Parent and Community Handout 5

Dreaming stories used in Healing Time drug education resource for Aboriginal students

The Dreaming and Dreaming stories provide a cultural framework for the transmission of Aboriginal culture. Most of the following Dreaming stories were used in the Healing Time drug education resource for Aboriginal students that I developed for the Department of Education and Training in the 1990s. Elders who have custody of the Dreaming stories gave permission for the Dreaming stories to be used and shared.

Uncle Wes Marne is a Bigambul man from northern NSW. His stories were passed on to him by his grandfather. He has given permission for the Creation, Lyrebird, How the birds got their colours, How Kookaburra got his laugh, Magpie Kookaburra, Why Crow is black, Why Crane is white and How Kangaroo got his tail Dreaming stories to be used in this resource.

Aunty June Barker, who has since passed on, gave permission for the GoogarDreaming story to be used. Aunty Gloria Matthews has given permission for the Moon Lady and TiddalikDreaming stories and the Rainbow song to be used. Aunty Gloria Matthews and her sister Aunty June Barker were born in YortaYorta country on Cummeragunja, a reserve near Echuca. Their parents left Cummeragunja and kept the family on the move for a number of years to prevent the children being taken. The TiddalikDreaming story used in this resource is a family story and refers to a lagoon between Echuca and Deniliquin. Aunty June and Aunty Gloria were on the Brewarrina Reserve in the 1930s when smaller communities were dispersed and the people trucked in to Brewarrina. The Moon Lady and Rainbow song were passed on to Aunty Gloria from people originally from White Cliffs and Tibooburra respectively. The GoogarDreaming story was passed on to Aunty June Barker by Ngemba people.

Uncle Wes, Aunty Gloria and Aunty June’s family retain copyright of these Dreaming stories.

Schools should consult with their Aboriginal communities to ensure the appropriateness of the Dreaming stories to the needs of their community. A number of the Dreaming stories have similar themes and can be interchanged. Some communities may have local stories with similar themes that they wish to be included.

Dreaming stories activities

Staff, Parents and community members may read some or all of the Dreaming stories to their children or other young people and:

ask questions that begin with who, what, where, why, or when

make illustrations that are based on a Dreaming Story with the children

tell the beginning of a Dreaming story and ask the children to predict what will happen

discuss with the children what we learn from the characters in the stories

remind the children of the sensible, safe, mature behaviour of characters

identify what can be learned from one or more characters in Dreaming stories e.g. the Kookaburra shows how important it is to be patient

choose a Dreaming story e.g. How Kangaroo got his tail, and focus on a character e.g. Bargin. ask children to answer four questions from Bargin's point of view:

What do I want?

How do I get there without hurting myself or others?

If I've made the wrong choice what do I do about it?

If I need help where can I find it?

Creation

Long ago in the Dreamtime, Baiami, the creator, had a dream of how he wanted the land to look. He told the Rainbow Serpent to make the Land.

The Rainbow Serpent is a big fellow. He is so big and the Land was so new and soft, that wherever he went he pushed up the hills and mountains on either side.

Baiami saw what the Rainbow Serpent did and he made it rain. The water flowed down the tracks made by the Rainbow Serpent making the first rivers.

At night the Rainbow Serpent curled up and slept. He was so big and heavy that he left hollows in the ground where he slept. The water followed him, filling the hollows and these became our first lakes. When it got cold he burrowed into the Land where it was warm. The water followed him down making the underground rivers and lakes.

When the Land was made and the Rainbow Serpent's work was finished Baiami made a place for him down in the sea. He was so big and bright that when the mist and clouds rolled in, his bright colours were reflected through the water and made the first rainbow. Before the Rainbow Serpent went to sleep, Baiami promised that if ever the Land were in danger, the Rainbow Serpent would come back to renew it.

The Rainbow Serpent watches over us. When we see a shooting star in the sky, that's his eye looking to see what we are doing.

Lyrebird

When the Land was madeBaiami went out onto it and he called the four winds. He gave them the seeds and told them to sow the land. He made it rain again and the seeds grew. All the grasses and trees grew, but most of all the flowers. Baiami loves flowers and never before or since have there been so many flowers.

Baiami sat down to think what creatures he would put on the land next. While he was thinking he went to sleep. As he was asleep the Ribbon came out of the rocks. She only comes out when there is no wind otherwise she would be blown away. She was mischievous and looked for something bad to do. When she saw all the flowers Baiami had made, she made all the ants and grasshoppers so they'd eat them.

When Baiami woke the Land was brown and bare. The grasshoppers and ants had eaten all the flowers. As he looked around Baiami saw something moving in the breeze. High up under an overhanging rock was one little brown plant. That was all that was left.

He took the plant and some earth and breathed life into them and they became a little brown bird. When he saw the bird Baiami was so sorry that it was only brown. I don't have any beautiful colours to give you at the present, but I can give you this," he said, and he took some blue stone and crushed it in his hands and sprinkled it over the feathers. He did the same with some white stone.

"You are the first of all the creatures," he told the Lyrebird. This makes you special. I am going to give you a gift, the gift to dance. No other birds will dance like you. I am going to give you another gift. You will be able to copy whatever sound you hear. There will be no sound you will not be able to copy."

How the birds got their colours

After the Lyrebird was made, Baiami made everything grow back. Baiami made all the small birds. He made them all brown, the same colour as the Lyrebird. He made them brown for a purpose. He told them to go out into the bush where everything had grown back and everything was beautiful again. All the flowers were there with all their wonderful and beautiful colours and these colours were all wet. The birds could go and touch the flowers and paint themselves so they wouldn't be jealous of each other. So all the birds went out and painted themselves and came back. Baiami was very pleased. That's how the birds got their colours.

How Kookaburra got his laugh

Baiami, the creator, told the birds to come back in the morning so they could all get a sound. All the birds could have one sound. There's only one bird that could have more than one sound. That's the Lyrebird.

So all the birds went home.Gongarra, the Kookaburra, wanted to have the best sound in the bush and so he sat up all night to be first in line, but he started to nod and he closed his eyes and went to sleep. When he woke up he was last in line and he was cranky.

The birds all loved their sounds. Baiami told them the Law, where they could live, how to behave, who they could marry and sent them back into the bush to lead the lives they were meant to. When they were out of sight Baiami heard a sound behind him. Sitting up on the branch was Gongarra the Kookaburra.

Baiami said, "What is wrong with you, Kookaburra?"

Kookaburra just grunted and shook his head.

"You don't have a sound do you?" asked Baiami.

Kookaburra shook his head and grunted.

"Do you want me to give you a sound?"

Kookaburra shook his head and he grunted and croaked.

Baiami said, "You will have a sound, but I can't stay here with you now because all the other animals and creatures are waiting to be made. But you be careful, because the first sound you make will be the sound you will have for ever."

Kookaburra just sat up on the branch and the days went by and the months went by. He would fly down to get his meals and fly back up on the branch.

One day he saw the grass moving and out of the grass came the king brown snake. Kookaburra sat up to watch. On the other side of the clearing, on one end of a log there was a little brown frog and on the other end of the log there was another little brown frog.

Snakes love frogs so he went over and curled up in front of the log and lifted his head. The snake grabbed one little brown frog in his mouth, and then he saw the other little brown frog. He thought "I'm a big snake, one frog won't be enough," and he opened his mouth and he grabbed the second frog, but when he opened his mouth the frog already in his mouth jumped out and he still only had one frog. So he turned his head and he grabbed again and the one already in his mouth jumped out and he still only had one frog.

By this time he was really cranky. He kept going until he got tired and he missed and then the two little brown frogs hopped off. He put his head down. Tears rolled down his face and king brown snake started crying. Kookaburra just sat on the branch watching. Kookaburra couldn't help himself and he started to laugh.

Magpie Kookaburra

Magpie and Kookaburra always quarrelled, they always fought and argued, because you don't get a better whistler than the Magpie. All the birds were jealous of the Magpie. He was the favourite. He is a power mad bird, the Magpie. Kookaburra was always jealous of him right from the time they got their voices because Baiami gave Magpie the job of waking all the birds up.

Morning Star used to come to wake up Magpie and he would then wake everybody up with his beautiful call and start the day. Kookaburra was always cranky because Morning Star would always waken the Magpie, never him. He wanted to have his turn. He wanted to wake everybody up because he had a big laugh that would wake everyone up.

A little girl got lost and everybody went out looking for her. They searched all through the night. Everyone was worried; no one could find her. Kookaburra got tired and he came back to the camp but Magpie and all the other birds were still out looking for the little girl. Morning Star found the little girl asleep and brought her to the camp. Kookaburra laughed and laughed. That is the first time the Kookaburra was given the chance to tell all the birds it was time to wake up.

Baiami came and said, "All right, I've heard you. Now, whoever is the first to see the Morning Star can wake up the rest of the birds."

Why Crow is black

When the birds got their colours there were no black birds. This is a story about how some birds got their black colours. The Crow, the Magpie and the Currawong, they are brothers, they belong to the same tribe. This is their story.

After the birds got all their colours, Baiami, the Creator, gave them rules to live by, like who they could marry and who they couldn't marry. The birds got upset with all the rules and laws and they got together to have a big talk. They decided they were not going to have anything more to do with Baiami. When Baiami found out he sent Garrah, the Eagle Hawk, his special messenger, to fix things up. Garrah came down and he warned them, then he went away again. When he went away Crow and Magpie got all the birds together again. Garrah, the Eaglehawk, was flying around and he saw the meeting. He came down and when they saw him coming they all ran away to hide in a cave. Crow, Magpie, Currawong and Willy Wagtail pushed all the birds into the cave and pulled branches over the front of the cave.

Garrah saw them pull the branches up over the front of the cave and he lit it. All the birds in the front of the cave got burnt. Crow was closest and got burnt black all over. He was so shamed that later he painted white clay around his eyes. Currawong, Magpie and Willy Wagtail were a bit further back and were only burnt a bit. That's why they've only got black on parts of them.

After that the birds realised that they had to do what Baiami told them.

Why Crane is white

Crane was given all the beautiful colours. He was gold, white, red and blue and he was a favourite bird of Baiami. Baiami said, "You have to stay in this country. You are not allowed to move out of it. If you do, you'll lose all your colours." That was all right to the old Crane, he lived there and multiplied.

One day he saw the geese and the ducks heading North. They were going to the land of fuller rivers where everything was beautiful, where there was plenty of food. So he gathered all the Cranes together. They flew north and they had a good winter up there in the northern part of the country. Next year in the winter when they came back from the North, the first thing they did was go down to the water and when they looked in and saw themselves, they were all white.

The moral is that if you disobeyed the Law, and you didn't do what you were supposed to do, or what you were told, you would be changed.

Moon Lady

The Moon Lady drifts across the sky in the day and night. You can see her better in the night-time cause she lights up so well.

In the daytime she comes down and has a feed of honey. She likes honey. She will watch the hunters in the bush chasing the bees to a hole in a tree. They'll cut it down with their stone axes. Of course, it being an old tree, it will just fall and break in two, and there's all the honey. They take the honey home in their dilly bag to hang it in a tree for it to drip into a coolamon.

Before they go home, they always leave a little piece of honey for the Moon Lady on a rock, a stump, or on the log. But one day they left it in the log and when she came down in the late afternoon and put her arm up the log to get the honey a piece of wood fell on her arm. It trapped her there. She was crying, she was upset. She looked around and she thought to herself while she was crying, 'Oh dear, they haven't had any rain down here for such a long time.'

The dry leaves were crackling behind her, and the noise came closer till it came right up to her. She wasn't afraid because she knew everything about the bush. The noise was the little grass people. They took the wood off her arm, rubbed it for her and said, 'Eat your honey and then you can go back up to the sky again.'

So she did this and when she finished she said, 'Now before 1 go, 1 want to promise you that 1 will send the dew down for you to drink every night.' And ever since then the dew has fallen every night so that the grass people can drink.

How Kangaroo got his tail

In the Dreamtime there was a little boy named Bargin. Bargin grew up in the bush. He played around and always did as he was told.

One day, when he was about seven or eight, while he was in the bush playing he heard the noise of the bullroarer. When he stood up to listen his mother ran out of the bush and grabbed him and said, "Come on, Bargin. Get away. We cannot stop here."