List of Australian Aboriginal mythological figures

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Further information: Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology

The Rainbow Snake is a common feature of the mythology and art of indigenous Australian cultures[1]

The following is a list of Australian Indigenous Australian deities and spirits.

New South Wales[]

  • Birrahgnooloo, Kamilaroi goddess of fertility who would send floods if properly asked to
  • Dirawong, Bundjalung creator being
  • Wurrunna, culture hero

Northern Territory[]

  • Adnoartina, the lizard guard of Uluru
  • Altjira, Arrernte sky god who created the earth
  • Ankotarinja, first man of Arrernte mythology
  • , lunar deity
  • Bamapana, Yolngu trickster spirit who creates discord
  • , creator deity
  • Barnumbirr, Yolgnu creator spirit
  • Barraiya, creator of the first vagina
  • Bobbi-Bobbi, benevolent Binbinga snake deity
  • Djanggawul, three creator-siblings of northeast Arnhem Land mythology
  • Galeru, rainbow snake in Arnhem Land mythology who swallowed the Djanggawul
  • Djunkgao, group of sisters associated with floods and ocean currents
  • Julunggul, Yolgnu rainbow snake goddess associated with initiation, fertility, rebirth and water
  • Karora, creator god
  • Kunapipi, mother goddess and the patron deity of many heroes
  • Malingee, malignant nocturnal spirit
  • Mamaragan, lightning deity
  • Mangar-kunjer-kunja, Arrernte lizard deity who created humans
  • Mimi, fairy-like beings of Arnhem Land
  • Minawara and Multultu, legendary ancestors of the
  • (also known as Namarrgon[2]), Lightning man, makes lightning appear and creates roars of thunder in storms
  • Mokoi, evil Yolngu spirit who kidnapped and ate children
  • Ngintaka, Pitjantjatjara creator being
  • Nogomain, god who gives spirit children to mortal parents
  • , god of beauty
  • Papinijuwari, a type of one-eyed giant which feeds on the bodies of the dead and the blood of the sick
  • Ulanji, snake-ancestor of the Binbinga
  • Wala, solar goddess
  • Wawalag, Yolngu sisters who were swallowed by a serpent, only to be regurgitated
  • Wollunqua, snake-deity associated with rain and fertility
  • Wuluwaid, rain god of Arnhem Land
  • Wuriupranili, solar goddess whose torch is the sun
  • Wurugag and Waramurungundi, first man and woman of Gunwinggu legend
  • , Aboriginal mermaids who live in waterholes, freshwater springs, and rock pools.
  • Yhi, Karraur solar goddess associated with light and creation
  • Yurlungur, Yolngu snake deity who swallowed and regurgitated the Wawalag sisters; associated with initiation and rebirth

Queensland[]

  • Anjea, fertility goddess or spirit, in whom people's souls reside between their incarnations
  • Gaiya, giant devil dingo of lower Cape York Peninsula
  • Dhakhan, ancestral god of the Kabi
  • I'wai, culture hero of the Kuuku-Ya'u
  • Yalungur, god of the first baby

South Australia[]

Tasmania[]

  • , giant demon that inhabited Lake Derwent
  • , flesh-eating ghost of southern Tasmania
  • , giant scorpion like creature
  • , Creator spirit/God for Tasmania

Victoria[]

  • Crow (Waa), Kulin trickster, culture hero and ancestral being
  • Baiame, southeast Australian creational ancestral hero
  • Balayang, bat deity and brother of Bunjil
  • Binbeal, Kulin rainbow deity and son of Bunjil
  • Bunjil, Kulin creator deity and ancestral being, represented as an eagle
  • Bunyip, mythical creature said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes
  • Daramulum, southeast Australian deity and son of Baiame
  • Gnowee, solar goddess who searches daily for her lost son; her torch is the sun
  • Karatgurk, seven sisters who represent the Pleiades star cluster
  • Kondole, man who became the first whale
  • , wife of
  • , spirit ancestor and guardian of the Brataualung people
  • Nargun, fierce half-human, half-stone creature of Gunai legend
  • Pundjel, creator deity involved in the initiation of boys
  • Thinan-malkia, evil spirit who captures victims with nets that entangle their feet
  • Tiddalik, frog of southeast Australian legend who drank all the water in the land, and had to be made to laugh to regurgitate it
  • Wambeen, evil lightning-hurling figure who targets travellers

Western Australia[]

  • Bagadjimbiri, a pair of Karadjeri creator-spirits
  • Dilga, Karadjeri goddess of fertility and growth, and mother of the Bagadjimbiri
  • Julana, lecherous Jumu spirit who surprises women by burrowing beneath the sand, leaping out, and raping them
  • Kidili, Mandjindja moon deity who was castrated for attempting to rape the first women, who in turn became the Pleiades
  • Kurdaitcha (or kurdaitcha man) is a ritual "executioner" in Australian Indigenous Australian culture (specifically the term comes from the Arrernte people).[3]
  • Ngariman, Karadjeri quoll-man who killed the Bagadjimbiri and was drowned in revenge
  • Njirana, Jumu deity and father of Julana
  • Ungud, snake deity associated with rainbows and the fertility and erections of the tribe's shamans
  • Wagyl, Noongar snakelike creator being
  • Wati-kutjara, a pair of western Australian lizard-men
  • Wondjina, Mowanjum cloud or rain spirits

Pan-continental[]

  • Rainbow Serpent, a common feature of the art and mythology of Indigenous Australian cultures[4]
  • Erathipa, central Australia, a boulder that has the shape of a pregnant woman

Unknown[]

  • Kinie Ger, evil half-man, half-quoll beast
  • Thardid Jimbo, cannibalistic giant
  • Yara-ma-yha-who, monstrous bloodsucking dwarf
  • Bluetongue Lizard, an elderly trickster
  • Tjinimin, the ancestor of the Australian peoples. He is associated with the bat and with Kunmanggur the rainbow serpent
  • Nogomain, a god who gives spirit children to mortal parents.
  • Mar'rallang, the name shared by twin sisters
  • Djunkgao, a group of sisters who are associated with floods and ocean currents
  • Yee-Na-Pah, a devil girl

Notes[]

  1. ^ Noonuccal, Oodgeroo; Noonuccal, Kabul Oodgeroo (September 1988), "The Rainbow Serpent", Meanjin, 47 (3): 373–377, ISSN 0025-6293
  2. ^ Grant Mills (14 November 2012). "Kakadu Dreaming". The Adelaide Review. Opinion Media. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  3. ^ Kurdaitcha
  4. ^ Oodgeroo Noonuccal; Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 1953-; Haywood, Eric Shane; Narkaling Inc (2001), The rainbow serpent, Narkaling Inc, retrieved 12 May 2013

References[]

  • Bishop, W (1970), Australian Indigenous Australian mythology, retrieved 12 May 2013
  • Hiatt, L. R. (Lester Richard), 1931-2008, (ed.); Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (1975), Australian Aboriginal mythology : essays in honour of W.E.H. Stanner, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, ISBN 978-0-85575-044-2CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
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