Australian Legendary Tales: folk-lore of the Noongahburrahs as told to the Piccaninnies

In Short

This foundational collection brings together the sacred lore, trickster tales, and origin myths of the Noongahburrah people of southeastern Australia. Across thirty-one interconnected narratives, primal human ancestors, ancestral spirits, and personified animals negotiate survival, invent critical cultural tools like firemaking, and establish tribal law in a harsh, dry landscape. As characters deceive, fight, and undergo drastic transformations, the stories reveal how the natural features, animal traits, and astronomical phenomena of the Australian bush came to exist. The work endures as an essential early record of Indigenous oral traditions, preserving a vibrant, complex world of ancestral belief.

The Story

The narrative cycle unfolds in a primordial era when the boundaries between humans, animals, and spirits are fluid, and the world is still taking shape. Life in this land is defined by a constant, desperate struggle for food, water, and survival. Powerful creator spirits and tribal leaders guide the early people, known as the Daens, but pride, jealousy, and deceit frequently disrupt the community's balance.

Conflict and transformation drive the early tales. Dinewan the emu rules as king of the birds, drawing the intense envy of Goomblegubbon the bustard, while petty spites between creatures lead to permanent physical changes—such as the galah acquiring its bald patch after a fight with Oolah the prickly lizard. Moral tests abound, as seen when Bahloo the moon offers humans the gift of immortality if they will carry his snakes across a creek. When the frightened Daens refuse, Bahloo drops a stone into the water, decreeing that humans will sink into permanent death rather than rising again like floating bark.

As the cycle progresses, the ancestors face existential threats from tricksters, monstrous beings, and cannibals. Gooloo the magpie steals children away to her hollow tree, while Weedah the mockingbird tricks unsuspecting travelers into a fiery trap before meeting a violent end that leaves his head split open—giving rise to the bird's distinct calls and physical marks. Cannibal figures like Mullyan the eagle hawk menace solitary hunters until brave climbers burn him out of his high tree home, transforming him into the morning star. Meanwhile, essential skills are gained through trial and ingenuity: Bootoolgah the crane and Goonur the kangaroo rat discover the secret of making fire from a rubbed stick, hiding their knowledge in the bush until the tribe uncovers their trick.

The overarching arc moves toward the establishment of permanent social order, sacred rituals, and the physical setting of the bush. The supreme spirit Byamee enforces tribal law, instituting the sacred borah initiation ceremonies that turn boys into men. When rebellious tribes or deceitful enemies defy these customs, Byamee and the ancestral spirits transform them into static landscape features, such as the colorful mayamah stones near Mount Beemery, or strip them of human speech to turn them into barking dingoes. In the final movement, the great rainmaker Wirreenun uses ancient medicine and sacred waterstones to break a devastating drought, filling a dry plain to create Narran Lake and populating it with fish. Having secured the survival and spiritual law of his people, Wirreenun holds a grand, triumphant borah, sealing the permanent state of the world where ancestral spirits retreat into the wild ridges and sky, leaving their mark on every living thing.

How It Unfolds

The world takes form Ancestral animal-people vie for dominance, establishing the physical traits of modern species through trickery and rivalry, as when the bustard tricking the emu or the lizard fighting the galah leaves permanent marks on their bodies.

A missed chance at eternity Bahloo the moon asks the early humans to carry his deadly snakes across a creek in exchange for eternal life, but their fear causes them to decline, condemning humanity to mortal death.

The discovery of fire Bootoolgah the crane and Goonur the kangaroo rat secretly learn to ignite firesticks by rubbing wood, cooking their fish in private until suspicious tribe members track them into the scrub and claim the knowledge for all.

Monsters and cannibals defeated Dangerous predators and deceptive tricksters, including the cannibalistic eagle hawk Mullyan and the deceiving mockingbird Weedah, are outsmarted and burned, their deaths birthing new birds and celestial bodies.

The establishment of sacred law The supreme creator spirit Byamee institutes the sacred borah initiation rituals and punishes those who break social taboos, turning rebellious warriors into solid stone and striping others of speech to create dingoes.

The rainmaker's triumph Facing severe drought, the great medicine man Wirreenun performs ancient rain magic to flood the dry plains, creating Narran Lake, stocking it miraculously with fish, and leading the tribe into a new era of abundance and ceremonial law.

The People

• Byamee: The supreme creator and mighty wirreenun (medicine man) who establishes sacred laws, bestows customs, and oversees the initiation ceremonies. He enforces order with absolute authority, punishing those who break taboos by turning them into stone or animals, before eventually retreating to live invisibly in the deep scrub of Noondoo.
• Bahloo: The moon spirit who travels the night sky accompanied by his three venomous snakes. He offers humans the chance to resurrect after death, but when they refuse his pets, he curses them to die permanently, remaining an aloof figure who plays tricks from above.
• Wirreenun: The master rainmaker of the Noongahburrah tribe whose supreme magical knowledge saves his people from starvation. He stands fearless before terrifying thunder-storms, summons downpouring rains to fill Narran Lake, and magically fills the new waters with fish to prove his power.
• Mullyan: A feared, cannibalistic eagle hawk who lives high in a yaraan tree with his family. He hunts solitary human beings with a massive spear to feed his household, until two clever young climbers sneak into his shelter and set it on fire, causing him to ascend into the sky as the morning star.
• Goomblegubbon: The envious bustard mother who resents the high flight and natural superiority of Dinewan the emu. Unable to defeat the emu in a fair fight, she relies on cunning schemes to injure her rival and strip her of her status.

In Its Own Voice

"See this piece of bark. I throw it into the water... See it comes to the top again and floats. That is what would happen to you if you would do what I ask you: first under when you die, then up again at once."

Bahloo the moon uses a simple floating leaf to explain his offer of eternal life to the early humans, contrasting it with a sinking stone when they refuse his snakes.

"For as Goonur had said it would, the spark lit the grass, the bark smouldered and smoked, and so Bootoolgah the crane, and Goonur the kangaroo rat, discovered the art of fire making."

This pivotal moment marks the transition from eating sun-dried raw food to mastering fire, a secret the two animal-ancestors guard closely until their tribe uncovers it.

"Not so... no man lives to steal twice from a Mullyan;" and, so saying, he speared Deegeenboyah where he stood.

The ruthless logic of the cannibal eagle hawk reflects the uncompromising, dangerous reality of the ancestral bush, where competition for food frequently ends in swift violence.

What It's Really About

At its core, the collection explores how physical geography, animal anatomy, and human tribal law are inextricably bound together through ancestral history. It presents a world where every creature's appearance—from the galah's bald patch to the curlew's thin red legs—is a visible record of a moral event, conflict, or act of trickery. Beneath the simple narrative structures lie fundamental questions about survival, resource scarcity, and the origin of mortality. The stories argue that survival in a harsh environment requires both individual cunning and strict adherence to social rules, communal sharing, and sacred law. By mapping spiritual meaning directly onto the land, plants, and animals, the lore provides a comprehensive framework for understanding human obligations to the natural world.

Why Read It Today

This collection offers an extraordinary glimpse into Indigenous Australian cosmology and oral storytelling traditions as recorded in the late nineteenth century. Readers who appreciate mythologies, folklore, and natural history will find themselves immersed in a world where the Australian environment is vividly alive with personality, danger, and humor. The prose carries a understated directness, using indigenous terms that ground each narrative in the specific geography and ecology of the Narran River region.

While accessible, the book presents certain reading challenges characteristic of its era. Modern readers must navigate nineteenth-century anthropological framing in the introduction and preface, as well as an extensive inventory of non-English terms for local flora, fauna, and implements—such as comebees, dayoorls, and dardurrs. Furthermore, the stark violence, cannibalism, and unforgiving punishments within the tales reflect an unvarnished, authentic traditional folklore rather than sanitized children's stories. What remains with the reader is a deep appreciation for the profound connection between the Noongahburrah people and their environment, where every star in the night sky and every call in the bush tells a story of creation.