An Overview of Australian AboriginalEthnoastronomy

PHILIP A. CLARKE

AbstractThis paper describes some of the commonali-ties and differences of Australian Aboriginaletbnoaslronomical traditions recorded froma wide variety of sources in different periodsand provides a sample of the available mate-rial. Although the mythology concerning theheavens is diverse, it is unified by beliefsin a Skyworld where spirits of the deceasedreside with Creation Ancestors. In AboriginalAustralia the regular movement of celestialbodies was used to measure time. while suddenchanges in the sky were treated as omens. It isdemonstrated that the aesthetics of Aboriginalinterpretations of the heavens are akin to thatexpressed through their art traditions. Aeross

* many diverse Australian Aboriginal culturesthe Skyworld remains a "canvas" upon whichcosmological traditions are traced.

ResumenEl presente estudio describe algunos elementosen eomún y otros que difieren en las tradicionesetnoastronómicas de ios Aborigénes australianosprovenientes de una gran variedad defuentes recopiladas en diferentes peri(xlo,s. lo queconstituye una muestra del material disponible.Aunque la mitología referente al cielo es diversa,es común la creencia en un Mundo Celeste en

•' donde residen junto con los Ancestros Creadoreslos espíritus de los muertos. En la Australiaaborigen, el movimiento regular de los cuerpos

celestes fue utilizado para medir el tiempo,mientras que los cambios bruscos en el cieloeran tomados como augurios. Se ha demostradoque la estética de las interpretaciones aborígenesdel cielo tiene mucho en común con lo que semanifiesta mediante sus tradiciones artísticas.Entre las numerosas culturas de los aborígenesaustralianos se percibe el Mundo Celeste comoun telón de fondo sobre el cual se plasman lastradiciones cosmológicas.

The aim of this paper is to draw out major themesapparent in a large corpus of ethnoastronomical re-cords linked to a diverse range of cultures. As hunter-gatherers, the Aboriginal peoples of Australia werekeen observers of changes in their environment. Insouthwestern Victoria early colonist James Dawsonrecorded:

Although the knowledge of the heavenly bodiespossessed by the natives may not entitle it to bedignified by the name of astronomical science,it greatly exceeds that of most white people. Ofsuch importance is a knowledge of the stars tothe aborigines in their night journeys, and oftheir positions denoting the particular seasonsof the year, that astronomy is considered one oftheir principal branches of education. Amongthe tribes between the rivers Leigh and Gienelg.it is taught by men selected for their intelligenceand information 11881:98-99J.

Philip A. Clarke has an academic background in bioiogy, geography, and anthropology. After studying at the University of Adelaide, hestarted working in the Aboriginai ethnographical collections at the South Australian Museum in 1982. Clarke's initial research interest waschiefly in Aboriginal use of plants as foods, medicines, and materials. This eventually broadened to Aboriginal perception and use of the land,with a particular focus on the cultural geography of southern Australia, Ouring 1998-2000 Clarke's major task was curating the AustralianAboriginal Cultures Gallery Project at the South Australian Museum. He has written three books on indigenous use of the environment.

© 2007-2008 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin. TX 78713-7819

The cunent work investigates how traditions con-cerning the stars are interwoven with the culturaland social aspects of Aboriginal life. It also providesexamples of how the study of this "knowledge ofthe stars" can provide insights into particular Aus-tralian Aboriginal cultures. It continues on from theoverviews of Aboriginal ethnoastronomy publishedby Bhathai and White (1991:8-11). Clarke (1997),Haynes (1992). Johnson(1998,2005),Norris (2007),and Tindale (2005).

Data SourcesAn imperfect ethnographic record exists of AustralianAboriginal traditions concerning the heavens, withthe largest gap being in the temperate region whereBritish colonization commenced and has been mostintense. European colonists arriving in Australiafrom the late eighteenth century were unfamiliar withsouthern night skies and therefore found it difficultto record indigenous star lore. Settlers and colonialofficials, such as Peter Beveridge, David Collins,James Dawson, Peter MacPherson, Edward Palmer,William E. Stanbridge. William Wells, and WilliamWyatt, collected anecdotal data from Aboriginalgroups under the pressure of European settlement.Missionaries, such as Nicholas Hey, Heinrich A.E. Meyer, Johann Reuther, William Ridley, ClamorW. Schürmann, A. C. Stone, George Taplin, andChristian G. Teichelmann, were more systematic intheir recordings of indigenous cultures, although theystill operated prior to the establishment of academicanthropology in Australia.

By the late nineteenth century there was a gen-eration of Australian-born scholars who had grownup with close relationships to particular Aboriginalcommunities. Such a person was Robert H. Mathews,who was born at Narellan, New South Wales, in 1841and died at Parramatta, New South Wales, in 1918(McBryde 1974:225-226). During his working life asa surveyor he had traveled widely, particularly acrossNew South Wales and Victoria. In terms of ethno-astronomy Mathews's training was important. Heclaimed that "the knowledge of astronomy which myprofession demanded, made it easy for me to identifywith precision all the different stars and stellar groupswhich figure so prominently in the aboriginal folk-

lore" (Mathews 1904:204). Without the fieldwork andwritings of Mathews, the total ethnographic record ofsoutheastern Australia would be much poorer.

In the twentieth century scholars from severaldisciplines recorded Aboriginal cosmological data.Anthropologists with records relevant to Australianethnoastronomy include Daisy M. Bates, Ronald M.Bemdt. Catherine H. Berndt, Alfred R. Brown (laterA.R.Radcliffe-Brown),AdolphusP.Elkin,UrsulaH.McConnel, and myself. Examples of linguists who re-corded Aboriginal Skyworld beliefs are Amee Glass,Dorothy Hackett, John Henderson, Luise A. Hercus,and Dorothy Tunbridge. Scholars with interests inmuseum collections, such as Charles P. Mountlbrd,Walter E. Roth, Peter Sutton, Luke Taylor, NormanB. Tindale, and Margie West, have used Aboriginalastronomical data as a means of interpreting Aborigi-nal art. An astronomer's perspective of indigenousAustralian beliefs concerning the Skyworld is pro-vided by Brian G. Maegraith, Roslynn D. Haynes,and Raymond F. Haynes.

Cultural LandscapeIn Aboriginal Australia interpretations of the nightsky must be understood in terms of indigenousperceptions of how their world was created, ln Aus-tralian English and Aboriginal English the corpusof religious beliefs and Creation traditions is oftenreferred to as the "Dreaming" (Bemdt and Berndt1989; Clarke 2003:Chapter 2; Hiatt 1975:lntro-duction; Kolig 1984 11981]; Stanner 1979 [1953];Sutton 1988a:!4-I9). Central to this concept is thatthere was a period in the past when Creator beingsperformed heroic deeds, molded and gave spiritualpower to the landscape, and laid down customs to befollowed by their descendants. These Ancestors areoften manifested as animals and birds but may alsobe plants, atmospheric and cosmological phenomena,and even human diseases. Aboriginal traditions rec-ognize the paths the Ancestors made across the landas Dreaming tracks, or song lines, which connectmythological sites where certain Creative events tookplace. The Dreaming concerns the past, present, andfuture, which are connected in the great cycle of time.Through their participation in ceremonies and ritualsAboriginal peoples connect directly with the power of

40 ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

the Dreaming, which is the basis of customary law andromains the fundamental reality for many of them.

Land of SpiritsIt is common across Aboriginal Australia for the heav-ens to be seen as a landscape, connected to the Earth,upon which the spirits of the deceased exist alongsidetheir Ancestors (Clarke 1997, 2003; Johnson 1998).European settlers making inquiries to indigenouspeople about their religious beliefs often receivedaccounts of the land above, described in this paper asthe Sky world. In the Sydney area of New South Walesduring the late 1780s colonist David Collins askedAboriginal man Ben-nil-long (Bennelong) where hethought his soul or spirit came from:

His answer was . . . they came from the clouds(alluding perhaps to the aborigines of the coun-try [but probably Skyworld]); and when theydied, they returned to the clouds (Boo-row-e).He wished to make me understand that theyascended in the shape of little children, firsthovering in the tops and in the branches oftrees; and mentioned something about theireating, in thai state, their favourite food, littlefishes [1798:1:5471.

Settler Edward Palmer described the concept ofYalairy as the home of the dead for the Aboriginalpeople who lived south of Normanton on the Gulf ofCarpentaria in Queensland. He claimed:

This Yalairy is supposed to be amongst thestars. They know not its exact situation. Theconception which the blacks form of it seemsto be a mere embodiment of their views as towhat constitutes happiness on earth. It is a greathunting ground, well stocked with all the gamethey are familiar with on earth —kangaroos,wallabies, emus, &c. They have their dogsthere, and can enjoy the shade of the forest,or the clear water of the running stream. Bothmen and women go there. Whilst there, theyhunt, eat. and sleep; but. as this new countryis superior to that which they have left, so istheir life happier—no anxiety on account ofhunger; no sense of insecurity from enemies isever experienced [Palmer 1885:172].

According to Palmer's informants, two large snakesabout 60 km in length were said to reside in Yalairy.For these people, the path up to this land was reportedto be either through the north or by a kind of ladderby way of the Southern Cross.

Aboriginal observers of the night sky identifiedparticular celestial features as smoke generated by theactivities of the dead. A nineteenth-century observerclaimed:

In parts of Queensland and South Australia thenatives believed the "Milky Way" to be a sortof celestial place for disembodied spirits. Theysaid it was the smoke proceeding from celes-tial grass which had been set on (ire by theirdeparted women, the signal being intended toguide the ghosts of the deceased to the eternalcamp fires of the tribe [White 1905].

In southern South Australia Encounter Bay peopleinterpreted the Aurora Australis, as seen in the south-west above Kangaroo Island, as the camptires of spir-its in the "Land of the Dead" located in the heavens(Tindale 1974a). The island would normally be clearof smoke, as it was uninhabited just prior to Europeansettlement (Lampert 1979).

In the written records of Aboriginal Australia thereare a multitude of accounts concerning the Skyworld.It is often referred to as the "Land of the Dead" or"Land to the West," based upon beliefs that spiritsof the deceased traveled west to enter the heavens(Clarke 2003:25-29; Johnson 1998:16-19; Sutton1998:368-371). Large birds, particularly birds ofprey, were seen as carriers of the deceased souls, us-ing their flight ability to move between Earth and theSkyworld(Clarke 1999b: 161-162). While it was gen-erally believed that most living people could not visitthe Skyworld, the heavenly and earthly landscapeswere clearly seen as connected. Tasmanian Aborigi-nal people perceived that their established foot tracksthrough the forest continued into the Sky world, wherethere was a "white streak" in the Milky Way going "allalong down to the sea" (Plomley 1966:368).,. The Skyworld was considered to have topographysimilar to that of the Earth's surface, where livingpeople dwelt. Alfred W. Howitt recorded that theWurunjerri (Woiworung) people around the norlhern

VOLUME XXI 2007-2008 41

side of Melbourne in Victoria believed that they "hada sky country, which they called Tharangalk-hek. thegum-tree country. It was described to me as a landwhere there were trees. The tribal legends also tellof it as the place to which Bunjil [Supreme Male An-cestor] ascended with all his people in a whirlwind"(1904:433). The land was named after the trees,which were said to be tharangalk, "manna gums"(Eucalyptus viminatis). The Skyworld was perceivedas possessing a contoured and textured surface. Insouthwestern Victoria the Gundidjmara people be-lieved that the many "smaller stars'" together formed"star earth" (Dawson 1881:99).

It was believed that at certain times particularindividuals, such as "doctors" (healers) performingrituals and initiates at ceremonies, would visit theSkyworld to procure special knowledge and powerfulobjects (Clarke 2003:25-26). The stated means forliving people to reach this "land" varied,often involv-ing the climbing oftall trees or hills and being helpedup by whirlwinds, ropes, and fast-growing trees. Inthe Upper Clarence River area of northeastern NewSouth Wales Aboriginal man Robin Walker recalledseeing "a doctor climb to the height of such a [large]tree by climbing hand over hand up a magic cord thathe made come from his mouth" (Rose 1956:106).Mathews recorded from western Victorian Aboriginalpeoples that in the Kara Kara district, which is north-east of Stawell, there was once

an immense pine {Callltris species] tree grow-ing out of the earth, the topmost branches ofwhich reached up to the sky. In the far awaypast, people used to climb up the tree and walkabout and reside on the starry vault: and black-fellows who belonged to the sky occasionallydescended by the tree to the earth to see theirfriends, and remained for a while. Visits werefrequently made for the purposes of barterbetween the blacks who were located on theearth and those whose hunting grounds wereaway in the sky. In short, the tree was a regu-lar highway between the earth and the upper "*regions, for a very long period. Old blackfel-lows have told me stories of similar trees whichreached up into the sky in other parts of Victoria[1904:281-282].

In the Dreaming mythology of ihe Alawa people wholive in the Top End of the Northern Territory, two oftheir Ancestors reached the Skyworld. where theybecame an asterism of the Pleiades constellation,by climbing a large stringybark tree (Eucalyptustetrodonta) growing on Earth (Berndt and Bemdt1989:284). In the Lower Murray region of SouthAustralia Ngarrindjeri people believed big trees andhilltops to be dangerous places for lightning and con-tact with spirits due to their proximity to the Skyworld(Clarke 1997:128. 1999b: 153-154).

In southern South Australia it was Aboriginaltradition that Dreaming Ancestors Monana andWaiyungari had reached the Skyworld to becomestars by throwing a spear high enough to lodge in thestar earth. followed by other thrown spears that lodgedin the base of each preceding spear, thereby creatinga ladder (Clarke 1999a:53-56, 58: Wyatt 1879:16).Generally, it was believed that lesser spirit Ancestorsand souls of the deceased required help to reach theSkyworld. In the Lower Murray region the SupremeMale Ancestor, Nurunduri (Ngurunderi), was said tohave thrown out a line attached to his testicles to helpguide his lost son from Earth toward the west (Meyer1879:205-206 [ 1846]). Also from the Lower Murray,colonist George French Angas recorded that "'afterdeath the spirit wanders in the dark for some time,until it finds a string when . . . Oorundoo [Ngurunderi]pulls it up from the earth" (1847:97).

In Aboriginal Australia it was often recordedthat people looked for signs that the spirits of theirdead had reached the Skyworld. At the head of theFlinders River in northern Queensland Palmer notedthat Aboriginal people "believe that the ascent [bythe deceased] is made by means of a rope, and thatwhat we call a shooting star, is merely the falling ofthis rope, on being let go after the ascent has beenaccomplished" ( 1885:173). Here, a shooting star wasperceived as confirmation that a deceased soul hadreached the Skyworld. In northeastern Arnhem Landshooting stars or meteors were seen as a "tiny canoeof light" returning "to bring word to the relatives thatthe one they mourn is safe in the new land" (Wells1964:59). In other Aboriginal cultures the observationof shooting stars foretold a relative's death (Clarke1997:138-139; Davis 1997:32; Dawson 1881:101;

42 ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

Johnson 1998:89-91; Roth 1903:8; Stanbridge1857:140. 1861:300).

The Skyworld was the abode of many Snake An-cestors, which are common and widespread entitiesin the mythology of Aboriginal Australia (Berndtand Berndt 1989:Chapter 3: Brown 1930; Buchlerand Maddock 1978; Clarke 2009:84-86; Elkin1930; McConnel 1930; Mountford 1965:152-154;Piddington 1930; Tunbridge 1988:5-11; West 1995).For example, the Adelaide Plains people claimedthat the Yura Serpent was vicious and would swal-low people who did not hide from him (Clarke1997:134-135; Teichelmann 1841:8). He lived inthe "lagoons" of the Milky Way, which were darkspots known as Yurakauwe, which translates as"Yura-water." When Yura appeared, an abundanceof water was created in the land below. Yura was the"author" of male circumcision and first taught thispracticetotheAncestors of the Adelaide people, pun-ishing those who neglected it.The Wiradjuri people ofeastern New South Wales also believed in serpentlikespirits, the Wawi (Mathews 1904:364). One of theWawi's Ancestors could be seen as a black streak inthe Coal Sack ofthe Milky Way.

Aboriginal perceptions of space and their beliefsconcerning the movements of spirits from the Earthinto the Skyworld appear lo have influenced the ori-entation of their burials. Aboriginal burials in someregions were linked to cardinal directions, with theNgemba people of central New South Wales havingburied their dead with the body in a sitting position,leaning back, with the head facing toward sunrise(Mathews 1904:274). Archaeological evidence sug-gests that in the central region of the Murray RiverBasin in southeastern Australia the deceased werenormally buried with the head toward the south-west and less frequently toward the east-northeast(Pardoe 1989:14-18). In western Victoria the bodiesof deceased Aboriginal people were buried with theirheads pointing in the direction of the "spirit-home,"which is an island off the coast between Warrnambooland Portland (Mathews 1904:297).

Stars as KinIn Aboriginal tradition many ofthe celestial bodies aretheir Ancestors and, as such, genealogically related

to each other. In 1840 Teichelmann wrote an accountof the Aboriginal inhabitants of the Adelaide PlainsinSouth Australia, commenting, "They personify thecelestial bodies as having formerly lived upon earth,and the metamorphosis of which is closely connectedwith that of their ancestors." Mathews stated:

The blackfellows have not mapped out the skyinto constellations in the same way as Euro-peans have done, but there is a certain amountof method in their arrangement of the stars.For example, a man and his wives, his family,his weapons, his dogs, are not generally farapart. Brothers, uncles and other relationshipsare often separated by considerable distances11904:281].

In southwestern Victoria Butt Kuee Tuukuung wasa male Ancestor seen as Antares. with the stars oneach side of him being his wives (Dawson 1881:99).Aboriginal man Billy Poole, from the Lake Albertarea ofthe Lower Murray, pointed out a constellationor possibly an asterisn:i that represented the TurkeyAncestor, who was sitting on her eggs—the Pleiades(Giles 1887).

The spatial relationships of the Ancestors per-ceived in the Skyworld were also determined by clanmembership. In northern western Victoria Ancestorsknown as the Brambambult brothers "took their placein the heavens as Alpha and Beta Centauri, whilst themother, Dok. was transformed into Alpha Crucis. Themother and her two sons belong to the clan and miyur[spirit burial place] Pattyangal, and phratry [moiety]Gamaty" (Mathews 1904:376). In Aboriginal Austra-lia the rules governing kin relationships on the Earthalso establish order in the Skyworld.

The brightness of celestial bodies that represent theAncestors is a characteristic reflected in their kinship.In Tasmania Aboriginal Protector George Robinsongave an example of three stars, which were probablythe two Pointers and one from the Southern Cross,where "No I was large [and] is called the mother[,]No 2 the husband is of lesser magnitude and 3 theoffspring is hardly visible" (Plomley 1997:44). Insouthwestern Victoria the Sun was seen as a fe-male Ancestor and called Tirng. meaning "light,"while bright stars were called Kakii Tirng, meaning

VOLUME XXI 2007-2008 43

"sisters of the Sun" (Dawson 1881:99). For the plan-ets, Jupiter was known as Burtit Tuung Tirng and wassaid to mean "strike the Sun." while Venus, or Paapeeneowee, was "mother of the Sun." In the ease ofJupiter and Venus, their relationship to the Sun wasprobably based upon the occasional appearance ofthese planets at dusk and dawn.

The canine companions of the Ancestors also arerepresented in the night sky. Palmer recorded fromAboriginal people in the Flinders and Saxby riversdistrict of northern Queensland that the "eveningstar they have named Yumby which is their name fordog. The morning star is known as Yaboroo—búcYi"(1885:174). In the mythology of the Adelaide Plainsin South Australia the first eelestial body to leavethe lower landscape was Kakirra the Moon, and hepersuaded others to follow so that he might havecompanions (Clarke 1997:132; Teichelmann 1841:9;Teichelmann and Schürmann 1840:2:7, 38.46). Forhunting, the Moon kept a great number of dogs withtwo heads and no tail, which were seen as stars.

While Ancestors who had a close relationshipduring the Creation period on the Earth are still seentogether in the Skyworld. conversely, those who hadan antagonistic relationship on Earth kept far apart inthe heavens. For instance, in western Victoria therewas a tradition that Ngindyal. who was a large.emu-like Ancestor, went to oecupy the black patch in theSouthern Cross, whi le the Crow, whom he had chased,become Alpha Argus some distance away (Mathews1904:367). Similar sets of Ancestor kin relation-ships within Aboriginal cosmology have been estab-lished throughout Aboriginal Australia (Clarke 1997;Dawson 1881:98-102: MacPherson 1881:73).

Aboriginal perceptions of their Ancestors as stararrangements and planets humanized the heavens.As celestial Aneestors they were part of the samemoral order that Aboriginal peoples imposed upontheir entire cultural landscape. Mathews stated: "Con-spicuous stars and star clusters all the way along thezodiacal belt, have well-known names and traditions.Moreover, each star figuring in the myths belongsto a phratry [moiety], section, elan or other subdivi-sion, precisely the same as the people of the tribeamong who the tale is current" ( 1904:279). In CentralAustralia "tribal" or linguistic boundaries are also

FIGURE I. Sunlike motif in a limestone engraving. Imagesresembling celestial bodies, such as the Sun and star ar-rangements, often are depicted in ancient Aboriginal rockart sites. Photo: Philip A. Clarke. Devon Downs, MurrayRiver, South Au.stralia, 1994.

reflected in the cosmic landscape (Maegraith 1932:20.26). When missionary William Ridley outlined themarriage and descent rules of the Kamilaroi peopleof central northern New South Wales, he claimedthat these Aboriginal people "divide everything intothese [kinship] classes—alligators, kangaroos, sun.moon, the constellations, trees, and plants" (Smyth1878:1:91). In western Victoria Nyaui was the Sunclan, having both the Moon and the planet Venusamong its totems of mainly animals and plants(Mathews 1904:288). Here, Wartwurt was the clanof "the heat of the sun at noon."

Sky Maps rAboriginal traditions of the Skyworld are diverse,although some broad generalizations across Australiacan be made. In general, the Moon and Sun Ancestorsare of primary importance due to their influence overthe night and day skies, respectively. Often the Moonwas male and subordinate to the Sun. who is gener-ally female. Images resembling the Sun are foundin rock art sites, such as at Devon Downs in SouthAustralia, suggesting its mythological importance(Figure 1 ). While there are many structural similaritiesin Aboriginal beliefs concerning the Milky Way.Orion,Pleiades, and Magellanic Clouds, there is considerablevariation in accounts of the Southern Cross.

44 ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

Milky WayFor many Aboriginal peoples, particularly those liv-ing in regions crisscrossed by watercourses, a celes-tial river, the Milky Way. dominates the Skyworld.The Adelaide Plains people in southern South Aus-tralia believed that the Milky Way was a large river,possibly the continuation of the River Torrens. alongthe banks of which reeds are growing (Teichelmann1841:8; Teichelmann and Schürmann 1840:2:11,35,38, 57, 62). They called the Milky Way Wodliparri,which means "hut-river" and is possibly a referenceto the Yura, who live in its dark pools. Maegraithclaimed that for Arrernte and Luritja peoples of Cen-tral Australia "the sky is portioned out into two great'camps' separated by the Milky Way. which is sup-posed to be a river or creek" ( 1932:19). In spite ofthehigh diversity of Aboriginal cultures across ArnhemLand in northern Australia, the peoples of this regionappeared to have universally believed that the MilkyWay was a watercourse (Mountford 1956:503).

For some Aboriginal peoples, the Milky Way wassymbolic of a tree. The Nukunu people of the MidNorth of South Australia considered that it was a hugetree, like a ceremonial pole (Hercus 1992:13-16). Itwas part ofthe Urumbula song line, which runs fromthe vicinity of Port Augusta in South Australia all theway via the MucDonnell Ranges in Central Australiato the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland. Another in-digenous explanation is that the Milky Way representsa cant>e that the Ancestor Ngurunderi placed in the skyafter creating topographic features in the Lower Mur-ray region (Bemdt et al. 1993:224). Here, in the Yaraldilanguage, the Milky Way was called Ngurunderiyuki,transcribed as "Ngurunderi's canoe." From a LowerMurray Aboriginal perspective, this was not the onlycanoe in the sky, although probably the largest. In somecontexts the Southern Cross was called yuki (cunoe) andmay have been seen as belonging to Ancestor Kulda theMeteor Man (Tindale I937a:l l l- l l2, 1941:233-234).Whether or not the Milky Way was seen as a water-course, tree, or canœ, as the arch of the heavens it wasan important topographical feature.

Routes through the UnderworldAfter traveling through the Skyworld and ending up inthe west, the Moon and the Sun as spirit beings were

generally believed in Aboriginal Australia to returnby distant routes to the east. Some Aboriginal peoplesconsidered the path back as being through southern ornorthern parts of their country, while others thoughtit was along an underground passage. Charles P.Mountford recorded a belief among the Tiwi peopleat Melville and Bathurst Islands:

At one time the moon-man used to retum to theeast by a road just under the southern horizon.But a nest of hornets, which lived along thatroad, stung him so badly that he changed hispath and now returns to his home by a north-ern route. . . . Most informants, however, saidthat the moon returned to the east through thesame underground world as the sun-woman[1958:174].

Mountford collected Tiwi paintings on bark that showthe Sun Woman during the day traveling across theSkyworld carrying a blazing bark torch, while at nightresting in a hut (Figures 2 and 3). It is believed bysome northeastern Arnhem Land people that as theSun sets each evening she becomes a great fish andswims under the Earth duri ng the night to return, as theSun.in the east the next morning (Haynes 1992:130).Another tradition recorded from this region is thatthe Sun becomes a wallaby at night, hopping throughan underground tunnel before emerging at dawn(Mountford 1956:502).

Aboriginal groups near Lake Eyre in Central Aus-tralia believed that the Sun first rose and then disap-peared into the ground to rise in the east at a placecalled Ditji-mingka (Dityi-minka), reputedly mean-ing "Sun-Cave" (Hercus 1987; Howitt 1904:427-428). Missionary Reverend Johann Reuther statedthat this cave is "where the female sun fuuranmra¡Ancestor] is said to have first risen. But since shemade conditions too hot for her followers ('people')she wandered inside the earth towards the east and hasbeen rising there ever since" (1981:7:29 |ca. 1900]).The cave walls, it was said, contained crystallinegypsum that caught the dying rays ofthe setting Sunas well as rock carvings depicting the Sun Ancestor(Hercus 1987:150-151). Wangkangurru people re-moved the light blue soil from the cave and kept it intheir camps in "sun-bags'" for the purpose of ritually

VotUMEXXI 2007-2008 45

FIGURE 2. Wurriyupungala, the Sun Woman, at Wurriyupi.Sun Woman is in the center, with the black ring represent-ing her hut and the red bars the supports. Bark paintingby an unknown artist, Melville Island, Northern Territory,1954. South Australian Museum Aboriginal Artefact Col-lection, A47087.

FIGURE 3. Wurriyupungala, the Sun Woman, is shown trav-eling across the Skyworid, carrying a blazing bark toreh.Bark painting by Big Tom. Melville Island. Northern Ter-ritory. 1954. South Australian Museum Aboriginal ArtefactCollection, A47107.

making hot weather (Hercus 1987:149-150). Cavesfeature in other Aboriginal traditions concerning theSun. The Kulin people of western Victoria believedthat when the Sun disappeared in the west, it entereda hole in the ground like that left behind by a largetree burned in a bush fire (Howitt 1904:432).

The Sun and the Moon were not the only celestialentities believed to pass through the Underworld atnight. In the border country between South Australiaand Queensland there was a tradition that the Pleiadeswomen reached the Skyworld by traveling into avery large hole in the ground near a waterhole on theMulligan River (Fraser 1901). Aboriginal hunter-gatherers avoided blowholes in the inland limestonecountry of the Nullarbor Plain through fear that thehuge Snake Spirit Ganba would come out from itsUnderworld home and eat them (Bates 1921:75,1947:132; Johnston 1941:37-38). From my fieldexperience. Western Desert people still consider thatthese caves, from which wind or "breath" emerges,are entrances to the homes of mamu, or "devil" be-ings (Figure 4). Across Aboriginal Australia cavesand other topographic features were believed to beportals linking the Earth and Underworld.

Tindale recorded a myth from the Mid Northof South Australia that he argued was based uponNgadjuri people observing a solar eclipse in thedistant past (1937b:149-151). The myth concernedthe first setting of the Sun, which had resulted fromspirit Ancestors killing an elderly woman and hertwo dogs. To bring back the Sun. Kudnu the JewLizard Ancestor threw a returning boomerang to thenorth, but it flew around in a circle without strikingthe Sun. He was also unsuccessful when throwingthe boomerang to the west and south. Kudnu finallymanaged to bring back the Sun by hurling toward theeast. After the Creation period came to an end. all jewlizards on Earth carried the marks of their Ancestor'sboomerang on both sides of their jaw. i

Aesthetics of the HeavensAboriginal perceptions of their Skyworld existed inthe absence of written systems to objectively measurespace, time, or quantity. In noticing the differencesin the ways Europeans and Australian indigenouspeoples see the heavens, scholars have investigated

46 ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

FiouRE 4. A limestone blowhole, which Aboriginal peoplebelieve is an entrance to the Underworld. It is Aboriginaltradition that Ganba the Snake Ancestor dwells here whenhe is not in the Sky world.Photo: Philip A.Clarke,NullarborPlain. Western Australia. 2006.

the rules governing which celestial bodies, amongthe many hundreds that are visible to the naked eye,are most likely to feature in Aboriginal visions of theSkyworld. Robert H. Mathews claimed:

Legends are more numerous concerning starssituated in the neighbourhood of the moon'spath through the heavens, and in this way azodiac may be said to exist. The stars near theecliptic and the zenith change their positionsin the sky more rapidly than those toward thepoles, and therefore more readily arrest at-tention. Besides constellations at these highaltitudes can be seen easily when the people arecamped in thickly wooded country, whereasstars near the horizon would not be visible11904:278].

In some parts of Australia mountain ranges wouldalso have limited the scope of Aboriginal observa-tions of the sky.

While it is tempting to use the broad range ofethnographic records to statistically investigate whatcelestial features indigenous observers tend to see.it is likely that such an approach would only repro-duce what early European recorders, many of them

with poor knowledge of southern skies, were able tounderstand. While for most Aboriginal cultures theavailable data concerning the heavens are insufficientfor detailed analysis, Peter MacPherson focused onthe mythological and astronomical data William E.Stanbridgc had published for western Victoria andthen made the following general observations:

1. A systematic grouping on the basis of lineararrangement.

2. Four linear groupings are tolerably parallelto each other. _

3. All are tolerably parallel to the horizon asthey make their appearance in the eveningsky in their several seasons, in south latitude,about 36, which is that of the Mallee Scrubabout LakeTyrill, in Victoria 11881:74].

In support of these generalizations MacPherson pro-vided the example of the three stars that are roughly ina line in Orion's Belt. Then on a larger scale Orion'sBelt, Aldebaran, and the Pleiades form a much longerline across the night sky. Brian G. Maegraith statedthat the Aboriginal observer "has not generally ad-opted the idea of tracing out a figure amongst thestars [as modern Europeans do], a single star usuallyrepresenting a whole animal or its track" ( 1932:19). InAboriginal Australia the groups of stars are generallyidentified on the basis of Dreaming relationships.

Orientation and SpaceAboriginal orientation is based upon the observedmovements of celestial bodies and the prevailingdirections of the seasonal weather. For instance, inmany Aboriginal languages the terms for "west"referred to the "direction to which the,Sun travels,"whereas the "east" was often associated with "dawn"or "Moon." and in some cases the term for "south"is related to "cold" (Nash 1992:293-295; Tindale1974b:44^9). In Central Australia desert dwellersused a variety of techniques to orientate themselves,including wind temperature and star position (Lewis1976:274-276). Stone's published vocabularyfrom the Lake Boga district of central northernVictoria supports this observation. Here, north was"'barrewill (where the hot winds come from)," southwas "'hoiecalling darn (where the frost winds come

VOLUME XXI 2007-2008 47

from)," east was "worwalling gnowle (where sunrises)," and west was known as ''ptirticalling gnowie(where sun sets)" (Stone 1911:451). Apart from theobvious Skyworld paths of the Moon and Sun, thetracks of the many other spirit Ancestors cross eachother. Bates, in her account of the astronomy of theBibbulmun people in southwestern Western Austra-lia, remarked: "There is no aboriginal generic termfor 'Zodiac' other than the dialectic equivalents for'road' or 'track,' and as all native and animal tracksare winding ones throughout Australia, the aboriginalzodiac winds here and there amongst the myriads ofheavenly bodies" (1992:170 [1924]).

In the art of Aboriginal Australia the Skyworld andUnderworld are sometimes drawn as extensions to theterrestrial Earth landscape, with the size and orienta-tion of elements such as hills, animals, and humansgenerally relative to their cultural i mportance and notto scale (Clarke 2003:89-94; Morphy 1998:Chapter4; Sutton 1988b, 1998). While superficially maplike.mostearlyAboriginalartworksare primarily directedat charting the significance of the Dreaming ratherthan at illustrating topographic relationships. For Ab-original artists working within these traditions, thereis nothing problematic about the depiction of a celes-tial body such as the Sun or Moon passing through anearthly landscape or traveling underground.

Illumination and ColorIn terms of illumination strength Aboriginal observ-ers recognized not only first- and second-order starsbut also other groups that were far less conspicuous(Haynes et al. 1996:8; Haynes 1992:127). Whenconsidering named star arrangements in the Ab-original vision ofthe night sky, Haynes claimed thatorientation was more relevant than the brightnessof the individual bodies. She gives the example ofGroóte Eylandt people in the Gulf of Carpentariarecognizing a set of relatively faint stars as Unwalathe Crab Ancestor while apparently ignoring thenearby bright stars of Procyon and Regulus (Haynes1992:128). MacPherson made a similar point forAboriginal astronomical traditions in western Victo-ria, stating that "such bright stars as Procyon, SpicaVirginis, Regulus. and Fomalhaut are not men-tioned: they are isolated stars, though bright—they

do not readily fall in with any mechanical groupingof stars" (1881:74).

To account for apparent differences between thestrength of sunlight during the year, some Aboriginalgroups believed that it was produced by two differentbeings. Walter Roth claimed that at Cape Bedfordin northern Queensland Aboriginal people "can, ofcourse, see the sun starting, but at night she alwayscircles round by the south. There are really two suns,two sisters; in the cold season it is the elder one whovisits them, and in the hot season it is the younger"(1903:7). Another explanation existed in the inlandriver systems of southeastern Australia, where theSun was considered to be a fire created by SupremeAncestor Baiame (Beveridge 1883:60-61; Haynes1992:130). Here, the warmth of the day was equatedwith the strength of his fire and how much fuel wasleft to burn.

In Aboriginal Australia color is of fundamentalimportance when determining the significance ofindividual celestial bodies. The traditions of theArrernte people in Central Australia give prominenceto stars that are reddish or whitish while largely ig-noring those that are predominately yellow or blue(Haynes et al. 1996:8; Haynes 1992:128; Maegrailh1932:25). This is consistent in Aboriginal Australiawith the high value generally placed upon red ochresand white clays in decorative art, with the qualities ofbrightness and shininess associated with the power ofthe Ancestors (Clarke 2003:92-93; Sagona 1994). Inan Aboriginal perspective celestial bodies that are notbright red or shiny white objects in the night sky aremore likely to be seen as part ofthe background (i.e.,star earth) than as elements with individual identities.

In the traditions of many Aboriginal cultures thephysical appearance of heavenly bodies is explainedin terms of the actions of Ancestors during theCreation period. Mathews claimed that among theClarence River people in coastal New South Walesthere was a tradition:

Alpha Tauri was a young man named Karambal,ofthe Womboang division, who absconded withanother man's wife. He was pursued by the in-jured husband, and took refuge in a tall tree. Hispursuer piled WÍKXI around the bole ofthe tree.

48 ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

which he then set on fire, and Karambal wascarried up by the fierce flames into thesky, where he still retains the colour of fire11904:280].

The Ramindjeri people of Encounter Bay in SouthAustralia had an explanation of why the Sun is redin the morning. Missionary Heinrich A. E. Meyerrecorded:

The Sun they consider to be female, who.when she sets, passes the dwelling-placesof the dead. As she approaches, the men as-semble, and divide Into two bodies, leaving aroad for her to pass between them; they inviteher lo stay with them, which she can only dofor a short time, as she must be ready for herjoumey for the next day. For favours grantedto some one among them she receives a presentof a red kangaroo skin; and. therefore, in themorning, when she rises, appears in a red dress11879:200(1846)].

In the Darling River area it was believed that "theplanet Jupiter was a great Kilpungurra [a moiety]man of the olden days,called Wurnda-wurnda-yarroa.who lived on roasted yams, and got his reddish colourby being so much about the fire cooking his food"(Mathews 1904:283). Given the color descriptionit is possible that Mathews confused Jupiter with abright red star.

Many Aboriginal traditions concerning the Mooninvolve this Ancestor being male and having sufferedfrom a light during which he was burnt. At Lake Bogain central northern Victoria it was a tradition that theMoon Ancestor was once a man who, during an argu-ment with his wife, had hot coals from the lire thrownover his face (Stone 1911:462-463). He was orderedto go to the Skyworld, where the dark smudges onhis ashen gray face can be seen. In the Saxby Riverdistrict of northern Queensland Palmer recorded thatit was Aboriginal belief that the Moon "is a black-fellow, who at one time killed a lot of their people,and whom they afterwards burnt, and still point tothe shadows on the moon's surface as being the scarswhich resulted from this execution" (1885:174). Ina similar account from the Endeavour River area in

northern Queensland Warigan the Moon had climbeda tree using a climbing cane, only to be burnt whenNgalan the Sun set the bark ablaze (Tindale 1938).

The shading of the illuminated Moon has been ex-plained as a strategy for concealment. Aboriginal peo-ple in Pennefather River area in northern Queenslandbelieved that the Moon Ancestor was once beatenup and thrown into the sea by his children, the Bats(Roth 1903:7). From then on the Moon hid from theBats, who wanted to spear him. by having his bodycovered with charcoal. with only his face painted withwhite clay. From nearby Batavia River Nicholas Heyrecorded that white clay was known as roa, the sameword as for "Moon, whose face is supposed to be ren-dered visible by his face being painted with this clay"(1903:10). In the Warrego River district of northerncentral New South Wales Aboriginal people believedthat the large ring or halo seen around the Moon ona moist night represents the bark shelter of the MoonAncestor, Giwa (Mathews 1904:358,361). Here it issaid that during the new moon phase Giwa is walkingwith a pronounced stoop due to a severe fall from alarge rock. Aboriginal observations of the changes inthe celestial phenomena were often explained in termsof their mythological actions as Ancestors either onthe Earth or in the Skyworid.

Aboriginal traditions accounted for the light raysemanating from celestial bodies. In the PennefatherRiver area "the sun is a woman manufactured bythunder, who gave her two legs like other mortals,but plenty of hands: the latter can be seen (sun's rays)when she rises and when she sets" (Roth 1903:8). TheMorning Star (Venus) mythology contains analogiesbetween string and light. In northeastern ArnhemLand Yolngu people perceive the Morning Star, orBarnumbir (Bainambirr), as a shining light that isheld in a mesh bag (Haynes 1992:133-134; Johnson1998:124; Mountford 1976:93-96; Wells 1964;94).Sheis tied to Baralku, the island of the dead beyond wherethe Sun rises, by Jari. her string of light. It is believedthat the souls of the dead will travel along these "strings"early in the morning. Dawson described southwesternVictorian Aboriginal concepts of twilight:

The crepuscular arch in the west in the morningis called "Kullat,*" "peep-of-day." The upper

VOLUME XXI 2007-2008 49

arch in the east at sunset is called "Kuurokeheearpuuron." "white cockatoo twilight." The upperareh. "Kappiheear puuron," "blaek cockatootwilight." The natives say this arch eomes fromthe constellation Orion. The crepuscular raysin the west after sunset are called "rushes of

r

the sun." The Aurora Australis, "Puae buae,""ashes" 11881:101].

Measuring TimeIn common with many of the world's cultures. Aus-tralian Aboriginal people marked daytime by the posi-tion ofthe Sun, while the numbers of days and Moonsaccounted for longer periods (Clarke 2009:93-94). Inthe southern Coorong district of South Australia thenumber of full Moons was sometimes used to recordthe age of infants when less than a year old (Wells1995:102 11852-1855]). Mathews explained howAboriginal people in the Upper Lachlan River areaof eastern New South Wales measured time when,after a man is newly initiated, it is necessary to senda message to the future wife's clan:

The graduate will be taken to a certain placeat such a state of the moon. If it is any timebetween the new and full moon, the messen-ger stands before his audience and holds uphis boomerang horizontally or nearly so. withthe convex edge towards the west. The timebetween the full and new moon is indieatedhy holding the convex edge of the weapontowards the east. As both these positions ofthe moon occupy a fortnight, lesser periodswould be explained verbally by the messenger11904:266].

Sorcerers of theTharumba people ofthe Jervis Bay areain New South Wales used lunar cycles to measure timewhen threatening a victim, "muttering incantationsand pointing at him. and tellling] him he has only somany moons to live" (Mathews 1904:277). Walter Rothclaimed that "beyond a few months' duration. Time-when cannot be accurately expressed: reference is madeto some event of more than passing importance—suchas a big flood, or drought, or some special initiationceremony, or a tribal fight, perhaps" (1897:27-28).

Aboriginal mythology accounts for the lunarphases. In central Arnhem Land Aboriginal people

believe that in the Creation period the Moon Ances-tor argued with the Spotted Quoll Ancestor over theissue of mortality and the renewal ofthe spirit (Taylor1995:26). To demonstrate his point, the Moon flewup into the heavens, where he has waxed and wanedevery since. Many coastal Aboriginal peoples recog-nized that there was a link between the position ofthe Moon in the sky and the relative height of tides.Haynes recorded that in coastal Arnhem Land andGroóte Eylandt Aboriginal people

believe that the high tides, running into theMoon as it sets into the sea, make it fat andround. (Although the new Moon may appearthin, they deduce from the faint outline ofthefull circle that it too is round and full of water.)Conversely, when the tides are low, the waterpours from the full Moon into the sea beiow iand the Moon consequently becomes thin '11992:130].

The phases of the Moon are important when associ-ated with ceremonial activities, which are generallymade to fit within both lunar and seasonal cycles. Acommon aim when holding a ceremony over manydays is to have it end with a full moon as well as dur-ing a season when there is plenty of food to nourishparticipants (Morphy 1999:265).

Seasons 'During the year Aboriginal hunter-gatherers madecorrelations between the weatherevents on the earthlylandscape and the perceived activities of Ancestors inthe Skyworld (Clarke 2003,2009; Davis 1989,1997).When Western Desert people see the Moon at nightwith a ring halo around it, they say that he is sittinginside his shelter because rain is coming (Glass andHackett 2003:517). Observations concerning changesin the structure ofthe night sky also were incorporatedinto Aboriginal seasonal calendars. Mathews notedthat in Aboriginal Australia it was generally recog-nized that "the stars which occupy the northern sky inthe cold winter evenings travel on. and are succeededby others in the following season; and that these areagain displaced by different constellations during thewarm evenings of summer" (1904:279). Stanbridgemade similar observations in western Victoria and

so ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

described that when Marpcankurrk (Arcturus) "isin the north at evening, the Bittur [termite larvae]are coming into season, when she sets with the sunthe Bittur are gone and (Cotchi) summer begins"( 1857:138). In Aboriginal Australia the movementsof stars and animals, weather changes, and the flow-ering of certain plants together indicate the onset ofeach season (Clarke 2OO3:Chapters 7-10).

Mathews gave the example of the Pleiades to dem-onstrate the cultural importance of star movementsin signaling the changes in season for the Aboriginalpeople of the Clarence River area of northeasternNew South Wales:

The Pleiades, when they set with the sun. goaway to bring the winter; and . . . when thesestars reappear early in the evening in theeastern sky, they are ushering in the warmweather. They are supposed to be a familyof young women, [the name of which] wasWar-ring-garai. and who belonged to the sec-tion Wirrakan [1904:279-280].

When the Pleiades are only in the sky for a few hoursbefore dawn, they were associated with cold periods(Johnson 1998:25). Mathews recorded:

Among the Ngeumba [Ngemba] blacks, in thecold weather of mid-winter, when the Pleiadesrise about three or four o'clock in the morning,the old men take some glowing coals on barkshovels, and cast them towards this constel-lation as soon as it is visible. This is done toprevent the spirit-women, whom these starsrepresent, from making the morning loo cold.The women in the eamp are not permitted tolook at all at the Pleiades in winter nights, be-cause such conduct would increase the severityof the frost. If a woman transgresses this law,hereyes will become bleary, and she will sufferfrom uterine troubles [1904:280-281].

In the Mulligan River area of the border countryin Central Australia between South Australia andQueensland it was Aboriginal belief that the Pleiadeswomen had the power to bring on the cold season andthen later cause the warm weather to return (Fraser1901).

In most ethnographic accounts of the Pleiades con-stellation (oran asterism of it, since it is unclear whichobservers recognized all seven stars) the stars are agroup of young women, sometimes accompanied bya young boy (Clarke 1997:136; Johnson 2000). Theelement most versions share is that a group of youngwomen/girls are fleeing from either a single man ora group of men. In parts of the Kimberley Aboriginalpeople consider that an "old man," the planet Venus,chases the youngest of the Pleiades sisters across thenight sky (Andrews 2004:1-5). In the MacDonnellRanges area of Central Australia it is Arremte tradi-tion that this star arrangement is a group of femalecousins, with their Dreaming track coming from thenortheast (Henderson and Dobson 1994:233). InNukunu mythology of the Mid North of SouthAustralia the "Seven Sisters" were reportedly chasedinto the sky by three brothers (Hercus 1992:7, 16,27). Similar in structure is a myth recorded in south-western Victoria, where the Pleiades were seen as aflock of female Cockatoo Ancestors being chased by amale "Crow" (Raven) Ancestor, which was Canopus(Dawson 1881:100).

Tindale surveyed fifty different versions of thePleiades mythology from across Australia and com-mented that "most of the stories recovered from westof a line drawn across Australia from just north ofCape Jervis in South Australia to the Leichhardt Riveron the shores of theGulf of Carpentaria in Queenslandlink these women also with dingo dogs" (ca. 1980).In Western Desert accounts they are often accompa-nied by dingo dogs and are being chased by a maleAncestor such as the Moon (Isaacs 1980:152-153;Robinson 1966:91-93; Tindale 1959). The wide-spread similarities in beliefs concerning the Pleiades,both across Australia and between Aboriginal andEuropean cultures, has led to an abundance ofpopular literature concerning the Seven Sisters (e.g.,Isaacs 1980:152-153; Mountford 1970:56; Parker1953:105-109 118961; Smith 1930:70.345-350).

Among the large variety of myths concerningthe Pleiades there are several mechanisms for theirascension into the Skyworld. By one tradition, thePleiades Women Ancestors at Point Upright alongthe coast south of Sydney in New South Walesescaped a mythical hunter, Thowra the Moon, by

VOLUME XXI 2007-2008 51

climbing a fishing line that they had cast up into thesky (Brothers 1897). In the central northern region ofNew South Wales the Kamilaroi people believed thatfemale Ancestors became the Pleiades stars when thetwo trees they were cutting bark from started grow-ing higher and higher, pushing them into the sky(Greenway 1901). Aboriginal groups along theDarling River in western New South Wales be-lieved that the "Pleiades were a lot of young womenwho went out on a plain searching for yams anda whirlwind came along and carried them up intothe sky, depositing them where they are now seen"(Mathews 1904:283).In the Flinders Ranges of SouthAustralia the Pleiades were a group of women theAkurra Serpent Ancestor ate in western New SouthWales (Mountford 1939:103-104. 1976:33-35;Tunbridge 1988:16). These women were later re-leased into the Skyworld when he drowned.

Asterisms of the constellation that Western Eu-ropeans know as Orion the Hunter feature in muchAboriginal mythology. The Yolngu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land recognize the three stars ofOrion's Belt as the men Birrupirru, Djandurrngala,and Ngurmwilpil, who are seen sitting in their bark ca-noe and paddling across the sky (Davis 1989:53-67,1997:32). Together these hunters are known as thestar arrangement Djulpun, which is visible onthe western horizon during the early night sky ofDharratharramirri—the beginning ofthe dry season.It is the time of the year (from about May to July)for hunting goannas, wallabies, and bandicoots andis noted for its storms from the southeast that knockover the grass. Across Australia the identities of thePleiades as women and Orion's Belt as men appearto have been reinforced by their seasonal movements,including the timing of their appearance and the direc-tion they travel during the night (Clarke 2009:88).

Collapse and Rebirth of the CosmosThe arrival of British settlers in 1778 at Sydneyin New South Wales heralded the transformationof the landscape, news of which passed throughAboriginal communities beyond the frontier. Thecatastrophic effects of European settlement greatlyinfluenced Aboriginal views of their cosmos (Clarke2OO3:Chapter 12; Johnson 1998:Chapter 8; Swain

1993). In southeastern Australia it was widely be-lieved that in the farthest reaches of their knownlandscape there were wooden props that held up theSkyworld (Howitt 1904:427; Massola 1968:105-106; Morgan 1980:64-65 11852]). A widespreadAboriginal tradition was that the eastern prop,where British expansion was gaining, had rotted, andunless gifts of possum skins and stone hatchet headswere sent straight away to the old man who lookedafterit,everyone would be crushed by the falling vaultofthe heavens. As historian Keith Willey put it, whenthis was believed to have happened, it would be as if"the ghosts or reincarnations of all the blackfellowswho ever lived had broken through from the spiritworld to swarm over the land" (1985:55). There wasfear that the divide between the lands ofthe living andthe dead would be permanently ruptured. Beyond thesettlement frontier an often-recorded Aboriginal re-sponse to seeing European explorers was to treat themas deceased relatives who had come back from theLand ofthe Dead (Blackburn 1979:33-34,181-183;Clarke 2003:188-192,2007:143-144).

The Tangani people ofthe Coorong in South Aus-tralia had a death fear song concerning the arrival of asmallpoxepidemic(Clarke 1997:137,2003:194-195;Tindale 1937a: 111-112,1941:233-234). Smallpox isthought to have been first introduced to Australia byIndonesian fishermen in the north, although laterwaves may have spread from European settlementon the east coast (Campbell 2(X)2). In the mythologyfor the death fear song Ancestor Kulda the MeteorMan came down to Earth from the Southern Cross toforetell the coming of death and with his "pointingbone" (sorcery object) took the spirits ofthe dead withhim back into the sky. When Tindale was conductingfieldwork along the Coorong in the 1930s, Aboriginalpeople he interviewed could still remember accountsfrom their grandparents" generation concerningthe devastation the disease caused among the localAboriginal population:

The natives saw a man (meteor) come out ofYuuki, the Southern Cross; they heard a noiseand looked up {meinyanga nampi). They sawhim move his hands and said '"Haf peikabakkï" ("Ah! death coming"; ^'peik" = "die").

52 ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

The natives could not stand the miirki [small-pox] and a greal many died. The meteor wasa inakUmuli man | spirit man| whose namewas Kuldaiai |KuldaJ. he travelled westwardthrough the sky and beckoned to indicate thatall the people should follow him. Then thesmallpox came and many people followed him(literally went west) across to Kangaroo Islandand beyond 11931-19341.

Kulda was said to have appeared "like a bright flash,too bright to look |atl." The method he used to attractpeople was first by smoke signals, then by waving hishands. Ti ndale"s i nibrmants bel ieved that many of thehuman bones in the sand hills of the Lower Murraybelonged to people whom Kulda had beckoned tofollow him to the Land in the West.

Unusual celestial events were taken as warnings offuture misfortune and grief (Johnson 1998:86-89). Inparticular, the Aboriginal view of comets was gener-ally that their appearance was an ill omen. In March1843 a comet visible to Aboriginal peoples along theMurray River in South Australia was taken as a "har-binger of all kinds of calamities, and more especiallyto the white people. It was considered that the cometwould overthrow Adelaide, destroying all Europeansand their houses, and then to take a course up the Mur-ray and past the Rufus Rivercausinghavoc in its path"(Eyre 1845:2:358-359). ForAboriginal peoples in thesouthwest of Western Australia, the same comet wasseen as a llame on the western horizon and was saidto be a portent of death and "no good to blackfellow"(Wollaston 1841-1856). Here, after looking at thecomet. Aboriginal observers would fall to the ground,coughing and spitting to rid themselves of harmfulspirits. As with other changes noticed in the cosmos.in Aboriginal Australia the arrival of comets wasoften interpreted according to Dreaming beliefs. TheAboriginal residents of Mapoon in northernQueensland considered that a comet observed duringMay 1901 had been caused by two elderly womenAncestors lighting a fire (Roth 1903:8).

Aboriginal people at the Point McLeay Missionin the Lower Murray region of South Australia werereportedly fearful of the lunar ecJipse and the AuroraAustralis, both of which were believed to have beenmade by "wild blackfellows," an early Aboriginal

English term for distant groups who were feared sor-cerers (Taplin 1859-1879: June 4-7.1859, September2,1859). In the case of the Aurora Australis it foretoldthe arrival of these dangerous human/spirit beings.

DiscussionIndigenous astronomical traditions cannot be un-derstood without consideration of the totality ofthe cultural landscape. While the available sourcesof information used in this paper are limited, it hasbeen demonstrated that in Aboriginal Australia theidentification of Ancestors as celestial bodies wasperceived as tangible evidence of the existence of theDreaming and the continuation of its influence overearthly affairs. Particular large trees and prominenthills were believed to be portals for moving betweenEarth and the Sky world, and caves were often treatedas passages connecting to the Underworld. While liv-ing people were considered to be restricted to Earthunder normal circumstances, spirits were believedto travel freely across the entire landscape. To someextent the actions of Ancestors in the Skyworld werereflections of Aboriginal life on Earth. The Aboriginalcosmic landscape is a "canvas" upon which Aborigi-nal Creation mythology is displayed.

Since British settlement Aboriginal peopleshave continued to derive meaning from the sky astheir participation in the wider world has grown.In Central Australia an early twentieth-century Ab-original view of the Milky Way was that it was dustkicked up from Jesus galloping on his horse (Walkerca. 1920). During my fieldwork in the Lower Murrayregion in the 1980s I observed Ngarrindjeri peopiespeculating whether a change in the color of theEvening Star (Venus) would tell them if an outbreakof armed conflict between nations was about to occur(Clarke 1994:124). They believed that if a war wasto be declared, and if this was to involve their owncommunity, then the Evening Star would glow redwhen it rose shortly after sunset.

Aboriginal artists, particular in the Top End of theNorthern Territory, often paint astronomical themes(Mountford 1956: West 1995). While much of thisartwork is based upon Dreaming traditions concern-ing the heavens that predate European settlement,there is some evidence of non-Aboriginal influences.

VOLUME XXI 2007-2008 53

including from the discipline of astronomy itself. AtBiliiluna in northern Western Australia Aboriginalartists have enriched their own traditions concern-ing the Wolfe Creek Crater by blending elementsderived from a scientific perspective of its origin asthe result of a large meteoroid strike many millionsof years ago with their own traditions relating to theRainbow Serpent and other spirit Ancestors (Sanday2007). From the artist's point of view, the inclusionof such elements derived from information gainedfrom sources external to their cuJture would havestrengthened the power of the painting. Such willing-ness to embrace and incorporate "new" knowledge,whether from other parts of Aboriginal Australia orfrom beyond. demonstrates the dynamism of the cul-tures that have produced the astronomical traditionsdescribed in this paper.

Aboriginal astronomical traditions have interesteda broad range of people outside of the Aboriginal com-munity. European Australians have published popu-lar accounts of the heavens as folklore (Caims andHarney 2004: Isaacs 1980; Wells 1964,1973). Inter-pretations of southern Aboriginal folklore concerningthe Rainbow Serpent (Churches 1992; Fielder 1989)and the Pleiades (Sutton 1996; Tonkinson 1997;Weiner 1999) played major roles in the course of par-ticular heritage disputes in the late twentieth centuryarising from the development of purported culturalsites. For the indigenous communities based in thesouthern "settled" regions, the widespread connec-tions that these particular traditions have with thoseof communities based in remote regions make themattractive for use when rebuilding cultural identities(Clarke 2007:149). There are similarities in beliefsabout the Pleiades from around the world (Andrews2004; Clarke 2001:137).

In Australia Western Desert women visitingcapital cities for public ceremonies, like those held inAdelaide at the Tandanya National AboriginalCultural Institute, will publicly perform the "SevenSisters inma [dance]." In northwestern SouthAustralia Anangu Pitjantjatjara people take touriststo rock painting sites connected with this Dreamingand tell open versions of the myth (Desert Tracksca. 2000). From my experience with such ecotourismventures, certain aspects of the Seven Sisters mythol-

ogy remain culturally sensitive to Aboriginal people,with deep knowledge said to be restricted to seniorcommunity members widely regarded as authoritiesin cultural matters. The Anangu Pitjantjatjara com-munity is keenly aware of its resonance with themythologies of other parts of Australia and has oftenchosen this mythology as a means for establishinglinks with other indigenous cultures. For contempo-rary indigenous peoples, explanations of the night skyremain as a vehicle for explaining their cosmos andexploring cultural identity.

AcknowledgmentsPeter Sutton and two anonymous reviewers providedimportant comments upon a draft of this paper.

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