This is the interesting and exciting blog of Christop - one of the 84 000-or-so people of Ballarat.

Saturday, April 03, 2004

Finished this for Indigenous Culture this afternoon:
Traditional ideas regarding Aboriginal origins
The most scientifically accepted theories about the origins of the Aborigines suggest that they came to Australia from southern Asia during the ice age, when the sea level was lower. However, Aboriginal tradition states that the Aborigines did not come from across the seas, but originated here, in Australia.

According to Aboriginal tradition, a long time ago localized Creator Beings founded their societies. It is believed that when the Creator Beings arrived in the land (usually from the sea, sky or out of the ground) it was flat and empty. The Creator Beings traveled across the land, creating geographical features, plants, animals and human beings.
Other spirits arrived in the land during the creation period, whose actions also resulted t\in the creation of various flora, fauna and geography. Some of them also turned into animals, plants and landmarks when they died.

In the Kulin nation, which stretched across Central and Western Victoria, the Creator Being is a male wedge-tailed eagle called Bunjil.
It is said that Bunjil took three sheets of bark, placing a lump of clay on one. He kneaded the clay till it was soft, and then put some on the second piece of bark, where he molded it into the shape of a boy. He then used the remaining clay to shape a second boy on the third piece of bark and then danced around the clay figures.
Bunjil then attached stringybark to the heads of the figures, giving them hair – one with straight hair and one with curly hair. Then he lay down on them and breathed life into their mouths, nostrils and navels. Bunjil danced around the now-living boys, causing them to speak, stand and grow into adult men. These were Ber-Rook-Boorn and Koo-Kin-Ber-Rook, the first men.
One strange thing about this myth is that it doesn’t explain where women came from.

The Tiwi of Bathurst and Melville Islands say that their Creator Being, Muntunkala (or Mundunkala), a blind, elderly woman, came up out of the ground, with her three children clinging to either her back or breasts, depending on the version that’s being told. She embarked on a long journey, and route of her journey became Bathurst and Melville Islands. Then she created the plants and some of the animals that inhabit the islands.
One difference between this myth and most other Aboriginal creation myths is that the ancestors of the Tiwi were Muntunkala’s own children.

The Gagadju people (who Kakadu National Park is named after) say that their Creator Being, Imberombera, surfaced from the waters of Malay Bay, carrying dilly bags full of spirit children, who she released at different points during her creation journey.
In many other parts of Australia it is believed that spirit babies come from the clouds or under the earth, where a Creator Being placed them, and many other peoples in Arnhemland also believe in a female Creator Being who came out of the sea, like Imberombera.

The Murinbata people, from the Port Keats region (east of the Northern Territory - Western Australia border) say that Kunmangerr, the Rainbow Serpent created the first Murinbata. He was the first person to ever play the didjeridu, which he made out of bamboo. The first time he blew into his didjeridu, instead of music, bats came out. The second time he blew into it, two spirit children came out, one male and one female. These were the first Murinbata.

In Cape York, the Torres Straight Islands and Papua, stories of a common Creator Being can be found. However, the narrative of these stories suggests that it began in Australia and traveled to Papua, rather than vice-versa, as the Creator Being began his journey in Cape York and traveled through the Torres Straight Islands to Papua, where he died.