Aboriginal Mythology - Mudrooroo

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– for the Eaglehawk moiety. One day Balayang was amusing himself with thumping the surface of the water and he thumped away until it thickened into mud. Something stirred and he took a bough and probed the mud. Presently he saw four hands, two heads, then two bodies. It was two women. He called one Kunnawarra, Black Swan, and the other Kururuk, Native Companion. He took them to Bunjil, who gave them as wives to the men he had created.

      To the Kulin people, Antares symbolized Balayang.

      See also Eaglehawk and Crow.

      Balin the barramundi See Milky Way.

      Balin-ga the porcupine See Great corroborees.

      Balugaan See Dogs; Tooloom Falls.

      Balur See Barrier Reef.

      Banbai See Bundjalung nation.

      Bandicoot ancestor The bandicoot ancestor myth is found among the Arrernte community. In the Dreamtime everywhere was darkness and the bandicoot ancestor, Karora, was lying in the earth asleep; then from him sprang a tall pole, called a tnatantja. Its bottom rested on his head and its top rose up into the sky. It was a living creature covered with a smooth skin.

      Karora began thinking and from his armpits and navel burst forth bandicoots who dug themselves out from the earth just as the first sun spread light across the sky. Karora followed them. He seized two young bandicoots, cooked them and ate them. Satisfied, he laid down to sleep and while he slept from under his armpit emerged a bull-roarer. It took on human form and grew into a young man. Karora awoke and his son danced about his father. It was the very first ceremony. The son hunted for bandicoots and they cooked and ate them. Karora slept and whilst sleeping created two more sons. This went on for some time and he created many more sons. They ate up all the bandicoots which originally came forth from their father and became hungry. They hunted far and wide but could find no game. On the way back, they heard the sound of a bull-roarer. They searched for the man who might be swinging it. Suddenly something darted up from their feet and they called, ‘There goes a sandhill wallaby!’ They hurled their tjuringa sticks at it and broke its leg. The sandhill wallaby sang out that he was now lame and was a man like them, not a bandicoot. He then limped away.

      The hunters continued on their way and saw their father approaching. He led them back to the waterhole. They sat on the edge of the pool and then from the east came a great flood of honey from the honeysuckle buds and engulfed them. The father remained at the soak, but his sons were swirled away to where sandhill wallaby man they had lamed waited for them. The spot became a great djang place and there the rocks which are the brothers are still grouped around a boulder which is said to be the body of the sandhill wallaby man.

      At the sacred waterhole where Karora is said to be lying in eternal sleep, those who come to drink from it must carry green boughs which they lay down on the banks before easing their thirst. It is said that Karora is pleased with this and smiles in his sleep.

      Barama and Laindjung myths The Barama and Laindjung myths from Arnhem Land are Yiritja moiety myths which are different from the myths of the complementary Duwa moiety in that they are about ancestral spirits who came from the land rather than the sea. In fact the moieties reflect the division of the Arnhem Land people, the Yolngu, into land and sea people.

      Barama emerged from a waterhole at a place called Guludji near the Koolatong with tresses of freshwater weeds clinging to his arms, carrying special wooden sacred emblems called rangga (similar to tjuringa) which are made from the trunks of saplings and then are decorated. The weeds were not really weeds, but special ceremonial armbands with long feather pendants attached to them. His whole body was covered with watermarks, forming all the patterns and designs which he eventually passed on to the various Yiritja moiety groups, or clans. Barama brought to the Yiritja moiety their sacred objects and designs.

      The other cultural hero, Laindjung, emerged at a place called Dhalungu about the same time as Barama. His body was covered with watermarks but he carried no sacred objects. He walked to Gangan where he met Barama and they called the ceremonial leaders of the Yiritja together to perform and then reform their ceremonies.

      Barama and Laindjung were similar to missionaries preaching a new religious belief and passing on or changing ceremonies and giving out sacred objects and designs. Barama stayed in one place and left most of the work to Laindjung. He ordered that the sacred objects should be kept from the sight of women and children. Laindjung did not worry about this and openly displayed them and sang the sacred songs in everyone’s hearing. Then the elders decided to get rid of the heretic. Near Tribal Bay, they ambushed him, climbing trees and casting spears down. Laindjung kept on singing. He sank into a swamp, then re-emerged and walked towards Blue Mud Bay where he turned himself into a paperbark tree, called dhulwu.

      See also North-eastern Arnhem Land.

      Bardon, Geoff See Papunya.

      Bark paintings Putting designs on bark is but a way of passing them on to the next generation. The same designs are used in body painting, on hollow log coffins and in ground sculptures. The designs often have their origin in the sacred and come directly from the cultural heroes. All Aboriginal art that is termed ‘traditional’ is spiritual in that as the artist works he or she is conscious of the spiritual presence and power of the ancestral being whose story is being told or incidents from whose life are being depicted.

      The abstract cross-hatched designs which are natural features of many bark paintings are symbolic of a certain area or feature which came from the Great Ancestors themselves. For example Luma Luma the giant, who figures prominently in the Mardayan ceremonies at Oenpelli in Arnhem Land, cut criss-cross patterns into his flesh, and these are used today in ceremony and also as designs on the bark paintings from this area.

      Until recently, the artists used natural red and yellow ochres, white kaolin or pipeclay and black manganese or charcoal. These colours are applied to sheets of bark which have been cured and straightened over a fire.

      Bark painting was once practised by many Aboriginal groups, but since the invasion the tradition has lapsed in most parts of Australia. Today the most vibrant expression is in Arnhem Land. There are different styles of painting here. The artists of west Arnhem Land, which is centred around Oenpelli, the Liverpool and Alligator rivers and the Croker and Goulburn islands, create works which are related to the rock paintings which abound in the area, some fine examples of which may be seen in the cave galleries found in Kakadu National Park. There are two main types of painting, both of which are figurative. One is the so-called ‘X-ray style’, in which the ritually significant internal organs of various animal species are depicted. The second style is of spirits such as the stick-like mimi spirits.

      Central Arnhem Land stretches from east of the Liverpool river and includes the settlements of Maningrida, Ramingining and the island of Milingimbi. Here the paintings are divided into a number of panels, much in the style of a storyboard or comic strip. The most common themes are episodes from the song cycles of the Wawilak sisters and Dhanggawul. North-eastern Arnhem Land includes the area around Yirrkala and a number of islands, including Galiwinku (Elcho Island), and their styles are characterized by tight geometric compositions and crosshatched patterns of great intricacy.

      The Tiwi people live on Bathurst and Melville Islands off the northwest coast of Darwin and most Tiwi art is concerned with the Pukamani funeral ceremonies, the elaborate and lengthy ceremonies which involve the erection of carved posts similar to totem poles (see Pukamani burial poles). Paintings are usually non-figurative, but sculpture is important here owing to the use of sculpture in the funeral ceremonies. The sculptures are usually of Purukupali, his partner Bima and Tokumbimi the bird, and the accompanying myth relates how death came to the Tiwi. See Curlews; Mudungkala; Pukamani funeral ceremonies.

      See also Bark huts and shelters; Ground paintings; Papunya Tula art.

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