Indigenous Australian
Mythology
Creation Story
The Dreamtime
❏
The Dreamtime refers to a beginning that
never ended. Dreamtime is believed to be a
period on a continuum of past, present, and
future. It dates back 65,000 years.
❏ Spirits (also called Ancestors) created
the rivers, streams, water holes, the
land, hills, rocks, plants, animals, and
people. As well as gave humans their
hunting tools and each tribe its land,
their totems, and their Dreaming.
❏ The Ancestors made particular sites
for the Indigenous Australians to
perform sacred rituals and songs.
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Who and what the Ancestors were is debated
between tribes. Some believe they were
animal-spirits, huge snakes, or The Wandjina (a
Rain Maker spirit).
Some versions of Dreamtime speak about the
creators disappearing to go and live in secret
places. Some lived in a tribe’s territory in rock
crevices, trees, and water holes. Others went to
the sky and became heavenly bodies. And the
rest became rain, wind, thunder, lightning,
animals, and creatures such as the Rainbow
Serpent (also known as the original Mother of
Creation).
Art of The Dreamtime
In this Dreaming (a depiction of how the
Dreamtime went according to a specific tribe)
the Rainbow Serpent appears along with several
animals. The creature and animals are the
creators that were involved in the Dreamtime.
The humans around them are their creations.
Gods and Goddesses
Bildjiwuaroju
❏
Bildjiwuaroju is the Goddess of Creation.
❏ She is one of the three children of the
Sun.
❏ She has both female and male
anatomy, along with her brother
Miralaldu. Her other brother
Djanggawul is the only one with only
male anatomy.
❏ Her and her siblings came from
heaven in a canoe. After they landed on
Earth, they reproduced and produced
plants and animals.
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One night Djanggawul went off to hunt then
came back and cut off Bildjiwuaroju and
Miraladu’s male anatomies. He wanted to be the
only functioning male with two mates.
After that he led the way and the others
followed, creating the myth that man always
leads the way and women follow.
Darana
❏
Darana is the God of Creation.
❏ He shared the Earth with humans in
Dreamtime and came up with the idea
of creating grubs.
❏ One day, Darana made some grub and
left it to go and invite other spirits to
feast. Two mortals raided the bags and
took the grubs. The grubs began to
glow which set alarm bells ringing
across the land. Angry spirits appeared
and killed the two mortals.
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Darana gave mercy to the two mortals. He
turned them into Destiny Stones and gave them
to the Dieri (a tribe of southern Australia’s lakes
region who live on the Cooper River to the east
of Lake Eyre) people to guard.
If the stones were to be scratched, a famine
would begin. And if they were broken the
Universe would end.
Gnowee
❏
Gnowee is the Goddess of the Sun.
❏ Gnowee is said to originate back to
when the world was in darkness.
❏ Her son as a baby wandered off into
the darkness and she has never been
able to find him.
❏ In result, everyday she takes her
burning torch into the sky to create
sunlight in order to search for him.
What most think is the sun is actually
Gnowee torch.
❏
If Gnowee’s son is ever found, the world will go
back to complete darkness.
Art of Gnowee
Ipilya
❏
Ipilya is the God of Storms.
❏ He is a lizards that spans one hundred
meters long and he is dwells in a large
swamp.
❏ He creates thunderstorms and heavy
rain. During the monsoon period of
the year, he gathers large amounts of
water and then spits the water into the
sky forming thunderclouds.
❏
He then begins roaring in order for the torrents (a
strong, fast-moving stream of water) to start. After
he adds some lightning flashes and feels fulfilled
with his work, he goes back into the swamp until
next monsoon season.
Lumaluma
❏
Lumaluma is the God of Gluttony.
❏ He was originally a whale that came on
shore at Cape Stewart.
❏ He disguised himself as a man who knew
about sacred rituals and shared them with
everyone at Cape Stewart.
❏ During feasts he would take a lot of food
and use the excuse that he was sacred so
that he could only eat at feasts.
❏ After his neighbors stopped inviting him
to the feasts, he began to consume dead
children.
❏
In result, a mob set upon him. Before they could
kill him he made sure that they understood the
sacred rituals he told him.
Art of Lumaluma
The Wati-Kutjara
❏
The Wati-Kutjara are the Gods of Plants.
❏ These gods take the form of Lizards.
❏ They came down from a mountain in the
Dreamtime and befriended many people.
❏ They taught the people Dreamtime tricks
and the use of talismans.
❏
They created the hills and valleys and put the
many trees onto them.
The Wati-Kutjara
Creatures and Myths
Arkaroo
❏
Arkaroo is a serpent who drank all the water in
Lake Frome.
❏ After drinking all the water, he ended up
very tired and went to go take a nap in the
mountains in doing so he carved valleys
from his laying body.
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He was attacked by mystic beasts which ended
up releasing all the water he had drank.
This resulted in water holes all around the
mountain.
Bobbi-Bobbi
❏
Bobbi-Bobbi is a supernatural being that lived
in the heavens in the Dreamtime.
❏ He watched humans struggle from the
heavens and came to the conclusion that
they needed more than water to survive.
❏ So he created flying foxes for them to
catch and eat.
❏ When the foxes flew too high and the
humans were unable to catch them, he
removed one of his ribs and gave it to the
humans to use as a boomerang.
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However, some humans were not satisfied and
wanted to see what the heavens looked like.
Two men pretended they wanted to create a
hole in the sky to thank Bobbi-Bobbi.
So they threw the rib/boomerang into the
clouds which startled Bobbi-Bobbi resulting in
him failing to catch it.
The rib/boomerang fell back to Earth and killed
the two men.
This was the first time death had ever happened
within the human race so Bobbi-Bobbi isolated
himself in the clouds and never tried to help the
humans again.
Tiddalik
❏
Tiddalik was a frog from The Dreamtime.
❏ Tiddalik woke one day with a severe thirst
and drank all the freshwater.
❏ Creatures and plants began to die due to
the lack of water.
❏ The other animals devised a plan to get
Tiddalik to release all of the water he
consumed.
❏ The plan was coordinated by a wise old
owl and Nabunum the eel made Tiddalik
laugh by tying himself into comical
shapes.
❏
As he laughed, the water rushed out of him and
replenished the lakes, swamps, and rivers.
Whowie
❏
The Whowie resembled a seven metre long
goanna with a frog-shaped head and six legs.
❏ He lived in a cave on the banks of a river
that extended beneath the ground.
❏ He was extremely stealthy and could eat a
whole tribe in a single meal.
❏ The water rat tribe had enough of the
suffering that the Whowie was causing.
Myths
Historical Fun Facts
Afterlife