic rock, water and child making.
(1) At a special spot the moon has a
spirit stone. When the creek is dry, the
stone lowers itself into a hole in the
bottom; when a flood comes, the stone
rears up ahead of the waters. Here the
moon makes babies. ó New South
Wales: Parker 1930, 70-72.
77. Moon man and the hostile spirit.
(1) The moon was a young man who
hunted an emu on the far side of a creek.
Each time he tried to cross on a log
bridge, a hostile spirit (Brewin) turned
the log throwing the moon into the water.
He drowned. Now the moon chases the
emu, the Southern Cross. -Kurnai:
Howitt 1904, 429; Massola 1968, 62.
80. Moon man and bark shelter revenge.
(1) Two women were carrying the moon
on a pole across a river. He slipped into
the water and drowned. Coming to life
again, he built a large camp of leopard-
tree bark and invited people to a dance.
Warning the dancers to keep their eyes
on the ground, he pulled down the bark,
crushing and killing them all. Halo
around the moon is the ring of leopard-
tree bark. - Kurnu: Mathews 1899, 156.
83. Moon man and the flood revenge.
(1) The mopoke camped and made many
fine belongings - rugs, spears,
boomerangs, clubs - but refused to lend
them to the moon. The moon built
himself a bark shelter and made a great
flood which drowned the mopoke and
scattered his possessions. ó
Noongahburrah: Parker 1896, 68-69-
86. The flood revenge.
Although it does not mention the moon,
this item seems a variant of 83 (1).
(1) Two young men refused to share the
best of their fish catch with an old man.
He made rain fall and refused them
shelter in his hut. All became birds. -
Encounter Bay Tribe: Meyer 1879, 204.
89. Moon rescued from water.
(1) The moon was flying across a lake
with ghosts (Mrarts) on a "road-thing"
and fell off. He would have drowned
had not his companions hauled him up
with the hook of his throwing stick. -
Kurnai: Howit 1884, 196.
92. Moon escapes from net.
(1) Some men fishing near the mangrove
swamps caught the moon in their net.
The net broke and the moon escaped. -
Mara: Spencer and Gillen 1969, 627.
95. Moon, swamp fish man, and the fish
poisons.
(1) The moon man held the secret of
killing fish with poisonous plants, and
others were jealous. The swamp fish
man and the moon fought with spears,
and both were killed. They went into the
water where both can be seen. Now man
uses fish poisons. - Mungkan: McConnel
1957, 32-33.
There are few narratives depicting the
moon as female and these limited to the
southeastern section of the continent.
98. Moon as female.
(1) Keewong was a woman who died
and become the moon. She left behind
her flat stone and a stone yamstick. ó
Wonghibon: Cameron 1903, 48.
101. Moon woman becomes bone.
(1) Long ago moon's movements were
aberrant. Nooralie (hero creator)
commanded her to die letting her bones
whiten and turn to
powder before she reappeared. ó
Victoria: Smyth 1878, 431-
(2) Nurelli (hero creator) ordered the
moon to die periodically by
singing it to bone. ó Wiimbaio: Howitt
1904, 428 (quoting Bulmer
1878).
104. Unchaste moon woman.
(1) The moon is an unchaste woman who
stays so long with men that she becomes
exhausted and wastes away. Nurunderi
(hero creator) orders her driven away.
Hidden, she feeds on roots and
reappears again fat. -Encounter Bay
Tribe: Smyth 1878, 432 (quoting Meyer
1846).
120. Sun woman and tabooed tree.
(1) The sun rose as a woman in the east
and travelled to the far west to where
great tree marks her spot. The tree and
everything on it is tabooed lest
everything burn. Now she travels back
east under the earth. - Kaitish: Spencer
and Gillen 1969, 471, 624.
123. Sun and bandicoot/hakea plant
totems.
(1) The sun came out of the earth in the
form of a woman (1) at a spot belonging
to the bandicoot people in the west to
which she returns each night (2) at a spot
belonging to the hakea plant totem. She
ascended into the sky. ó Arunta: Spencer
and Gillen 1969, 623 ó 624.
126. Sun woman, two sun sisters and
child.
This is an elaboration of item 123, the
bandicoot totem narrative. (1) The sun
came out of the earth as a spirit woman
at the bandicoot peoples' place. With her
were two sisters also called sun, the
elder of whom had a new born baby. Sun
woman left the sisters, rose to the sky
and now returns each night to the
bandicoot special place. ó Aranda:
Spencer and Gillen 1968, 561 ó 562;
Spencer and Gillen 1904, 623-624.
129. Sun woman, Junkgowa sisters and
son.
For Junkgowa sisters as creators see
810.
(1) The creative ancestral sisters
(Junkgowa) made the sun and gave her
many legs (rays) for walking. She did
not wish to follow them on their earth
journey because she had a son born just
as she was to start. The child remains in
Buralkor and she returns to nurse him
every night. Goes west, then north and
east along a shortcut track just over the
horizon. - Yulengor: Chaseling 1957,
147-148.
132. Sun woman, sister and the Rainbow
snake.
(1) The sun woman once lived down
below. Being cold she went to the sky.
She and her sister moved from east to
west carrying the Rainbow snake in a
container. The sister promised a husband
for sun woman but there was none. The
women lost the Rainbow snake. The
track became a river now seen as the
Milky Way, the women are the sun and
her sister. - Garadjeri: Capell 1950,
150-151.
135. Sun woman, "sister of all".
(1) The sun is a woman, "sister of all",
who goes around by the sea at night and
returns next morning by the other side. ó
Wurunjerri: Howitt 1904, 428.
Yerunthully: Palmer 1885, 174.
138. Sun mother and daughter and the
walking sticks.
(1) The mother and daughter sun and the
stars were diving for water lily bulbs.
The mother took her walking sticks
(rays) and tried to climb through the pine
trees, but stuck fast. Daughter sun took
the stick and went into the sky. At zenith
a rattlesnake bit her all over: she
become very hot. She cooled off and
then, standing up all her walking sticks
rolled down out of sight and it became
dark. ó Worora: Lucich 1969, 35-37.
141. Sun mother and lost son.
(1) Once people lived in darkness and
had only bark torches for light. A woman
left her little boy asleep and went to dig
roots. She wandered to the end of the
earth, passed under it and came up on the
other side. She was lost in the dark and
could not find her son. As sun, she
searches the sky and under the earth with
a great bark torch looking for him still. -
Wotjobaluk: Massola 1968, 16.
(2) A woman went to dig yams and left
her son behind in the west. Wandering
over the edge of the earth, she came back
to the other side. She still does this. -
Wotjobaluk: Howitt 1904, 428.
144. Sun woman, moon husband in cave.
(1) In the cold times the sun was the
wife of the moon. They lived in a cave
where the moon goes down with their
children and a pack of dogs. The sun
woman gathered while moon man
hunted. He gives children to women who
look at him; halo is camp he builds when
it rains. ó Unidentified: Bates 1972, 88.
147. Sun woman, moon husband and
crying children.
(1) The sun is the moon's wife. At night
she hurries to her sun children on the
other side of the world for she can hear
them crying. Once she brought two sons
to Elcho Island: if their place is
disturbed, no rains will come. -
Murngin: Warner 1958, 537-538.
150. Sun berates moon husband.
(1) The sun is the moon's wife who beats
him so that each month he dies but
revives again. Moon keeps many hunting
dogs with two heads and no tails. ó
Adeleide: Cawthorne 1925 ó 1926, 71.
153. Sun as old woman.
(1) The sun was a feeble old woman
who once lived with her husband. When
they died their bodies became seashore
rocks and the woman became the sun. -
Groote Eylandt: Mountford I960, 481-
482.
(2) The sun is an old woman. She enters
a hole at night. The moon follows her
into the same hole. ó Mudbarra,
Waduman: Spencer 1966, 332.
156. Sun woman and the land of the
dead.
(1) Sun is a woman who at night passes
through the land of the dead. The men
part ranks for her. For favors she gives
them, they give in return a red kangaroo
skin; thus she appears red in the
morning. ó Encounter Bay Tribe: Meyer
1879, 200.
159. Sun woman, jabiru and fish.
See also 2275 for urine and salty sea.
(1) The sun woman (pukwi) came out of
the sky, big and black. She created land,
sea, islands, animals, trees, creeks. As
she sat in a fresh water pond (all waters
then being fresh) in the form of a turtle,
the Jabiru bird and a fish saw her. Jabiru
killed her and her urine made the sea
salty. She became the sun, travelling
back at night along the Milky Way. At
zenith, she camps and builds a fire
making mid-day heat on earth. - Tiwi:
Goodale 1971, 3-4; Mountford 1958, 24,
26.
162. Sun's heat from fuel.
See also 1800, 1805 for fire as sun's
heat.
(1) When the sun was always in the sky,
the hero creator, Nooralie, tired of
eternal day, commanded it to burn all the
fuel and to collect more each night. -
Wiimbaio: Howitt 1904, 428. Victoria:
Smyth 1878, 430.
165. Sun man and the ancestral
bandicoot man.
(1) The cruel sun man ancestor stood on
white hot soil and his light, falling on a
sacred waterhole, first woke the
ancestral bandicoot man. When two
bandicoot ancestors approached him, he
hurled spears of fire and blood gushed
from their noses. Totemic spot. Northern
Aranda: Strehlow 1971, 137-138, 438-
439-
168. Sun man and moon man.
(1) A. The wifeless sun man camped
with a man who lent him his wife. Sun
man had intercourse with the woman and
then swallowed her. The husband was
unable to catch him. This happened
repeatedly. With a number of women
alive inside him he (1) spat them out (2)
burst and they emerged. The women
were sent back to their husbands, the
man became the sun.
B. Moon ma had two wives. Repeatedly
they invited people to a dance, pushed
them into a large fire, cooked and ate
them. At last, people pushed moon man
himself into fire. He died and became
the moon.
C. The sun asked the moon what had
happened, then chased him and carried
him about for three days so the cool air
would revive him. Because of his evil
actions in eating people, sun now
catches the moon three days of each
month. ó Karadjeri: Piddington 1932b,
58.
171. Sun man and sun woman.
(1) The muramura Jelkapalupaluna once
shone as the sun. He grew a plant whose
location he kept secret from his wives.
When it was large and he finally
allowed his wives to gather its bulbs,
they sang their pubic hair in derision
and, angered, he threw roots at them
(two kinds which now grow separately)
and wandered away to the east. Meeting
his two sons, he killed them at a
waterhole, burned them to ashes and
carried their burned bones with him.
Lost the bones. The sun man then came
to a camp and, having asked a young boy
what special possessions his father kept,
entered the father's hut, took the special
braid made from men's hair and danced
with it. The angry father and a revenge
group circled but could not grasp him
and he fled. One wife saw his gleam in
the water, called the revenge party
which killed him. One version adds the
following: The wife now travels through
the sky as the sun. Coming out into the
east from a cave, nightly she returns
under the earth. - Dieri: Siebert 1910,
44-45.
(2) An old talkative woman (wife of
Jelkapalupaluna) went into the earth
with her daughter and, one after the
other, came out of the earth and climbed
a tree to the eastern sky. They wandered
across to the west where they were
pelted by earth man, and they fled again
to the cave. - Dieri: Siebert 1910, 44.
174. Sun of human-ancestral spirit
mating.
(1) A muramura had intercourse with a
young Dieri woman and her child was
the sun. - Dieri: Howitt 1904, 427.
177. Sun for hunting emus.
(1) In the cold time, man asked the
Moora-moora (ancient people) to make
heat so they could run down swift emus.
They were given certain ceremonies and
then the sun. - Dieyerie: Smyth 1878,
432 (quoting Gason 1874).
180. The sun as tossed object (egg). See
also 1460(9, 10, 11).
(1) When the earth was dark,
Purrerimbil (the bird Estrelda
temporalis), who was one of the "old
spirits", threw an emu's egg into space
where it became the sun. He went to the
sky before man was created and to kill
his bird is to invite a deluge. - Boorong:
Smyth 1878, 432 (quoting Stanbridge).
183. The sun land.
(1) The sun is a fertile land to which the
spirits of the dead travel, it is not hot-
heat comes from the sky between earth
and sun. -Wheelman: Hassell'l934, 233.
(See also Hassell 1934, 233-235 for sun
people as cause of eclipse.)
200. Milky Way river and vegetation.
(1) The Milky Way is a river lacking fish
or birds but containing many water lily
bulbs, the small stars. These and a large
plum tree, the Coal Sack, are the food of
the sky dwellers. - Millingimbi:
Mountford 1956, 487-488. Oenpelli:
Mountford 1956, 491.
(2) Milky Way river is divided into
moieties named for those at locality. Its
stars are water lily bulbs, Coal Sack is a
plum tree. These eaten by sky dwellers.
ó Groote Eylandt: Mountford 1956, 481.
210. Milky Way River and the drowned
brothers.
(1) Two brothers, swamped in their
canoe, drowned, younger because his
wet armbands constricted his arms. Ant
bites were unsuccessful in reviving
them. River here became the Milky Way
with brothers, fish, canoes, beach, ants
contained in it. ó Yirrkalla: Mountford
1956, 497-498.
For other brief references to the Milky
Way as a river see: Adelaide:
Cawthorne 1925 ó 1926, 70. Arunta:
Spencer and Gillen 1969, 628. Dieri:
Howitt 1904, 431. Herbert River:
Howitt 1904, 431. Millingimbi:
Mountford 1956, 491, 493. Western
District, Victoria: Dawson 1871, 99-
Wiradjuri: Howitt 1904, 432.
220. Milky Way and the wallaby man's
hair.
(1) A wallaby man chief was frightened
by the smoke of a fire lit by an evil
creature and he rose to the sky. His hair
became the Milky Way; his body, a black
spot. On earth, lock of hair is white
ghost gum tree. ó Northern Aranda:
Strehlow 1968, 98-99; Strehlow 1971,
372, 424.
225. Circumcisors, the initiated boys
and ceremonial objects.
(1) Eagle hawk ancestors rose from the
ground, travelled performing
circumcision ceremonies. The men and
boys had on their heads ceremonial
string crosses which they fastened
together and all flew to the sky as eagle
hawks. Milky Way is the string cross in
which the sticks can be seen. ó
Nambutji, Ngatatara: Roheim 1934, 123
ó 124.
230. Circumcisors and the fleeing youths
and girls.
(1) Wallaby men circumcised two boys,
gave them secret ceremonial objects.
The promised girls of the youths had
watched the ceremonies, came from
hiding, took boys on their backs and
climbed to the sky. Boys are bright stars
in Milky Way, objects are buried in two
dark patches there. - Ngatatara: Roheim
1934, 131 ó 132.
(2) Initiated youth and girl fled to the sky
pursued by boy's guardian and his
brother; feet slipped, making stars,
paired stars in Milky Way are their
prints. All, with weapons and
ceremonial headdress, are in tail of
Scorpio. ó Pitjendadjara: Mountford
1964, 168.
235. Ceremonial objects lifted to the
sky.
(1) Wallaby people sat in the dark,
covering daylight with their backs. They
hung a tall ceremonial pole with shields
and sacred objects and stretched it to the
sky and back to earth. Lizard people said
"Day is breaking", hung ceremonial
objects on it, lifted it as Milky Way. ó
Ngatatara: Roheim 1934, 124-125.
The following items (240, 245, 250) are
probably variants of a single tale.
240. Crow, wild cat and the fish bone
container.
(1) Crow twirled spear thrower tassel
into a nest (net?) which reached the sky
and another clan country. Wild cat ate
fish, put their bones in a receptacle, and
crow carried cat and his bundle to the
sky. Now seen in Milky Way. - Murngin:
Warner 1938, 535.
(2) Crow and native cat caught fish and
celebrated. The fish called enemies from
the other moiety to save them, but
enemies ate the fish instead. All fought,
and defeated crow and cat flew to the
sky with fish bones in burial log. Now in
Miky Way as stars and dark spots. ó
Yirrkalla: Wells 1964, 33-34.
245. Wild cat and the net sky ladder.
(1) Wild cat made a large net to catch
fish. It reached the sky like a ladder and
become the Milky Way up which went
cat, two sons, daughters (opossum's
wives), sting-ray prong and opossum
string. AH now seen as stars. ó Murngin:
Warner 1938, 533 ó 534.
250. Crow, the bereaved fish man and
the sacred drone pipe.
(1) Two fish men made a trap, while
opossum sat near fire of one's wife. She
burned him with ashes, and he and his
relatives killed her. The husband sang
for his wife and pulled a limb from an
underwater tree causing the sacred drone
pipe it held to fall to the ground. A flood
gushed from the instrument, and crow
carried it to the Milky Way where it is
seen with a shell, the man, wives, tree
fork. Thunder comes from the drone
pipe. - Murngin: Warner 1937, 540.
The following items (260ó285) have as
a common theme the pursuit of the
Pleiades women by men. There are
several distinctive narrative types. See
also 3940 (h).
260. The Berriberri men and the
Miaimiai women.
(1) The Berriberri men pursued the
Miaimiai women who fled to the top of a
tall pine tree. Bhaiami (creator hero)
helped them to the sky where they are
now the Pleiades. Men's leader is Orion
with belt and boomerang. Version: one
girl hides, ashamed. ó Kamilaroi:
Greenway 1878, entire. Southwest:
Ridley 1875, 141.
265. Moon man pursues the Pleiades.
(1) The moon man pursued wives and
was killed by the two travelling
ancestral men with boomerangs. Stone
marks spot, women become Pleiades.
Versions: men are identified with
lizards, the moon dies (1) at waterhole
(2) becomes rock: first death: men cut
off moon's penis, warn him to marry
properly, penis becomes rock. ó Kaili,
Mandjindja, Pitjentara: Roheim 1971,
41-43. Ooldea: Berndt 1941, 7~9-
Warburton Ranges: Tindale 1936,
169ó185 (cross-referenced).
(2) The moon man pursued the
Mullymoola sisters who escaped
underground, then into the sky as
Pleiades. Stones mark spot on earth. -
Thurawal: Ridley 1875, 146.
(3) The man Nirunya constantly pursued
the Kunkarunkara women, sometimes
catching one. Made landscape features, '
travelled underground. Women become
Pleiades. ó Pitjandjara: Mountford
1950,167-168.
270. Ceremonial women and pursuit.
(1) An old man pursued seven sisters
who created the men's tooth expulsion
ceremony as they fled, the man creating
sacred spots with his spear. Pursuer sang
tall cliffs around the girls who jumped
into a waterhole where he drowned
them. Pleiades and Orion. ó Pitjantjara:
Robinson 1956, 84; Robinson 1968, 91-
93.
273. Ceremonial women and flight.
(1) Two wallaby men swung their
bullroarers at women holding
ceremonial dances causing them to flee.
Men do the ceremonies now, women
became Pleiades, digging sticks stars in
Aries and Pegasus. ó Karadjeri:
Piddington 1932b, 57.
275. Moon man and incestuous pursuit.
(1) The moon man's wife left him to
become a star. Desiring to have
intercourse with his daughters, he called
them to eat duck, stretched out penis
which left his body, travelled
underground, and entered the eldest
daughter. Girls climbed to the sky on a
rope lowered by the star wife, girls cut
rope when moon followed. Now moon
follows the Pleiades who travel together
in fear. ó Nguluwongga: Bozic 1972,
125-127.
280. Crow tricks the Pleiades women.
See also 1970.
(1) Crow man desired a "queen" who
had six attendants. His advances refused,
he become a grub and entered a tree.
Each girl in turn poked a
wooden grub tool into the hole, and
Crow broke the implement's point. The
desired women poked in a fine bone
point tool, Crow let himself be drawn
out. Changing to a giant, he abducted the
woman. The six attendants became the
Pleiades and Crow, Canopus. ó Pirt
kopan noot: Dawson 1881, 100.
(2) Crow man desired eagle girl who
had six women friends. She refused him
because all the girls wished to share a
single husband. Crow became a grub and
entered a tree. Each girl in turn poked a
grub tool into tree. Crow man changed to
crow and carried the desired woman to
the sky where she became Sirius and
other girls, the Pleiades. - Mara:
Massola 1968, 37.
285. The hunter and the seven sisters.
(1) A. A hunter desired the eldest of
seven sisters. He extinguished his fire
and each in turn (except the fourth)
rekindled it until he caught the last.
Others burned him making stinking
wounds which never healed.
B. Eldest had a daughter. All the women
climbed to the sky on a line only the
fourth had the power to throw,
encouraged man to climb and then cut the
rope.
C. Fisherman found his stinking body
and took it to Merowrang (helper of
creator) who healed him in a bag.
Warned not to touch his benefactor, the
hunter did so and fell down as a
boomerang. Merowrang threw it five
times around the field mowing down
trees. It went to the sky as the new moon,
girls and child as Pleiades. ó Bunya
Bunya: Brothers 1897, 10-11.
295. The old woman and the grandson.
(1) An old woman gave a share of
goanna to her old blind husband and a
smaller share to her grandson. The angry
child threw it on a rock where it
splattered. The grandmother decided to
go to the sky world and, as she climbed
a paperbark tree, the child followed.
Excited at seeing the old woman's vulva
he slid to the ground. Refused coitus, the
boy grasped her clitoris with his teeth.
The grandfather threw a stone axe at the
child; it turned into a rock. He told the
two to go into the sky where they are
now the Pleiades, a woman and small
grandson biting her clitoris. - Alawa:
Berndt 1951, 185-187.
300. The Pleiades sky frost women.
(1) The Pleiades are beautiful sisters
with long light hair and bodies covered
with icicles. They are the wives of
Orion who travel west to make camp
and a fire for their husbands who follow.
Frost on earth comes from the icicles
they drop in late winter. ó Northeast
South Australia: Mountford and Roberts
1972, 38.
(2) Pleiades women make camp for their
Orion husbands. The women have
bodies and kangaroo pouches filled with
fine white crystals, which stream from
pouch, eyes, nose and vulva in the cold
season. At the same time the two sky
hero men open a door in the sky through
which the medicine men can see them. ó
Anyamatana: Mountford 1939, 103-104.
305. Pleiades women as a flock of
female cockatoos. Kuum kopan noot:
Dawson 1881, 100.
For longer narratives dealing with the
Rainbow Serpent see 4757.
350. Rainbow as colored serpent's body.
(1) Rainbow is a colored snake who
rises to stop the rain made by enemies. ó
Pennefather River: Roth 1903b, 10.
(2) A female rainbow serpent who lives
in sea rocks, rises when annoyed as the
rainbow. Highly colored, she has large
ears, beard. (Female rainbow snake is
unusual.) ó Oenpelli: Mountford 1956,
212.
(3) Male rainbow serpent rises from his
waterhole to sky as the rainbow during
the wet season. Colored, he has
whiskers, long teeth. Sends small snakes
which enter children through their navels
bringing death. Created river by
movements. ó Oenpelli: Mountford
1956, 212.
355. Rainbow serpent and wife.
(1) The rainbow serpent lies on top of
his wife (lower part of rainbow) with
his face up. Called "double serpent". -
Nyol-Nyol: Worms 1940, 245-246;
Worms 1944, 293.
360. Snake spittle and the rainbow.
(1) The great snake spits, spittle forms
the rainbow and stops the rain, melted
rainbow goes back to snake. ó Kakadu:
Spencer 1966, 326. For other discussion
of the rainbow serpent see: North
Queensland: McConnel 1930a, 347-349.
Northwest: Elkin 1930, 349-352.
Southeast and general: Radcliffe-Brown
1926, 24; Radcliffe-Brown 1932, 342-
346.
365. Rainbow people.
(1) The rainbow man lives below the
earth and rises when he becomes too wet
showing his color-decorated body.
Upper bow is his mother-in-law, lower
his brother-in-law. Seen in the east, he
stops rain; in the west, announces rain. ó
Aranda: Strehlow 1907, 124.
(2) The middle strip of the rainbow was
a man, strips on either side, two women.
Each woman gave birth to a moiety. ó
Andjamathana: White 1975, 127.
370. Excrement rainbow.
(]) Rainbow is excrement being ejected
by a large shark. ó Cape
Bedford: Roth 1903b, 10.
380. Fish reflection rainbow.
(1) Rainbow is reflection of huge fish
which lives far out at sea and which lies
belly up. - Cape York: Roth 1903b, 10.
400. Humans emerge from water.
(1) The first humans emerged from a
river and were of a single sex. Male
organ was made from the stiff spear-
grass along the river, female from
movements along either bank. - Tully
River: Roth 1903b, 16.
410. Humans emerge from seed pods.
(1) A young woman came from the seed
pod or a Pittosporum, a young man from
the pod of another shurb. From them
descended the tribe. ó Bowlaburra:
Chisholm 1900, 168-169.
415. Humans emerge from earth.
(1) First people existed as half-formed
beings who emerged from the earth by
waterholes or on the edge of the salt sea.
Their features were cut by various
totemic ancestors or culture heroes. ó
Aranda: Spencer-Gillen 1968, 388-389.
Central Australia: Strehlow 1971, 516-
518.
425. Human (male) created from tree
gum.
(1) Man was created at two places from
wattle tree gum, entered a young woman
and later appeared as a child. ó Victoria:
Smyth 1878, 424-425.
430. Humans created from stone, wood.
See also 71.
(1) The moon made males from stone,
rubbed them with ash, used a pandanus
root as penis; made females from
boxwood tree, rubbed them with yams
and mud, cut organs with sharp root,
used pandanus fruit to produce menstrual
cycle. - Dieyerie: Gason in Woods 1879,
73. Proserpine River: Roth 1903b, 16.
435. Humans created from excrement.
(1) Anjir, who had large buttocks but no
anal opening, lay under a tree. Yalpan
cut an anal opening with quam, feces
were evacuated and humans born from
these. Yalpan disappeared south, Anjir
went underground when he finished
creating. - Kokowarra: Roth 1903b, 15.
440. Humans created from mud.
(1) Anje-a, made by thunder, created
babies out of mud; boys completely
formed, girls who step over sharp wood
to cut sexual organs. Anus of both is cut
with wood. Unseen, laugh can be heard.
ó Pennefather River: Roth 1903b, 23.
445. Human (female) found in mud.
(1) Bat (brother of creator hero Bunjil)
played in the water and found two
women in the mud. These he gave to men
he had created, directed both in sex
roles. ó Kulin: Massola 1968, 54 ó 55.
450. Human (female) found in canoe.
(1) Crow (or pelican) carried his canoe
on his head, investigated a tapping sound
from within and discovered a woman.
These two produced a boy and a girl.
Placed in a tree by their mother while
the parents hunted, the children climbed
down, immediately became adult and
themselves the parents of all the people.
ó Kurnai: Howitt 1884, 416. Murray
River Tribe: Massola 1968, 61, 92.
455. Human (female) found in tree.
(1) When all things lived in trees, a
mosquito successively become a blow-
fly, a moth, a small bird, a crow. Crow
desired a wife and, concealing a sharp
stick in dense fire smoke, he called to a
tree creature to jump, promising to catch
it. An eaglehawk girl, she was impaled
on the stick. These two established
moiety marriage rule. ó Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 12-13-
500.Bai-ame.
See also 3180.
(1) Bai-ame who now lives in the sky
world once lived on the earth where he
created all things including man. His
traces are left on the landscape and
include: imprints where he sharpened
axe, laid bullroarer and club, ground
seed, dug cooking hole, excreted copper
ore. A giant, his name means, variously,
"one legged" or "rock" (semen). His
large "tribe" included Dhurramulan
(instituted tooth expulsion ceremony)
whose voice is heard in the bullroarer,
wife (glass skin flashes as she turns in
the sky), sons. ó Kamilary: A. Greenway
505. Bunjil {eaglehawk).
(1) Bunjil (eaglehawk) was a powerful
headman with six sons or young men"
who were various birds, opossum, and
all of whom had special powers. He
created man, animals, landscape,
artifacts and ceremonies. He had the
musk crow open his bag of winds and
blow him and his family to the sky.
Stars. ó Kulin: Massola 1968, 40.
Woiworung: Howitt 1884, 414; Smyth
1878, 423-424.
510.Djamar.
(1) Djamar, son of Gambad, rose from
the sea, travelled locally making the first
wooden bullroarers and first ritual use
of blood as food. He walked in a
whirlwind with a giant dog. Now in the
sky, his bullroarer is near the Southern
Cross. His law given by Marel. ó
Northwest: Worms 1950, 644-650;
Worms and Nekes 1953, 1027-1030.
515.Dowed.
(1) Dowed made people and their
artifacts but when they refused to obey
him he sent sickness to kill them. Old
women criticized the geese he caught, he
speared them in the legs, they left with a
stranger and produced people of another
tribe. Dowed and a young girl produced
the local tribe; both became trees.
Sickness curing waterhole. ó Larrakia:
Foelsche 1866b, 253-255.
520.Marimari.
(1) Marimari, the giantic emu man, came
from the sea and made islands, the
mainland (which is itself a large island),
the central desert. He initiated lost boys
and gave them his daughters as wives.
When two hawks speared him he went to
the sky as the Coal Sack, the hawks as
the pointers of the Southern Cross. -
Karadjeri, Northern: Piddington 1932b,
52-53.
525. Mo i.nee.
(1) Moi.nee (Moihernee, Laller) fell to
earth and lived on land, his wife
followed and lived in the sea. Their
children came down in the rain and
entered her womb. He created rivers,
brought the first man out of the ground
with a tail and without knee joints
(kangaroo?), later remedied this. -
Tasmania: Plomley 1966, 273-274.
530.Nagorkun.
(1) Nagorkun (short, thickset, with
feather headdress and a stone axe to
make lightning) created people, animals,
landscape, social rules; two wives aided
in these creations. Once attacked by ants,
he rolled in the mud and established this
as a style of masturbation. Bat and two
"sickness sisters" were his assistants.
Bitten on the knee by the mud-dauber
hornet, he died at Sickness Cave. If
disturbed by noise he will wake, rise up
and destroy the world. ó Djauan: Arndt
1962b, 304-305; Arndt 1966, 233.
535. Ngurunderi if bunder).
(1) Ngurunderi, whose voice is thunder,
lived on earth as a great hunter and
created all living things, artifacts,
ceremonials. Exploits include: pursuit
and drowning of two wives, search for
lost children, disappearance under ocean
to the west. Souls now take this path to
him in sky. - Encounter Bay: Mayer in
Woods 1879, 205-206. Murray River
Tribe: Smyth 1879, 423-424. Narrinyeri:
Taplin in Woods 1879, 57-58.
540.Wolara.
(1) Wolara wandered camping and
fighting, bringing the increase
ceremonies, circumcision, landmarks.
Two women he sent into the sky make
turtles fall into the river then it rains. He
once stole an alligator woman from
policeman bird and ran into the sea.
Rock. ó Forrest River Tribes: Kaberry
1934, 432, 434-435.
For other references to single male
creators see: Adelaide: Cawthorne
1925-1926: 71-72 (Ooroondoril).
Animdhilayagwa: Turner 1974, 95
(Blaur). Djaber-Djaber: Worms and
Nekes 1953, 984 (Galagang). Drysdale
River, Forrest River, Ungarinyin,
Worora: Hernandez 1961, 115 ó 117
(Galoru). Dyao, Nimanboro: Worms
1944, 287 (Galagang). Karadjeri,
Northern: Piddington 1932b, 53-54
(Mirin). Kattang: Holmer 1969, 34-36
(Gulambara). Larrakia: Foelsche 1887,
253-254 (Mangarrara). Nunggubuyu:
Heath 1980, 177 (Jajabun). Oenpelli:
Berndt and Berndt 1968, 139-141
(Lumaluma). Tiwi: Mountford 1958,
Osbourne 1974 (Purukupali).
590.Amungundji.
(1) Amungundji travelled given (virgin)
birth to men and women and leaving
spirit children. Finding other people, she
circumcised them first unsuccessfully,
and they died, then successfully. Became
rock. ó Oenpelli: Berndt and Berndt
1968, 110-113.
595.Eingana.
(1) Eingana travelled and created all
things: people, natural objects, animals.
At first she gave birth through her mouth,
swallowing and spewing out people.
Then when she was speared near the
anus, people were born naturally. A
dingo chased the people, splitting them
into various tribes and language groups.
Eingana lives now in a waterhole from
which she creates all life. - Djauan:
Robinson 1956b, 57-58; Robinson 1968,
34-37.
600. Fertility Mother.
(1) There are a number of versions of
this female creator, either as
Ngaljod (the Rainbow) or
Waramurungundji (with husband,
Wuragag),
said to have come from
ìMacassarî.Created much on land and in
sea
and the ancestors of human beings. The
authors compare Waramurungundji to the
Djunkgao sisters, (for whom see 810 (1)
below). - Gunwinggu: Berndt and Berndt
1970, 117-119-
650.Muramura.
(1) A muramura woman (ancestral
person) rose from the earth as a lump of
clay and took human form. As she
travelled she (1) stuck index finger into
the earth and created a tree (2) moved
blindly, urinated and obtained sight;
urine formed whirlpool (3) followed
bird and butterfly toward grass seeds,
left light seeds for inhabitants and
spread reddish ones to the west (4)
made wooden bowl, stone grinder;
roasted, cleaned and ground seeds. She
reconstructed herself from her shoulder
blade and the tip of her tongue, labored
and gave birth to nine family lines of
humans. ó Lake Hope: Siebert 1910,
45ó46.
700. Bagadjimbiri brothers.
(1) The Bagadjimbiri brothers rose from
earth as dingoes, grew to be enormous
men at a time when there were no water,
trees, people or animals. Named all
objects they saw or created (including
sexual organs from fungi for people who
were without them). Adventures include:
laughed at native cat's buttocks and are
killed; mother's milk flows from a
distance and drowns killers, heroes
revived; become water snakes, spirits in
Magellanic Clouds, or objects in other
parts of sky. Variants: revivication not
mentioned; heroes die of age; mother
drowns in water or own menstrual
blood. ó Karadjeri, Southern:-
Piddington 1932b, 47-51.
705. Gagamara and Gombaren.
(1) Gagamara and Gombaren, tall as
cork trees, brought ceremonies, sacred
objects, named places. Adventures
include: chased a woman away so she
could not see ceremonies, became
Magellanic Clouds. Variants: met
woman with whom they had intercourse
thus establishing local marriage system
anomalies; created Rainbow snake who
then created earth, sea, fish, rivers, etc.
ó Karadjeri, Southern: Capell 1949, 53-
60; Capell 1950, 155-157; Piddington
1932b, 51; Worms 1949, 35-38.
710. Pubic tassel two.
For sky raising see also 6.
870. Creating women and the sacred
boards.
(1) At a son's request, a father snake
emitted sacred boards which changed
into women who danced along creating
waterholes with their digging sticks and
more sacred boards from their feces.
Men made headdresses of the boards
and hid them from the women. ó Walbiri:
Munn 1970, 155.
900. The dingari ritual group.
(1) The dingari ritual group (old woman,
old ritual men, young women, young
male initiates) travelled on or under
ground or through air on incised wooden
ceremonial boards (darugu). They
performed ceremonies (sacred, often
initiatory) and left rocks, waterholes,
other landscape marks. Adventures
include:
A. Men erect ceremonial boards, set fire
to them with magic powers. Girls hide
from fire, some are killed. Lizard man
uses love magic, sends penis
underground to have intercourse with
tabooed girl; oiherjwomen kill him,
mutilate his genitals with digging sticks.
Female group travels, making boards
and performing ceremonials. Enter
ground.
B. Old man sends younger men ahead
promising to followjwith sacred boards.
Instead, he extinguishes all the campfires
keeping one piece of lighted wood for
himself; covers self with sacred objects
getting power to fly; enters ground.
Others quarrel over boards until one
board is deliberately broken. Enter
rockhole in Wailbri countryó--
C. Dingari men meet two old men with
many boards, use own board as throwing
stick to kill them; board becomes
mountain. Meet kingfisher man. Use
boards to grind seed, sing. Fly boards to
waterhole, meet an old echidna man who
steals some boards, dives in water,
teases them at night. They follow him,
both using lighted boards as torches. He
attacks them at night, knocks them over
head with his board, sets fire to the bush.
Other travelling group of lizard men
punish echidna man with stone flakes
inside his body, sticks outside. He
travels. Dingari encircle him, all travel
underground to Wailbri country; throw
boards and spears stick in his body. He
evades, enters rockhole, attackers fall
into hole.
D. Male group travels encountering
hardship: hunger, meet a cannibal man,
attacked by lightning man, thirst, illness
from chewing tobacco leaves; meet
women whom they kill; meet with ritual
mother, initiate novices in Wailbri
country; eventually die, boards become
stones.
E. Old men camp (ritually with Gadjeri
Mother) on hill unknown to
travelling women. Women receive meat
with broken spear in it, know
men are near and send them seed cake:
sexual intercourse angers old
men who make bush fire killing young
men. Women dive in lake.
Angry women punish man (pinch testes,
spear him with sacred board
taken from men, bury in hole). Meet
crow man who has intercourse
with two tabooed girls. His large penis
injuries them, they die, other
women kill crow. Meet another crow
man who dives into hole,
becomes snaker. Meet next crow
man,take his hair belt, beat him to
death with their boards. Women finally
enter ground.
F. Two travelling women tire, drag
selves. Bush potatoes fall from their
hair, salt water springs where they
urinate, fresh water where they prod
digging sticks. Frightened by hostile
cannibal spirit, throw stones at him,
enter ground.
G. Women travel dancing with
ceremonial boards, doing ceremonies
(cut girls' hymen). Man chases them, has
intercourse with sleeping two, injures
them with large penis; they die. All enter
ground.
H. Dingari man has son by tabooed
woman; ants bite his genitals while he
sleeps, genitals detach themselves,
wander away and refuse to return when
called. Man recovers genitals, travels
underground to avoid female group.
Followed, he stands on one leg,
descends into the ground holding other
dingari men. Ceremonial boards left in
tree, now stone.
I. Male group travels. One has testes
bitten by ants, is blinded
temporarily by smoke made in hunting
euro. Has no weapons so
throws pubic fringe at kangaroo rat,
misses. Meets man and wife,
breaks man's neck with firestick, has
intercourse with woman. When he
returns to retrieve firestick, woman
escapes. ó Northwest Western
Desert: Berndt 1970b, 222-232.
910. The ngarga.
(1) Party of ngarga (initiated men) with
their families flew into the territory.
These are star people: either (1) the
dreamtime creators of another tribe
chopped Milky Way into pieces to make
the stars which are these people, or (2)
the ngarga themselves cut the Milky Way
with their sacred boards. Group travels
to perform ceremonies. Adventures
include:
A. One man kills another because of a
grudge, enters ground. Group meet men
who refuse to join them, one who does.
Meet bellbird men who replace their
firesticks. Come to circumcision place.
B. A boy initiated (circumcised) with the
firestick dies from shock and the Old
Woman in the sky (maternal grandfather's
sister) in turn kills the circumcisors by
magic. Circumcisors, boy and
ceremonial string cross go to Milky Way.
C. Group crosses track of dingoes
pursuing (other tale), and meet hawk
men who take stone knives from their
own eyes and instruct in their use as
circumcision instruments.
D. Group finds the moon man's
dentalium shells in creek and uses them
for ceremonial power. They subincise,
travel singing of women's groups and
finally enter ground with bullroarers and
boards. ó Nambutji, Ngadadjara:
Roheim 1934, 123, 127. Walbiri:
Meggitt 1966, 124ó131 (extensively
cross-referenced).
950. Periods of the creation.
(1) In the: (1) Early period, the land was
covered with salt water which was
finally drawn north by people who
wanted to keep it. Two self existing
beings came from the western sky and
cut the features of rudimentary
amorphous beings making men and
women, and circumcised with the
firestick. Some were plants and animals
and their descendents took them as
totems. (2) Middle period, the little
hawk men introduced the stone knife for
circumcision and the four class names;
wild cat men introduced sub-incision
and arranged the ceremonies in their
proper order. (3) Late period, the emu
men rearranged the marriage system. ó
Arunta: Spencer and Gillen 1968, 388-
421.
955. Totemic ancestors emerge.
(1) The totemic ancestors emerged from
the ground as young men and women or
as small animals, gave birth to sons
and/or daughters, left imprints on the
earth and went back into the earth from
which they had emerged and now sleep.
Sons and daughters were born from (1)
central totem pole as bullroarers or
ceremonial down, or (2) from the body
of the sire as armpit bullroarers, swung
bullroarers or blood-hardened soil. -
Aranda: Strehlow 1971, 558-559-
960. Jew lizard ancestral man.
(1) Early ancestors gave rise to the
animals whose names they now bear as
totem. A jew lizard man died. Another
man came from his churinga (sacred
object), performed the first increase
ceremony and thus made the jew lizards
(animals) which had not existed before.
ó Unmatjera: Spencer and Gillen 1969,
442.
1000.Pork-tailed catfish and green turtle.
(1) The catfish group went out with the
tide, travelled along encountering plants,
animals, ghosts, specific places whose
songs they sang ó leaving various rituals.
Green turtle accompanied them, but
turned back after eating a sharp-bladed
grass and retreated to his own area.
Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980. 126. 137;
Capell 1960a, No. 4.
1005.Grouper fish.
(1) Grouper fish travelled along the
coast and up a river with two
uncircumcised boys hanging onto his
tail. Places on itinerary named. Links
clans. ó Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 157.
1010.hong-tailed ray.
(1) Long-tailed ray travelled, sometimes
in company with other rays, on the
mainland and then to islands. Ritual
journey links clans. Places named. -
Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 195; Hughes
1970, No. 1. Anindhilyagwa: Turner
1974, 81-90.
1015.Sandgoanna.
(1) A male goanna and a pregnant female
travelled along their ritual path. In order
to cross a river the male built a bridge
formed like a fishing wier. Two big
women (in an avoidance relationship to
the goannas) used the bridge to cross the
river, trampling the goannas and the dam.
Male then swam the river with the
female on his back. Variant: lacks the
bridge incident and names totemic
places on their path. - Nunggubuyu:
Heath 1980, 161, 164 Capell 1960a,
Text 5; Capell 1960b.
1050.Snake creates rivers, creeks.
(1) A snake made the Murray River
travelling from its source to its mouth.
Crow (Norallie, creator hero) killed
him. ó Maroura: Taplin 1879, 27.
Victoria: Smyth 1878, Vol. 1, 456.
(2) A giant serpent migrating back to its
home created creeks and gutters. Where
he rested, men dug grubs, and tossed
earth formed plains. - Northern Aranda:
Strehlow 1947, 26.
(3) A snake rose from the ground,
travelled making creeks. Carried with
him sacred Kunapippi tricks, rock hole
marks spirit children spot. Left eyes
mid-way, travelled blind. Mungarai:
Spencer 1966, 333-334.
1055.Native cat man and the Gu-rang-
atch.
(1) A native cat man pursued a being
(Gu-rang-atch) who was part snake, part
fish, its travels creating water courses
and pools. Cat successively sent four
birds down to "fish" him up. Two could
not reach the bottom, one (diver duck)
brought up a young Gu-rang-atch, shag,
large pieces of the animal himself. He
was eaten by all. ó Gundungurra:
Mathews 1908, 203-206.
1100.The husband and wife bushnuts.
(1) A husband and wife travelled about
hunting and camping. At last the wife felt
sleepy and sick. She dug a hole, sat in it
and holding her husband's arm, they sank
into the earth together as bushnuts. Rose
in river, sank on opposite bank at
totemic spot for bushnuts. ó Mungkan:
McConnel 1957, 81 ó 83 (McConnel
gives a number of narratives of this
type).
1130.The men and the eucalyptus trees.
(1) Three men were performing a
ceremony when their campfires started a
bush fire, burning trees, animals and the
men themselves. The men became
eucalyptus trees, and the place where
bees were frightened has paperbark
trees. ó Yirrkalla: Mountford 1956, 293-
294.
1135.The men, fire churinga and the
trees.
(1) The old men were all lame and the
young initiated men hunted game for
them. One killed a bandicoot and built a
large fire, but kept rubbing with fire
plough even though the flames shot up.
The fire spread and consumed all the old
men who became fire churinga (sacred
objects). The young men flew into the
sky and returned to earth as palm trees
or as grass trees. It is now treeless
where the fire burned. ó Aranda:
Strehlow 1907, 124-125.
1150.The old people, animals and man.
(1) Long ago birds, animals and reptiles
were men (except plum and sugar bag).
A crisis arose, people fought and
changed into their respective species.
Children of these totemic species
became men with the species as their
totem. ó Forrest River Tribes: Kaberry
1934, 525-526. Queensland, general:
Roth 1903b, 15.
(2) Long ago birds, animals and reptiles
were men (except dingo who was meat
to eat). Crisis arose, people fought and
changed into their respective species.
Children of these totemic species
became men with the species as their
totem. ó Springsure, Queensland:
Biddulph 1900, 225.
1155.The moiety men and the bees.
(1) Bee men of different moieties met to
exchange trade items. The two groups
quarreled, fought with various weapons
and lay on the ground. They sweated
wild honey and developed hair, bee
wings and bee speech, turned into bees.
Stone marks the spot; spirits flew away
first showing people how to eat honey
and other foods. ó Northern Gunwinggu:
Berndt and Berndt 1977, 331ó332.
1160.The eaglehawk men and the flying
fox girls.
(1) Two eaglehawk men watched the
opposite moiety dancing and stole two
of the prettiest girls with whom they
copulated. The girls became flying
foxes, the brothers white-breasted
eaglehawks, the dancers the various
species they had imitated in their dances,
thus establishing their sacred sites. Dogs
went into the sea annoying a sacred
snake who made thunder and lightning.
Dogs are rocks. ó Gumaidj: Groger-
WArm 1937, 125.
1165.The two men and the spirit man.
(1) A spirit man on his way to the home
of his moiety dead speared a man. Two
other men holding a ceremony were
frightened at this and changed into green
turtle and dolphin. Speared man became
a large rock. - Yirrkalla: Mountford
1956, 454.
1180.The ancestral grub man and his
sons.
(1) An old man lay asleep under a grub
bush and grubs bored into his body.
From his armpit fell a grub which
became a human son. This was repeated
many times. The sons ate grubs, the
father refused. Sons changed between
grub and human forms at times. Another
grub ancestral man stole a bundle of
their better grubs. The old man, sons,
and grub bundle sank into the earth and
became churinga. ó Aranda: Spencer and
Gillen 1968, 423-432.
1185.The ancestral emu man and the
initiates.
(1) An old emu man and several young
emu men initiates travel making features
and totemic places. Adventures include:
meeting with wild dogs, bird of prey and
hostile emu men who kill one of the
group and set fire to cave where others
had fled. The old man is left behind
when leg is broken and initiates travel
underground, became churinga at totemic
spot. ó Aranda: Strehlow 1907, 125 ó
126. Northern Arnada: Strehlow 1947,
12, 15-16.
1190.The ancestral eaglehawk men.
(1) An old eagle hawk man had many
churinga (sacred objects) and eggs from
which came many young eaglehawks. He
was visited by another old eagle hawk
man to whom he refused churinga. While
the visitor hunted with a young eagle
hawk, the old hawk choked on a wallaby
bone and died. Later the young hawk
man and the visitor died, the later
placing a sacred pole on his head, down
through his body and sinking into the
ground. Totemic spot marked by stone. ó
Unmatjera: Spencer and Gillen 1969,
398-399-
1205.Dog, emu and red ochre.
(1) Five dogs chased an emu from
waterholes. The emu travelled
underground, came up, re-entered the
ground and made red ochre deposits. -
Dieri: Elkin 1934, 187-188.
(2) A man, his wife and dog chased two
(or four) emus to a spot where the emus
went into a hill and were changed into
red ochre deposits. The hill is the female
dog. ó Yantruwanta: Elkin 1934, 179-
(3) Two dogs chased emu to a cave
where dog gave birth. Blood at birth
became red ochre deposits. The dogs
sang, changed to rocks. ó Arabana: Elkin
1934, 188.
1210.Flying opossum and red ochre.
(1) Flying opossum died and his body
became red ochre. Later ochre broke up
and he had to leave. ó Murngin: Warner
1937, 534. See also Meggitt 1966, 184,
184 f.n.
ask? Every man must look out for
opossums for himself, the men were
turned into stone. ó Kulin: Massola
1968, 46.
(6) The dogs became tired of living so
long in the sandhills. One asked his
master, "When are we going away from
here?". All the people turned into
sandstone outcrops. ó Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 8.
(7) A dog, returning from the sacred
initiation ground, was asked by the
women where their sons were. He told
them, and all the women and children
were turned to stone. ó Wirraidyuri:
Mathews 1905, 144-145.
(8) While people attended a sacred
initiation ceremony an old dog who had
been left in camp was approached by
enemies painted for war. Asked where
everyone had gone he answered, '' Gone
to borah" (the ceremony). The warriors
and weapons turned to stone, striped and
colored as had been their bodies. ó
Noongahburrah: Parker 1897, 50-51.
(9) A dog called out to men painted for a
ceremonial and all turned into stone.
Two gods saw it and became frightened.
They put up a river gum tree and
climbed to the sky where they stayed. ó
Jindjiparndi, Ngarluma: von
Brandenstein 1970, 253-255.
The following item is a variant which
substitutes a disappearance into the earth
for the more usual petrifaction.
(10) Two groups of women were
collecting fruit. A dog with the first
group turned back to the second who
asked him if his mother (owner)
had gathered plenty. Twice he did not
answer. Then the chief dog who
lives in the moon said, "Speak up, say to
them ó Yes, mother did get
plenty of fruit." He spoke and the ground
opened up swallowing all but
the pandanus trees and the dog. ó
Worora: Lucich 1969, 64ó65.
1235.The talking dog.
(1) Men were cooking fish but ignored a
dog in camp. He said, "You people are
no good - you have lots of fish but give
me none." He changed them into a large
rock. - Victoria: Smyth 1878, Vol. 1,
479-
(2) People feasted on fish but neglected
to share it with their dogs. When a dog
said, "You greedy Kurnai, why have we
no fish?" the entire camp turned to stone.
- Kurnai: Massola 1968, 62.
(3) Men brought fish to camp and
women said, "Yacka-tom" (very good).
One of the women's dogs also said
"Yacka-torn", and the people were all
turned to stone. - Victoria: Smyth 1878,
Vol. 1, 479-
(4) Two women gathering seeds met a
dog carrying a mullet and asked where
he had caught it. He answered and the
women, their bags and yamsticks were
turned to rocks. - Kurnai: Mathews
1905, 145.
A man hunting opossums called out to
another, "How many opossums have you
got?". When his dog answered, "What
good is it to ask? Every man must look
out for opossums for himself, the men
were turned into stone. - Kulin: Massola
1968, 46.
(6) The dogs became tired of living so
long in the sandhills. One asked his
master, "When are we going away from
here?". All the people turned into
sandstone outcrops. - Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 8.
(7) A dog, returning from the sacred
initiation ground, was asked by the
women where their sons were. He told
them, and all the women and children
were turned to stone. - Wirraidyuri:
Mathews 1905, 144-145.
(8) While people attended a sacred
initiation ceremony an old dog who had
been left in camp was approached by
enemies painted for war. Asked where
everyone had gone he answered, '' Gone
to borah" (the ceremony). The warriors
and weapons turned to stone, striped and
colored as had been their bodies. -
Noongahburrah: Parker 1897, 50-51.
(9) A dog called out to men painted for a
ceremonial and all turned into stone.
Two gods saw it and became frightened.
They put up a river gum tree and
climbed to the sky where they stayed. ó
Jindjiparndi, Ngarluma: von
Brandenstein 1970, 253-255.
The following item is a variant which
substitutes a disappearance into the earth
for the more usual petrifaction.
(10) Two groups of women were
collecting fruit. A dog with the first
group turned back to the second who
asked him if his mother (owner) had
gathered plenty. Twice he did not
answer. Then the chief dog who lives in
the moon said, "Speak up, say to them -
Yes, mother did get plenty of fruit." He
spoke and the ground opened up
swallowing all but the pandanus trees
and the dog. - Worora: Lucich 1969,
64ó65.
1300.Beaks exchanged by crab and
parrot.
(1) Crab suggested to his child parrot
that they exchange beaks since parrot
could not need such weapon on land and
crab would need it in the mud. -
Murngin: Warner 1958, 533.
1305.Feathers exchanged by duck and
parrot.
(1) Whistle duck suggested to his
younger brother the red-breasted parrot
that they exchange feathers so he could
live in the water and parrot on land. -
Murngin: Warner 1958, 532-533.
1310.Heads exchanged by turtle and
snake.
(1) Turtle once had venomous fangs and
snake had none. The snake begged turtle
to make an exchange: his head for the
fangs, saying that he lived exposed on
the shore while turtle occupied a Secure
position in the lake. Turtle has snake-
like head and neck and snake has fangs. -
Narrinyeri: TapHn 1897, 62.
(2) Turtles once laid eggs in the reeds
and had venomous bites. When men
came to steal the eggs and to drink water
the turtle bit them on the tongue and they
died. People asked the plover men, who
competed with turtles for eels as food, to
help them. Plover, however, asked the
turtles to exchange heads with the then
non-poisonous snakes claiming that if
snakes killed people turtles would have
more time to hunt, could eat small eels
and leave large ones for him. - Mara:
Massola 1968, 33-34.
1315.Sinews exchanged by lizard and
emu.
(1) At one time the stump-tailed lizard
was energetic, while emu was slow.
Emu exchanged sinews with lizard so he
could go hunting and never returned
them. - Wotjobaluk: Massola 1968, 10.
1320.Skin exchanged by kangaroo and
dugong.
(1) Kangaroo and dugong exchanged
skin and now kangaroo has hair. A
woman rejected by the dugong told him
he must now live in the water. -
Winindiljaugwa: Maddock 1973, 153
(cross-referenced).
1325.Teeth exchanged by snakes.
(1) A non-venomous snake with long
teeth exchanged for the venomous short
teeth of another sanke. - Balyando River
Tribe: Muirhead 1887, 30.
(2) Whip snake could run fast and had
large teeth but was not poisonous.
Mangrove snake was slow, but his small
teeth were poisonous. They exchanged
characteristics. Whip snake has small
poisonous teeth, can bite and escape.
Mangrove snake is not killed by man
because he is non-poisonous. -
Northwest Australia: Bates 1930, 3.
1340.Snake and fish.
(1) Snake and fish fought. Snake won
and made fish carry his skin (scales) and
bones (dorsal fin) on his back. - Boulia
District: Roth 1903b, 11.
1345.Parrot and lizard.
(1) Gulah parrot and lizard fought. The
reptile hit the bird on the head with an
adze making a top-knot and streaking
blood on his neck and breast (red
feathers). The bird stuck burrs over the
lizard's back like warts. - Boulia
District: Roth 1903b, 14.
(2) Lizard accidentally hit galah on the
head with his boomerang, removing skin
and feathers; galah rolled him in a thorn
bush and rubbed her bleeding head on
his back giving them their appearance. ó
Noongahburrah: Parker 1896, 7.
1350.Parrot and opossum.
(1) Gulah parrot and opossum fought
with the result that parrot had his neck
and breast cut open (red feathers) and
opossum received a black mark on his
snout. - Boulia District: Roth 1903b, 14.
1355.Crow and hawk.
(1) A crow and a hawk fought. The hawk
rolled his adversary in the ashes making
him black, but was punished by being
made to feed on putrid meat. - Boulia
District: Roth 1903b, 14.
1360.Whale and lark.
(1) Whale man and lark man were
fighting. Lark speared whale in the neck
and he went into the sea as the animal,
blowing water through his hole. -
Adelaide Tribe: Cawthorne 1925-1926,
71.
1365.Porpoise and sparrow hawk.
(1) Porpoise man and sparrow hawk
man fought. Sparrow hawk speared
porpoise making blowhole. Punjil
flooded the land making channels,
island. ó Southeast Australia.
1370.Dugong and green turtle.
(1) Green turtle collected edible pods of
the kurrajong tree; dugong edible pods of
another kurajong species - this with
bristles. They ate together, then argued.
Green turtle repeatedly thrust dugong in
the , eye; dugong missed green turtle.
Now dugong has poor eyesight, turtle
good. (Variant has dugong eating seeds
from dangerous kurrajong as cause of
blindness.) - Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980,
222,
1385.The porpoise woman and the
kangaroo mother.
(1) A woman who camped alone wished
to have children she might teach to swim
and love the sea, but the offspring she
created herself were all lazy and ugly.
She lured a bush woman's handsome son
to the seashore. Tracked by the child's
mother, the two fought. The abductor
received a wound in her head and
became the porpoise; the mother became
a kangaroo with a pouch to protect her
young and short front legs from her
broken arms. - Ngulugwongga (Mulluk-
Mulluk): Bozic 1972, 17-21.
1395.Turtle and the lizard woman.
(1) Turtle seized lizard woman and her
three children and took her as wife. He
met the pursuers on the plains, used
shields to turn their spears, finally
pulled off the front shield and dived into
the water as turtle. - Narran: Parker
1897a, 116-119- Mungkan: McConnel
1957, 55-56,66-70,95-98.
1400.White crane, shag woman and
eagle.
(1) White crane man abducted the shag
woman wife of eagle man. Eagle and
white crane painted for fight, crane was
speared in the leg and became the bird;
eagle man transformed into animal, other
birds cheered but could not fly high
enough to reach him. ó Goulbourn:
Berndt and Berndt 1968: 165-166.
Kulin: Massola 1968, 26.
1405.Wattlebird, curlew woman and
eaglehawk.
(1) Wattlebird stole eagle hawk's wife
and hawk's uncles, the crows, mocked
him while he sharpened his spear.
Wattlebird was speared and a great
flood was made by hawk. Hawk beat his
wife: she cried her name, the call of
curlew. ó Unidentified: Bates in Wilson
(ed.) 1972: 81-83; Bates 1973, 211-213.
1420.Emu man and the rent roof.
(1) On a wet day, emu man lay on his
back in his hut and kicked with his legs
at the roof making a hole through which
the rain poured. He sent his wife, crow
woman, outside to repair the rent.
Several times he repeated this until,
exasperated, crow woman threw hot
coals on her husband's chest. Emu is
marked with a dark patch and still rolls
on his back. - Burranbinga: Mathews
1908a, 305-306.
(2) While emu and his crow wives
sheltered in their hut from the rain, emu
surreptitiously kicked a piece of bark
down. As the wives worked in the rain
to adjust the bark, emu repeatedly kicked
down bark form opposite sides. The
wives threw hot coals on his chest
saying he should be as hot as they were
cold. Emu ran into the rain while the
wives stayed inside and laughed. ó
Noongahburrah: Parker 1897a, 73 ó 74.
1425.Native cat and opossum's thread.
(1) Native cat cut opossum's hair and
opossum spun the thread, disturbing cat's
sleep. Fought, getting characteristic
markings. Cat became Alpha in Cygnus;
opossum, Capella in Auriga; other stars
are opossum's tracks. - Karadjeri:
Piddington 1932c, 395. Unidentified:
Bates in Wilson (ed.) 1972, 77.
1440.The rainbird's wrestling contest.
(1) Two rainbirds wrestled. The elder
was being beaten, lost his temper and a
fight ensued. To stop the battle their
mother, a crow, covered herself with
excrement and, dark and offensive,
frightened them into obedience. She kept
dark plumage. ó Kokomini: Roth 1903b,
14. The following item is a possible
variant.
1445.The lizard's wrestling contest.
(1) The lizard and his brothers were
playing at wrestling. Angry at being
thrown often, one lizard climbed a tree
and shook dung from a spider's nest on
his brothers' backs. They still chase him
to mete out punishment. - Kokorarmul:
Roth 1903b, 12.
1460.The emu mother.
(1) The native companions left their
numerous young with an emu couple
while they went to collect ironwood tree
gum. The emus, having lost their own
young through neglect, hid the children.
Repeated. The native companions
burned the sleeping emus with hot gum
and ran. After the crow man doctor had
healed their burns, the emus retaliated by
burning the native companions with hot
gum. The emus sank into the earth at
their totemic spot as emus; native
companions made lagoons in their
jumping, have red spot where burned,
and only two chicks. - Mungkan:
McConnel 1957, 91-94.
(2) Waterhen searched for food and emu
appropriated her eggs by sitting on the
nest. Angry, waterhen built a fire and
threw ashes on emu; emu threw waterhen
into the fire. Thus brown feathers of
emu, waterhen's red legs. ó Queensland:
Roth 1903b, 13.
(3) Native companion (or wild turkey)
killed all her own chicks on emu's
advice, emu refused to kill her own. In
ensuing fight, emu got a curved neck,
native companion red marks on her bill.
Wild turkey lays two eggs, emu deprived
of flight. ó Kurnai: Massola 1968, 66.
Pitjendadjara: Mountford 1964, 145-
155.
(4) Emu and native companion once had
the same number of children. Emu hid all
but one of her own and tricked native
companion into loosing hers in the bush
so she, too, might have more freedom.
Now native companion has only one or
two eggs. ó Kulin: Massola 1968, 49.
(5) Emu tricked wild turkey into killing
her chicks, then refused to kill her own.
Wild turkey sent long-tailed goanna to
eat emu's chicks but emu made wooden
stilts for her young and told them to run
to the seacoast. In fight, emu bested the
goanna but had feathers torn fromher
breast. Emu built stilts for herself but
wild turkey, emulating her, chose sticks
which bent, being too thin. Now she has
thin bent legs and two chicks, while emu
has long legs and lays many eggs. ó
Wheelman: Hassel 1934, 328-330.
(6) Bustard persuaded emu to amputate
her wings, emu persuaded bustard to kill
all but two of her young so these might
grow larger. One now is flightless, the
other lays only two eggs. - Euahlayi:
Parker 1897, 1-5.
(7) Emu induced brolga to kill all but
two of her young so she might have
something good to eat. Brolga induced
emu to amputate her own wings so she,
too, might have something good to eat. ó
Kamilaroi: Robinson 1956, 196-197.
(8) Native companion pushed roots into
the fire with her long yamstick but
refused to lend it to emu who had to use
her foot, wings and bill, making her feet
and bill black and wings flightless. Emu
tricked native companion into killing her
young as food. ó Mara: Massola 1968,
36-37.
(9) The native companion tricked emu
into cutting off her own wings and eating
all but one of her chicks. During ensuing
fight, emu flung her remaining egg at the
native companion, it stuck in the sky and
became the sun. ó Wonghibon: Cameron
1903, 47.
(10) Before there was a sun, emus could
fly. An emu saw some birds fishing (or
dancing and singing) and joined them.
Wild turkey persuaded her to cut off her
wings so she could fish (or dance). The
birds (or kookaburra) laughed. Emu
persuaded wild turkey to eat all but two
of her own chicks so the remaining ones
would grow larger (or wild turkey so
persuaded emu so she would have more
freedom). Wild turkey broke all but one
of emu's eggs; emu threw it at wild
turkey, it hit wood in the sky and made
the sun (or native companion threw it to
sky where it struck Gnawdenoorte's
wood pile; he now kindles a new one
each day as the sun). Native companion's
characteristics are from Gnawdenoorte.
- Murry River: Massola 1968, 99-102.
New South Wales: Parker 1930, 1-6.
(11) When there was no sun, emu and
brolga argued over the excellence of
their chicks. Emu hurled the egg of
brolga into the sky where it struck sticks
gathered by sky people and burst into
flame. The sky people asked the
kookaburra to call them every morning
so they could light the wood they
gathered. - Unidentified: Mountford and
Roberts 1972, 70.
1480.Red tit, brown tit and the fish.
(1) For two days red tit gathered and ate
roots, brown tit killed and ate kangaroo.
Red tit wished to share the food, brown
tit refused. Red tit caught emus and
refused to share them. They fought, using
emus legs and kangaroo tails
respectively. Red tit has red head and
breast, brown tit a battered head shape.
ó Queensland: Roth 1903b, 13.
1485.Opossum, wild cat and the seeds.
(1) Opossum collected and ground seed
while wild cat found nothing. Opossum
tricked cat into collecting rough bushes
with no useful seed. This was repeated.
Wild cat then ate all opossum's ground
seed claiming that all the seed in the
area belonged to him. They fought.
Opossum's ham strings were cut making
his heel prominent, and cat's fur was
spotted with seed. - Boulia District:
Roth 1903b, 15.
1490.Crane, pelican and the fish.
(1) The crane bush man hid his fish from
the pelican seashore man and while he
secretly cooked the catch, the pelican
man suggested they dance. A mangrove
bird man heard the fish crackle as he
sang for their performance and called a
warning. The dancers fought. The
seashore man's legs were broken and he
became the pelican who must waddle
along; the bush man was burned on the
legs and ashes dusted his body and he
became the crane; the mangrove man
became a small bird with broken arm
who must stay in shallow water. -
Unidentified: Bates in Wilson (ed.)
1972, 46-47.
1500.Pelican, magpies and the fish.
(1) Pelicans caught a white fish.
Magpies made a fire to cook it. Magpies
stole the fish. They fought. Magpies
became black from the ashes, pelicans
white from (1) eating white fish (2)
being smeared with silvery scales of fish
making white breasts. - Narrinyeri:
Taplin 1879, 39, 62.
1505.Porcupine, crow and the emu.
(1) Porcupine and crow caught and
cooked an emu. Sending crow to get
leaves on which to place the meat,
porcupine stole the food and left behind
him talking feces which urged crow to
hunt further. Discovering the trick, crow
and others tracked and speared
porcupine hidden in a tree rook. Spines.
- Wongaibon: Blows 1975, 32 (quoting
from J. R. Beckett 1957).
1510.Greedy porcupine.
(1) There was a scarcity of food and
animals went hunting, leaving the
porcupine in charge of what little there
was. Porcupine ate the food and fell
asleep. Finally speared by the others.
Quills. ó Wonghibon: Cameron 1903,
48.
1515.Lazy echidna.
(1) The echidna man was lazy and
claimed as his own game killed by
others. People speared him. Quills. -
Kurnai: Massola 1968, 66.
1520.Echidna, tortoise and the snail.
(1) Echidna woman and freshwater
tortoise man fought over a snail.
Bamboo spears lodged in echidna, flat
rock stuck to turtle's back as shell. -
Gunbalang: Berndt and Berndt 1977.
331.
1525.Duck, crocodile husband and the
yams.
(1) A young black and white duck wife,
tired of collecting food while her
crocodile man husband stayed in camp,
hid and secretly ate the yams she had
gathered. Challenged, the two fought.
She became the bird and he the
crocodile, each characteristically
marked and occupying own territory. ó
Nguluwongga: Bozic 1972, 41ó43.
1530.Emu and jabiru.
(1) Emu upbraided his sister's son, the
jabiru, for not sharing food properly. In a
fight emu's arms were broken and he
layed eggs (from stone thrown at him),
jabiru received his bill from a spear.
Each chose habitats. - Murngin: Warner
1937, 543-545. Maddock 1975, 113
quotes Warner and notes that variants are
to be found in Berndt and Berndt 1977,
333-334 and Robinson 1968, 161-163.
1535.Brolga, emu and thepandanus
roots.
(1) Brolga woman shared her pandanus
roots with the emu woman while the
latter hid her own roots. In brolga's
absence, emu ground and ate all the flour
and then swallowed her friend's grinding
stone leaving only her own inferior
grinder. The two fought. Emu hit brolga
on the head and then, as directed, on the
back; the stone jumped out. Emu hit
brolga on the head. Both bear these
physical markings. Each chose separate
territories. ó Northern Australia:
Wingathana in Bunug et al.
1974, 38. Nunggubuyu: van der Leeden
1975, 79-81; Heath 1980,
48-49, 49-59; Cross-referenced to
Hughes 1969, No. 14; Berndt
and Berndt 1977.
1540.Emu, the birds and the kangaroo.
(1) An old spirit woman refused to share
food with six spirit men who had only
sugar cane to eat. Bower bird agreed to
kill a "special" powerful kangaroo if the
others would burst the boil on his foot.
All the birds tried but failed. Crow
succeeded, expressed pus making his
eyes yellow. Sending the old woman to
get cooking grass, the spirits ate the
kangaroo, turned to birds. Singed in fire,
the birds got various characteristic
markings. The old woman threw a stick
at the quail and it fell into her own open
mouth. She became emu. Ate the stones
from earth oven and now lays eggs like
large stones. ó Northern Australia:
Gentian in Bunug et al. 1974, 56ó60.
(2) Jabiru and brolga bound cuckoo's
sore foot so he could hunt a large
kangaroo. Greedy emu woman was sent
further and further to get grasses. Birds
ate kangaroo and flew up; pigeon flew
up with the kangaroo tail. Emu
swallowed stones, now lays stone-like
eggs; made neck and tail from yamstick,
hair from vine. ó Dalabon: Maddock
1975, 105. Djauan: Robinson 1968,
164-169-
1560.The seagulls' language dispute.
(1) Two men, one from the north, the
other from the south, hunted and
travelled together. As they camped one
night, they began to quarrel over their
language differences. The southern man
asked to have a fire (joong-goo) kindled,
the northern man was willing only to
kindle fire (nooroo). One put on white
clay, the other charcoal and they fought.
Now they are birds: the white seagull
from the south, the black and white
seagull from the north. - Unidentified:
Bates in Wilson (ed.) 1972, 33-34.
1570.Wombat, kangaroo and the rain
shelter.
(1) Wombat refused to shelter kangaroo
during a heavy rain. Kangaroo struck his
friend on the forehead with a stone
saying that from that time he would have
a flat forehead and live in dark holes.
Wombat speared kangaroo at the lower
end of his backbone, saying that he
would have a tail and live without a
shelter. - Victoria: Smyth 1878, Vol. 1,
449-450.
(2) The kangaroo and wombat were
close friends. On a wet day, the
kangaroo went to his friend's
underground house and asked for shelter.
Wombat refused. The two fought.
Wombat lost his tail from a blow of an
axe, kangaroo was struck with a spear
making his tail heavy. ó Kulin: Massola
1968, 47.
1575.Lizard, black snake and the rain
shelter.
(1) Lizard man sought shelter during a
storm with his neighbor the black snake
man. Snake man instructed him to bore a
hole through the seashell which covered
the entrance. Laboriously he bored
through, poked his head in and was
threatened with the spear of snake man.
Lizard moved back snagging shell as a
collar around his neck. Later, when
snake man climbed a tree, lizard used
the shell to cut off snake's legs. Now he
throws up his collar to remind men how
he cut off snake's legs. - Nguluwongga:
Bozic 1973, 73-77.
1580.Blue-tongued lizard, dragonfly and
the shelter dispute.
(1) Blue-tongued lizard built a grass
shelter as protection against the rain.
Dragonfly, jealous of the shelter,
covered blue-tongued lizard with
burning wood and debris. The two
fought. - Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 199.
1590.Cockle shell and hawk bill turtles
dispute,
(1) The cockle shell who lived in the
mangrove mud argued with the hawk bill
turtles who wished to make their home
there too. The turtles were sent away
and went into deep water. Otherwise,
people hunting for shell fish would today
find turtles in the mud. Shell fish and
crab call each other "head in the mud". ó
Murgin: Warner 1938, 532.
1595.Emu bush man and pigeon coast
man.
(1) Emu man who lived in the bush and
pigeon man who lived on the seacoast
were enemies. They fought. Emu's arms
were cut by a boomerang and now he
cannot fly, and dark headed inland
people traditionally fight fair headed
costal people. - Unidentified: Bates in
Wilson (ed.) 1972, 72-73.
1640.Magpie and the dog's skin.
(1) A black magpie cooked a dog and
carried it over his shoulder. Skin was
burned white. Markings. ó Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 24.
1645.The mountain moving.
(1) A patrician of snakes, opossum,
flying fox, rats moved a mountain to its
present position. In moving they got
various characteristics: opossum a
crooked back; crabs, broken backs and
prone position; flying foxes, upside-
down habits. ó Worora: Lucich 1969,
76ó78.
1650.The marsupial race.
(1) Marsupials had a race up a tree;
porcupine was pulled down and thrown
into a prickly bush, rasptailed rat pulled
down by his tail. -Worora: Lucich 1969,
70-72.
1665.Native cat, bat and the wagtail
wives.
(1) A. Native cat man pretended he had
cut his foot and stole back to the camp to
have intercourse with two willy-wagtail
women, wives of his uncle, the bat.
Suspicious, bat lured the cat man into a
tree on the pretext of searching for
honey, closed the hole magically and
chopped the cat (making markings).
B. Bat took his dogs (ants) and killed his
wives (tails now stand at broken
angles), hung their breasts and pudenda
as a necklace concealed with an
opossum rug. He asked his father-in-law
for a new wife and was tricked into
playing a game during which brown
hawk cut the necklace to the ground. Bat
escaped. Later bower bird gathered the
girls' bones and stolen parts, magically
sang them alive. Variant: bodies not
revived, bat killed in fire. - Narran:
Bates 1897a, 57-61. Wirraidyuri,
Wongaibon: Mathews 1905, 177-181.
1670.The emu wife.
(1) While the wildcat hunted at night,
ringed-tailed opossum began to visit his
lonely wife, emu, at length appearing
with courting clay on head and chest.
Suspicious, wildcat smelled the visitor
and moved camp, his wife marking the
trail with dropped feathers. Twice
opossum embraced emu leaving on her
the clay which she disguised with ashes.
Cat surprised them: emu was forced to
build a large fire into which her husband
pushed her, and opossum fell from his
tree. Emu is a dark patch in the Milky
Way; cat, cross and cunning, ran into the
woods. Variant: opossum courted wild
cat's two wives, emu and turkey; they fed
him seed meal; wives were burned,
turkey became Southern Cross; cat and
opossum fought getting characteristic
markings. ó Esperance Bay: Hassel
1934, 338-339. Wheelman: Hassel
1934, 335-338.
(2) Wild cat, desiring emu's wife, led the
pair along, promising them good feeding
grounds. Angry at delay, cat insulted the
emu man and killed him. Wild cat made
his new emu wife grind seeds constantly
so he could hear her, opossum visited
her, and she fed him. A ceremony was
Scheduled to which opossum was not
invited by wild cat, but in his absence
opossum in his courting clay embraced
emu. In a general fight cat got
characteristic marks from magpies,
ringed-neck parrots had heads driven
into the meal, emu's breast feathers torn.
Now opossum has courting paint always
on his face. - Wheelman: Hassel 1935,
125-132.
(3) Emu tried to leave her wild cat
husband, each time being prevented.
Their camp caught fire as they fought,
emu blown to the sky as dark spot in
Milky Way, cat has burn scar. - Port
Hedland: Hassell 1934, 339.
(4) While native cat hunted, wombat
copulated with cat's emu wife. Emu
confessed, she was ordered to build a
big fire and cat flung her into it. Emu
now has small wings and cannot fly, and
cat ran into a hole. He fought later with
the wombat and both got characteristic
markings and shapes. - Unidentified:
Bates in Wilson (ed.) 1972, 59-61.
(5) As eagle hunted and his emu wife sat
on her eggs, opossum visited and
persuaded her to run about with him.
Finding her eggs growing cold, emu
began to refuse his advances; opossum
broke all the eggs. Eagle beat the
intruder, couple reconciled. Emus lay
eggs away from trees. - Wheelman:
Hassell 1935, 137-142.
1680.Eagle hawk's wives.
(1) Eagle hawk's wives, water snake
woman and parrot woman, cooked a
wallaby he had hunted. The wallaby left
the fire, copulated with the women.
Eagle hawk returned to find two children
in camp who resembled wallabies and
accused his wives who protested
innocence. The boys frightened birds
while hunting, and hawk burned them in
a hole (making their coloring). Wives
were distraught: one cried and became a
water snake, other chattered and became
a parrot. Variant: The women leave eel
husbands for eagle hawk; he stuffs
roasted boys to resemble opossums and
hangs them on tree; women set fire to his
nest. Snake now pokes nose from water
to get news from parrot who searches
trees for children. ó Queensland: Roth
1897, 13 ó 14.
1695.The porcupine man.
(1) The porcupine man repeatedly
whistled at a girl (lecherously) and her
tribesmen speared him; native doctor
turned him into porcupine. - Karrag:
Holmer 1969, 32-33.
1700.The porcupine mother.
(1) The ancestral porcupine mother
habitually stayed out all night claiming
to hunt for red ants and neglecting her
babies. Her brothers, suspicious of such
nocturnal absence, speared her. Now has
spines. -Kokorarmul: Roth 1903b, 15.
1715.Marsupial mole man and the
boomerang.
(1) Man, instead of hunting, left camp
and spent the day hitting himself all over
with his boomerang. Wives followed
him, told him to stop. He dived into hole
in ground. Now is the marsupial mole -
blind, short arms and legs, lives
underground. ó Mandjildjara: Berndt
1978, 83.
1720.Eaglehawk wounds himself.
(1) Pigeon wives of eaglehawk followed
him, suspicious of the heavy fights he
claimed to have undergone during his
wanderings which he proved by head
and leg wounds. They saw his camps
faked by grass fires, head wounds made
by his own returning boomerang, leg
wounds by own spears. Angry, he turned
them into pigeons and himself into
eaglehawk. Ground now red from his
blood, his neck feathers red. -Yaoro:
Worms 1944, 295.
(2) Hawk man stabbed himself with
spears and told his wife he had been
attacked by men. The third time she
followed him. Warned by a glimpse of
her dogs, he ran and became a hawk,
calling. She became a crow and flew
after him, calling. - Worora: Lucich
1969, 58ó63-
1725.The curlew's legs.
(1) Young curlew hunted for his hawk
mother and other women of the camp.
Unsuccesful in the hunt, he repeatedly
cut flesh from his leg which the women
cooked and ate. Feeling ill, they spied
on him, then beat him on his bleeding
legs. Was told his legs would be long,
red, fleshless and would cry "Oh my
poor legs". - Narran: Parker 1898b, 70-
72.
1735.Native bear and kangaroo's tail.
(1) Native bear and whip-tailed
kangaroo once both possessed tails. One
day as native bear bent to drink,
kangaroo cut off his tail -Tarumbal: Roth
1903b, 15.
1740.Frog and goanna.
(1) The frog and goanna were friends.
Irresponsibly, the frog attempted to kill
goanna by driving him into a waterhole
and poisoning the water with bark.
Goanna escaped by digging a hole in the
pond's bottom and burrowing into the
mud. - Kokorarmul: Roth 1903b, 12.
1745.Bush kangaroo's coat.
(1) The bush kangaroo laid his thick
warm cloak on the ground when he
climbed a tree to feed. His uncle, the
kangaroo, stole the cloak and hopped
away using his tail to assist. The bush
kangaroo slid down the tree, bending his
legs, and gave unsucessful chase. Now
bush kangaroo has bent legs and thin
coat, the kangaroo thick short fur and
uses his tail to hop. - Wheelman: Hassell
1934, 247-248.
(2) Emu stole the thick fur cloak of the
bush kangaroo. Now emu has fine
feathers, being a mixture of feathers and
bush kangaroo's fur. -Wheelman: Hassel
1934, 248.
1770.Fish and kangaroo multiplied.
(1) Nurundere and Nepelle (creator
heroes) together pursued a great fish.
Nepelle caught it and Nurundere tore it
in pieces, scattering the fragments in the
water. Each became a kind of fish:
ponde, tarke, tukkeri. - Nurrinyeri:
Taplin in Woods 1879, 56.
(2) Pungngane (creator hero) caught a
ponde fish, divided it into pieces and
threw them into the sea. Each became a
ponde. Waijungngari (creator hero)
multiplied kangaroo in the same fashion.
- Encounter Bay Tribe: Meyer in Woods,
1879, 202.
(3) Wyungare (creator hero) was a great
kangaroo hunter who took a gigantic
kangaroo and tore it in pieces, thus
making the smaller kangaroos of today. -
Narrinyeri: Taplin in Woods 1879, 57.
1775.Goanna multiplied.
(1) An ancestor of man caught and
cooked a fine goanna. He cut it up and
threw the pieces in all directions. A
goanna grew each piece. -Koko-warra:
Roth 1903b, 12.
1800.Birral and fire from the sun.
(1) After Birral placed people on earth
they asked where they could get warmth
in the day and fire at night. He sent them
to the hole where the sun went in. From
here they knocked off a piece of fire. -
Jindjiparndi, Maryborough Tribes:
Howitt 1904, 238.
1805.The man and the string to the sky.
(1) A man threw a spear with a string
attached to the sky, climbed up and
brought fire from the sun to earth. Later
all people went to the sky by this string.
From bat, who alone remained on the
earth, all peoples are descended. Crow
sent the first rain. - Lake Condah: Smyth
1878, 462.
1820.The giant euro.
(1) A man of the euro totem pursued a
giant euro which carried fire in its body.
Unable to make fire with his tjurunga
(sacred object), he stole fire from the
euro and cooked another he had hunted.
He then killed the giant euro, cut open its
penis and found fire inside. Lived on
euro for a long time, and later rekindled
the fire with special fire chants. -Arunta:
Spencer and Gillen 1899, 446.
1835.Old man Lomobor.
(1) An old man (Lomobor) gave the first
firestick to women, the first fire saw and
fire grater to men. - Bad: Worms 1940,
469-470; Worms 1944, 290.
(2) An old man (Lomobor) gave fire to a
girl whom he then married. -Njol-Njol:
Worms 1950, 148.
1840.Bat invents the firestick.
(1) When the old wallaby woman's fire
went out the bat couldn't see what he
was doing and so had to try various
kinds of wood until he discovered the
proper one for firesticks. - Pennefather
River: Roth 1903b, 11.
(2) Bat man lived in a time when there
were no sexes. He made himself a man,
one other a woman. Bat made fire by
rubbing a stick on a log. ó Wotjobaluk:
Howitt 1904, 485.
1845.The hawk men, the firesticks and
the conflagration. See also 65.
(1) A black eagle hawk man who had
learned to make fire with rubbing sticks
covered his fire with his wings to
prevent a white eagle hawk man from
giving fire to his own moiety. While they
disputed, a grass fire set alight the tall
pine tree up and down which people
then moved between the sky and earth.
The people above had to remain there.
Black hawk died where he made fire;
fire spread, white hawk man gave sticks
to his group. - Mara: Spencer and Gillen
1969, 621-622.
(2) Two hawk men (Warapulapula and
Kirkalanji) came out of the ground and
performed sacred ceremonies.
Warapulapula decided they should make
fire and walk in the smoke. They made
firesticks and set the country on fire.
Kirkalanji died from burns. Variant:
Warapulapula wandered to Queensland,
followed by bandicoot women. -
Warramunga: Spencer 1967, 470;
Spencer and Gillen 1969, 619-620.
1850.The cat brothers and the firesticks.
(1) Two native cat brothers were
wandering over the country and decided
to make fire. The younger suggested
twirling, the elder said rubbing was
better. Younger burnt his hands on the
firesticks. -Warramunga: Spencer and
Gillen 1969, 620.
1855.The moiety fire.
(1) One moiety did not have fire and
was cold. The other moiety gave them
fire. - Warramunga: Spencer and Gillen
1969, 212-214.
I860. Two star hero.
(1) Two men threw fire like a star form a
hilltop. At first fearful, men later used
fire. A stingray killed two women. The
strangers killed the stingray, placed
women near a fire and put blue ants on
their breasts. Revived by the ants' bites,
the women and the men rose to the sky.
The men are Castor and Pollux, the
women two stars near them. - Oyster
Bay Tribe, Tasmania: Robinson 1968,
95-96; Smyth 1878,461-462.
(2) Two men threw fire. People all stood
around. ó Brune, Tasmania: Plomley
1966, 567.
(3) Two stars in the Milky Way
(Pul.len.ner or Porm.pen.er) gave fire to
man and made rivers. - Cape Portland,
Tasmania: Plomley 1966, 464.
(4) Parpeder (Pormpener), two stars in
the Milky Way, rubbed their hands
together, lightning fired the trees, man
got fire. - Brune: Plomley 1966, 399,
568, 837.
1865.Chicken hawk and the firesticks.
(1) Chicken hawk alone had fire which
he made by flapping his wings. Since
people could never reach the bush fires
before the flames extinguished, he took
pity and put fire into trees and instructed
man in the manufacture of firesticks.
Unidentified: Bates in Wilson (ed.)
1972, 25-27.
1870.Kingfisher, the firesticks and the
fire myth.
(1) The kingfisher possessed fire while
people ate their fish raw. They had seen
charcoal stream from his head as he
dived for food while on a visit to him
and when they asked for fire, he gave
firesticks to the women, fire myth to the
men. - Djaberdjaber: Worms 1950, 149;
Worms 1940, 268-269; Worms and
Nekes 1953, 985-990.
1875.Wren and the firesticks.
(1) The wren went to the sky and brought
back fire hidden under his tail. He
suggested a friend try various woods to
make firesticks. Succeeded only in
making hands sore. Where he saw fire
under the wren's tail he laughed and
wren showed him the proper wood.
Wren now has a red back. - Cape
Grafton: Roth 1903b, 11.
1880.Crocodile, frill-necked lizard and
the firedrills.
(1) The crocodile repeatedly tried to
make fire but broke the drills and made
his hands bleed. Frill-necked lizard (his
sister's son) showed him how to hold the
sticks properly. Now men know which
are proper trees and methods. - Murngin:
Warner 1937, 519-520.
1885.Crocodile man makes the first fire.
(1) Crocodile man made fire for the first
time during a nara ritual. He blew the
fire around and it went underground and
out to sea where it still burns under
sacred rocks. When the fire started he
burned his arms and changed into a
crocodile. - Mararlba: Groger-Wurm
1973, 81-83.
Item 1885 (1) is sacred version.
Following is the "outside" or camp
version.
(2) The crocodile man married blue-
tongued lizard who refused him roasted
shellfish. He pushed her into the fire
and, arms and legs burned, she changed
herself into the lizard and hid in a tree
hole. When her clan threw coals on
crocodile man's back he jumped into the
water and changed to a crocodile. Scars
are still visible. Totemic place. -
Gumaidj: Groger-Wurm 1973, 83-
1890.Crocodile men invent firesticks.
(1) Long ago when only women knew
how to make fire, two men went hunting
with their mothers. While the men hunted
birds, the women collected food, cooked
and ate it themselves. At the men's
approach (warned by the plover) the
women hid the glowing ashes in their
vulvas. Second day men questioned why
it was that lily bulbs could cook in the
sun but their meat got rotten. Men left
and discovered how to make firesticks.
Decided to become the first crocodiles
and constructed model crocodile heads,
pierced their lungs to breath and played
in the water. The crocodile men dragged
the women under water, then on the bank
and asked them why they had lied.
Women were dead. Men threw away
weapons and tools and became real
crocodiles. - Kakadu: Spencer 1914,
305-308.
189 5. The old woman and the firesticks.
(1) Lightning set a grass fire partly
cooking some kangaroo carcasses.
Liking the cooked food, people sent an
old woman to secure more fire from
where it still burned on the plains. She
was made its guardian. When the fire
was extinguished by rain, the woman
wandered to find more. At length, in
anger, she rubbed two sticks together
and took the kindled fire to the people. -
Kulkadone: Urquhart 1884, 87-88.
1905.Sparrow hawk and turtle's fire.
(1) Only turtle man had fire. Sparrow
hawk stole it and burned grass and
wood. Now fire is in wood, and man
kindles it with rubbing sticks. -
Springsure Queensland: Biddulph 1900,
225.
1910.Wag-tail and owl's fire.
(1) The wag-tail stole owl's fire and
flew to his own island setting the bush
on fire. When the owl challenged the
thief, the wag-tail had made a crocodile
and together they won the fight. Wag-
tails now often seen with crocodiles. -
Kok-warra: Roth 1903b, 12.
1915.• ire-tailed finch and other crows'
fires tick.
(1) Fire-tailed finch stole a firestick
from the crows as they played at
throwing them about and carried it away
under his tail. He tossed the lighted
brand to the kestrel hawk who dropped
it, setting the bush on fire. Now people
have fire. - Mara: Massola 1968, 35-36.
Western District: Dawson 1871, 54.
1920.The shore bird men and
"Fireman's" fire.
(1) Two shore bird men stole fire from
an old man making three deep inlets as
they fled. "Fireman" chased them but
was stopped by the obstacles and man
got fire. - Bad: Worms 1950, 145-148.
1925.Bird, crow and the man who
invented firesticks.
(1) A man who invented firesticks
refused them to a small bird who stole a
torch, ran upstream setting fire to the
grass, and chased by crow. The man
sank into the river bank holding a
burning forked stick, rose bubbling in the
river in his totemic spot. Men get
firesticks there now. - Mungkan:
McConnel 1957, 62-65.
1930.Hawk, pigeon and the hidden fire.
(1) An old woman kept fire hidden in
holes scooped in the sand. When hawk
and blue pigeon asked to share the fire,
she hid it in her armpits. Aloft, they
watched her scoop the sand, then
swooped, speared her and stole fire. -
Narran: Bates in Wilson (ed.) 1972, 42-
43.
(2) Bandicoot kept fire hidden in a nut
and claimed he cooked his food in the
sun. Pigeon and sparrowhawk were sent
to spy, and sparrowhawk snatched fire,
setting the bush alight. Now all trees
contain fire. ó Esperance Bay: Mathews
1909, 341ó342.
(3) Moon kept fire hidden in his tail.
Pigeon and his nephew sparrow-hawk
stole it as he sat in his hut. Pigeon put
fire into the trees as he ran, but the cold,
angry moon caused a great flood. ó
Unidentified: Bates in Wilson (ed.)
1972, 19-20.
1935.Emu, chicken hawks and the
women's fire.
(1) When a young woman asked her
grandmother to lift up the Milky Way so
she might see it, goanna told them to
place it on the ground so others would
not see it. Emu watched, stole their fire
and flew to the river with fire under his
wings. Chicken hawks retrieved the fire,
setting the grass alight. Women became
stone, burned emu has small wings. ó
Ngalagan, Nunggubuyu: Maddoek 1975,
122 (cites variants).
1940.Whale man and the ceremonial
invitation.
(1) A large and powerful man, Kondole
the whale man, alone possessed fire.
Men invited him to a feast so they might
steal fire and hold ceremonies at night.
He hid his fire, and in an ensuing fight
was wounded in the neck: turned into the
whale. Others laughed and turned into
birds and fish. A man placed fire in the
grass tree now used for firesticks. -
Encounter Bay: Meyer in Smyth 1878,
461. South Australia: Mountford and
Roberts 1972, 40.
1945.Cockatoo man and the ceremonial
invitation.
(1) The cockatoo man concealed fire on
his head. People invited him to a
ceremony and offered him a kangaroo of
which he took only the skin. Seeing him
take fire from his head, red-breast
snatched a brand, grass was set on fire
and in the ensuing fight the people turned
into whales and various birds. -
Booandik: Smith 1880, 19-21.
(2) Other cockatoos invited the cockatoo
owner of fire to share a kangaroo, then
watched as he made fire. Small cockatoo
stole a lighted stick. Angry cockatoo
owner set fire to the country, and musk
duck shook his wings making water that
fills lakes and swamps. ó Booandik:
Fraser, J. G. 1930, 10-11 (quoting Smith
The Booandik Tribe, Adelaide 1880, 21
sq).
1950.Feigned friendship and the stolen
fire.
(1) Cockatoo alone had fire, kept on the
top of his head. Crow, pigeon, tried to
steal it and failed. Then sparrow hawk
feigned friendship and promised to
guard the fire while cockatoo slept.
Sparrow hawk threw the fire about and
man obtained it; cockatoo has
characteristic markings. - Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 10-11.
(2) Two old women possessed fire
which they would not share. A man
feigned friendship with them and stole a
firestick. He became a small bird with a
red mark over his tail, sometimes
identified as Fire-tailed Finch whose
name means "shoot-out-fire". ó
Gippsland: Smyth 1878, 458. Kurnai:
Massola 1968, 81.
(3) Fire obtained from fire-tailed finch.
ó Bangerang, Brabrolung: Bulmer 1887
(3), 548.
1955.Dog and the unsuccessful fire theft.
(1) Little chicken hawk, big hawk and
dog camped together. Repeatedly
breaking his firesticks, dog twice tried
to steal women's fire but they saw him
approach. Chicken hawk stole a brand,
dropped charcoal making natural
features. Dog had already eaten his food
raw: now he cannot talk as chicken
hawks can. ó Nguluwongga: Berndt and
Berndt 1977, 334-335.
I960. The spirit and the fire theft.
(1) Bowkan was angry because people
would not share their fish with him and
took their fire away. The women failed
to catch him- but crow tossed a black
snake and Bowkan dropped the fire.
Women retrieved it. - Kurnai: Massola
1968, 78-79- Victoria: Smyth 1878,
478-479.
1965.The brothers and the spirits' fire.
(1) The weather was wet and women
refused to make fires to keep evil spirits
(Jannock) away, ridiculing them at the
same time. Although the men tried to
keep fires alight, they failed, and food
had to be eaten raw or sun-cooked. Two
very big brothers went to a mountain to
get fire from the spirits. As they moved
from range to range they threw their
large boomerangs in each direction, until
at last the boomerangs returned with
successively stronger odors of smoke.
From a large hole in the middle of a
mountain they stole the spirits' fire
leaving kangaroo, opossum, turkey,
crayfish at compass points for the
spirits. Blocked hole with stones to
prevent spirits from following. ó
Wheelman: Hassel 1934, 244-247.
1970.Crow and the Pleiades' digging
sticks. See also 280.
(1) The woman Kar-ak-ar-ook (now one
of Pleiades) kept fire in the end of her
yamstick and would not share. Crow
man suggested that she dig ant eggs in an
anthill in which he had concealed a
number of snakes. As she dug up the
snakes, he instructed her to kill them
with her stick. Fire fell out and crow
stole it. Crow would not share fire and
kept the best cooked food for himself.
Pund-gel (creator) made men speak
angrily to crow, frightening him into
throwing fire at them. Crow man was
burned and became a crow; Pund-gel's
two young men (who had burned crow)
became rocks. - Yarra Tribes: Smyth
1878, 459-
(2) Five young women, the Karatgurk,
(now Pleiades) had live coals at the end
of their digging sticks. Crow hid snakes
in anthill, told fire owners to kill snakes,
stole fire as it fell. Bunjil asked for fire
to cook opossum; crow cooked an
opossum himself and threw the hot
animal to
Bunjil who tried to blow it aflame
unsuccessfully. Crow threw fire about,
and the fire-tailed finch hid some under
his tail (now red). Crow was burned,
became bird. ó Woiwurong: Massola
1968: 52 ó 53.
(3) Two women fought snakes with their
digging sticks and fire came out as they
broke. Crow stole the fire and two young
men flew after him causing fire to drop
and set country afire. Bunjil warned man
not to lose fire. Fire was lost, cold came
and snakes multiplied. The woman
Karakarook came from the sky and
killed snakes with her digging stick.
Again fire came out, crow stole it and
the two young men retrieved it. Then (1)
one burned to death and went to the sky,
other went home or (2) one returned to
sky (or burned to death) and other taught
the use of firesticks and went to sky. ó
Bunurong: Massola 1968, 50 ó 52. River
Yarra: Smyth 1878, 450-460.
(4) At creation a number of unidentified
young men sat on the ground in darkness.
Pundjil, at request of his daughter
Karakarok, had the sun warm the earth,
("open it like a door"). She came to
earth to kill snakes, fire came from
broken staff and crow stole it.
Karakarok restored fire. Jupiter is
Pundjil's fire. ó Western Port: Riddley
1873, 278.
(5) Crow stole fire from young women
who carried it in their yam sticks. Sticks
broke when used to kill snakes; fire
spilled. Bunjil told the musk-crow to let
loose whirlwinds from his bag. These
carried the girls into the sky as the
Pleiades, and the lights of the stars are
fire at the end of their yam sticks. ó
Wurunjerri: Howitt 1904, 430.
1975.Provoked laughter and the theft of
fire.
(1) Only crow had fire. People, who ate
food raw, were suspicious because he
never had blood around his mouth. They
invited him to a dance where a number
of comical dancers tried to distract him,
but failed. Shingle-back and sleepy-
lizard sang an obscene song (not
translated) and danced with ordure
running down their legs. Crow was
distracted by this humor, and sparrow-
hawk stole the fire-containing bag. In the
chase, fire escaped and crow, trying to
extinguish the flames, was burned black
with white rings about the eyes. ó
Kamilaroi: Mathews 1908, 304-305.
(2) Crane discovered how to make
firesticks and his wife, kangaroo rat,
how to kindle the spark. Night owl and
parrot were sent to spy, and the couple
were then invited to a dance. Humorous
dancing did not distract the fire
possessors until the bralghas danced
grotesquely and hawk (until now
feigning illness) stole the firesticks.
Grass set afire. ó Noongahburrah:
Parker 1896, 24-26.
(3) Two old women, kangaroo-rat and
bronze-wing pigeon, kept fire in a nut.
They were invited to dance so fire might
be stolen. Black cockatoo danced with,
bowel protruding, ordure and blood
running down his leg. As the women
convulsed with laughter, sparrow-hawk
stole the nut in its bag and magically
sang a whirlwind to spread the fire. He
put fire into all trees for firesticks.
Cockatoo has red stains under tail and
sparrow-hawk a rusty appearance. ó
Wongaibon: Mathews 1905. 149-152.
(4) Only the death adder had fire which
he would not share. All birds attempted
to get some and failed. Small hawk's
antics then provoked adder's laughter
and fire escaped. ó Kabikabi,
Wakawaka: Mathews 1910, 186.
1980.Tickling and the theft of fire.
(1) Jackass (bird) kept fire in his beak
and would not share. Sparrow-hawk
tickled him until his beak opened and
fire was spread through the land. At first
he was angry; now he laughs at the
memory. - Wotjobaluk: Massola 1968,
10.
2000.The scrub turkey man and the
stolen fires tick.
(1) The scrub turkey man stole the
firestick of the people. As he travelled
he danced and sang making his pursuers
helpless with laughter. Seeing his sick
brother camped on the far shore of a
lake, scrub turkey man walked into the
water with the stick on his head. Two
hawk men lifted him by the stick, threw
him on shore and flew away setting fire
to the grass. ó Pitjantjara: Robinson
1968, 99ó103-Pitjendadjara: Mountford
1964, 49-53-
(2) Variant told about the Two Brothers
(wati pula kutjara). ó Pitjantjatara:
Glass and Hackett 1969, 6ó19.
(3) When a man and woman who
guarded the fire were killed by enemies
from the north, their child fled with the
firestick, carried a great distance by a
whirlwind. He grew up alone. When his
elder brother tracked him to get fire for
the people, the younger became a turkey,
fled with the stick and refused to share
with any. Brown hawk and kestrel
chased him and as he walked into the
sea, kestrel snatched the stick.
Waterholes now turkey's home, red
stones in cave mark where he sat on the
firestick. ó Pitjantjatjara: Hilliard 1968,
124.
2005.Alligator (crocodile), parrot and
the stolen firesticks.
(1) Alligator was making waterholes
and attempted to take fire with him, but
blue mountain parrot took the firesticks
and flew away. A medicine man saw
these birds sitting around their fire, stole
the firesticks and birds flew, dropping
fire. ó Forrest River Tribes: Kaberry
1934, 435 (quotes variant from Elkin
field notes 435n). Oenpelli: Mountford
1956, 216 (variant).
(2) Alligator only possessed the
firestick. Parrot stole the firestick and
gave them to the "doctors" and man. ó
Drysdale River Tribes: Hernandez 1961,
126.
(3) A wandjina (spirit) had a rock cod
and was carrying wood for a fire.
Parrots twirled their firesticks, and the
fire fell near a crocodile who grabbed it
and swam away. The parrot swooped
and snatched the fire. They made fire
and cooked the cod; parrots' wings are
red. ó Worora: Lucich 1968, 80-82.
2010.Rainbow man and the stolen
firesticks.
(1) As bat man and rainbow man
celebrated with others their large catch
of fish, the old rainbow man became
tired of playing the drone tube and
jumped toward the sea with the
firesticks. Crab man speared him through
the wrist, bat man seized the firestick
and threw it into pandanus leaves saving
fire for man. Crab went into the swamp,
bat into the trees, rainbow into the sky. ó
Unidentified: Mountford and Roberts
1972, 52.
2015.Willy-wagtail and the stolen
firestick.
(1) Willy-wagtail looked after the
children while others hunted but, angry
because food was not shared with him,
he put the children in a hole and set fire
to ground, killing them. Taking the only
firestick, he ran to the sea where the
collared sparrow hawk ('' fire maker")
snatcher the stick at the water's edge. ó
Jindjiparndi, Ngarluma: Von
Brandenstein 1970, 278-284.
2020.Bandicoot, sparrow hawk and
pigeon's beard.
(1) Bandicoot refused to share fire
which he kept hidden under his tail.
Sparrowhawk and his cousin, pigeon,
pushed him to the sea (his uncle). As he
tossed the fire to the sea, a spark set fire
to pigeon's beard and fire was put into
all trees for man. ó Unidentified: Bates
in Wilson (ed.) 1972, 90-93; Smyth
1878, 460-461.
2025.Cuttlefish, wedge-tailed eagle, and
the stolen firestick.
(1) While the hawks and crows hunted,
the cuttlefish stole a lighted firestick
from the blind bustard man in whose
charge it had been left. Crows and
sparrow-hawks failed to catch him, but a
chicken-hawk found the thief in the salt
water holding the lighted stick out of the
water. He micturated in fright making the
sea salty. The hawk's spears
extinguished the firestick. Now cuttlefish
remains in the sea, and wedge-tailed
eagle taught people manufacture of
firesticks. ó Karadjeri, Northern:
Piddington 1932b, 52.
2030.Mulmul and the fish man.
(1) The sole possessor of fire, a man
named Mulmul, travelled about kindling
fires for people. He refused fire to the
fish man, saying that if fire went into the
water people would never have it again.
Fish man, through deceptive friendliness
stole the fire and, putting the coal on his
head, walked into the sea. Mulmul saved
the fire and put it into the trees for
people's firesticks. ó Nguluwongga:
Bozic 1972, 87ó91.
Following item is a variant in which fire
is successfully taken under water.
2040.The fish peoples' fire.
(1) While fish people camped on a river
their fire was extinguished by a storm.
An old yellow-belly asked his various
fish children to rekindle fire, but only
cod-fish succeeded. As the fire flared
up, all stepped back and fell into
theriver. Fire went with them and
continued to burn under water; the
people remained as fish, keeping warm.
So it is warmer in water than on land on
a cloudy day. - Kamilaroi: Mathews
1909, 224-226.
2060.The seagull men.
(1) An old seagull man (muramura,
ancestral being) who lived with his dogs
on the seashore and ate his fish raw was
visited by another who had a burning
log. This man built a fire and cooked his
fish, then stuck a cooked fish in seagull
man's mouth and stuck his nose into the
fire to introduce him to fish cooking.
Seagulls now have characteristic marks.
Gull sent a strong wind blowing water
and fish out of a lake; fish lay sorted into
species, now are rocks. Briefer version
collected as a song.
- Dieri: Siebert 1910, 46-47.
2065.Emu, plain turkey, and the
conflagration.
(1) Emu taught his wife, the plain turkey,
how to use fire. When he dug a sleeping
hole in the sand and asked her to cover
him with warm sand, she accidentally
burned his wings with ash. Later
building a large fire she caused a
conflagration, climbed to tree, changed
to the bird and flew away. Emu man
changed to the bird and ran to escape the
flames.
- Nguluwongga: Bozic 1972, 57-59.
2070.Bat and cod fish's fire.
(1) Cod fish alone had fire which he
shared with water rat in exchange for
camp services. Bat and other ancient
people sent hawk who, on the third
attempt, sent a whirlwind which
scattered the fire. Bat hid some fire in
tree clefts and was laughed at until a
flood extinguished all the fires and he
produced firesticks. Variant: cod fish
made rain magic when fire spread and
flood ensued. Bat and small sister were
given shelter in cod's hut when he
discovered they had saved fire in the
trees.
- New South Wales: Parker 1930, 46-49.
Southeast: Massola 1968, 98. Wathi-
Wathi: Cameron 1885, 46-47, 368.
2085.The inland fire owners and the
shore water owners.
(1) The wedge-tailed eagle man who
lived inland refused to share fire with
the red-backed sea eagle man and the
white-breasted sea eagle man who lived
on the shore. When he sent the blue-
tongued lizard man to ask the shore men
for water, they twice sent him urine of
the hawk men. Then, sick from eating
raw fish, they seized lizard man's
firesticks, shared water with him and
camped peacefully. Wedge-tailed eagle
man treacherously killed the white-
breasted sea eagle man who turned into
the bird and flew to sea. The remaining
two men fought.
Hooked together by spears stuck through
their feet, both became birds and flew to
their proper territories. ó Murinbata:
Robinson 1956, 24-25.
2090.The inland water owners and the
shore fire owners.
(1) The Wierdi who lived on the shore
had fire but no water. People who lived
in the scrub had water but no fire. The
groups shared and lived peacefully. -
Wierdi: Kelly 1935, 465.
2200.The mountain refuge.
(1) A deluge covered the earth, and men
(then being big and strong) carried great
rocks to high places forming bases for
houses. Animals who swam to the men
were eaten raw. The surviving men
moved to a mountain without weapons
or tools. When the water receded,
kangaroos, emus and men moved to the
ground, wallabies stayed behind. New
features had been made: lakes formed
where women had dug for yams, rivers
ran salty from the waters, dropped rocks
became mountains, lost spears and
throwing sticks became trees bushes.
Nothing was as plentiful as before. ó
Wheelman: Hassel 1934, 242-244.
(2) When "all things were men", water
covered the earth and the stone curlew
man (father of the bird men) turned to a
bird and led men to a mountain top. The
king quail man opposed his power. Men
built a wall of stones to stop the flood,
killed and ate men turned into snakes,
animals as they swam to them. Three
times the stone curlew man sent pairs of
bird men to find land. They were
unsuccessful. He then cut off the first
joint of the first finger of a boy's left
hand; blood ran into the water and the
flood receded. Birds brought back
branches and bark. Stone curlew man
flew away and became a star close to
the moon. Bird men changed into various
birds and flew to their countries.
Murinbata: Robinson 1956, 16-18;
Robinson 1968, 84-90.
(3) Bund-jel (creator) was angry at men
for disobedience and so urinated on
earth drowning all but a few whom he
placed in the sky. One man and woman
climbed a tall tree on a mountain. These
became ni-i-,trpnirr>rs nf all living men.
ó Victoria: Smyth 1878, 429.
2215.The juice flood.
(1) The totemic ancestress of the native
orange were drowned by a flood of juice
squeezed from the fruit. Fruit now seen
as stones at totemic spot. - Northern
Aranda: Sterhlow 1971, 292.
(2) The ancestral bird of mulga sugar
made cakes or dissolved the sugar in
water. The vessel containig the juice
overturned and, together with juice
dripping from the branches of his
windbreak, the flood drowned him. -
Northern Aranda: Strehlow 1971, 290-
292.
2220. The two men and the skin
container.
(1) Two men (Wati Kutjara) came from
the northwest. The elder was a skilled
hunter, the younger rather lazy. The
younger found the elder's kangaroo skin
water container, drank and spilled water.
A flood ensued. The two men escaped
back to their home. Later went to the sky
as the two Gemini. ó Antakirinja: Berndt
1971, 12 ó 13.
(2) Ancestral beings wandered from the
northest. No-water-man sneaked a drink
from the skin container of water-man,
spilled some, and a flood ensued. A
group of men, the Watibulka, came from
the northwest and built a barrier (the
coast) to stop the water. No-water-man
was caught in the flood and he and his
descendants became fish. Water-man
escaped over the barrier and his
descendants are humans. ó Pitjandjara:
Berndt 1971, 13.
(3) One of two men (Wadi Gudjara)
poked a hole in the skin water container
of the other, causing a flood which
drowned them both and formed the sea.
Many kinds of birds, all female, flew
with kurrajong roots to build a barrier
against the flood of the sea. Kurrajong
now provides water in its roots; women
are collectively the Minmara, associated
with Njirana. ó Bidjandjara: Berndt
1964, 340.
2221. (4) The boys and the magic
bucket.
Small boys playing with spears
punctured a magic bucket loosing a flood
which drowned all. Bunjil (creator hero)
placed rocks to control the flow. - Kulin:
Massola 1968, 47-48.
2235.The roasted serpent's egg (s).
(1) Two men found several eggs of the
snake Bur-o-o-lo where she had laid
them. When they roasted and ate them the
snake went high into the sky and formed
a small black cloud. The cloud grew
until it covered the sky and heavy
thunder and lightning (like snake's
tongue) knocked down the men's bark
houses. ó Murgin: Warner 1938, 541.
(2) Once people found and roasted a
gigantic egg of the Rainbow Serpent
causing a great flood. A sorcerer
changed the people into ducks. - Bad:
Nekes and Worms 1953, 1014.
Numanbor: Worms 1944, 288; Worms
1940, 249.
2245.Willy-wagtail and the waterhole.
(1) Before there was a sea, the willy-
wagtail returned to find people settled in
his camp in fertile land. Angry, he
refused their offer of cooked fish and
thrust his spear into the middle of a
waterhole creating a flood which
drowned the humans. Carpet snake
emerged from the ground, his movements
making rivers and creeks. The water
rushed to the edge of the world and
became the sea. ó Unidentified: Bates in
Wilson (ed.) 1972, 23-24. Northwest
Australia: Bates 1929, 4.
2250.The deserted woman and the sea
fountain.
(1) A woman, angry at being deserted on
an island, floated by log to an island
close to the two holes in the ocean from
which flowed the fountain of the sea.
Into these holes she inserted a stick and
the waters drained away. As she cooked
turtles, the sea rushed back flooding all
but the highest peaks. When the tides
returned to normal, people killed her. -
Worora: Lucich 1969, 52-57.
2255.Thrush's storm dance.
(1) People complained about the small
wallaby thrush's catch, saying it didn't
smell good. Thrush danced a storm
which drowned all. When river floods,
thrush is dancing. ó Ya-it-ma-thang:
Massola 1968, 88.
2270.Wallaby, cockroach and the urine
sea.
(1) Wallaby man refused to hunt head
lice for cockroach man. Angry, the
cockroach man urinated in the
freshwater ocean making it salty.
Wallaby man ran into the bush as an
animal. ó Murngin: Warner 1937, 533.
2275.The speared woman and the urine
sea. See also 159.
(1) Two men were spearing fish in the
swamp when one accidentally speared
his mother. She rushed to the sea, her
urine became the salt sea, she a jabiru.
Fishermen became the white-headed sea
eagle, and sea osprey. ó Tiwi:
Mountford 1958, 26.
(2) When the sea was fresh, a man
speared a woman swimming under the
water, mistaking her for a barramundi. In
fright and pain she urinated, making the
sea salty. She became the jabiru and
people must go inland for water. - Tiwi:
Osbourne 1974, 97.
2280.Younger brother and lightning.
(1) The first man and woman (made by
Thunder) had two boys ó a good elder, a
bad younger. The boys destroyed the
bones of a human which were inside a
kangaroo, and Thunder man ordered
them away. The younger resisted and
was struck into the ground by lightning
thus making salt water. His mother,
searching, found the sea which barred
Kokowarra ñ Roth 1903b, 11
2295.Reptiles and the squirted water.
(1) A gigantic swamp gecko lizard with
colored body, hair and whiskers squirts
grass and water into the sky forming
clouds which drop rain. Gecko thunders
his pleasure. ó Groote Eylandt:
Mountford 1956, 77.
(2) Snake (a mate of dollar bird or rain
bird) spits from his waterhole into the
sky making rainbow, rain clouds, rain. ó
Anula: Spencer and Gillen 1969, 314-
315.
2300.Thunder man and the urine rain.
(1) Thunder man climbs a tree, urinates
forming rain clouds. ó Oenpelli:
Mountford 1956, 218. Yirrkalla:
Mountford 1956, 287.
2305.Thunder man, his sons and the rock
cod.
(1) Thunder man transformed the bodies
of his two dead sons into stones, tossed
these into the air to form rain clouds in
which he travels. He speared a rock cod
and let it putrify thus creating more rain
clouds. - Yirrkalla: Mountford 1956,
289; Strehlow 1971, 450.
2315.The totemic rain ancestor.
(1) The totemic rain ancestor unbound a
lock of his hair letting loose a lightning
bolt which killed his travelling son. The
maggots ate the body leaving a dry shell.
When the father sang a heavy rain, the
maggots returned to the body making it
firm, and as the rain poured underneath
him he revived. Father and son went to
the sacred cave where they remained. -
Western Aranda: Strehlow 1971, 275.
(2) The totemic rain ancestor killed his
younger brother with a thunderbolt,
jealous because the latter was leaving
accompanied by many storm clouds. The
body rotted, was devoured by maggots.
The ghost hung over the body, chanted
magic verses, and the corpse revived.
Ghost rejoined body and boy continued
journey. ó Western Arnada: Strehlow
1971, 276.
2320.The two rainmen and their
whiskers.
(1) A small man arose, became two men
during the daytime and grew large in the
sun. They sat back to back on a hill,
stroking their whiskers, meditating.
Killing a woman and baby, ate the
woman. Stroking their whiskers, they
made water flows, pools, made euro
totem men, became clouds. Rainbow son
tried to stop the rain. Rocks, totemic
spots. ó Kaitish: Spencer and Gillen
1969, 418-419. Western Aranda:
Strehlow 1971, 453-459-
2325.The two rain men and the sacks.
(1) Two rain men kept clouds, lightning,
hail in large sacks and shook the
contents from the sky; threw kangaroo
pelts setting fires on earth. Other rain
men wandered about at last making a
flood which washed them to the totemic
spot as white transparent stones. ó
Aranda: Strehlow 1907, 123-124;
Strehlow 1971, 459-
2350.Native companion, swan and
native turkey's water cache.
(1) During a drought only native turkey
had water which he kept secreted under
a stone. The tree creeper discovered the
well just as native companion and swan
came along. The latter jumped in the
well, its overflow making lake. Bat,
attracted by the noise, determined their
kinship relationship and married them
although he already had a wife, owlet
night jar. - Wotjobaluk: Massola 1968,
9-10.
(2) Native turkey secreted water under a
stone. Lark and native companion
discovered the well, splashed, and
whenever they flew, water from their
wings formed waterholes. ó Mara:
Massola 1968, 34-35.
2355.C rows and wedge-tailed eagles'
water cache.
(1) A pair of wedge-tailed eagles kept
water hidden under a stone. A pair of
crows moved in, living on what the
eagles had killed and drinking the
brackish river water which the hawks
claimed the only source. The female
crow pretended illness, and saw the
eagle drink: eagle found a crow feather
and knew she had spied. They fought.
Many crows joined. Eagles have white
feathers where punched in the head,
crows live in flocks. - Wheelman:
Hassell 1934, 331-334.
2360.Vish hawk and eaglehawk's water
cache.
(1) When the coastal tribes drank
saltwater, eaglehawk kept fresh water
concealed in a tree fork under a sheet of
bark. Fish hawk lifted the bark and
water flowed out making rivers, lakes,
creeks. ó Esperance Bay: Mathews
1909b, 340-341.
2365.Mopoke and Robin's water cache.
(1) During a drought only Robin had
water hidden in a tree trunk. Mopoke
heard him splashing and blocked the
entrance. Although Robin promised to
share water if released, he cried out "not
there, my back is there, my breast is
there" as mopoke cut the tree. Losing
patience mopoke chopped, making
robin's breast red. ó Kurnai: Massola
1968, 68.
2370.Sandpiper and goanna's water
cache.
(1) When there was only moisture from
dew and roots, goanna had a secret
spring under a rock. Sandpiper
discovered it and split goanna's head
with a stone axe. Sandpiper could not
stop the water's flow: now all have
water. ó Kamilaroi: Mathews 1904, 152
ó 153.
2375.F ire-tailed finch, frog and
echidna's water cache.
(1) During a drought only the echidna
man had water which he kept hidden
under a stone. The fire-tailed finch man
failed to trace the source when echidna
man went underground. Frog man spied,
found the water and jumpedin it saying
he had been there all the time.
People beat the echidna and threw him
into prickly bushes, has spines today. -
Kurnai: Massola 1968: 64-65.
2380.Emu and black turtle's water
cache.
(1) Black turtle man lived on land and
habitually stole water from people,
hiding it in his armpits. The others held a
ceremony and when turtle approached
attracted by the dancing and singing, emu
kicked him. Water fell to the ground and
people drank; turtle went into the salt
water. - Kokowarra: Roth 1903b, 12.
2400.Frog empounds the waters: I.
(1) A. A giant frog swallowed all the
waters. The animals adopted ludicrous
postures to make him laugh, but all
failed until the eel stood on the tip of his
tail and contorted. Frog laughed
releasing a deluge. B. Loon (or pelican)
made a canoe and rescued many.
Refused a wife by those whose lives he
had saved, the bird painted in the white
pipe-clay of battle and was transformed
into the black and white pelican (or into
a stone). - Brabrolung, Kurnai: Bulmer
1887, 547-548. Lake Tyers: Smyth 1878,
430.
The following item is a variant of 2400
B.
(2) Pelican ferried people from an
island leaving until last one woman
whom he desired. Suspicious, she
wrapped a log in an opossum skin rug as
a decoy and swam to shore. Pelican
painted himself for battle when he
discovered the deception. ó Kurnai:
Massola 1968, 79ó80. Port Albert:
Smyth 1878, 478.
2410.Frog empounds the waters: II.
(1) Frog man constantly gorged himself
on sugar bag, dived headlong into ponds
and drained all the waters. Alarmed, a
brolga man drained the remaining pools
into a water container and fled to the top
of a mountain. Frog man dived at a run
into the dry pond breaking his arms and
back. Frog men failed to spear brolga's
container until one shortened his spear
and pierced the bag, releasing the water.
Men became frogs and brolga flew
away. ó Djauan: Robinson 1968, 140-
143. Murinbata: 1968, 133-136;
Robinson 1956, 12-14.
(2) Sand frog drank all the waters and
swelled to enormous size. Eagle
discovered him sleeping on a mountain
top and kangaroo speared him after
others had failed, releasing the waters.
Frog, now small, is ashamed and hides
in the sand emerging only to hunt at
night. ó Northern Australia: Wilson in
Bunug et al. 1947, 8.
2420.Koala bear steals waters.
(1) Water was scarce and people refused
to share it with the orphaned koala bear
boy. Taking the water from the creeks he
hung it in water containers on a tree, and
climbing the tree caused it to grow very
tall. Pursuers fell to the ground as he
poured water on them. The sons of the
creator Pund-jel climbed in a circular
pattern, threw the boy down and all beat
him breaking his bones. He became a
koala. Tree was cut and waters released.
Now people may not break his bones or
skin lest he steal water again. ó Kulin:
Massola 1968, 40ó43. Upper Yarra:
Smyth 1878, 447-449-
(2) When the koala stole water from
man, Kur-ruk-ar-ook (ancestral sky
women) came to earth and adjudicated:
men must not skin the koala before
cooking and koala must not steal water.
óKulin: Massola 1968, 43. Victoria:
Smyth 1878, 446-447.
(3) During a drought only koala bear had
water hidden in a tree cleft. Lyre-bird
saw koala hanging by his tail to drink
and fired the tree, releasing water for the
people. Koala escaped leaving his tail
behind, and lyre-bird burned his feathers
red where he had carried his firesticks.
ó Kurnai: Massola 1968, 71 ó 72.
2430.Lightning man steals the waters.
(1) A man wandered asking people to
give him a wife, but all refused him
because he was a stranger. Seeing in his
water reflection that he had grown old,
his anger rose. As a cloud he went into
the sky carrying all the water with him.
Thunder man warned the people in his
loud voice and then threw a lightning
spear which hit the bark receptacle, and
the water fell as rain. The man is now in
the sky as lightning whom thunder man
still calls to make rain. ó Nguluwongga:
Bozic 1972: 92-93-
2435.The water theft retaliation.
(1) The finch stole rain from the Hann
River country and took it north to his
home. A red bird stole bamboo from
finch's territory and planted it around his
camp on the Hann. ó Koko-Rarmul: Roth
1903, 12.
2450.Sea retreat commanded.
(1) Once the sea flooded far inland. The
pheasant coucal man said that only he
could deposit sand and shells there and
called out to the sea "down, down". The
sea retreated and the man became the
bird whose call and name is "pud pud"
(down down). óJindjiparndi, Ngarluma:
von Brandenstein 1970: 211-213, 208-
211.
(2) A goanna man was sharpening his
stone axe when he heard the sound of
salt water coming right up into the bush.
He threw a stick into the water saying,
"Go back", and the water receded.
Saying that the bush was for man, he told
the waters not to rise so high again. ó
Karadjeri: Piddington 1932c, 398.
2460.Koala bear effects transport over
river.
(1) The river was in flood and only old
koala bear man had a boat. Eaglehawk
told all the men (birds) to feed the bear
so he would not cry and would carry
them over the river. This was done. ó
Thangatti: Holmer and Holmer 1969:
44-55.
Holmer and Holmer (citing a version in
Ryan, B. J. S. Oceania XXXIV (4), 305)
suggest that item 2460 (1) is a
secularized version of the following.
(2) A tribe was cut off from its hunting
grounds by a wide stream and crossed
on a rope made from the entrails of the
native bear. Now his entrails are very
strong. ó Coombangrie: Chisholm 1900,
168.
2470.The water deceiver.
(1) An old man came from the east and
led people from a dry place to his
country promising them water from a
hilltop lake. Going ahead, he bathed in
his lake, then refused water to his
followers. This repeated as people died.
A young man dug a hole at the base of
the hill, a cloud rose from the hole
making a great rain which revived the
dead. The lake dried, deceiver died of
thrist. - Yaoro: Worms 1940, 231-233.
2475.Curlews, water and death.
(1) Fleeing from spreading fires during a
time of drought, the curlews led men to a
dry creek bed where they camped
together. Curlews found water, and men
in return set out water for the birds.
Discovering that people were eating the
birds, the curlews followed them,
screaming and darting in the camp to
spread a fire. Now curlews still scream
for rain and water; call means trouble,
death. ó Wheelman: Hassell 1934, 322-
324.
2480.Cockatoo woman, black duck man
and the flood.
(1) When rains caused lake waters to
rise to the tops of the trees, cockatoo
woman suggested that her black duck
husband make a canoe so she might
follow him as he swam. The flood
forced her to seek refuge in a hollow
tree and her husband returned and
thought her drowned. He became the
black duck: she dug her away from the
tree with her bill, becoming the
cockatoo. ó Nguluwongga: Bozic 1972,
53-55.
2550.Stumpy-tailed lizard and first
language.
(1) The stumpy-tailed lizard was the
first to acquire speech; man learned from
him. After birth, babies' tongues are
loosened by wren, as their eyes are
opened by pigeon. - Drysdale River
Tribes: Hernandez 1961, 127.
2600.The flies and the dialect.
(1) The fly could not talk. When the
father came home with fish the children
said, "Father, we see you have some fine
fish". The father then spoke for the first
time, "This fish belongs to us", in the
Koparpingu dialekt; others speak
differently. ó Murngin: Warner 1937,
534.
2610.The old woman's corpse and the
dialects.
(1) A bad tempered old woman died,
and people gathered to celebrate. One
group ate the corpse and began to speak
intelligibly; eastern tribes ate the
contents of the intestines and spoke
slightly differently; northern tribes ate
the intestines and spoke even more
distinctly. ó Encounter Bay Tribes:
Meyer in Woods 1879, 204.
2630.The old men, the bird's warning
and languages.
(1) When the old men went to sleep a
small bird said they should rise at dawn
or they would not be given a language.
The men disregarded the warning and so
kept their own language while others
received different tongues. ó Forrest
River Tribes: Kaberry 1934, 435.
2700.The muramura establish marriage
rules.
(1) When people married close kin, the
elders asked the spirit, muramura, and he
said groups should be named for animals
and they should marry out. ó Dieyeri:
Gason 1874, 13.
(2) Once totemic families married
within themselves and disorder resulted.
The elders agreed they must marry
without. ó Dieri: Howitt 1904, 481.
2705.Eagle hawk man approves
marriage rules.
(1) The white hawk took a woman as
wife and gave his own sister to her
brother. A dingo man did the same.
Eagle hawk man came along and
approved this, as before, people had
married without rules. ó Mara: Spencer
and Gillen 1969, 438-439n.
2710.Snake totem man establishes
marriage rules.
(1) A man of the snake totem,first
described proper marriages to people.
He took a proper wife from kangaroo
who then travelled and himself took
proper wives. - Binbinga: Spencer and
Gillen 1969 440-441.
2750.Ceremonial power, objects, stolen
by men.See also 273, 810, 870. (1)
Group of women travelled and were
watched by a man who was surprised
they had ceremonial objects rather than
the men. At night he stole power from
the women's armpits, took over the
ceremonial objects and women got
women's proper tools. ó Northwest
Western Desert: Berndt 1970, 225.
2770.Ceremonial ritual dancing
appropriated by men.
(1) The ubar ceremonial once belonged
only to the women. The kangaroo women
danced slowly and without moving about
the ground much, so a kangaroo man sent
them to camp saying the men would
perform the ceremony from that time. ó
Maung: Berndt and Berndt 1968, 122-
123.
(2) The kuramidi dancing was once done
by the social caterpillar women who
danced all night in a single line. A social
caterpillar man could not sleep so he
shouted and frightened the women away.
Now dance done by men at the
ceremony; social caterpillars walk in
single file. ó Karadjeri, North and
South: Piddington 1932c, 62.
2780.Female beardlessness decreed.
(1) Women once grew beards and men
did not. The Ngula-Ngula changed this
as it was not proper. ó Cape Bedford:
Roth 1904, 21. Murray River: Massola
1968, 95-96.
2790.Origins of menstruation.
(1) A number of bandicoot men had too
frequent sexual intercourse with a
bandicoot woman during a ceremony.
Because of the great discharge of blood,
the woman decided to become a
bandicoot and hide in a hole where men
could not find her. Now women
menstruate. ó Mara: Spencer and Gillen
1968, 602.
2850.Moon and the old man.
(1) When all animals were men and
women, the moon used to say "You up
again" and people came back to life. An
old man said "Let them remain dead".
None ever came to life again except the
moon. ó Wotjobaluk: Howitt 1904, 428-
429; Massola 1968, 9.
2855.Moon and turkey.
(1) When for the first time there were
old and sick people who were going to
die, the moon man said they could rise
after three days. Turkey said people
should die completely (so he could have
their women). Moon climbed to the sky
from a small hill, once home of creator
Baiame. - Wuradjeri: Berndt 1974b, 81-
82.
2860.Moon, bronze-wing pigeon and the
water of life.
(1) When the moon was a man who lived
on earth, he wanted to give the old
people a drink of water so they might
return to life after dying. Bronze-wing
pigeon would not agree. Moon was
angry. ó Kulin: Howitt 1904, 428;
Massola 1968, 49.
(2) If man dies because his kidney fat is
stolen, he goes to Bundjel (creator). If he
has drunk the water of the moon he will
live again; if he has drunk the water of
the pigeon he will remain dead always.
ó Yarra: Smyth 1878, 429.
2870.Moon, his dogs and water.
(1) Moon man asked people to carry his
dogs (snakes) across a stream saying that
if they did so they would rise up after
death like bark thrown into the water; if
they refused they would be permanently
dead like a stone thrown into the water.
He had to carry the dogs himself. Now
man is not reborn, and he kills snakes
although the moon man sends more. ó
Noongahburrah: Parker 1896, 8 ó 10.
2880.Moon and Purakapali's child.
(1) Moon man offered to restore to life
the child of Purakapali. Angry because
moon, the lover of his wife, had
indirectly been the cause of the death,
Purakapali killed the moon. The father
walked backward into the sea saying that
from then on all men would die
permanently. The moon returns after
three days death. - Tiwi: Goodale 1971,
236-237.
2885.Moon, native cat and kangaroo.
(1) Moon told native cat that humans
would be reborn after death like the
moon. Cat disagreed and fled from the
moon. Moon asked kanga​roo what
happened after death. Kangaroo was
reluctant to answer until moon tickled
him, then said people remain dead.
Moon said he himself would be reborn
but that men would now not rise after
death. ó Bibbulmun: Bates 1929, 4.
Unidentified: Bates in Wilson (ed.)
1972,
1/c_ 17
(2) The moon became annoyed with one
kangaroo who continually boasted about
his ability to run and jump higher than
others. Moon asked what would happen
to him when he died. Kangaroo finally
answered his bones would turn white,
but he would have nothing to do with the
moon. Moon claimed he would live
forever; kangaroo said he must die a
short time, but could be reborn. ó
Wheelman: Hassell 1934, 240-242.
2890.Moon and parrot fish.
(1) The moon decided that when he died
he would waste away leaving only
bones but would be reborn. He urged
parrot fish to do the same. Fish refused.
Because of that choice, men die
permanently. ó Murn​gin: Warner 1958,
523-524.
(2) The moon man and the parrot fish
man fought, killing each other. Moon
man's spirit decreed he would live in the
sky and be constantly reborn, but parrot
fish would live in the sea and never
come to life again. ó Northern Australia:
Gundarra in Bunug et al. 1974, 46.
Yirrkalla: Mountford 1956, 493-494.
2905.Moon tricks native cat.
(1) Moon and native cat went together to
a river. Moon went into the water and
then sneaked out and hid behind some
trees. Native cat entered the water to
hunt for moon, and after several days
drowned, his rotting corpse (or bones)
rising to the surface. So native cat
tricked by moon brought about death
(and thirst). - Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980,
190. Rithamgu: Heath, Unpublished.
Maung: Berndt and Berndt 1965, 336.
2920.Old moon women and the handful
of sand.
(1) Old women sat in a bean tree and
refused to share gum with the younger
women who set fire to the tree. The tree
fell, crippling the elder women. Three
parties of hunters refused to carry them
to the camp being repulsed by the smell
of their burned flesh. The women threw
down a large handful of sand and said
that people would die permanently;
threw down a small handful and said
they themselves would live again in four
days. Became the moon. ó Queensland,
Lower Mulligan and Georgina Rivers:
Fraser 1899, 194.
2930.Possum moon man.
(1) Possum man died and rose as a boy,
frightening the people. He warned them
that if they ran they would die
permanently, but he would be reborn.
They fled and when the boy became
adult he died and came back as the
moon. ó Arunta: Spencer and Gillen
1899, 564.
2940.Moon and dugong sister.
(1) While the moon man collected yams,
his sister, dugong woman, collected
spike-rush (or lily or lotus roots).
Repeatedly bitten by leeches (or
scratched by itch-weed) she decided to
go into the water as a dugong. Then (1)
the moon declared he would revive
while others would die and his bones
would become the nautilus shell or (2)
two pandanus tree men attempted to
spear the dugongs, failed, and became
pandanus trees. - Wonguri: Groger-
Wurm 1973, 93. Wulanda: Berndt
1948b, 19-20; Yirrkalla: Mountford
1956, 495. (2) When the old moon dies,
his skeleton goes into the sea as a
nautilus shell, spirit is reborn as the new
moon. ó Yulengor: Chaseling 1957, 153.
2990.The forbidden tree.
(1) The first man and woman were
forbidden to go near a certain tree where
a bat lived. The woman broke the taboo
while gathering. The bat flew away, and
from that time men have died. ó Murray
River Tribe: Smyth 1878, 428.
with his foot. Man can never come to
life now. Curlew man died and made
totem center. ó Kaitish: Spencer and
Gillen 1968, 513 ó 514.
3105.Curlews and magpie.
(1) Curlew women came up through the
rock, then curlew men. The last born
man, angry at the first because he had
followed too closely behind the women,
killed him magically. Women wailed.
The dead man began to emerge from his
burial, but the magpie man thrust a heavy
spear into his chest and stamped him
back into the earth. Had he been able to
rise, all men would rise today. ó
Northern Aranda: Strehlow 1947, 44-45.
3115.Blue-winged kookaburra.
(1) Once people died and came back to
life. The blue-winged kookaburra told
people they must bury the dead because
they would not return to life and would
putrify. From that time people died. Two
men fought, lived three days with their
wounds, then died permanently. Bird
now calls his name ó stinking. ó
Ngarluma: von Brandenstein 1970, 241-
245.
3040.Carpet snake and locust.
(1) When there existed three worlds
(sky, earth and underworld), locust was
the first man to come from below. When
he died he returned to the underworld
for a new skin and returned to earth.
Carpet snake thought only he should do
this and when locust man ignored a
warning, killed him. Now the locust is
small, snake sheds his skin and lives
forever, all men must remain dead. ó
Unidentified: Bates in Wilson (ed.)
1972, 38.
3045.Snake mother and the frog.
(1) A mother snake who was always
sick died each night. Her sons buried
and left her. She would shed her skin and
follow them to a new camp. One day a
frog came out of the water near her
grave and said "kalabord" (his sound),
wriggling about on his buttocks. This
time she did not rise. Now all men die. ó
Karadjeri: Piddington 1932c, 398.
3095.Curlew and wallaby.
(1) Once men buried in trees or the
ground came to life again. Old curlew
man stopped the small-wallaby men at
burial and wanted the man to die
altogether. They promised to wait three
days. They started rn hnrv the man.
curlew returned and pushed the body
into the sea
ORIGIN OF DEATH: DEATH AND
MAGICAL SPEAR
3165.Man, wife and the son.
(1) The first man and his wife had a son
who was speared by an unknown with a
supernaturally directed spear. The
parents tried to heal him, but he died.
Now all men must die: had they been
successful, man would have lived
forever. Son rose from burial and went
over the sea to the land of the spirits.
When the parents could not persuade him
to return, they went with him. - Victoria:
Smyth 1878, 428-429.
(2) An old man and his wife lived with
their son. The old man cast his spear at
an emu, missed his target, and the spear
began to attack him. Wearying of
dodging, he allowed his son to take his
place. The son was speared to death and
now all men must die. ó Unidentified:
Bates in Wilson (ed.) 1972, 62-64.
3180.The starvation death.
(1) The first two men and woman made
from red earth by Byamee ate plants, but
during a drought one man and the woman
ate a kangaroo rat. The other, refusing
the flesh, wandered to the west and died
under a white gum tree. A black figure
with red eyes lifted him into the hollow
tree, and with thunder, the tree and two
white cockatoos went to the southern
sky. In Southern Cross are two eyes of
Yowee (death spirit), the first man to
die, and the cockatoo pointers. Gum
trees now cry red gum and man dies. ó
Kamilaroi: Parker 1930, 20ó21.
3200.The bark ceremonial board.
(1) Once people could travel between
earth and sky on a great bark ceremonial
board. Women and children camping
there allowed their fire to burn through
the bark, and earth and sky are now
separated. Women may not look at
sacred bark nor make fire while it is
seen in the sky. May be connected to first
death. ó Unidentified: Bates in Wilson
(ed.) 1972, 35-37.
3215.The spear bridge.
(1) The Ntjikantja brothers threw a
spear bridge to the sky and pulled it up.
Connected co first death. ó Aranda:
Strehlow 1947, 626; Strehlow 1971,
621.
3225.Ladder to sky.
(1) The dead go to a sky world of plenty
(1) from the north (2) by a ladder into
the Southern Cross and travel along the
Milky Way to their camp. On the way
they meet two gigantic carpet snakes
who, when killed, are replaced by two
more. ó Mycoolan: Palmer 1885, 172-
173.
3230.Undersea passage to the sky.
(1) A good spirit takes the body left in a
cave on the mainland through an
underground passage to an island and the
spirit in the sky. Meteor is fire being
taken to the sky also. ó Western District,
Victoria: Dawson 1871, 51-52.
(2) The dead go to the west where
Nurunderi (hero creator) lives, passing
under the sea where there is a great fire
they must avoid. ó Narrinyeri: Taplin
1879, 38.
3235.Flying maggots.
(1) When two young men raped a
woman, she gave her husband water
with a splinter in it as a sign. People
strangled the aggressors; they revived
and were strangled again. A muramura
put them in a long deep hole, now a lake.
All the people were ordered to fall in,
then to rise as maggots which flew to the
sky. People now go to the sky when they
die. - Dieri: Howitt 1904, 800.
3310.Lizard man and tree burial.
(1) A small jew lizard man arose, lay in
the sun and saw he was a jew-lizard.
Many small lizards were born from him
as he lay and when one died he eave him
a tree burial. Jew lizard became large in
flesh and a great and wise man. In turn
he met four other ancestral men
(wallabies and rats), instructed them to
lie still and increase as had he, to bury
people in trees. Old, he lay on his
churinga and died and from other
churinga at that spot people have arisen.
ó Unmatjera: Spencer and Gillen 1969.
(2) A man named umuli-illa-unquia-inika
rose from the ground, sat in the sun,
walked about and then saw another like
him who had sprung from him. Several
men were thus born. One died and the
ancestral man thought first to bury him in
the ground, then in a tree. Successively,
he met other old men who said they
simply threw bodies away and he taught
them to practice tree burial. ó
Unmatjera: Spencer and Gillen 1969,
512-513.
3330.Matamai's death.
(1) Ngurunderi's son, Matamai, died and
the father waited three days to see if he
would revive. Then he put the body on a
platform and smoked it: the first such
performance. ó Jaralde: Berndt 1940,
181-182.
3340.Purukuparli and the funeral dance.
(1) Purukuparli held the first funeral
dance after the death of his son, Tingani.
Pelican and white-breasted eagle were
the original dancers. Purukuparli told
people to make graveposts and held the
first funeral dance. His wives, angel fish
and curlew, danced. ó Tiwi: Osborne
1974,93-95.
3350.Native cat and black-headed
python.
(1) Enemies attacked a camp, and the
native cat man was killed. The corpse
was placed on a platform and his wife,
black-headed python woman, performed
the proper ceremonies: smoked herself,
cut her hair, rubbed charcoal on her
body. In three days native cat man rose
from his platform but was told by his
wife to return since she had done the
proper rites. Men now use these
ceremonies and snake has a black head
from smoke. ó Worora: Lucich 1968,
1ó6. Drysdale River Tribes: Hernandez
1961, 126.
3370.Spirit and burial.
(1) Spirit (mimi) who now live at the
bottom of a lagoon taught men the chants,
drying and dismembering of the body,
bone cleaning, wrapping and burial in
cave in place of the original custom of
simple platform burial. - Oenpelli:
Mountford 1956, 191-192.
3375.Spirit woman and ritual stabbing.
A spirit woman stabbed herself on the
face and head with a sharpened bone at a
burial ceremony. Women do this today at
a death of a relative. ó Yirrkalla:
Mountford 1956, 443.
3380.Old charcoal women and ritual
painting.
(1) Two old women burned to death on a
fire and became charcoal. They sang,
telling the younger women to take their
bodies and paint designs on themselves
with the charcoal. ó Walbiri: Munn
1970, 154.
3500.Cannibal woman in beauty guise.
(1) An old cannibal woman changed
herself into a beautiful young girl and
lured hunters to her camp, killing them
with her digging stick as they slept. A
clever man feigned sleep, and killed her
with her own digging stick. She is now
the spider who traps victims in her web.
ó New South Wales: Parker 1930, 15-
16.
3505.Emu cannibal woman in beauty
guise.
(1) An evil woman with the face of a
pretty woman and the legs of an emu
lured hunters to the cliff on which she
stood and then kicked them into the
water. Two men found the bones of the
dead in the water and smelled the stench.
They killed her with the stone axes of the
victims. Axes are now basalt pebbles on
the shore and the lake smells foul. ó
Mara: Massola 1968, 31-32.
3515.Cannibal woman and her dogs.
(1) An old cannibal woman and her two
small dogs directed a party of hunters to
a ridge promising to drive paddy melons
toward them. Calling her 400 dingoes,
they attacked and killed the hunters who
were then cooked and shared. This she
did repeatedly until at length people
killed her and broke all her bones. From
her heart flew the rainbird crying"
Bougoodoogahdah", its name. Dogs
became various poisonous snakes; the
two small dogs, non-poisonous snakes.
Men's bones are specific white rocks. ó
Narran: Parker 1896, 90ó93.
3520.Cannibal woman, her dogs and two
men.
(1) An old cannibal woman offered
travellers hospitality and while they
slept had her two ferocious dogs kill
them. Bodies were eaten. Two men
investigated, placed decoy logs in their
sleeping rugs, and when the dogs
attacked, killed them and the woman. ó
Ya-itma-thang: Massola 1968, 89-90.
3525.Cannibal woman, her dogs and
crow.
(1) The old cannibal woman, night-jar,
lived with her two dogs, soldier ant and
leech. She was friendly toward women
but killed and ate men. Two men asked
for water and she instructed them to
drink from her water trough. The magic
water trough closed, holding them fast
while leech bit their tongues, ant stung
them, and she beat them with her
yamstick. The men were roasted, and
shared. Crow held a magic shield nn hi*
rhest and chin, pursued her around five
kinds of trees, killed her and dogs, broke
the trough. Now ceremonial initiation
bullroarer made from wood of these
trees, women hear their friend's voice
call. ó Wirraidyuri: Mathews 1904, 154-
155.
See also: Aranda: Strehlow 1907,
102ó104; Bidjandjara: Berndt and
Berndt 1977, 344; Drysdale River
Tribes: Hernandez 1967, 125; Karadjeri,
Northern: Piddington 1932b, 56; Mara:
Massola 1968, 29-31; Narunga: Berndt
1940, 458-459; New South Wales,
Southeast Coast: Mathews 1905, 160-
161; 1909a, 485-486; New South Wales:
Parker 1930, 94-96; Warraminga:
Spencer and Gillen 1968, 441; Worora:
Lucich 1969, 17-22; 38-40.
3535.Cannibal women and the cave.
(1) A woman, angry because eaglehawk
had eaten her two sons, dug a mountain
tunnel. She beguiled travellers with food
and misdirected them into the tunnel as a
mountain passage, suffocating them with
a fire at the entrance. Two young men
with special powers (faces shone with
light) pretended to fall into her trap. She
entered to retrieve their bodies, they
blocked the entrance with fire, and she
died. ó Kurnai: Massola 1968, 66-67.
(2) An old woman who lived in a
hillside cave cried out to people to
attract them, then killed and ate them.
Bunjil (creator) sent his two sons who
observed from a shield of trees.
Constructing a hollow tree, they pushed
the woman into its hole, blocked and set
fire to the entrance. She died. ó Kulin:
Massola 1968, 46ó47.
3540.Cannibal woman in the hole.
(1) A giant cannibal woman lived in a
large hole. At last people piled wood on
her while she slept and burned her to
death. Depression still seen. ó North
Australia: Poulson in Bunug et al. 1974,
34.
3555.Cannibal woman and her
daughters.
(1) An old cannibal woman attracted
men's attention with a smoky grass fire
and sent her two daughters to entice them
to camp. While they slept at night,
sexually exhausted, the woman killed the
men with boulders, and, alone the
following day, cooked and ate the bodies
leaving the heads, hands, feet and
genitals on trees for the girls. She
vomited the men as skeletons, vomited
ants on them. The sting did not revive
them: bodies are now stones. Girls
refused the food. Two men investigated.
One escaped. Eaglehawk and a
companion came, eaglehawk feigned
sleep and killed the woman. (1) Her
death call went into the trees and
eaglehawk made bullroarer from the
wood or (2) the old woman's husband,
Lightning, killed eaglehawk. ó Mara:
Berndt 1951, 148-153.
(2) Two daughters of an old cannibal
woman danced and the rising dust,
mistaken for smoke by hunters, attracted
men to their camp. While the couples
slept, the woman killed the men with a
stone and, alone later, cooked and ate the
bodies. At last two boys, alerted by the
spirits of the slain, killed her with their
boomerangs, broke her with the stones.
She became an eaglehawk, boys became
flying foxes, the girls, crimson winged
parrots. - Roper River: Robinson 1968,
131-133.
3560.Goanna cannibal woman and her
daughter.
(1) Old woman lured hunters with smoke
of a grass fire and while they hunted
goanna, she and her daughter changed
into goannas and hid under the ground
near a large stone. When the hunters
tracked them and fell into the opening,
they were killed by a blow of the stone,
cooked and eaten by the old woman.
Their bones were put in the creek. Two
fathers came seeking the young men, and
the left-handed one found the bones. This
time the cannibal was speared in her
underground hole. The men took the girl
to raise, a piece of the (secret) killing
stone, and a sacred object called
ngawaroo. -Murinbata: Robinson 1956,
19-22; 1968, 125-130.
3570.Marsupial mole woman.
(1) An old marsupial mole woman
shared her roots with a young man.
When he left the next morning,
disappearing over a sandhill, she threw
a stone which struck and killed him. The
body she cooked and ate. In this manner
several people were killed. Then the
Two Men (Wadi Gudjara) came,
dreamed what she might do, and in the
morning dodged her stone and speared
her through the heart. ó Bidjandjara:
Berndt and Berndt 1977, 344-345.
(2) Marsupial mole woman pretended to
be friendly to travellers, but killed and
ate them. - Victoria Desert: Berndt 1978,
83.
3575.Porcupine woman and the girl.
(1) As a husband chopped grubs from a
tree his axe slipped and almost severed
his wife's breasts. He laid her near a
creek and went to seek help; the girl
washed the grubs from her wounds in the
creek and returned to her shelter. An old
woman, finding her grubs on the water
and her tree cut, pretended friendliness,
magically sang the breasts whole and
left, ostensibly to get a carrying dish.
The girl fled, leaving a log in an
opossum skin as a decoy. The old
woman followed, and, when her blows
with a witch yamstick failed, tried to
stab the sleeping girl in her camp.
Prepared, the intended victim stabbed
the hag's eyes with two pointed bones
and the people speared her. She became
porcupine with spines and sunken eyes.
ó New South Wales: Parker 1930, 83-
85.
3580.Cannibal woman and the grinding
teeth.
(1) A man with his two wives and child
saw a number of women on a plain at the
foot of a mountain. They found only one
old blind woman. Together they built
shelters against a storm. The girl fled the
woman's shelter on discovering that the
old cannibal had sets of grinding teeth
inside her. Hostile, the woman pointed a
stick which grew longer, her front teeth
grew longer, the inside teeth ground.
Family fled, recognizing her to be a
cannibal mountain witch. ó New South
Wales: 3595- Cannibal xvallaby man
and willy-wagtail.
(1) An old wallaby man beat his tail on
the ground to lure his victims, then asked
them to see if his friends on the river had
caught any fish. He stopped them,
offering his boomerang, then killed,
roasted and ate them. Finally, people
sent the powerful willy-wagtail man,
who dodged the boomerangs and spears
and killed the cannibal. He cooked and
ate the wallaby man. Wallaby has white
chest where it was split; men do not go
alone on hunting, hostile or search
expeditions. ó Upper Condamine River:
Mathews 1909, 214-215; 1907, 151-
152.
3600.Cannibal echidna man.
(1) An old echidna man lured young men
to his camp on a pretext, speared and ate
them. Men broke his arms and legs,
speared him many times. He crawled
into a hollow log until he healed, his
hands and feet becoming claws, and his
wife gashed her head in distress and
became the redbreasted robin. ó
Unidentified: Mountford and Roberts
1972, 50.
3610.Bowerbird man.
(1) The bowerbird man offered to show
people his dances to lure them to his
camp. There he performed, magically
sang them to sleep and killed them.
People came with their medicine man.
His spears missed them. They killed him
and threw his body into a hollow tree. ó
Njol-Njol: Nekes and Worms 1953,
991-996.
3615.Mockingbird man and eaglehawk.
(1) The mockingbird man built many
grass shelters and imitated the voices of
many people to lure men to his camp.
Solitary men he threw into the fire.
Eaglehawk man, searching for his hawk
cousin, threw the killer into his own fire,
and from the back of his head flew a
mockingbird. Still has hole in back of
his head and imitates many sounds. ó
Noongahburrah: Parker 1896, 30ó34.
3620.Cannibal magpie man and the seed
cakes.
(1) A cannibal man made grass seed
cakes to lure people to his camp, then
killed while they slept. Two specially
painted medicine men approached and
accepted three seed cakes from the
cannibal's son. Two they ate. Pretending
sleep, they killed the cannibal when he
approached, killed his family and burned
all. The cannibal became the black and
white magpie (colors from the fire) who
still calls to "come and get food"; the
men became two kinds of parrots
colored by their paint. - New South
Wales: Parker 1930, 90-93-
3635.Old man and the false
circumcision.
(1) An old man took boys into the bush
saying he was going to "bite their noses"
(circumcise them) but would kill and eat
them. Two mothers tracked him, and they
and their sons killed him. Now boys are
not killed, only circumcised. ó Northern
and Southern Karadjeri: Piddington
1932b, 58-59​3645. Cannibal native
turkey and his killing shovel.
(1) An old native turkey man offered
hospitality, then killed his guests using a
shovel to suffocate them with hot ashes
and embers. He ate them and buried their
bones. At length as his own tribe
decided to move away, two famous
turkey men warriors from a neighboring
tribe offered help. Feigning sleep at
first, they surprised and killed the old
cannibal. The men became the Pointer
stars in Centaurus. ó Murray River
Tribes: Massola 1968, 94-95.
(2) The two heroes, the Bram-bram-bult
(the Pointer stars) were told by their
young messenger that the native turkey
man was killing people. They tampered
with his shovel which broke as he tried
to kill them. His body they cut into small
pieces each of which became a native
turkey. ó Wotjobaluk: Massola 1968,
16ó17.
(3) Old cannibal turkey-buzzard preyed
on others. As the birds decided to move
away, two stranger birds came and
saved them. One feigned weakness, the
other killed the cannibal. Heroes went to
the sky as the Pointers. ó Kamilaroi:
Ridley 1875, 142.
3660.The old woman.
(1) An ugly old woman repeatedly
kidnapped young children and kept them
hidden underground. Bunjil sent spiney
anteater who burrowed down and
rescued the children. Bunjil (creator)
told people to guard their children and
returned to the sky. ó Kulin: Massola
1968, 50.
3665.Magpie woman.
(1) Old magpie woman promising to
care for the camp's children, took them
to her home in the hollow of a tree.
Although their parents could hear their
cries, the children were never found. ó
Noongahburrah: Parker 1896, 15-17.
3670.Echidna man.
(1) An old echidna man, pretending to be
fond of children, abducted all the
children from a camp while their parents
hunted. He led them into a great white
ant hill and prepared to cook them for
his dinner. Many tried to break into the
hill but failed until goanna tunneled
through. Echidna was speared receiving
spines and indentation on the sides of his
head. ó Kurnai: Massola 1968, 72.
3680.The two boys and the spirit
woman.
(1) Two boys gathering honey met a
spirit woman who made them captive in
the hollow tree which was her home.
Here she fattened boys, each day eating
the fattest. The younger boy opened the
tree by blowing through his nose bone,
and the spirit woman pursued them. Men
failed to spear her body which was hard
as rock. A spear pierced her instep
(where her heart lodged) and she died. ó
Unidentified: 3695. The cannibal spirit
couple.
(1) A cannibal spirit and his wife stole a
human boy. The man slept hidden from
the child (in a nest) who believed
himself alone with the woman. The male
spirit urinated and child thought it was
rain, then realized it was urine. Going
into the bush, the boy called to his
mother and caught glimpse of the male
spirit. Burning the house, he escaped
back to the human camp. The wife
followed with her husband spirit's body
in a wooden trough; the people burned
them both. ó Central Australia: Roheim
1934, 34-35.
3710.Cannibal eaglehawk and the cut
tree revenge.
(1) Two hawks lived in neighboring
nests, each with two young. One (forced
by the other to hunt people on whom he
fed) dissembled, usually managing to
catch but one of a group. Warned thus, a
small hawk pretended to be a piece of
bark covered with earth, but' the
predator eagle threw the bark on a fire.
The burned small hawk flew to the camp
of his bell-bird man brother-in-law.
Bell-bird and small lizard man smelled
him, sent two painted finches to cut
through the trees leaving only the bark
uncut. The birds returned with wallabies
and human bodies, respectively, the trees
fell, and men killed the predator hawk
but only broke the arm of the other.
People do not eat either hawk; one,
because he ate people, the other, because
he helped people. Bell-bird markings
used in ceremony. ó Urabunna: Spencer
and Gillen 1969, 451-454.
(2) A small bird fled from eaglehawk,
returned with an avenging party and
killed many of his young. They cut
through his tree, leaving only the bark
intact and sang magic so the tree would
fall when the eagles returned. Destroyed
them. The party then killed a group of
crows and emus playing a game. The
parents magically sang the small birds to
death. - Dieri: Siebert 1910, 47.
3715.Cannibal eagle and the burned tree
revenge.
(1) An evil spirit, Mullion, the eagle,
lived in a high tree and preyed on men.
People tried to burn his tree but the
wood was pushed away in a mysterious
fashion. Bai-ama (creator hero)
instructed a man to place a lighted straw
in the mouth of a small red mouse and
send it up the tree. The tree burned and
through the smoke people could see the
eagle fly away. He never returned.
Smoke lasted some days. ó Wailwun:
Ridley 1878, 250; 1875, 136.
(2) A cannibal with a giant spear,
Mullion, the eagle, lived in a tree with
his opossum wife, her friend the flying
squirrel girl and his mother-in-law. They
cooked and ate the flesh of victims.
Finally the woodpecker man and the
climbing-rat boy managed to secrete a
smoldering stick in the tree house. While
eagle rested, twice his spear fell outside
his house and he replaced it. The house
burned, onlv eagle's charred bones
remained. He became the morning star, a
small star is one arm, larger is his wife.
ó Noongahburrah: Parker 1897, 62-64.
3720.Cannibal eaglehawk and the two
heroes.
(1) Eaglehawk and his family preyed on
young boys until the two giant spirit
brothers, Right-handed One and Left-
handed One, built a fire near the tree
which held up the sky and raised a great
wind from the north. This brought the
eagles to their nest and while they slept,
Right-handed One speared eaglehawk,
Left-handed One speared hawk's wife.
When they flew up, Right-handed One
killed the eagle young and then the
parents. Bones are now rocks. These
brothers made hardwood trees, taught
men to make spears, spear throwers.
They went to the sky and are seen as
clouds. At death Right-handed One picks
up men with his right hand and Left-
handed One picks up women with his
left. ó Unidentified: Bates in Wilson
(ed.) 1972, 98.
3725.Cannibal eagle brothers and the
mice men.
(1) Two eagle brothers killed and ate
local people, although they were their
own relatives. Then they ranged to other
totemic centers. Mice men came from
underground, and one climbed the tree to
stab a young eagle hoping thus to attract
the brothers. The elder eagle walked
carefully toward the nest, the younger
flew down slashing branches. The
mouse man on the tree was swept away,
eagles went into a deep pool and then
attempted an escape over the cliff. Mice
men killed them and nestling. Variant:
bat replaces mice; bat and eagle fight
establishing territories. - Aranda:
Robinson 1968, 14-18; Strehlow 1971,
631.
3730.The wedge-tailed eagle predator.
(1) Wedge-tailed eagle carried off a
young child to his high gum tree nest and
its mother wailed. The curlew took up
the mournful cry. Native doctor directed
people to cut down the tree and canoe
the pieces to a river where they floated
away. Eagle flew away, tree left named
depressions, no trees now grow there. ó
Murray River Tribe: Massola 1968, 96.
3745.Cannibal jabiru man and the
pointing bones.
(1) A jabiru man arose who had special
pointing bones for killing people. He
found two boys in the ground and sent
them out to kill people and return with
their bodies. Bodies he couldn't eat he
hung in trees. Hearing the singing of
people who lived in the ground, he
closed their entrance holes, suffocating
them. Dividing bodies into piles of men
and women, he cooked and ate them. A
native cat man boned the cannibal to
death. The young boys buried him and
travelled. They stayed with an old
pelican man who choked them to death.
Stones mark spot. óWarramunga:
Spencer and Gillen 1904, 433-434.
3750.The stone cannibal.
(1) In a mountain lived a being
resembling humans but with a body of
impervious stone. After he and his
people had killed many men, the most
powerful doctors were sent to defeat
him. At first their weapons made no
impression until at last he was slain with
spears in his only vulnerable spots: eye
and nose. ó Victoria: Smyth 1878,
455ó456.
3755.The cannibal spirit and the old
man.
(1) An old man cannibal spirit (mamu)
joined an elder human sitting at a
waterhole and they recounted creation
myths to each other. The spirit told a
long tale and the old man dropped to
sleep. With a stone knife pulled from his
anus he cut the man's eye Sockets in a
horizontal line, killed, cooked and ate
him. This made for the first time, eye
characteristics of an accentuated groove
under the brow ridge. ó Bidjandjara:
Berndt and Berndt 1964, 343.
3760.The cannibal and the kookaburra
man.
(1) Two young men killed and cooked a
koala bear. When a giant cannibal sat at
their fire they gave him half the meat and
then ran. One man crossed the river on a
log which was rotten in the center and
told the giant to jump across saying'' ha,
aha" as he jumped. The log broke, and
the man laughed, becoming the
kookaburra. ó Kattang: Holmer 1969,
37-38.
3765.The cannibal man-horie.
(1) A hair man (half man-half horse)
came from the east killing, cooking and
eating people. Six clever men threw
their magic crystals but could not kill
him. They then threw their crystals at the
sea and created a flood. Although the
cannibal lit a fire to burn his attackers,
he himself was burned to death and then
drowned by the flood. ó Jundjiparndi:
von Brandenstein 1970, 213ó218.
3770.The cannibal and the two sisters.
(1) As two sisters sat in a tree cracking
nuts, a giant cannibal hurled his large
yam (club) at them, killing the elder
pregnant girl and stunning the younger.
He carried them in a net bag to his camp
and, placing the bag on the ground, went
to collect a shell knife, then firewood,
then termite mound. Each time he spoke
in a contradictory manner about the
distance he would travel. The younger
girl cut the bag and escaped; the elder
and the foetus were cooked in separate
ovens and eaten. For several days the
cannibal built new huts in which to
defecate excessively. From the girl's
camp came, first the grey bird man and
the brown bird man, then the bat and
willy-wagtail men, and at last a large
group. Many were killed before the
cannibal was slain and burned. A native
doctor brought the elder sister and her
child to life. ó Maung: Berndt and
Berndt 1964, 341-342.
3775.Cannibal man and his grandsons.
(1) A cannibal grandfather went hunting
with his grandsons. When he lay down
his huge testicles were in another place,
and the children played roughly with
them. Although he warned them not to
break the testicles, the children hit them
with a stick and rolled with them into a
hole. When the cannibal followed, the
children killed him with the stick,
burned his body and cut the testicles to
bits. ó Central Australia: Roheim 1934,
35.
3780.The solitary cannibal and the
woman.
(1) When a solitary cannibal spirit
copulated with the wife of a human, he
was speared and burned. ó Central
Australia: Roheim 1934, 35.
3785.The spirit woman cannibal and the
treacherous blade.
(1) A man speared an animal, saw a
sharp stone flake which he picked up
and carried with him. As he sat waiting
for the meat to cook, he sharpened his
spear with the stone blade; the blade
moved and cut his throat. Blade was a
malicious spirit woman who cooked
him, mixed him with the other meat and
ate him. ó Great Victoria Desert: Berndt
1978, 82.
3790.The jabiru cannibal.
(1) A son led his blind and infirm father
toward a pond and left him near the edge
while he went on to collect water. The
son drank some water, became dizzy and
fell asleep in the mud. As he lay
unconscious face up in the mud, he was
attacked by a female jabiru bird who
dismembered and ate him. The father,
intuiting something wrong, gained sight
by slashing his eyes open with a stone.
Seeing the jabiru and realizing what had
happened, the father moved to the
billabong, drank, lay face up in the mud
and, as jabiru attacked, killed her with a
concealed shovel spear. ó Nunggubuyu:
Heath 1980, 67; Hughes 1969, No. 9.
3810.Cannibal cat man.
(1) Native cat man repeatedly came to
camps where he heard mourning sounds,
cried with the people. Always told a
young man had died, he would dig up
corpse and eat it in a cave. Finally
people accused him, and as he ran up a
tree he was told to remain and eat
carrion. ó Karadjeri: Piddington 1932b,
382.
(2) Native cat repeatedly placed a
firestick beside a corpse, ate the body.
Once he found three corpses, ate all but
the heads and burst. Made increase
center for cat. ó Karadjeri: Piddington
1932b, 382.
3860.The Bram-Bram slay the emu.
(1) The fierce cannibal emu sat on her
single giant egg and chased the crow
man as he passed, creating mountain
gaps in her pursuit. A cowardly opossum
man left his spears at the bottom of a tree
and climbed to safety. Informed by crow,
the two hero brothers (the Bram-Bram)
approached what seemed to be a bright
star; it was the emu's eye. The brothers
speared her, she died. The heroes
changed opossum man into the animal,
told him to hunt in tree tops at night.
They split each feather down the center,
made two piles the size of present emus
which became male and female emus
with feathers thus split. People ate the
emu. Only wattlebird man could lift her
egg; he got splattered with yoke as he
dished it giving markings. Emus ordered
by heroes to lay smaller eggs. Emu is
black patch between Southern Cross and
forelegs of Centarus: crow, Canopus. ó
Northwest Victoria: Mathews 1905,
163-165. Wotjobaluk: Massola 1968,
21-24.
(2) Swamp hawk failed to steal emu's
giant egg, sent daughters to get
assistance of two brothers, one in camp
of boughs, one in camp of grass. Emu
killed as above; fan-tailed finch girl
used as decoy, platform used as ambush.
Told to lay smaller eggs. Birds fought
over the emu: cockatoo, eagle, magpie
received characteristics. Fan-tailed
finch made fire from tail, cooked fat and
small birds helped eat it. ó Kurnai:
Massola 1968, 70-71.
The following items are brief variants.
(3) Crow stole emu's eggs and,
discovered, killed her. When crow's
friends roasted the body, crow accepted
only the head which he carried to the top
of a tall tree, saying that from that time
on emus would not defend their nests
against men. ó Victoria: Smyth 1878,
450ó451. Kulin: Massola 1968, 54.
(4) Bat killed emu who annoyed him
with her boasting about two large eggs.
Jay cooked the bird, received no share
of the food, cried and rubbed eyes with
charcoal-blackened knuckles:
characteristics. ó Wotjobaluk: Massola
1968, 9-
(5) Long ago there were giant birds
resembling emus but as tall as hills. Two
brave men climbed a tree and speared
one of these dangerous creatures from
above. ó Western District, Victoria:
Dawson 1871, 92.
3880.The Bram-Bram and the cannibal
Ngautngaut.
(1) The cannibal Ngautngaut, vulnerable
only in his tongue, drank the blood of his
victims. The Bram-bram-bult (two
heroes) created a waterhole, placed in it
a magic bone made from the leg of a
dead person and turned themselves into
trees. Suspicious, cannibal shook one of
the trees, examined the water and went
away. The next day he drank, the bone
pierced his tongue and he died. The men
burned his camp. ó Northwest Victoria:
Mathews 1904, 165-166. Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 20-21.
3885.The Bram-Bram, willy-wagtail
and turtle.
(1) The Bram-bram-bult (two heroes)
sent their kinsman, turtle, to determine if
the willy-wagtail man was a cannibal as
people had charged. Turtle was alerted
by bones at the cannibal's camp, but
accepted a wrestling contest.
Maneuvered into a pit in which a
sharpened spear had been placed,
turtle's life was saved by the two shields
he carried (the front shield being
chipped in the fall). The two heroes
came to earth; the younger wrestled and
threw the cannibal into the pit. The elder
brother caused the wagtail to shrink to
his present size with his back still at a
broken angle. ó Wotjobaluk: Massola
1968, 18-20.
3890.The Bram-Bram and mopoke man.
(1) A. The two hero brothers, Bram-
Bram, were refused food by the mopoke
man and in revenge invited him to drink
water held in a forked hollow of a tree
and then magically closed the recess
trapping mopoke and his dogs. The
mopoke ate his dogs, asked two brothers
(wattle bird and woodpecker) to release
him by chopping a hole in the tree.
Exasperated when mopoke called not to
chop here or there (it was his belly, his
back etc.), the woodpecker chopped,
leaving white marks on the captive's
stomach and wattle bird chopped,
dumping rubbish as feathers on his head.
B. The mopoke loosed three bags of
cyclone winds in the Bram-Bram's
camp. Their mother frog went into the
ground and brothers held to trees, the
younger being carried away. Following
milk squeezed from the mother's teats,
the elder brother discovered the younger
changed to a red gum tree and returned
him to human shape. Went to sky as A
and B Centauri, mother as Crucis. -
Northwest Victoria: Mathews 1905,
171-174.
3895.Adventures of two brothers.
(1) A. Two brothers (named for their
sub-sections) emerged from the ground
and travelled hunting. The elder left
without the younger who then tracked,
killed and dismembered him with magic
boomerang, reassembled and animated
the thrown pieces. Elder then killed the
younger, threw pieces, and left.
B. Elder brother felt pain and his spirit
essences entered the ground, later
emerged as two sons. The brother met
women he travelled with as wives.
Adventures include: wives squeezed his
boils making waterhole; wives urinated
in rockhole, splashed urine creating a
flood which drowned the women; he
becomes water snake.
C. Sons emerge as grown men and
travel. Adventures include: meet with
cannibal wind-men who are persuaded
to eat only animals; flee from hostile
tribe; escape demons on warning of
demon's human wives; tell story to
friendly tribe; tired, their legs burst and
blood whistles out; return home
underground. - Walbiri: Meggitt 1966,
138-143-
3910.Adventures ofTotyerguil.
(1) Totyerguil camped with his black
swan wives, chased the great cod which
fled, creating a great river and numerous
waterholes as he speared it. Cod went to
the sky as Delphinus, spines on cod are
the spears, canoe and paddles are
various trees. Totyerguil found his
family on the top of an unclimbable
mountain and told them he would catch
them as they jumped; caught wives and
sons, but let his mother-in-law fall. He
then stood on a false bandicoot nest
made by the mother-in-law and fell into
the water. Although he threw his
boomerang at a water monster (bunyip),
he missed and was eaten, Boomerang
became Corona Borealis. His maternal
uncle, the bull ant, retrieved the body
and grasped the banks with his fingers
(antennae). The hero became Altair;
smaller stars are his wives; mother-in-
law, Rigel; ant's fingers, double stars in
head of Capricornus. ó Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 24-27.
3925.Adventures ofWaijunggari.
(1) While the man Pungngana hunted, his
two wives saw his younger
brother Waijunggari {red, made from his
mother's excrement) and
desired him. The women called outside
the younger man's hut
pretending to be emus. He emerged and
they asked him to be their
husband. The angry mother told the elder
brother who put fire into the
culprit's house, telling the fire to burn
when they were asleep. The fire
fell on Waijunggari and the wives as
they slept, and they ran to the sea.
Waijunggari threw an arrow to the sky. It
fell. He threw a barbed arrow
and it stuck fast. He climbed up, the
women with him and the the elder
brother and mother followed. All are in
sky. Variant (a) Elder brother
named Nepele, lovers flee with
kangaroo skins which release water,
jump into mud. Younger brother is now
Mars, wives are perhaps
Jupiter and Venus. Variant (b)
Waijunggari drank water through a reed
when he was seen by Nepelle's wives.
Now he sits in sky and fishes for
men with his fishing spear. If people
start in their sleep, he has touched
them with the weapon's point. ó
Encounter Bay Tribe: Meyer in
Woods 1879, 201-202. Jaralde: Tindale
1935, 267-273- Narrinyeri:
Taplin 1879, 56-57.
Variant fragment:
(2) Monana threw many spears here and
there. He threw a spear into
the sky and it stuck. He threw others
after it, which stuck. He climbed
to the sky. - Kaurna or Adelaide: Wvatt
in Woods 1879, 165-166.
3940.Adventures ofWurrunnah.
For Meimea incident [h] see also 260.
(1) When Wurrunnah was angry he left
his camp and travelled, having
adventures, (a) Spirit opossums with
wings and claws came out of a tree; hero
changed to a turkey and fled, (b) Met a
man without eyes who saw through his
nose and used his forehead as an axe.
Man fed him honey, offered him
hospitality, but he left to get his
(imaginary) children and took the honey
with him. (This rejection of hospitality
and taking of food is repeated in
following episodes.) (c) Met a
porcupine with another on its back
which said it had brought its brother for
his dinner, (d) Met the moon shaking
edible grubs from a tree, (e) Came to
country with extremely large flies and
mosquitos where men walked about in
tree bark as protection, he cried out
"bark backed", fled as turkey, (f) Met
featherless emus and a toothless man
whose tooth he knocked out as initiation,
(g) Met tribe of men with feet like
eaglehawks who fed him emu eggs, (h)
Met Meamei (Pleiades), stole yamsticks
of two and took them as wives. Sent
them to cut pine bark, they rose to sky
where sisters called to them: became
stars, (i) Saw dwarfs walking around at
bottom of clear pond who called, "Who
are you?", (j) Met frogs who at his
command purified water with hot stones,
threw in sticks which became fish, (k)
At home, old men told him dangers were
put in the path to keep people from
coming to the creator Byammee before
their death. He decided he would go. (1)
In the country where the sun woman
slept and it was always day, he traded
skins for women's new weapons. His
brothers, in form of white swans,
distracted the women, stole the
weapons. Women fought each other, their
blood turns sunset sky red. (m) Climbed
mountain to the sky world. His swan
brothers were attacked by eagle hawk
messengers of sky spirits, crows
dropped black feathers to warm their
denuded bodies. Made land features and
swan's form. ó New South Wales: Parker
1930, 22-26; 50-55; 1897, 41-46.
3955.Muramura and the marvellous
reptile.
(1) A muramura (ancestral man) lived on
rats and mice using their skins as water-
bags. Tracked a wallaby who told him to
put down his weapons. They wrestled,
he made water bag of its skin. Tracked a
kadimarkara (giant mythical reptile with
claws) which spoke and wrestled as
before. This he swallowed head first
and, although his body stretched, the tail
hanging from his mouth struck and
blinded him. He travelled blind, charting
his path by the west wind. Regaining his
sight, he found he had become a
kadimarkara with shining, beautifully
marked body and keen vision. He then
defecated others like himself. His parii
made river course; finally went into the
ground. One variant: two kadimarkara
block his nath. he thrusts them with a
pointed bone on his forehead, they
become eucalyptys trees. ó Dieri:
Howitt and Siebert 1903, 528-531.
Note: Hale, H. M. and Tindale (1929)
refer to this animal as Kaddi-kra.
(2) A muramura hunter lived on prolific
small marsupials. Great storm brought
twigs which scratched him: he travelled
150 miles to their source, rubbed tree
with sweat, pulled it from ground and
kept it as a digging stick. Rats had
destroyed his camp; ate them raw. Bitten
by a kapita (mythical reptile) a tail grew
from him, struck his eye, and his body
changed into a kapita. Gave his songs
and decorations to grandson of friend.
Remains now fossilized bones; snake
and lizard increase. ó Dieri,
Yantruwunta, Yauroka: Howitt 1904,
795 ó 796.
3960.Muramura, his wife and the
marvellous reptile.
(1) A muramura killed, cooked and ate a
kadimarkara, took its bones to his wife
who pounded them. They separated, then
looked for each other fruitlessly. Wife
died, the man's body swelled. All the
people (including weak and sick) were
brought to him, his body burst and
people fled. Springs wherever he and
wife rested. ó Dieri: Howitt 1904, 802.
3975.Eaglehawk, the man, and the
underworld.
(1) A man digging bilber (animals) dug
into another world where he saw
monsters with two toes on each foot; he
fled and told eaglehawk. Both returned
to the underground world. There, spirits
of evil doers were made to keep moving
and to use only their left hands, lest they
be thrown into the fire. Eaglehawk
accepted food and slept while his
companion refused hospitality. When
they returned home, the man smoked
himself to avoid contamination, but
eaglehawk did not and was even
stronger from the adventure. ó New
South Wales: Parker 1930, 60-61.
3980.Sparrowhawk (magpie), cockatoo
and the underworld.
(1) Mopoke told his wife's brother,
sparrow-hawk, that his bark bundle
contained her corpse and asked him to
dig a grave. Encouraged "Deeper,
deeper", sparrow-hawk fell through the
hole into another world. Black cockatoo
welcomed him and he stayed a long time
with him. He became homesick and old
man cockatoo wrapped him in his rug
and, while others beat on their folded
rugs, the two rose to the surface world.
Sparrow-hawk returned home where he
and his waiting dog killed mopoke. ó
Kurnai: Massola 1968, 73 ó 74.
(2) Magpie dug a hole looking for food
and fell into the underworld. A cockatoo
digging grubs welcomed him warmly.
Later cockatoo flew him to the surface
on his back, then returned below. ó
Murray River: Massola 1968, 94.
3985.The hunter and the little people.
(1) A man hunting opossum put his foot
into a rock crevice and was drawn into
an underground cave lit by a strange
light. Many little people welcomed him,
but wrestled him to the ground when he
tried to leave. They fed him and one, left
to guard, led him to the surface, -Kurnai:
Massola 1968, 74-75-
3990. The hunter and the mimi spirit.
(1) A man hunting met a spirit (mimi)
who took him to his cave where singing
and dancing could be heard. Offered
partially cooked meat, he refused;
offered two young women, he refused.
While the spirits slept he slipped from
the cave. Spirit later threw spear in
anger at spot where he had slept. -
Oenpelli: Berndt and Berndt 1968, 176-
177.
4040.V're and the sun.
(1) Ure and his Udal people lived
underground in a place where there was
grass but no trees, the sun always shone.
They had mouths on the top of their
heads. Ure came up and chased a large
kangaroo (the sun). When it went down,
he was at first frightened, later slept and
decided it was a good thing. He told his
people, who agreed. - Murngin: Warner
1937, 555-556.
4045.Greedy lire,
(1) Ure and his Udal people smelled a
turtle two men were cooking. The men
gave him the turtle which he ate in one
bite through the top his head; then he ate
the turtle's excrement, stones from the
cooking oven, ashes of the fire, and
killed the sleeping men with a blow of
his big singing stick. Men set fire to the
grass around him. Trickster turned round
and round, defecating to put out the
flames, but he and his people were
burned to death. Bones of swallowed
men prepared for burial. - Murngin:
Warner 1937, 557-559-
4050.Ure, frilled-neck lizard and the
honey,
(1) Ure was cutting honey from a tree.
Frilled-neck lizard man heard him,
rushed out and swallowed honey, wax
bees and all. A wood splinter stuck in
his throat, could not be removed by Ure.
Became lizard. - Murnein: Warner 1937,
556-557.
4060.Wade and Djerenger.
(1) Stupid Wode carried a kangaroo on
his waist belt, tried to cook honey which
melted away, did not know how to build
shelters. Djerenger, who knew how to
build shelters, called Wode a fool and
they fought with spears. Wode now lives
in rocks, Djerenger in the plains; men
know how to do things properly because
of him. (The two are birds and moieties,
not identified.) - Drysdale River Tribes:
Hernandez 1961, 126.
The following items which concern
birds, incorrect kangaroo carrying and
advice are probable variants.
(2) The native companion man carried a
kangaroo around his waist; wild turkey
man told him the proper way, on his
shoulder. Native companion drank water
full of lice because wild turkey told him
his mother-in-law (tabooed) was at the
waterhole. Native companion made
caves, but wild turkey told him his
mother-in-law was inside and himself
took possession. Native companion
killed wild turkey with a spear. Both
became stone. - Forrest River Tribes:
Kaberrv 1934. 426-427.
(3) Yingirmera stole a man's wife and
was pursued. Threw his fighting stick
creating a plain. Carried a kangaroo
around his waist until a brown bird man
told him to carry it about his neck. They
cooked it, both died. - Forrest River
Tribes: Kaberry 1934, 435.
(4) Two birds carried a kangaroo
improperly. The wild turkey man said
they should remove the intestines. They
gave it to him (maternal uncle) to cook.
All became stone. - Forrest River
Tribes: Kaberry 1934, 435.
4070.Bamapama and the two women I.
(1) Trickster (Bamapama) saw women
gathering mud shells and sang a heavy
rain. Finding the girls in the mangrove
roots, he tied the younger and copulated
with the elder, then sent her home
warning her not to mention his name.
As,he travelled with the younger girl,
she would not speak to him so he made a
smoky fire, thus forcing her to break her
silence (swearing at him). Ready to
copulate, he discovered she had a large
stone in her uterus. This he removed
with a stick and it rolled into its totemic
well. Now all men can copulate easily.
Variant: trickster (namaranganin) was
speared and burned, girl became fly. -
Murngin: Warner 1937, 552-555.
Northeast Arnhemland: Berndt and
Berndt 1964, 345-346.
4075.Bamapama and the two women H-
(1) Trickster (Bamapama) sat by two
women's fire, called in a loud voice for
them to comejotto voce, said he wished
to copulate with them.
As he slept with erect penis, the younger
girl inserted it, then both quickly fled.
Trickster built a tree house near where
the girls collected grubs and, singing the
younger girl's legs apart, penetrated her
with his spear. As people speared him,
he danced saying "hit me again". Became
a porcupine with quills and many mates.
People became bees (as had girls in
flight). - Murngin: Warner 1937, 549-
552.
4080.Bamapama and the circumcision
ceremony.
(1) When Trickster's father sent him to
bring back boys for a circumcision
ceremony, he returned instead with girls
whom he hid in the jungle, telling his
father there were no youths of proper
age. Forced to admit his deceit, he was
speared to death by the people. The men
turned into water birds. ó Yirrkalla:
Mountford I960, 471.
4085.Bamapama as culture hero.
(1) Trickster travelled with his women,
changed language, created steady wind.
He produced many children, the mated
siblings produced more. These he
divided into proper clans; initiated
ceremony. Trickster and son found most
mainland people dead from yaws. One
island people from similar
brotherósister matings had survived,
divided into clans. - Murngin: Warner
1937, 559-560.
4090.Malawerango, the young woman
and the boys.
(1) Trickster (Malawerango) caught a
young woman along a beach, copulated,
place named labia minora. He fed some
young boys forbidden food (yam with his
sweat rubbed on) and ants bit them all at
ant bite place. Then travelled to specific
places with the boys; parted. ó Murngin:
Warner 1937, 560-561.
4100.Malgar and the emu call.
(1) There was a silly man named
Malgar. One sunrise he called, "I am
going round and round"; then he imitated
the emu's call "mad, mad". A wild dog
believing him to be an emu chased and
killed him. His course is marked by
natural features where he dropped his
stick, coat, axe and knife, his sweat and
urine. ó Unidentified: Bates in Wilson
(ed.) 1972, 44-45.
4110.Garangu and the ghost girl.
(1) As Garangu travelled along a ritual
route to the coast he met a ghost girl who
was blind and covered with body sores.
Painting himself and putting on his ritual
headdress, Garangu rubbed the girl's
body and eyes, curing her blindness;
danced and cured her sores. Garangu
moved alone through the salt water and
people saw his headdress sticking out of
the water. He lay down so they couldn't
see him. ó Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980,
170.
4115.Nagaran and the little creatures.
(1) The giant Nagaran, out hunting
goannas with his three dogs, encountered
a number of small human creatures lined
up in a river and chanting their name
(galanymargadada). Nagaran squatted in
the river thus blocking it, and threw the
small people on the shore. His dogs bit
them, and only a few escaped. ó
Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 167; cites
other references.
4125.Crow and eagle.
(1) Crow and eagle were beings who
existed long ago (Nooralie) and
continually fought. Song, "Strike the
crow on the knee, I will spear his
father". They made peace, decided there
would be two exogamous moieties. ó
DarlingóMurray River System: Blows
1975, 24; Smyth 1878, 423-424.
4130.Crow's adventures I.
(1) A. Blue crane and his sons caught a
cod fish which crow kept in a waterhole,
cooked it and offered the best parts to
crow, who refused. Crow hit crane on
the knees as he slept. Crow crossed the
river with crane in his canoe and with
the charmed cod fish head, made the
river rise; crane was swept away, crow
returned to the bank. As the sons swam
toward him, crow shook the cod head at
them, sang" All come to harm who steal
from Wahn (crow)", and the river
magically widened.
B. Travelling, crow went fishing with
eaglehawk who sent him through a
hollow log to drive out fish, then
speared him. Crow pinned eaglehawk to
bottom with stick. Crow sang his song.
Taking possession of eaglehawk's camp,
crow sang whenever questioned.
C. Men attacked crow but no spears
could strike him, and he kept hawk's
wives. Crow seated men in a circle,
himself in the center beside a tree
visible only to him, telling them to cry "
doomoo" after him. Tree roots cracked
killing all but crow.
D. Travelling, crow met an orphan who
refused to share food with him. Crow
sang, fed boy magic stone, boy choked
and died. Sang. Crow berated the boy's
father for the son's death. Father
persuaded crow to lie down to measure
boy's grave, buried crow and the boy.
Crow revived and sang. Crow sent his
spirit while he slept to break branch on
which the father sat, killing him. Sang. ó
New South Wales: Parker 1930, 37-45.
4135.Crow's adventures II.
A. Crow demanded two tabooed sisters
from eagle man; refused. Crow followed
the women, sent his penis underground,
copulated with each girl. Younger girl
gave birth to a male child, elder to a
female. The girls married kingfisher man
(who had fire). Crow came, pretending
to be a lame old man, girls accepted
him. Crow went fishing with kingfisher
man; repeates episode
B. of 4130. Girls fled, leaving feces to
answer in their place; crow struck feces
and was temporarily blinded by splatter.
B. Following the women, crow desired
the younger, but had to accept the elder.
Putting the children in a tree, he sang the
tree tall, put a gall about the trunk. A
recently initiated young man (lived in a
cave with mother) refused intercourse
with the wives, but came and rescued the
children by singing people to sleep,
singing the tree small.
C. Crow followed the women
underground: came up stupid. Changed
people's descent to patrilineal. Variant:
women marry ancestral hero creator
Ngurunderi.
D. Crow returned to kill eagle's son, is
buried by eagle. Builds three camps
against rain; turns into crow, eagle man
to eagle. - Awamin, Babaram,
Jarildekald, Maraura, Tangane,
Wakaman: Tindaje 1939, 243ó261
(cross-referenced; 260).
4140.Crow's adventures 111.
(1) A. Crow always sneaked after
women. Eaglehawk burned him in a fire,
but crow burrowed down observing fire
through a small hole. Emerged.
B. Eaglehawk stabbed crow as he
fished. Crow man jumped in river,
emerged as the bird, black feathers,
white eyes from earlier smoke.
C. Hawk placed child in tree and
brown-tree-creeper rescued him,
returned him to camp while people slept.
Accidentally dropped a firestick down
hollow tree trunk, tree fell making
dividing range. -Madimadi: Hercus
1971b, 137-140.
4145.Crow and the two women.
(1) While Crow made a shovel spear the
two women with him (father's sisters)
gathered and ate shellfish. The women
defecated into a hole, covered it with
grass (simulating an abandoned
bandicoot burrow) and called to Crow
to come and spear a bandicoot. As Crow
prepared to spear the grass, the women
instructed him to stomp on it with both
feet instead. Crow fell in the excrement.
The women later pulled him out (with a
forked stick) and left him. Crow, eaten
by meat ants, now has a black back.
Sequel
In retaliation, Crow made a model of a
barracuda and placed it in the water near
the two women. They called him to
come and spear it. Crow told them to
close their eyes, then speared them to the
sand where the tide drowned them. -
Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 74; Hughes
1969, No. 17; Capell I960, texts 8 & 9-
4150.Crow and his mother.
(1) The ancestral woman, Kurikuta, wife
of Baiami (hero creator), r^n-,t->w ´-
>nA mliô hpr mn rmw and dauehter-in-
law refused to share their food. Crow
speared her in the knee and the spear
stuck fast. She climbed up this to the sky
with spear still attached. - Wongaibon:
Blows 1975, 36 (cross-referenced).
Wuradjeri: Berndt 1947, 77.
4155.Crow and eagle's son.
(1) Eagle left his son with crow. The
youth asked for water and crow made
him drink from the river until he swelled
to an immense size, threw something at
him. He burst and water flooded the
countryside. - Murray River: Smyth
1878, 430.
A variant.
(2) Eagle, angry at having to care for his
crow wives' younger brother, took the
young crow to the river and made him
drink until crow felt himself to be
drowned. Eagle carried him to Camp
and reported the accident to his wives.
Water poured from crow's mouth,
drowning eagle in the flood. - Murray
River: Massola 1968, 93-94.
(3) Crow killed eagle's son. Eagle
caught crow in a trap and killed him.
Crow revived and disappeared. -
Murray River: Smyth 1878, 451.
4160.Crow, the parrot girls and eagle
boy.
(1) Crow heard two green parrot girls
singing. He asked his brother Firemaker
(collared sparrow hawk) to catch
opossum for food, promising to show
him something good in return. Hawk ate
the opossum himself. Hawk ate the
parrot girls, saying crow was too young.
Crow stole a baby girl to help him hunt
opossum. When asked to hand stick up to
him in a little tree, she was too young to
understand. He spanked her. Fed her on
milkwood and when she crawled away,
speared her. Crow put a young eagle boy
in a tree urging him to climb higher for
food. The tree grew magically taller and
crow left with the two parrot girls. -
Jindjiparndi, Pinikurra: von
Brandenstein 1970, 193-206.
(2) Crow sent eagle boy up a tree and
made the tree grow taller. The rosella
parrot elder sister rescued him. The two
parrot sisters washed him like a baby.
He grew rapidly and married the girls. -
Kabi, Wakka, Victoria, widespread:
Mathews 1910, 193-197.
4165.Crow imprisons eagle.
(1) Eagle and crow hunted rock
wallabies. Crow shut eagle in a hole and
stole eagle's wife (crow's mother-in-
law, a tabooed relationship). Eagle
changed into a centipede, escaped and
found his wife and crow lying in the
shade. Eagle and crow fought. Eagle
said crow would only eat and make
rubbish; crow said eagle would prey on
meat. ó Jindjiparndi, Ngarluma: von
Brandenstein 1970, 163-176.
(2) Crow imprisoned eagle in a hole and
stole sparrow-hawk (eagle's wife and
crow's mother-in-law). Eagle escaped
and roller crow in ashes, Saying he
would be black, have red mouth and
white eyes, eat rubbish; and that the wife
would hover over smoke, eat lizards,
snakes and cockroaches. Variant: eagle
changes to centipede and escapes from
hole in which crow has trapped him.
Crow is rolled in ashes, told he would
eat rubbish. Eagle told he would prey on
animals. ó Jindjiparndi, Ngarluma: von
Brandenstein 1970, 174ó178. Njijapali:
von Brandenstein 1970, 167.
(3) Two eagle hawk brothers hunted
with crow but kept all the best meat for
themselves. Crow took the fattest
kangaroo and hid them. Eagle hawk men
searched in a cave, and crow shut them
in. Crow crept closer to his mother-in-
law (galahs) pretending that ants bit him
where he camped. He had intercourse
with the wives. Eagles rubbed him in
ashes, said he would be black and
scavenge meat. Crow gave his call. ó
Karierra: Radcliffe-Brown 1913, 169-
4170.Crow, eagle and the barbed spears.
(1) Crows, using a pointward barbed
spear, and eagles, using a shaftward
barbed spear, hunted kangaroo together.
Crow's spears constantly fell from the
kangaroo, eagles' held, killing the
animal. Although the eagles' kept their
implements hidden, the crows saw them
while the owners slept, made theirs in
imitation, and killed a kangaroo. The
eagles went away. ó Ngarluma: von
Brandenstein 1970, 179-192.
4175.Crow and the flood revenge.
(1) Seahawk and eaglehawk men were
given good fish by a man, but crow was
given only inedible fish. Crow cut down
a sacred paperbark tree, flooding the
country. Hawks became birds calling
their names; crow called his, saying he
would continue to eat any kind of food at
all. - Maung: Berndt and Berndt 1964,
338-339.
4180.Crow uses wife's apron.
(1) Crow and his friend crimson-winged
parrot pursued bat who had stolen
crow's wife. Rather than challenge bat
(expected behavior), crow asked only
for his wife's apron and waistband: the
first he used to brush away flies and
mosquitos, the second he tied about his
head to cure headache. ó Kamilaroi:
Mathews 1908, 304.
4230.Bat's wives and the trap.
(1) Bat's wives, brown snake and black
snake, became tired of hunting with him
and shut him up in a wombat hole. Bat
waited for a fly to exit through a small
hole, then followed him. Bat speared the
women. All became stars. ó Wandanian:
Ridley 1875, 144-145.
(2) Because bat man stole food from all,
his wives dressed in strings of rattling
reeds, frightened him one night. He ran
into a log with his small dog and the
women blocked his exit. His dog died,
and bat, skin and bones, was released. In
revenge, he persuaded his wives to jump
on two spears placed upright in the
water. One became wood duck. From the
other's body, bat hacked flesh which he
showed to her hawk father. There was a
fight and hawk was killed; bat man
became bat and joined dog's spirit in the
log. Signifies death, must not be
disturbed. ó New South Wales: Parker
1930, 56-59.
4235.Lyre bird's wives and the trap.
(1) Lyre bird lived in a camp separate
from his fan-tailed finch wives. Hunting,
he habitually sent his wives into a
wombat hole so they could tap to
indicate the wombat's position, then
blocked the entrance and dug from the
top. Suspicious, they challenged him for
living apart, trapped him in a hole. Later,
they took him home and camped with
him on a warm spot made by their fire. ó
Kurnai: Massola 1968, 69ó70.
4240.Opossum man and his wives.
(1) Old opossum man lived with his two
crow wives and their brother on the
coast. He quarreled with his wives.
While he was away they fished and ate,
scattering the vertebra on the ground,
and when he returned, refused him food,
threw hot coals on him as he slept.
Opossum man ran into the water and his
brother-in-law built a ladder to the sky
from the fish vertebra, climbing into the
sky and pulling the ladder with him.
Opossum and relatives killed the wives,
but their brother descended the ladder,
revived the women taking them to the
sky. In Milky Way as part of a
constellation near Lupus and Scorpio. ó
Milingimbi: Mountford 1964, 491-492.
(2) Many kinds of fish held a big dance
and two fish men made a large fish trap.
Opossum sat near the fire of one man's
wife, she burned him with ashes as she
cooked. Opossum returned with his
people and with the husband's
permission, killed the woman. As the
man sang for his wife, he pulled a limb
from a tree which lay buried in the creek
causing the sacred wooden trumpet
which it held to fall. As a great flood of
water gushed forth the people decided to
place the sacred object in the sky. Crow
man carried it to the Milky Way in his
mouth where it is now seen with a shell,
the man, wives and tree forks. Thunder
comes from trumpet as sound does when
its counterpart is blown on earth. ó
Murngin: Warner 1937, 540.
Northeastern Arnhem Land: Groger-
Wurm 1973, 120.
(3) Opossum man's two young wives
would not sleep with him when he
returned from a journey, and threw hot
coals and ashes on him. He became an
opossum with shrivelled nose and ears,
crying and living in hollow trees. ó
Murngin: Warner 1937, 534ó535.
4250.The stranded wives.
(1) The two young wives of old
cockatoo man refused to copulate with
him. Finally, in anger he removed the
pole-ladder which offered the only
access to their cave home, leaving them
stranded. They called to him and
attempted to seduce him, but he left. The
girls became parrots and flew away.
Husband was killed by a black eagle
man who came along. Becamearock. -
Oenpelli: Berndt and Berndt 1968, 154-
155. (2) Two wives sent to the east by
their old husband to gather food stayed
there for a long time copulating with a
number of men. When they returned, he
noticed their breasts dotted with semen
but said nothing. Magically singing rain,
he took the girls to caves to avoid the
rain, had them climb a notched pole and
then removed the ladder. The girls
became ant hills; husband became ant
hill after emptying their bag of nuts into
the swamps. ó Gunwinggu: Berndt and
Berndt 1968, 151-152. Murngin: Warner
1938, 79-80. Yirrkalla: von
Brandenstein 1970, 15 In.
4255.Snake man and the hollow log.
(1) When his young wife would not
come to him but stayed instead with her
mother, an old man became angry and
built himself a small hut. His mother-in-
law came inside, but the girl slept
outside still. Cutting a log, the husband
turned into a snake and hid in its hollow.
The two women lit fire about the log as
they hunted. The girl peered into the log
and saw darkness. The mother peered,
the snake opened his eyes and she
looked through him. The snake bit girl,
then her mother near their hearts, saying
'' I'm going to kill anybody I meet".
Variant: log is now a ceremonial object
used in ubar ritual. Girl and mother put
arms in log five times, each time being
bitten. As they died, he explained why
he had done this. Girl offered to
copulate, he left. Husband travelled to
where men were performing sacred
ceremonies with head of rainbow snake.
He is told their secrets, tells his story
and gives them ceremonials including
ubar log. ó Maung: Berndt and Berndt
1951, 120-212. Oenpelli: Berndt and
Berndt 1951, 114-119.
(2) A snake man had two women with
him, a snake mother and daughter. The
young woman whom he desired refused
him, as did her mother. Making tracks
like those made by the woman's snake
group, he hid himself as a snake in a
hole. When the women poked into the
hole, he bit them both. Now two kinds of
snakes; snake man says he will always
bite men. ó Kakadu: Spencer 1914, 322
ó 323.
4260.Turtle man's revenge.
(1) When turtle man's wife refused
intercourse, he killed her by inserting a
knife in her vagina and slitting her
upward to the throat. Rock marks his
spot. His sons later met his spirit and
mistakenly thought he was alive. (Rest of
tale is of revenge killings: not given.) ó
Eastern Arnhem Land: Berndt 1948a,
324.
4265.Husband's singing revenge.
(1) A young woman disliked her older
husband and returned each night to the
camp of her parents. The angered
husband painted her figure on a cave
wall and sag over it. The girl wasted
and died; became a mimi (tall, thin
spirit). - Oenpelli: Mountford 1956,
182.
4270.Adventures of belly-hind-before.
(1) A man ("belly hind before") who
looked the same front and back was
jeered at by two young wives who built
decoy sand ridges in their place while
he slept and left. Man (now '' he who
rises up fruitlessly") killed them, cut off
their breasts and carried them along.
Danced for camp with girl's breasts as
necklace, was killed by young men and
buried. Crow knocked three times on his
grave and he emerged. Followed one of
three sets of tracks, entered water and
swallowed the old, weak people he had
found. A few escaped and were given
totemic name by another muramura
(ancestral person). Vomited teeth
became rocks. - Dieri: Howitt 1904,
781-783-
4275.Husband's water threat.
(1) Two young wives copulated once
with their new husband, then refused to
return to his camp. The husband drained
water from the waterhole, returned to
find all dead except the two girls. The
girls mourned the death of others,
travelled, and cooked goanna; its belly
burst, a cloud rose, and the husband
appeared with wind and storm. He
threatened to withhold water unless they
became his wives. Acquiesced and
became parents of all Neinggu people. ó
Goulbourn: Berndt and Berndt 1968, 95-
97.
4280.The husband, rainbow snake and
the mother-in-law.
(1) For two years, a wife refused to
copulate with her husband. Husband
called Rainbow snake to swallow her.
Snake took her underground, spewed her
out in a week, pregnant; she gave birth
through her mouth and died. In revenge,
the girl's mother killed husband's
younger brother and his people by
building a fire at the mouth of their cave.
Husband, informed by a bird, put his
brother's bones on top of honey in his
bag, lulled the mother-in-law, and then
sewed shut the door entrance to her
cave. All died, he became a stone. -
Oenpelli: Berndt and Berndt 1968, 155-
157.
4285.Spider woman and the spirit man.
(1) An evil spirit seized an old woman
as wife and told her to make bags from
the piles of grass he brought her. When
she refused, he tied her hanging in the air
between two trees. When he returned he
found only a web and spider. ó
Nguluwongga: Bozic 1971, 137 ó 139.
4290.Bee girl and her fly husband.
(1) A girl sucking honey from a flower
was taken forceably by a fly man as
wife. She refused to eat his food (lizards
and snakes) and he threw her flowers on
the fire. Their many children changed
into bees, flew into the bush and now
make honey for their mother. ó
Nguluwongga: Bozic 1971, 113-115.
4300.Magical wound.
(1) Suspicious of the large amount of
yams his wife collected, a man and his
brother followed her and found her with
a lover. As she slept, they stabbed her
magically so that no wound showed.
Buried her that night. - Goulbourn
Island: Berndt and Berndt 1968, 166.
4305.Magical wind.
(1) Jew lizard man discovered his wives
had been seduced by two native cat men
and magically called up a great wind
which destroyed their camp, blinded the
men with ashes and dust. He killed them
with their own spears. - Northern
Aranda: Strehlow 1971, 344.
4310.Magical disorientation.
(1) While their husband hunted, two
young women were abducted. The boys'
father magically caused the abductors to
lose their track in a nearby jungle. The
sons returned and carefully stalking their
prey, killed the abductors, the wives and
their own children. - Goulbourn Island:
Berndt and Berndt 1968, 163-164.
4315.Magical boomerangs.
(1) A young wife who met every day
with many old and young men was split
in two by two magic boomerangs thrown
by her old husband. Her child came out.
Stone marks spot. - Northwest Australia:
Worms 1940, n.p.
4320.Jealous lightning man.
(1) When his larger, more handsome
brother paid attention to his wife, a man
fought, his fury expressed in lightning of
an electrical storm. Uses stone axe to
thus split trees. - Wardaman: Arndt
1962, 166 (cross-referenced).
4335.The wife abuser.
(1) A man hid a bowl in the furthest
corner of the hut and when his wife bent
to look for it, he struck her on the
buttocks with a stick so she bled a great
deal. This he did to many women, and at
last they beat and pursued him. The man
castrated himself so he could run faster
and ran into his hut where he was struck
down by a left-handed woman and killed
by the others. -Dieri: Siebert 1910, 47.
4345.Top knot pigeon woman.
(1) The top knot pigeon woman went
collecting food but spent her time tying
her hair into a pointed top knot instead
of working, consequently collecting little
food. Frightened by the men who
discovered her laziness, she flew into
the sky as the top knot pigeon. Now
small star in constellation Auriga. -
Karadjeri: Piddington 1932c, 397-398.
4350.Joord-joordbird woman.
(1) Joord-joord was a lazy woman who
collected only the white ants and ant's
eggs easily procurable near the camp.
Her sons punished her, hitting her on the
back with firesticks. She returned the
blows with her digging stick. Became
the bird Joord-joord who calls her name
and has a black back. - Unidentified:
Bates in Wilson (ed.) 1972, 86-87.
4355.Bird man and his lily bulb wives.
(1) The billabong bird man complained
to his wives who sat gossiping,
neglecting to hunt for food. He hung his
bag in a tree saying it was best he put his
testicles down there and drove his wives
into the water where they became lily
bulbs. He changed into the bird which
runs about angry and muttering. -
Djamunjun: Robinson 1956, 26-27.
4360.Bony bream man and his mangrove
fruit sister.
(1) A man fought with his sister because
she would not cook his food. They each
sank down into their totemic spot, she as
the mangrove fruit with stalk-spear in
her head, he as bony bream hit on the
shoulder. -Mungkan: McConnel 1957,
39-41.
4365.Bailer shell woman and soft yam
man.
(1) Wife refused to get water and
quarreled with her brother. She became
bailer shell in the water, he soft yam on
the beach. - Mungkan: McConnel 1957,
50-51.
4370.Oyster man and wife.
(1) While oyster man hunted, his wife
sat in her shell refusing to get water,
food, make fire, have intercourse. In a
heavy fog she sat under a tree knocking
sticks together. The husband broke open
her shell and found she was gone.
Followed her and sat with her. Now
women do their work and oysters sit in
their shells. - Karadjeri: Piddington
1932c, 399.
4375.The lazy wife and brother.
(1) A wife refused to dig grubs for her
children and sent them to find their own;
her lazy brother half-heartedly hunted for
them when they disappeared. Father
failed to save the boys from drowning
(tossed beard as rope) and speared his
wife and brother-in-law. Wife is Altair,
brother a feeble star near her, father and
beard are stars in Vega. -Unidentified:
Bates in Wilson (ed.) 1972, 28-31.
4380.Pigeon youth and the model
kangaroo.
(1) A young pigeon hunted game for
mother and sisters every day but never
returned with meat because he spent his
time constructing a model wattle-gum
kangaroo. When he displayed it to his
family, they beat him and said in the
future they would go with him. - Narran:
Parker 1898b, 75-76.
4390.The abandoned son is).
(1) The pigeon mother carried her child
in a net bag while she searched for
grubs. Placing the bag on the ground, she
wandered until she reached a far
country. The child raised himself to
manhood. When at length she
remembered her child, she returned
remorseful. Seeing her son, she ran to
embrace him. He killed her with a big
stone. -Noongahburrah: Parker 1896,
52-54.
(2) A mother small marsupial left her
two baby boys with only a conch shell
filled with milk. They grew to manhood,
became of young unmarried status and
went in search of her. Successively they
met groups of women who said their
mother had been there but had left, each
time more recently. Finally they found
her, took their spears and killed her. -
Karadjeri: Piddington 1932c, 395-396.
A variant:
(3) A woman placed her small wallaby
boy on the ground while she searched
for grass seed. Some wallaby women
saw him but left him. The spirit of the
boy's father took the child. The women
getting water near his camp saw his
great spear sticking up in a great smoke.
He exchanged food with one friendly
woman, and sang the boy's hair long. He
visited the woman's camp with the boy
behind him, and the women were told to
lie face down. The boy killed all with
his churinga (sacred object) in revenge.
Father and boy went into the ground at
totemic spot for wallaby. - Kaitish:
Spencer and Gillen 1969, 421-422.
4400.Greedy white crane man.
(1) Fishing with others, white crane man
called large silver bream to his net,
cooked and ate it alone, pretending by
small belching he had eaten only small
fish. People pushed heated cooking
stones up his anus. He became the bird. -
Jindjiparndi: von Brandenstein 1970,
218-225. Ngarluma: von Brandenstein
1970, 225-233-
4405.The wives and the water serpent
husband.
(1) Two wives decided to keep food
they had collected for themselves. Their
husbands changed themselves into
Wonambi (giant eater serpent) which
could travel above and underground,
allowed only tails to show and the
women could not dig them out. Both
women finally swallowed by snakes.
Watercourses, gorge made. -
Pitjendadjara: Mountford 1964. 145-
147.
4410.Young lightning man.
(1) A young man gave the fish he caught
to his father but received only the
poorest fish as his portion. The son
turned himself into lightning on the
beach, disappeared over the sea to
return later as a red rock in the water.
Sunset is his fishing torch. - Northwest
Australia: Bates 1930b, 3.
4415.Deluge revenge.
(1) A man, angry because his son-in-law
gave him only poor meat, spat blood in
four directions, making a great wind and
rain storm. The pelican saved the man in
his canoe and others became duck,
shags. -Wandandian: Ridley 1875, 142-
144.
4420.Greedy mavis bird man.
(1) Greedy mavis bird man always
caught all the fish before people could
get to the waterhole. All of the birds
together made a plan to kill him. Willy
wagtail grandson tried to warn him,
unsuccessfully. -Djaru: Berndt 1978, 84.
4425.Deceptive food exchange. .
(1) Rat kangaroo and bandicoot
collected different roots and cooked
them separately. Rat kangaroo shared his
food, but each day the bandicoot
returned the same roots to him. One day,
bandicoot accidentally returned some of
his own root along with the other. Rat
kangaroo chased him south with a stick.
Variant: roles are reversed. -Karadjeri:
Piddington 1932c, 396.
(2) Fresh water crocodile man and heron
man hunted lily bulbs together, roasted
them in a common fire and shared them.
The crocodile man, getting all the bitter
bulbs, secretly passed them to his friend
who returned them to him in like manner.
When they separated, the crocodile man
discovered the exchange. He returned to
his friend, the two argued and fought.
Hot, they waded into the water and
changed into their respective animals. -
Murinbata: Robinson 1956, 14-15;
1958, 120-123.
(3) Owl man collected mirbili locust
and bustard man collected karudu locust,
a better food. When owl man shared his
insects, the bustard man slyly returned
the same to his unsuspecting friend. At
last Owl man discovered some of the
desired food dropping from bustard's
bowl. In anger, he frightened his
companion with his night cry and chased
him away, eating bustard's food and
reproaching him for his greed. -
Karadjeri: Piddington 1932c, 384-385.
4430.Quarrel of cockatoo and crow
wives.
(1) The cockatoo woman and the crow
woman, wives of eagle man, dug termite
larva which they winnowed and shared.
Crow woman, angry at receiving only
poor red ant's eggs while cockatoo
woman kept the good eggs, killed her
co-wife with a digging stick and buried
her under a termite hill. Eagle sent his
magic stone to the sky, it returned
covered with maggots and he knew what
had happened. Eagle instructed his crow
wife to build a large fire, then pushed
her into it. ó Njigina: Nekes and Worms
1953, 997-1010.
(2) Cockatoo woman and crow woman,
dug ant eggs together. Crow woman,
jealous because the husband preferred
cockatoo, made disparaging remarks
about the color of the other's vulva. One
day crow woman threw axe at her rival,
breaking her leg and killing her. Crow
man found the body, buried it. He built a
large fire and threw his crow wife into
it. Cockatoo's tracks are four brightest
stars of Corvus, crow's tracks the
brightest of Delphinus. - Karadjeri:
Piddington 1932c, 386-387.
4435.The cooking oven quarrel.
(1) Once the land was covered with salt
water. A Wetta ground rat woman and a
Kakadu woman built an oven.
Repeatedly the Kakadu woman asked to
put her food into the oven and when she
at last received a reply, it was in the
Wetta language. Angry, she hit her
companion on the head and back and
then threw hot stones into the salt water,
commanding it to retreat. A stone fell on
the back of the great snake Numeriji who
went into the sea taking the salt water
from the plains. The women became
rats. ó Kakadu: Spencer 1914, 323-324.
4445.The bird man and the emu theft.
(1) Hearing men sing that they had found
an emu's nest, a bird man claimed he had
found the same. The bird man carried the
meat home so the others could play a
game as they went along. He then went
underground with the meat, emerging at
his own camp. Black tongued lizard
learned from the bird's sons where the
exits were, killed the bird man and his
family. - New South Wales: Parker
1930, 78-80.
(2) An old soldier bird man found it
difficult to hunt food for his family, so he
hunted with the eagle hawk tribe.
Stealing two emus the hawk men had
killed, he went underground through a
trap spider's hidden door. A hawk man
discovered the location of the exit from
soldier's daughter. He persuaded the
daughters to jump from a tree, speared
the man's wives and then soldier bird
man as he emerged from the ground. -
Narran: Parker 1897a, 108-144.
4450.Porcupine man and the food theft.
(1) The elder white throated bird killed
an emu, the younger shouted with joy
disregarding warnings. This attracted the
porcupine anteater who took the emu for
himself. Men speared him. The bird
brothers stole the emu and hid under a
large stone only they could move. Men
heard their laughter but could not enter.
When they pried the stone, out flew two
small white throated birds who sat on a
bush discussing. ó Noongahburrah:
Parker 1897a, 18-23.
(2) Two brothers (one perhaps the
smallest night owl) found an eel in the
river. The younger dove in disregarding
warnings and the elder rescued him. The
eel was left with two children who
watched it as it cooked. Old porcupine
man tickled the children to death, ate the
eel and fled. The elder brother revived
the children and tracked the porcupine
man to where he hid under a rock. None
could lift the rock; grey thrush split it in
two. Porcupine was speared. ó
Thangatti: Holmer 1969, 56-58.
4455.Spirit man and the wallaby man.
(1) When an evil spirit man (Waruk)
stole all the lily bulbs from a swamp,
burying them and lying down on the spot,
the wallaby man drove him away with
smoke and threw bulbs to the people.
The spirit pursued him, rolling like a big
hill and, becoming a wallaby, he hid in a
log. The spirit still hunts for his prey. ó
Nguluwongga: Bozic 1972, 133-135.
4465.Theft of the grinding stone.
(1) People laughed at Crooked Leg's
form and the light-colored flies which
came with him. Men in his father's camp
were grinding seed. At night he made
them unconscious with powdered fungus
and coals, stole their grinding stone from
the mud in which it was hidden and left
with it on his head. A revenge party
overtook him. Using the grinding stone
as a shield he stopped their weapons,
killed them. They are black stones (like
revenge paint). Meeting another group,
he lay down with shield on his back,
unharmed. He turned to stone. ó
Yaurorka: Howitt and Siebert 1903,
526-528; Howitt 1904, 802-803.
(2) A perentie lizard man visited the
black lizard men and, pretending a sore
foot to remain in camp, he stole their
grinding stone and its headring. These he
swallowed and, changing into a lizard,
made rain to obliterate his tracks. He ate
poison berries, vomited stones. Left
marks where he ground flour. He was
speared and the stone broken. Landscape
marks. ó Pitjendjadjara: Mountford
1964, 161 ó 163.
4470.Theft of the sacred stones.
(1) Emu man, pleading tired legs, stayed
in camp while other emu men hunted and
stole a bag containing half their churinga
(sacred objects: stone). Made emu
totemic spot when he died. ó Kaitish:
Spencer and Gillen 1969, 295-296.
(2) The two dearest sons of an ancestral
man stole his two most trasured
churinga. He pursued them and killed
them. ó Hale River Aranda: Strehlow
1971, 551.
(3) A wind muramura (ancestral being)
stole a pounding stone and large stone
dish. He sang a wind to lift the latter to
his head. Songs for different winds (hot,
dusty, cold) now used by wind totem. ó
Dieri: Elkin 1934, 183; 1948, 196-197.
4480.Children and the moon.
(1) A small boy and girl played in a
strong wind. They held to a tree for
anchor. All three were carried to the
moon. - Drysdale River Tribes:
Hernandez 1961, 124-125.
(2) Some children were once naughty
and a wind came along and carried them
up to the moon. They can now be seen as
moon shadows. ó Forrest River Tribes:
Kaberry 1934, 435.
(3) An evil spirit Muuruup neung kuurn
tarrong gnat (devil in the moon) will
come and take bad children to the moon.
- Western Districts, Victoria: Dawson
1881, 50.
(4) Two children lay side by side and
watched the moon. Annoyed by their
stare, the moon man fell on the children,
they stuck together and became two
rocks. - Worora: Lucich 1969, 33-34.
4485.Children and the snake.
(1) An orphan cried incessantly because
others would not share food with him.
An annoyed snake swallowed the child
and many others as he travelled inland.
When finally the snake was killed,
people came alive from his belly.
Landscape features. - Maung: Berndt and
Berndt 1965, 338.
(2) Children crying for food annoyed the
rainbow snake who flooded the land.
Although the children climbed a tree,
they were drowned. -Oenpelli:
Mountford 1956, 220.
4490.Disobedient youths and the snake.
(1) Two circumcision novices ate a
tabooed bird and were swallowed by a
serpent who travelled underground to
them. Rescue attempted by thrusting stick
into snake's anus. Snake caused flood. -
Jindjiparndi: von Brandenstein 1970,
290-297.
(2) Two boys strayed to the beach
against orders and were turned into
rocks by the sea rainbow serpent. -
Bunya-Bunya: Howitt 1904, 431.
4495.The grandparents and the Windaru
child.
(1) The Windaru child was told to make
his own camp so his grandmother could
be alone with her husband. The boy
killed the grandfather in a fire, and the
grandmother called avenging spirits.
Pursued by the spirits, the child laughed,
climbed a tree carrying it to the sky with
the spirits and grandmother clinging.
Tree was shaken, pursuers fell to
ground, became boulders. Boy went to
the sky. -Bidjandjara: Berndt and Berndt
1977, 344.
4505.Goanna man and the circumcisions.
(1) A goanna man took his sons to a
distant tribe for initiation. On the way
they killed goannas and he said "You
two are going to be circumcised". When
asked to repeat, he claimed to have told
them to eviscerate the animals (play on
words). At the camp, goanna man sat
with head averted from mother-in-law
(tabooed), sons asked if he looked at her
buttocks. He later sent his penis
underground into her vagina; boys said
she looked sick, he withdrew. The
people circumcised the boys while he
was away collecting. Angry, he
pretended lameness, returned to camp
with boys and kindled a fire which
killed all. Protected sons under his arms,
went into a pool of water. Now rocks.
Variant: Lacks goanna incident, mother-
in-law incident. Boys become ant hills,
father is rainbow. - Garadyari: Worms
1940, 247-248; 1944, 303.
4510.The girl and the circumcision.
(1) A girl saw her brother's circumcision
and asked her father how the operation
had been performed. The father and
another old man muramura (ancestral
men) dug a long, deep pit, filled it with
fire, and pushed all the women and
children into it. Only a few lived. The
tidnamaduka (foot mother-grandmother-
ancestress) threw their boomerangs at
the men, broke their legs and pushed
them into the pit as well. - Wonganguru:
Howitt 1904, 785-786.
4515.Mopoke and eagle.
(1) Mopoke put eagle's son in a bag and
left him. Eagle suggested mopoke hunt in
a tree hole for opossum, then trapped
him inside. Mopoke broke his leg,
extracted a bone and with it effected an
exit. Mopoke and eagle made peace.
Eagle would use the top branches of
trees to hunt, mopoke would live in the
tree hollows. Variant: prisoner turns into
mopoke bird and squeezes through a
small exit. Now he hides in the day and
hunts at night when eaglehawks are not
about. -Gippsland: Smyth 1878, 451-
452. Kurnai: Massola 1968, 64.
Following is a variant:
(2) Mopoke man hunted with two young
men. They killed a kangaroo and while
the men slept, mopoke pegged them
down with the kangaroo skin. Bunjil
(creator) released the men and instructed
the mopoke man to hunt opossum for
him. The exit was blocked with a stone,
but mopoke changed to the bird and
escaped. He lives in holes and flies only
at night. - Kulin: Massola 1968, 49-50.
4520.The sky tree burning.
(1) A hunter lent his six dogs to some
young hunters who ate one dog. He
drilled a hole in the great pine tree
which formed a bridge to the skyworld
and placed a live coal in the hole. The
hunters had climbed to the sky world to
gather larp and when the tree burned and
fell, they were left in the sky. They are
now a cluster of stars in southern sky,
top of tree is black patch in Milky Way,
travertine lumps are seed cones of
ancient tree, river depression and lake
mark tree's falling. -Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 14-16.
(2) The shrike thrush man lived at the
foot of a huge Murrav Dine. One day he
whistled for his hunting dogs to return
and found that people who had come to
dig in a local clay pit had killed and
eaten them. Angry, he placed hot coals
under the roots of the pine. The tree
burned and fell killing all. People now
are stones, a lake formed in hollow left
by roots and the shrike thrush still
whistles for his dogs. ó Wotjobaluk:
Massola 1968, 17-18.
4525.Bustard, curlew and the nose bone.
(1) The bustard boy agreed to allow his
curlew boy friend to make a nose
ornament for him, but when curlew
bored a hole in his nasal septum he
became angry and speared him. Bustard
is Vega and two other stars in Lyra;
curlew is Altair in Aquila and two other
stars. ó Karadjeri, Northern and
Southern: Piddington 1932b, 59-
4530.Loquacious mantis and the wind.
(1) The mantis once talked all the time
creating a constant south-east wind.
Repeatedly people killed him, cutting
him into small pieces but always he
revived. Finally speared in the scrotum,
he died. ó Karadjeri: Piddington 1932c,
399-
4535.The magic growing tree.
(1) Eagle sent his nephew lizard up a
tree to collect a large egg. Afraid to
touch it, lizard repeatedly held up a
smaller egg. Angry, eagle caused the tree
to grow tall and returned to his camp. At
length, lizard jumped down and cut off
eagle's head with a boomerang. ó Djaber
Djaber: Worms 1940, 249; Worms and
Nekes 1953, 1011-1014.
(2) Two sisters asked their husband to
climb a tree to gather nuts, then sang the
tree taller, leaving him suspended. They
told their own people someone had
killed him and pretended mourning. Man
lived on tree bark and water inside the
tree, chewed a rope of bark and at length
climbed down. Speared wives. ó
Worora: Lucich 1968, 7 ó 11.
(3) Eagle man, angry because his brother
would not share women with him, asked
him to climb a tree to get young eagles in
a nest, then sang tree tall with bole about
trunk. Left with the women. Elder
brother died and his bones, falling to the
ground, sat up and began to eat to build
flesh and muscle. Killed adulterers.
Now the stone country devil who travels
alone. ó Djauan: Robinson 1968,
159ó161.
4540.Eagle and the sharpened stick
revenge.
(1) Eaglehawk ate most of the food and
shared little with his nephews wagtail
and northern pigeon. The boys dug a trap
with a sharp stick upright in the bottom.
Thinking it an opossum hole, eaglehawk
stamped the ground, pierced his foot. A
native doctor, native companion,
removed the stick releasing a gushing
river. Eaglehawk died, his foot now the
Southern Cross. ó Unidentified: Bates in
Wilson (ed.) 1972, 52-54.
(2) Wagtail followed his uncle eagle into
the forest, secretly hid a sharpened stick
in the path and called his uncle to jump
on the supposed bandicoot hole. Eagle
pierced his foot, people pulled the stick
out and eagle walked back to camp.
Wagtail fled. ó Bad: Worms and Nekes
1953, 1015-1018.
(3) Eagle brothers were jealous of their
mother's favorite, the youngest eagle.
They stuck a sharpened kangaroo bone
into a bandicoot's nest and had two girls
persuade young eagle to step on the nest.
Foot pierced; girls were impaled on
stake. Young eagle went far away with
the girls and returned when he heard his
mother mourning. The mother attacked
the girls, he was overcome by his
brothers. ó Ya-itma-thang: Massola
1968, 88-89-
(4) Owl placed a stingray barb upright
in a ball of grass resembling a mouse
nest. Crow, then curlew asked
eaglehawk to investigate. With a stone
strapped on his forehead, hawk came
and accidentally stepped on the trap.
Owl attempted to seduce hawk's wife,
and at a dance, was cut to pieces.
Eaglehawk has beak from stone and
claws like stingray barbs. ó
Jindjiparndi, Ngarluma: von
Brandenstein 1970, 232ó238.
4545.The family and the trap revenges.
(1) An old woman, her son and his two
lizard wives carnped together. When the
son beat his wives, they constructed a
sand trap filled with water resembling a
bandicoot's nest and husband drowned
when he jumped on it. His mother
revived him with ant bites, hid him in
hut, concealed him in large bag to carry
him to hunt. Girls discovered him and
pretended welcome. Son now concealed
pointed stakes in water and tricked
wives into impaling themselves. Mother,
angry at this, revived the girls and
warned them that if they desired use of
her magic skills, they would have to live
in peace. Wives became red star; falling
star and thunder as portent at mother's
death. ó Narran: Parker 1897, 76-82.
4550.The seed women and the magic
heat stones.
(1) The son of a grass seed woman was
taken to a distant place to be initiated.
The men there wished to keep the youth
(he was fair in color) and sent back
another youth in his place. The mother
gave the men a magic drink, they
vomited magic heat stones and died. Boy
crawled away and became rock. Woman
later also became magic stone. ó
Aranda: Spencer and Gillen 1969, 470-
471.
(2) The seed ancestral women gave a
magical drink to visiting men of the fire
totem. The men vomited and their fire
vomit is now two stones marking the
site. Stones now used in heat magic. ó
Southern Aranda: Strehlow 1971, 441.
4555.The eaglehawk men and the magic
stones.
(1) Two eaglehawk men ate a large
number of eaglehawk men, women and
children. Ill from their greed, they
vomited heaps of what are now stones.
These are full of evil magic, are kept
covered with sticks, must not be seen on
pain of extreme illness. ó Aranda:
Spencer and Gillen 1969, 472.
4560.Food ingestion and the unexpected
consequences.
(1) An ancestral man (muramura) ate too
many manjura (unidentified) plants and
became constipated. He pushed a stick
up his rectum, pus extruded and he died.
Will now visit same consequence on
men if they threaten in anger. -
Queensland: Roth 1903c, 13.
(2) The native companion unwarily ate a
ground chili during a ceremony; his head
and beak became scarlet and he reeled.
Thus he learned the steps of his dance.
Others changed the dance according to
their physical peculiarities. -
Queensland: Roth 1903c, 13-
(3) Mopoke gathered wild
tobacco/leaves, made and heated a
tobacco quid. From the process, he got
drunk and ate the quid. He vomited for a
long time on Mount "Mopoke has
vomited on it". - Jindjiparndi, Pandjima:
von Brandenstein 1970, 239-240.
4570.Pelican man and the duck men.
(1) Some duck men used to laugh at
pelican man although small black crane
man tried to disuade them. Pelican man
put crane in ashes of the fire to make him
white and at night burned all the duck
men. Stones mark spot. - Warramunga:
Spencer and Gillen 1969, 434.
4575.Wild cat man and his hair string.
(1) A native wild cat man was laughed
at for tying up his hair with a string.
Twice he made fire and burned everyone
to death. The fire travelled underground
and caught his two brothers carrying the
skin of a water snake. Brothers and skin
are dark spots in the Milky Way. ó
Wongkonguru: Elkin 1934, 181-182;
1948, 194-198.
4580.Plum tree man.
(1) People teased a man by calling him
and offering him food, then denying they
had called. Repeated. In retaliation, he
cut a young man's hair, rolled it into
pellets which he hung on a native plum
tree. This he offered to those who had
teased him and they ate and died. He
became a plum tree. - Karadjeri:
Piddington 1932c, 383-384.
4590.Birds' flying contest. Cf. AT 221
The Election of the Bird-King.
(1) When the birds competed to see
which could fly the longest, wren (or
sparrow) hid on the back of eagle hawk
and won the contest. Other birds chased
him, he hid in his ground hole nest and
owl, left to guard, fell asleep allowing
him to escape. Birds still hate the night
owl. -Thangatti: Holmer 1963, 55-56.
A wide-spread theme in Australian
narratives. For extensive cross
references see: Meggitt 1966, 131-138.
4640.Crocodile abductor I.
(1) A crocodile stole a woman and took
her to his borrow. They copulated and
the woman bore crocodile babies. The
woman dug an escape hole which she
kept concealed from the crocodile.
While he hunted for fish to feed her, she
escaped. The crocodile tracked her to
her camp where people speared him and
cut him up with an axe. -Nunggubuyu:
Heath 1980, 235.
(2) Crocodile stole an elder sister who
later gave birth to a pile of crocodile
eggs. From these, frogs emerged. Some
live on land, some in water like parents
and have no hair because mother pulled
hers out in escape from crocodile. -
Nguluwongga: Bozic 1972, 630-665.
4645.Crocodile abductor II.
(1) The crocodile man encountered two
girls hunting with their parents and
transported all over a river. As the girls
chopped honey from a tree he hid in the
trunk and cautioned them not to poke
him. They fled, and he followed
imitating their father's voice. He
repeatedly raped both girls, until they
trapped him in his hole and again fled.
Lured by the girls, he was speared by
their father who cut off his head, while
the women chopped penis, poked him in
anus. He sank into his sacred place.
Head bump where hit. - Mungkan:
McConnel 1957, 102-106; 99-100.
4650.Buffalo abductor.
(1) A buffalo stole a girl from a camp,
carrying her away on his back. Buffalo
moved from place to place copulating
with the woman even after her death.
People tracked them and speared the
buffalo. -Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 233.
4655.Meat ant and the abductor.
(1) Two men, silver gull and swamp
pheasant, had been fishing in the gulf and
came ashore looking for drinking water.
They saw a beautiful young girl, the
daughter of meat ant who was away from
camp fishing. Although the girl was in a
tabooed relationship to them, (mother-
in-law), they kidnapped her in their
canoe. The mother returned and called to
the men to return her daughter but to no
avail. Meat ant stabbed herself in the eye
with her digging stick and died. Three
stones mark the place. - Nunggubuyu:
Heath 1980, 96; Hughes 1969, No. 8;
Capell I960, No. 7.
4665.Old man and the demon woman.
(1) An old man sat with erected penis,
sent it into hole made in the sand by
urinating demonwoman and it grew,
coiled around. Putting the penis into a
pouch, he travelled. Camped in hole,
penis in smaller hole. Unable to remove
penis from its pouch, he at last placed it
under a stone axe left by a demon
woman, she returned and chopped it to
pieces. Pieces became sacred objects. -
Nambutji: Roheim 1971, 34-36.
4670.Priapic lizard man.
(1) Lizard man followed the wife of
another, sang her a song about sexual
intercourse, asked her intimate
questions. They had intercourse. She
told her husband who was unable to
catch the adulterer. Repeated many times
with other victims. At last two girls
cried out and their husbands killed him.
Five stones. ó Karadjeri, North and
South: Piddington 1932b, 61.
4675.Priapic lizard man and the
Kunkarunkara women.
(1) A priapic lizard man ancestor
("father leg") pursued the Kunkarunkara
women, turned himself into a stiff grass
and had intercourse with one woman.
Later, missing the vagina, stabbed her in
the leg. Disquised as an attractive bush,
he was recognized and avoided. -
Pitjentara: Roheim 1971, 44-46.
4680.Lecherous hare-wallaby man.
(1) Sexually unsatisfied, a hare-wallaby
man whitened his headband (attraction),
twisted penis around his legs, bathed in
pool, struck penis against a rock until
exhausted. Having charmed a woman, he
raped her. Sad at first, later she is
happily married to him. ó Southern
Aranda: Strehlow 1971, 476-492.
4685.Cockatoo man.
(1) The cockatoo man walked with his
penis coiled around his head and waist
and sent it underground to copulate with
any solitary women he met. He then
hauled his penis in like a "leg rope". ó
Walbiri: Meggitt 1966, 132n.
4690.Native cat man and the pigeon
woman.
(1) Native cat man sent penis
underground until it lodged in a virgin
pigeon woman. Love songs for old men.
ó Western Aranda: Strehlow 1971, 515-
519; 507.
4695.Native cat man's love charms.
(1) An old ancestral native cat man
swung firebrands and bullroarers to
charm many pigeon women. As he raised
a ceremonial pole and sat in a pool of
blood, his penis called and the women's
heels (resting against vaginas)
answered. ó Western Aranda: Strehlow
1971, 508 ó 514.
4700.Native cat's double penis.
(1) A native cat man arose who killed a
jabiru man who lived on dead bodies.
As a reward, the opossum man lent his
two young wives to the hero. Cat sang
himself a double penis and copulated
with both girls at the same time. The
opossum was angry and they fought,
getting physical characteristics. The
native cat travelled and saw the Munga-
Munga women, one with child. When
these women were sent away by the old
black snake, native cat went with them. ó
Warramunga: Spencer and Gillen 1969,
443-444.
4705.Bat and the impaled girls.
(1) Magpies and jays attacked a swan
girl and a hawk girl who were
travelling. They defended themselves
and sang a song saying they were being
blown about like balls. They played in
the water, and bat threw clods of earth at
them. At his suggestion they questioned
him about his kinship relationship and
found he was husband. They camped
together; bat held sharpened leg bones in
either hand and the girls sat on them,
impaling themselves. They flew away
but returned and stayed. ó Kurnai:
Massola 1968, 67.
4710.The satisfied wife.
(1) A man drowned by a crocodile
which he had tried to catch at his wife's
repeated urging. The husband's brother
claimed her as wife, but she protested
saying his penis was not the equal of her
husband's. They copulated, his penis
thrust through her body into her throat,
semen spilled from her ears, and she
agreed she was mistaken. ó Goulbourn
Island: Berndt and Berndt 1968, 153-
154. Oenpelli: Berndt and Berndt 1968,
154.
4715.Travelling women and the immoral
incestuous man.
(1) A lengthy tale of travelling women
and "immoral incestuous man" which
includes the following episodes: man's
testes slip away, become another man
who walks away; penis separates and
becomes man who walks with owner
guiding him with its eye; they rejoin
man; underground penis commits incest
and is chopped by clitoris; penis of dead
man becomes another man; women meet
men whose hearts can be seen through
their chests, copulate all night; women
again raped by original man, penis cut
and leaves as man; man is finally killed
by another victim while women travel
and have relations with crow, lizard
man. All enter earth. - Walbiri: Meggitt
1966, 131 ó 138.
4720.The three suitors.
(1) Sisters were approached by a man
with snakes emerging from all orifices.
Their dog attacked, threw the snakes
about. Adventures include: meet in
succession three man who ask elder
sister for younger sister for intercourse
and who are refused; girls make selves
invisible and hide in log; girls trick
suitor into a hole (he becomes Rainbow
Snake); their suitor killed and eaten by
spirit; girls become wives of younger
brother of third suitor who kills spirits
with lightning. -Oenpelli: Berndt and
Berndt 1968. 159-162.
4725.Dingo couple and the spinifex
people.
(1) A. A wild dog man and wife rose
from the earth, travelled and heard
singing. The man recognized the songs as
those of love magic and making false
excuses to his wife, sneaks away, dances
and copulates all night. Travel and meet
a party of spinifex men and women who
perform love ceremonies, have
extraordinary sexual appetites. Dingo
man, fearing to die of exhaustion, flees
the women's approach. Travel. Wife's
urine excites husband, copulate, birth
many dogs, enter ground. B. Spinifex
people travel on. Adventures include:
walking or flying cross tracks of others,
copulate along way, semen from vaginas
make waterholes, demon whirlwinds
trap the men in trees where they die in
great pain; women travel seeking new
lovers, cicada man pursues but is unable
to catch them. - Walbiri: Meggitt 1966,
143-146.
4735.Long penised spirit.
(1) A hostile long penised spirit rested
with his penis in a tree, copulated with
two sisters sending penis underground
and leaving them bleeding. He killed ten
of the men who attacked him. He was
speared and left in the ground, but his
penis emerged. The penis was cut and
buried, the men rewarded, and girls
given to their leader. -Oenpelli: Berndt
and Berndt 1968, 172-174.
4740.Hostile spirit and the wife.
(1) Hostile spirit sent penis
underground, entered a young wife, cut
her body in half. Taking the lower part of
the body away on his penis, the spirit
was tracked by the girl's husband,
speared and buried. Girl was sewn
together and revived by the sun. -
Oenpelli: Berndt and Berndt 1968, 174-
175.
4750.The persistent mother-in-laws.
(1) Three young men, blown to an island
in their canoe, were given three young
girls as wives by their old mothers. As
the men began to copulate with the girls,
each old woman crawled between the
partners, saying, "I am cold".
Exasperated, the men tried to drown,
then club the old women. Each time they
revived. This continued until at last the
men left, refusing to take the girls with
them; no one wants to copulate with
mothers-in-law or old women. -
Murngin: Warner 1937, 562-564.
(2) As in item (1) but men do not attempt
to kill the old women; mother-in-law
sends gale to prevent girl from leaving.
Followed by: the men arrive home
painted for war. Elder of travellers kills
his wife and child she carried by his
younger brother. He then magically
poisons eggs, killing the adulterer. As a
crocodile then younger brother's spirit
bites him in half, disappears with lower
extremities. - Millingimbi, Yirrkalla:
Berndt 1952, 216-230.
4755.Bat and the owl mother-in-law.
(1) Owl woman wanted her bat son-in-
law as husband and forced him to break
the avoidance taboo. She alone ate food
he had killed since he would not marry
her. He sent her to get water, made
image of himself. When form would not
speak, she hit it with yamstick. She
followed her "husband" and they
gathered and cooked yams. Bat told her
to open her mouth and dropped burning
yams into it; she choked to death. ó
Wotjobaluk: Massola 1964, 11-12.
Possible variant although incest not
specified.
(2) Old grandmother alone ate the
wallaby her son had hunted. One day she
followed him to where he was cooking
wallaby. He told her to open her mouth
and threw burning hot wallaby fat into it:
smoke came from her ears, nose and
anus. She died and is now star Achernar
in Eridanus. - Karadjeri, North and
South: Piddington 1932b, 59.
4757.Rainbow Serpent and bat.
(1) Rainbow Serpent man (Kunmanngur)
sent his two parrot daughters to find a
husband. Bat man (Tjinimin) tracked
them and incestuously took them as
wives. Girls sang up sandflies to torment
him and fled to the top of a mountain.
Promising to pull him up, they cut the
rope and bat fell broken to the ground.
Bat planned revenge, and tested his new
stone points by cutting off his nose.
Serpent, his wives, daughters and bird
sons danced, then slept; bat speared all
but the sons. Wounded serpent travelled,
leaving landmarks, to the sea where he
lay for three days. Taking the camp's
firesticks on his head, he walked into the
water. A son, kestrel, snatched the sticks,
set grass on fire. Sons became various
birds, Kunmanngur, the Rainbow snake.
Variant includes: bat concealed under
paperbark, bat speaks sotto voce, bat
secures aid of birds, bat dances in
snake's camp. - Murinbata: Robinson
1956, 5-9; 1968, 51-60; Stanner 1959-
1963, 240-246.
Stanner gives lengthy analysis and
variant narratives including versions
from Marithiel (238), Nangiomeri (239-
240), Wagaman (239).
(2) Brief variant in which Rainbow
snake steals bat's wife, whistle duck. -
Northern Australia: Kelantumama in
Bunug et al., 20-24.
4760.The mother-in-law seduction.
(1) A rain totem man continually pursued
the wives of his brothers. When he
seduced his mother-in-law, her husband
sang something into his body and he died
in pain. - Walbiri: Meggitt 1961, 261.
(2) When his mother-in-law refused his
advances, a man raped her. His penis
burst as it entered her vulva and he died.
He entered the earth at "penis bone"
rockhole. - Walbiri: Meggitt 1962, 262.
4765.The desirous father.
(1) A father whose incestuous advances
were refused, pierced his scrotum and
dug a grave. When pain became stronger
he used the bone to pull out his liver,
ribs, leg and foot bones and placed them
in a pile; tore out his heart and lungs;
threw his eyes far away and fell into his
grave. - Kujani: Siebert 1910, 47.
(2) When a daughter rejected her father's
sexual advances, he pierced his scrotum
with a bone. Although his wife wished
to nurse him, he wanted only the
daughter. When the women left he dug a
grave and, heating the bone again and
again pierced himself. Finally, he lay in
the grave, tore out his eyes and threw
them away. The eyes became two white
stone hills, the man, cliffs. - Kujani:
Siebert 1910, 47.
4770.The demanding son.
(1) A boy was groaning and his mother
offered him, one by one, all the good
things in the world to eat and drink. He
refused them. Finally, she asked if he
wanted her vagina and answered '' yes".
- Murngin: Warner 1937, 561-562.
4775.The sister.
(1) Frilly lizard, sexually excited by his
sister's careless sitting posture, refused
her offers of wallaby liver, intestines.
From his refusal she guessed his
intentions and sent him several times to
get cleaner water. She finally drank the
water; they copulated. Her husband, the
white-breasted eagle, sent lizard up a
tree to chop honey and then cut the
branch, throwing him to the ground.
Lizard was beaten. - Tiwi: Osborne
1974, 91-92.
(2) Repeatedly a man slipped back to
camp, played in the water with his sister
and claimed to be her husband.
Pretending lameness one day, he
returned to camp and they copulated.
The girl's husband told the brother to
reach into a tree hole to secure honey,
then chopped off his head. The boy's
mother and sister would not eat the
honey and heard the boy's spirit call "I'm
coming". Husband danced back to camp
with the bones; mother cursed his
parents. - Goulbourn Island: Berndt and
Berndt 1968, 63-64.
4785.Crocodile transgressor.
(1) The saltwater crocodile was speared
by porpoise and sent to his saltwater
home where his son's wife adminstered
to his wound. He copulated with her.
Then in succession, he copulated with
eighteen women of the whole range of
forbidden relationships. He told them to
burn the house and carry him to sea.
Putting his hand into a hole totemic
spotóMungkan: McConnel 1957. 100 ó
102.
4790.Fickle bat.
(1) Bat tired of his bandicoot wife. He
copulated incestuously with iguana,
frilled lizard, eaglehawk's sister, and his
mother-in-law. Hunting for honey, he
pierced his eye on a piece of projecting
bark. ó Kokominni: Roth 1903b, 15.
4795.Iturka.
(1) A bellbird man was always on the
look-out for women of the wrong section
to catch. This is called iturka. - Arunta:
Spencer and Gillen 1969, 394.
4805.The giant chick.
(1) A young female wedge-tailed eagle
orphaned by a storm, mated with a young
sea eagle likewise blown from his home.
Same moiety, incestuous marriage. Their
offspring was a giant chick who looked
like both parents, had strange call and
ate even tabooed foods. Eventually,
people of both moieties killed the
parents; young escaped and still
screams, molests humans. - Wheelman:
Hassel 1935, 132-137.
4810.Leprous offspring.
(1) A man married his sister and they
produced two children afflicted with
leprosy. Later with proper matings, each
parent produced normal children. Now
incest not allowed. - Maung: Berndt and
Berndt 1968 62-63.
4815.Son and daughter marriage.
(1) Young man returning home in canoe
with his brother-in-law swam to an
island claiming thirst. He struck a turtle
on the back then fled back to boat saying
he had drunk. When a large fire was
seen rising from the island, the boy was
killed and thrown overboard. All died in
this fire but one young boy and girl
(marriageable): their son and daughter
married, producing many children.
Afterward these moved to mainland and
married properly. - Maung: Berndt and
Berndt 1968, 60-62.
(2) When the morning star man killed
everyone in a camp but a young brother
and sister, they took a firestick and fled.
When adult, they mated and produced
children who dispersed to form various
language groups. The woman spoke of
their relationship before others, the man
threatened her. - Djauan: Robinson
1956b, 64; 1968, 103-104.
4825.The puberty rite taboo.
(1) Small rat man attempted intercourse
with women who had not passed through
the vagina cutting ceremony. As
punishment, his penis was broken and he
died. Women died also. Stones there
now full of evil magic, kept covered
with brush. ó Aranda: Spencer and
Gillen 1969, 472.
4835.The menstruation taboo.
(1) Habitually a man approached a camp
of menstruating woman and had
intercourse with her. People at last
speared him and he became a stone.
Tabooed behavior. ó Karadjeri:
Piddington 1932c, 398.
4885.The man and the skin sack.
(1) The little people (nyol) seized a man
picking kangaroo apples and carried him
off in a skin sack. The captors rested and
drank water from a puddle. The man
asked for a drink, then refused puddle
water, saying it was dirty. When the
obliging spirit went to a creek, the man
escaped. - Kurnai: Massola 1968, 74-
75.
4890.The hostile spirit and the scorpian
boy.
(1) Crab man and his wife had twin
boys. The father threw the second born
into a waterhole believing him to be the
son of the hostile spirit, cut-cut. The
spirit took the abandoned child and each
night exchanged him for the other child
so its mother would nurse it, rolling
back the night cover so darkness would
lengthen. Cut-cut forgot the boy and went
back to the sea. Child lived on cactus
milk; when grown became scorpian and
returned to his mother's camp. As he
nursed his mother, spirit stepped on his
tail and mother was bitten. Now the
scorpian rushes to people and bites
when the spirit steps on his tail. - Ngulu​-
wongga: Bozic 1972, 97-99.
4895.The hostile spirit and the ugly
woman's child.
(1) Hostile spirit, cut-cut, saw a woman
and her child camped alone on a beach
in the rain. He lit a fire and saw the
woman was thin and ugly. Taking the
child, he promised to return it if she
would clear all the brush from the shore.
Spirit never returned, and the woman
became seashore pine now looking to
sea for her child. Variant: Spirit takes
woman's many children; she becomes a
cuckoo in the bush, never making a nest
lest cut-cut carry them off again. -
Nguluwongga: Bozic 1972, 23-27; 109-
111​4900. Dog and devils.
(1) Two human-like beings, (one a small
boy), left their dog on the ground and
flew up into a tree. The two cried. A
devil, (possibly stick-insect), smelled
the tears and began to chop the tree. As
the two flew from tree to tree, the devil
followed chopping. Devil abducted dog
back to his borrow; elder of the beings
entered borrow and rescued the dog:
devils with sores are sleeping, entrance
hole collapses, rescuer sings chant to
open and then close hole. Pursued by
boomerang throwing devils, the dog and
beings travelled along inside a hollow
log and escape. - Nunggubuyu: Heath
1980, 226; cites Hughes 1970, No.
4905.Emu and gecko.
(1) A boy out hunting with his parents
was lured away by emu who called to
him in his mother's voice. Emu's
husband, gecko lizard, told her to return
the child to his people. For three days
emu hunted while gecko secretly made a
rope which he hid in the ground. On
fourth day, gecko gave one end of the
rope to the boy telling him to shake it
three times as a sign he had reached his
own camp. Emu followed the boy to his
camp and threatened to bring down the
sky if he was not returned to her. Emu
and gecko fought over the second
abduction; emu is burned all over. -
Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 28-48; cites
Hughes 1969, No. 5; 1970, No. 4 and
No. 43; and van der Leeden 1975, A and
B.
4910.A stranger lyre bird.
(1) A stranger stole two wives and little
girls and took them to a cave which
could be reached only by a rope of
vines. In place of water he offered them
a loathsome drink. One day he was
careless, they escaped and trapped him
in the cave in turn. Crying and scratching
up heaps of sticks and stones, he became
the lyre bird. - New South Wales: Parker
1930, 18-19.
4915.Eaglehawk and moon's daughter.
(1) A native doctor became an
eaglehawk, flew to a tall tree and traced
a sound from the sky as being made by
the moon's daughter as she sifted ant's
eggs. As a man, he stole her, took her to
earth, purified her ritually and married
her. Her sun mother found her happy and
allowed her to remain on earth. -
Unidentified: Bates in Wilson (ed.) 1972
12-15.
4920.The batigon brothers and the
singer.
(1) The batigon brothers wished to keep
a singer permanently on their island to
entertain them. Purposely breaking his
beating sticks, the man demanded a log
from which to make new instruments,
then escaped to sea in the hollow log
while they slept. - Nguluwongga: Bozic
1972, 35-39.
4925.Olive python and the two boys.
(1) Two recently circumcised bovs
driooed blood into a dooIof
waterangering the female python who
lived there. Water rose, snake
swallowed the boys. A native doctor
followed them underwater meeting in
turn a snake, a blue tongued lizard, a
drangonfly. Each he asked, "How far?",
and was told, "Keep going". Tracking
the snake through muddied water, he
killed it, tied up the brightly shining guts
containing the boys, and returned with
them to the original pool. Emerged from
pool, freed the still living boys. Two
versions. -Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 17-
24, 24-28; cites Hughes 1969, No. 2 and
Capell 1960a, No. 2 and 3. Heath relates
this narrative to that of the Wawilak.
(800)
4935.The spirit and the palm tree sisters.
(1) An evil spirit in a whirlwind
attacked the elder of two sisters cooking
crabs on a beach, treating her roughly.
When the sisters fled, he covered them
with sand, water. Girls became two
kinds of palm tree. ó Nguluwongga:
Bozic 1972, 101 ó 107.
4940.Whirlwind and the ant man.
(1) A whirlwind destroyed all in its
path, and when on earth was a loud
giant. He refused any fish to an ant man
who then stole it and shared it with
others. To hide, the man changed to the
insect and built an impervious ant hill. ó
Nguluwongga: Bozic 1972, 83 ó 85.
4945.Lightening spirit.
(1) Several times a lightening spirit
approached an old man wishing to keep
him company, but the man fled. Locating
the man's camp by the sound of a crying
child, the spirit sealed shut their cave
home entrance. People became stone. -
Gunwinggu: Berndt and Berndt 1977,
342-343.
4950.Spirits and the lizard men.
(1) Mischievous spirits killed all the
lizard men but one who had been away
from camp. Seeing the attackers tracks,
the man hid his wife in the eaglehawk
feathers worn on his back, searched and
found the head of his older brother. He
spoke to the head; brother revived.
Together, they killed the spirits. Rocks
mark spot. Totemic center. - Aranda:
Spencer and Gillen 1968, 390-391.
4955.Gecko and devil.
(1) Gecko sharpened his axe. A devil,
attracted by the sound and by the stench
of a fly gecko had killed, approached.
Gecko killed the devil with lightening,
buried a pandanus basket at the spot, and
went into the water at his dreaming site.
ó Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 59 ó62; 21 1
-222: cites Hughes 1969, No. 16 and van
der Leeden 1975, E.
4960.The stone giant.
(1) A stone giant stole people's game
and so two "gods", his sister's sons,
placed a kangaroo in a fire pit and told
the giant to take it. Buried by them in the
ground, his body exploded, pieces give
names to various parts of the country. -
Jindjiparndi: von Brandenstein 1970,
266-269.
4965.The ghost and the boomerang
maker.
(1) A man making boomerangs sat on the
first one he made, a very fine one. A
ghost examined the pile of chips and
asked to which boomerang a certain chip
belonged. Angered, the maker threw the
magic weapon far over "which
boomerang" plain, creating a level
surface and a waterhole. Children tried
to catch the weapon, but it went to a
place where two "gods" sat on a
mountain. They magically pulled it down
to them. - Jindjiparndi: von Brandenstein
1970, 284-290.
(2) A chief called a fine boomerang
maker to make the weapons. The man
made a number, then hid one under his
garments. When the chief forced him to
produce it, he threw the magic weapon
out of sight. It mowed down all in its
path, returned, and struck off the chiefs
head. When people attacked him, the
boomerang maker disappeared in a
cloud. - Dordenup: Buller-Murphy 1958,
37.
4970.Spirit and the disguised woman.
(1) A woman cooking a wallaby heard a
noise, and disguised herself as a man,
cutting her hair and attaching it to her
chin, burying herself in the sand. A spirit
approached. She gave him half of the
wallaby and told him to leave. From her
camp a fly went to the spirit, he smelled
it and knew he had been tricked. Spirit
returned, crept under the woman's
covering to copulate with her. People
killed him; found he was too salty to eat.
- Nunggubuyu: van der Leeden 1975, 88-
89.
4975.The disguised water sprite.
(1) A water sprite, daughter of the
rainbow serpent, disguised as a male
hunter, shared her food with a hunter. He
later returned and discovered from her
imprint on the ground her sex; pursued
her. She taunted him from a tree
magically growing taller, then from the
river. Hunter's body became stone; spirit
became lotus bird; spears and spear
throwers, various trees. - Murinbata:
Robinson 1968, 47-50.
4980.Rabulhuny.
(1) Blind Rabulhuny, his wife and
daughter wandered by accident into
country inhabited by dangerous ghosts. A
friendly ghost, Marambadin, hid the
family in a hole and concealed them with
clothing. The dangerous spirits
assembled. Friendly ghost sent his wives
to the unmarried boys' camp, ostensibly
with food and supplies for the young
men but secretly to the hidden family.
Tired from dancing, the ghosts slept and
the family were led to safety. Other
ghosts pursued them, unsuccessfully. -
Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 206-211.
4990.Frilled lizard (Mannyamannyiri).
(1) The frilled lizard man fished various
places in the Gulf, came to the mainland
and built a fire. A mainland man tricked
him by misleading him to water and
tracked him with hostile intent. Frilled
lizard hid in the scrub, flies buzzing
around him betrayed his presence, he
was killed by a stone axe. When his sons
accused his killer, a mistake was
claimed. Stones mark place. Variant: as
above but body eaten by killer whose
belch betrays him. People set circle of
bushfires; two wives of killer perform
circumcision dance, burst from heat of
fire. Children burst, husband bursts and
dead frilled lizard falls out. ó
Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 103-118; cites
Hughes 1969, No. 6.
5000.Mununyulu and the honey.
(1) Two sisters found and marked a
honey tree, thus reserving it for
Mununyulu. Later they found two
brothers improperly taking the honey.
The younger woman and man fought. The
man chased, speared and burned the
younger sister: her heart jumped out (she
revived) and followed him. Repeated
three times. Man jumped into the water,
drowned; the sister speared him and
pulled him to the bank. While the elder
brother went to get people from the
camp, the sisters ate the dead man.
Younger sister underwent the ritual of
having spears thrown at her by the
people, and was finally killed by a
boomerang thrown by a left-handed man.
Elder sister asked to be killed, too; left-
handed killed her as above. ó
Nunggubuyu: Heath 1980, 118ó125;
cites Hughes 1969, No. 13 and Capell
I960, No. 10.
5005.Owl and the lyre bird girl.
(1) Owl met a solitary person seated at a
fire who warned him to stop, then fought
with him. The stranger capitulated,
offered him food, and as he prepared for
sleep, approached saying, "I'm cold,
please warm me". It was a lyre bird girl,
and he married her. ó Ya-itma-thang:
Massola 1968, 90.
5010.Solitary man and the whirlwind.
(1) A man followed a group of people,
never able to reach them. At last he sent
a whirlwind which carried the people
into the sky and flung them down as
stones. ó Pitjantjatjara: Glass and
Hackett 1969, 115-122.