02/10/2021
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Aboriginal astronomy
The First Nations cultures of Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, stretch back over 65,000 years, making theirs the oldest continuing culture in the world.
Aboriginal astronomy existed long before the Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks. Long before Galileo, the Renaissance or the Enlightenment. Our indigenous folk observed the sun, moon and stars and used them in calendars, in navigation and to predict weather. Their astronomy is the foundation for stories passed down the generations for tens of thousands of years via song, dance and oral tradition. Indigenous Astronomy now forms part of the Australian national curriculum.
The fat lazy moon
In Western astrology, the bright solar disc is viewed as a powerful masculine symbol, while the ever-changing moon is associated with the feminine and specifically the female cycle. By contrast, in most indigenous astronomy, the sun is a woman and the moon a man. Some communities tell stories of the Sun Woman pursuing the Moon Man across the sky each day only meeting up at the time of an eclipse.
My favourite story about the moon comes from the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. The Yolngu call the moon Ngalindi and each night he journeys across the dark sky. Ngalindi was a fat lazy man (full moon) and to punish him for his laziness, his wives began to chop bits off him with their axes (waning moon). Ngalindi managed to escape from his angry wives by climbing a tall tree to catch the sun, but he was fatally wounded, died and disappeared from view (dark moon). After three days, Ngalindi slowly came back to life (new moon) and began to grow round and fat again (waxing Moon). Two weeks later when he’d become very fat indeed (full moon) his wives attacked him again with their axes. This cycle of birth and death continues to repeat every month.
The Yolngu also have a story about how the moon is linked to tidal movement. When the tides are high, water pours into the moon, filling it as it rises to become the full moon. During the waning moon cycle, the water runs out of the moon and the tides fall, leaving the moon empty for three days. Then the tide rises once more, filling up the moon again.
The shining boomerang
An indigenous story from Cape York tells how the moon was formed. Many years ago, people realised they needed light during the night so they could walk around, hold corroborees and hunt. During the daytime, they had the sun to guide them, but the nights were too dark.
The people held a meeting and one man came up with the idea of collecting a huge pile of wood and setting fire to it at sunset to light up the bush. They decided this was too impractical, then another member of the community had the idea of making a special shining boomerang that could be thrown high into the sky. At night this boomerang would light up the skies so the people and animals on earth could see clearly.
The community worked together to carve a giant wooden boomerang. Various strong men tried throwing the boomerang up into the sky, but they could never throw it far or high enough. A very thin, old, weak man stepped forward and asked if he could try. Everyone laughed when they saw his skinny arms, but a kind, wise elder said the old man should be at least allowed to have a go. He threw the boomerang with great force and up and up in the sky it went - higher and higher until it turned into the moon, shining down on the people and lighting up the night time. This shining boomerang can still be seen in the skies today.
I’d like to thank Ray Norris, who has spent decades promoting indigenous astronomy and working with elders for much of the information in this piece. Image: Barbara Merritt/Shared Sky
