Emu in the sky in the sky". In Western astronomy terms, the
Southern Cross is on the right, and
Scorpius on the left; the head of the emu is the
Coalsack. A
constellation used almost everywhere in Australian Aboriginal culture is the "
Emu in the Sky", which consists of
dark nebulae (opaque clouds of dust and gas in outer space) that are visible against the (centre and other sectors of the) Milky Way background. The Emu's head is the very dark
Coalsack Nebula, next to the
Southern Cross; the body and legs are that extension of the
Great Rift trailing out to
Scorpius. In
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, north of Sydney, are extensive
rock engravings of the
Guringai people who lived there, including representations of the creator-hero
Daramulan and his emu-wife. An engraving near the Elvina Track shows an emu in the same pose and orientation as the Emu in the Sky constellation. To the
Wardaman, however, the Coalsack is the head of a lawman.
Bruce Pascoe's 2014 book
Dark Emu takes its title from one of the Aboriginal names for the constellation, known as Gugurmin to the
Wiradjuri people. In May 2020, the
Royal Australian Mint launched a
limited edition commemorative
one-dollar coin, as the first in its "Star Dreaming" series celebrating Indigenous Australians' astrology.
Canoe in Orion The
Yolŋu people of northern Australia say that the constellation of
Orion, which they call Julpan (or Djulpan), is a
canoe. They tell the story of three brothers who went fishing, and one of them ate a sawfish that was forbidden under their law. Seeing this, the Sun-woman, Walu, made a waterspout that carried him and his two brothers and their canoe up into the sky. The three stars that line in the constellation's centre, which form
Orion's Belt in Western mythology, are the three brothers; the
Orion Nebula above them is the forbidden fish; and the bright stars
Betelgeuse and
Rigel are the
bow and
stern of the canoe. This is an example of astronomical legends underpinning the ethical and social codes that people use on Earth.
Seven Sisters The
Pleiades constellation figures in the
Dreamings and
songlines of several Aboriginal Australian peoples, usually referred to as the seven sisters. The story has been described as "one of the most defining and predominant meta-narratives chronicled in ancient mainland Australia", which describes a male ancestral being (with names including Wati Nyiru, Yurlu and others), and travels across the lands of the
Ngaanyatjarra (WA) to (
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, or APY lands, of
South Australia, where the
Pitjantjatjara and
Yankunytjatjara peoples live. The story also includes
Warlpiri lands, the
Tanami Desert of the
Northern Territory. The
Yamatji people of the
Wajarri language group, of the
Murchison region in Western Australia, call the sisters Nyarluwarri. When the constellation is close to the horizon as the sun is setting, the people know that it is the right time to harvest emu eggs, and they also use the brightness of the stars to predict seasonal rainfall. or Nirunja, The seven sisters story often features in the artwork of the region, such as the 2017 painting by
Tjungkara Ken, and the large-scale
installation by the
Tjanpi Desert Weavers commissioned as a feature of the
National Gallery of Australia's 2020
Know My Name Exhibition. The
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in
Sydney holds a 2013 work by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers called
Minyma Punu Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters Tree Women). In March 2013, senior desert dancers from the
APY Lands (South Australia) in collaboration with the
Australian National University's ARC Linkage and mounted by artistic director
Wesley Enoch, performed
Kungkarangkalpa: The Seven Sisters Songline on the shores of
Lake Burley Griffin in
Canberra. In the
Warlpiri version of the story, the Napaljarri sisters are often represented carrying a man called Wardilyka, who is in love with the women. But the morning star, Jukurra-jukurra, a man from a different
skin group and who is also in love with the sisters, chases them across the sky. Each night they launch themselves into the sky, and each night he follows them. This story is known as the
Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa. The people of around
Lake Eyre in South Australia tell how the ancestor male is prevented from capturing one of the seven sisters by a
great flood. , with the seven sisters on the reverse In another story, told by peoples of
New South Wales, the seven sisters are beautiful women known as the Maya-Mayi, two of whom are kidnapped by a warrior, Warrumma, or Warunna. They eventually escape by climbing a
pine tree that continually grows up into the sky where they join their other sisters. In 2017, a major exhibition entitled
Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters was mounted at the
National Museum of Australia, In September 2020, the
Royal Australian Mint issued its second commemorative one-dollar coin in its "Star Dreaming" series celebrating Indigenous Australians' astrology (see
Emu in the sky above). The
Yolŋu people believe that when they die, they are taken by a mystical canoe,
Larrpan, to the spirit-island
Baralku in the sky, where their camp-fires can be seen burning along the edge of the great river of the Milky Way. The canoe is sent back to Earth as a shooting star, letting their family on Earth know that they have arrived safely in the spirit-land. Aboriginals also thought that god was the canoe. She paints herself with
red ochre, some of which spills onto the clouds, creating the sunrise. She then lights a torch and carries it across the sky from east to west, creating daylight. At the end of her journey, as she descends from the sky, some of her ochre paints again rubs off onto the clouds, creating the sunset. She then puts out her torch, and throughout the night travels underground back to her starting camp in the east. Other stories about the Sun involve
Wala,
Yhi, and
Gnowee. The Yolŋu tell that
Ngalindi, the Moon-man, was once young and slim (the
waxing Moon), but grew fat and lazy (the
full Moon). His wives chopped bits off him with their axes (the
waning Moon); to escape them he climbed a tall tree towards the Sun, but died from the wounds (the
new Moon). After remaining dead for three days, he rose again to repeat the cycle, and continues doing so till this day. The
Kuwema people in the
Northern Territory say that he grows fat at each full Moon by devouring the spirits of those who disobey the tribal laws. Another story by the Aboriginals of
Cape York involves the making of a giant
boomerang that is thrown into the sky and becomes the Moon. The Yolŋu also associated the Moon with the
tides.
Jupiter The
Dja Dja Wurrung call
Jupiter "
Bunjil's campfire". The
planet features in the Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal Clans Corporation logo, as a symbol of the Creator Spirit.
Eta Carinae In 2010, astronomers Duane Hamacher and David Frew from
Macquarie University in Sydney showed that the Boorong Aboriginal people of northwestern Victoria, Australia, witnessed the outburst of
Eta Carinae in the 1840s and incorporated it into their oral traditions as
Collowgulloric War, the wife of
War (
Canopus, the Crow – ). This is the only definitive indigenous record of Eta Carinae's outburst identified in the literature to date. ==Astronomical calendars==