Indigenous Australian Aboriginal Culture
In this report the Indigenous Australian/Aborigine culture was studied over a course of three weeks to learn the significance of the Sun and astronomy to those people. Covered in this report is the indigenous perspectives on the Sun and Moon, the Australian Aborigine creation myth, and the story of the Aboriginal Flag with the Sun as its symbol. Each point will be thoroughly explained. The Aborigine people of Australia have unique perspectives on the Sun and the Moon. The stories explained will be from the Central Victoria tribe and the Northern Territory tribe. In some aboriginal groups the Moon as seen as male or female, but it depends on which story is told. The Sun according to the Central Victoria tribe, was a young woman who ran away
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As she awakes and her eyes open, rays of sunlight spread to the Earth. The Father asks Mother to awake the spirits while giving them bodies, she does so by letting her light reach every crevice of the Earth. Even the insects, fish, lizards, and other animals began to form. All living things then began to watch in awe as she swept towards the west. She then went beneath the horizon, which frightened the creatures, they waited patiently for her to come back. When she did, she let them choose their own forms, however she was not pleased by their choices and found one very peculiar, this form is what we know as the platypus today. As explained by Lindsey Murtagh, “The Sun Mother looked down upon the Earth and thought to herself that she must create new creatures less the Father of All Spirits be angered by what she now saw. She gave birth to two children. The god was the Morning Star and the goddess was the moon. Two children were born to them and these she sent to Earth. They became our ancestors. She made them superior to the animals because they had part of her mind and would never want to change their shape” (Australian Aborigine Creation Myth). This shows how the Aborigine people understood how the Sun came and went with the day and which direction. They saw the Sun as the impetus of their creation as well as the “Mother” so she controlled the day. This could be why the Sun is so significant to the Aborigine people that they chose to make it the central symbol of their
As she awakes and her eyes open, rays of sunlight spread to the Earth. The Father asks Mother to awake the spirits while giving them bodies, she does so by letting her light reach every crevice of the Earth. Even the insects, fish, lizards, and other animals began to form. All living things then began to watch in awe as she swept towards the west. She then went beneath the horizon, which frightened the creatures, they waited patiently for her to come back. When she did, she let them choose their own forms, however she was not pleased by their choices and found one very peculiar, this form is what we know as the platypus today. As explained by Lindsey Murtagh, “The Sun Mother looked down upon the Earth and thought to herself that she must create new creatures less the Father of All Spirits be angered by what she now saw. She gave birth to two children. The god was the Morning Star and the goddess was the moon. Two children were born to them and these she sent to Earth. They became our ancestors. She made them superior to the animals because they had part of her mind and would never want to change their shape” (Australian Aborigine Creation Myth). This shows how the Aborigine people understood how the Sun came and went with the day and which direction. They saw the Sun as the impetus of their creation as well as the “Mother” so she controlled the day. This could be why the Sun is so significant to the Aborigine people that they chose to make it the central symbol of their