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Aboriginal Cosmology
8
The Emu is stretched across one of the most familiar objects in the night sky, the Milky Way.
The Emu
Running
Astronomy
Sitting
- “the world’s first astronomers”
- First records made by William Edward Stanbridge
- Learnt through Boorong people
- Mainly focused on milkyway
- Sky is like a calendar to Indigenous Astronomers
- Lyra tells them when to harvest bird eggs
- Arrangement of the stars during sunrise or sunset was important
Moon Man
The aboriginals also had stories for the sun and moon.
The Yolngu say that the Sun woman lights a small fire each morning (dawn). She paints herself red and some spills on to the clouds (sunrise). She then lights a torch and carries it from east to west (daylight). At the end of her journey, she descends from the sky, and some of her red paint rubs off on the clouds (sunset).
The moon man was once young and slim (waxing crescent) but grew fat and lazy (full moon). His wife chopped bits off him with an axe (waning gibbous). He tried to escape by climbing a tall tree towards the sun but died from the wounds (new moon). After remaining dead for 3 days, he rose and repeated the cycle. The Kuwema people say that he grows fat at each full moon by devouring the spirits of those who disobey the tribal laws.
The moon was also associated with the tides.
Stars were commonly used to measure time and seasons to regulate daily activities. The myths and stories of the Aboriginal people are to do with moral lessons and reminders, such as when to eat certain foods, which is a cultural connection in the stories.
Therefore, the study of stars is probably the oldest knowledge on earth. This remains a possibility that the Aboriginal’s knowledge of stars contains some fragments of a much older culture.