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 Serpentlay 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 266–71OCEANIA
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.US_302-307_The-Dreaming.indd 305 06/12/17 3:01 pm