The Mythology Book

304

D

ating back to between

50,000 and 65,000 years

ago, Aboriginal

Australians have the longest

continuous cultural history of any

peoples on earth. Prior to the

European invasion of Australia in

1788, around 600 different groups of

Aboriginal peoples existed, each

with its own language. Common to

these groups is the Dreaming or

Dreamtime, a term anthropologists

gave to the Aboriginal concept of a

formative period or state in which

ancestral creator spirits emerged

and landscapes, animals, and

people were formed. The creator

spirits gave each group its tools,

language, and culture, and laid

down the laws by which the people

were to live.

The Dreaming can be expressed

through song, dance, painting, and

storytelling, creating a tapestry of

knowledge, cultural values, and

belief systems that are passed

down the generations. Each

Aboriginal group has its own

creation stories, although some are

shared. They explain the close

relationship between the land and

the Aboriginal people and why

caring for nature and wildlife is so

important to Aboriginal culture.

Fertility mother

One of the most important

Dreaming stories for the Gagudju

people of the Kakadu area in the

Northern Territory is that of the

creator spirit Warramurrungundjui.

The story tells how life began when

Warramurrungundjui emerged from

the sea and gave birth to the first

people, equipping them with

various languages. She created

mountains and creeks, and used

her digging stick to create water

holes—still important not only as

a life source but also as a place

to meet and honor the creator

beings. She also carried a bag

filled with yams and other plants

to scatter on her wanderings.

Warramurrungundji controlled the

weather, too, and could summon

rain, wind, and drought.

THE DREAMING

Dancers perform at the Laura

Aboriginal Dance Festival, in Laura,

a sacred meeting ground for Aboriginal

peoples in Cape York, a remote area

in Far North Queensland. The area is

known for its spectacular rock art.

IN BRIEF

THEME

Living landscape

SOURCES

Oral tradition, recorded in

Kakadu, Looking After the

Country the Gagudju Way,

S. Breeden and B. Wright,

1989 ; and in Dreamtime

Kullilla Dreaming Stories:

Michael J. Connolly

(Munda-gutta Kulliwari), 2009.

SETTING

Dreamtime, Australia.

KEY FIGURES

Warramurrungundjui The

creator; fertility mother.

Rainbow Serpent A feared

creator; also known as Almudj

and Ngalyod.

Biami A creator spirit.

Gumuk Winga An old

woman.

Our spirituality is a oneness

and an interconnectedness

with all that lives and

breathes, even with what

does not live or breathe.

Mudrooroo

Australian novelist and poet (b. 1938)

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305

The rock paintings of fish at

Nanguluwur Rock Art Site at Kakadu

National Park, Northern Territory,

were made during the estuarine period

(6000 bce–500 ce), when sea waters

rose and valleys flooded.

After creating the whole landscape,

Warramurrungundji turned herself

into a rock, so that she would be

ingrained in the landscape forever.

Today, the Gagudju people honor

her in sacred fertility ceremonies.

Rainbow serpent

Like most Aboriginal tribes, the

Gagudju people revere the Rainbow

Serpent. Dreaming stories tell how

the serpent, whom the Gagudju call

Almudj or Ngalyod, forged passages

through rocks, created waterholes,

and split rock faces to make hills.

Unlike many Dreamtime figures

who could shapeshift into humans

or animals and back again, Almudj

never changed her form.

Almudj created the wet season,

enabling all forms of life to multiply.

She is a creative force, but she is

also feared and does not like to be

disturbed. If angered, she can flood

the land and drown anyone who

breaks her laws. She lives in a deep,

dark pool beneath the waterfall at

Djuwarr Rock, southeast of Darwin.

At times, Almudj can be seen

standing on her tail, creating a

rainbow in the sky.

The image of the Rainbow

Serpent is common in rock art,

especially in paintings dating from

the end of the pre-estuarine period

(ca. 60,000–6,000 bce), and often

appears alongside images of yams.

Archaeologists believe that rising

sea levels caused changes in the

physical environment that brought

about a reliance on wild yams

during this period. Yams needed

water, and Almudj provided it.

Creator and lawgiver

According to the Dreaming stories

of the Kullilli people of southwest

Queensland, the Rainbow Serpent

lay dormant underground until she

awoke in the Dreaming and pushed

her way to the surface. She traveled

the land, leaving behind the

imprint of her body wherever she

slept. After covering the whole

earth, she called to the frogs, but

they were sluggish, their bellies full

of water after the long sleep of the

Dreaming. The Rainbow Serpent

tickled their stomachs and when

the frogs laughed, water flowed out

of their mouths and filled the hollow

tracks left by the serpent on her

travels. This created rivers and

lakes, which, in turn, woke all the

animals and plants of the land.

The Rainbow Serpent then

created laws that would govern all

living beings. When some of the

creatures began to cause trouble, ❯❯

See also: Creation 18–23 ■ Creation of the universe 130–33 ■ Creation of the world by Pan Gu 214–15 ■

Cherokee creation 236–37 ■ Creation of the world by Kóoch 260–61 ■ The creation 266–71

OCEANIA

Dreamtime

The origin of the term

“Dreamtime” can be traced

back to Francis Gillen, a late

19th-century stationmaster

and ethnologist who worked

in Alice Springs and spoke

Arrernte, the language of

Aboriginal people in central

Australia. He coined the term

Dreamtime to represent the

belief system of Altyerrenge, a

word that means “to see and

understand the law.”

Gillen met and worked

with Walter Baldwin Spencer,

a Lancashire-born biologist

and anthropologist studying

Arrernte, who used Gillen’s

term in his 1896 account of

an expedition to Cape Horn.

Without this endorsement,

the term might never have

left Alice Springs. Today, the

term “Dreamtime” is applied

to all Australian Aboriginal

belief systems.

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