Look, up in the night sky – it’s an emu
PEOPLE in Australia have been looking skywards to see an emu for the best part of 50,000 years, but not so much in the past two centuries, with Indigenous cultural knowledge crumbling since European colonisation.
Now, the Wiradjuri Astronomy Project is breathing new life into the Aboriginal legends of the night sky.
Standing on a hill near the remains of Nanima’s church on a chilly Saturday night, a group of locals were treated to lessons in mythology, astronomy and astrology by Big Skies Collaborator Trevor Leaman, a cultural astronomer and PHD candidate, who’s working with Wiradjuri communities in inland NSW to understand their traditional skylore and the scientific knowledge it encodes.
Hosted by Mid-macquarie Landcare, he’s studying at the University of NSW (UNSW) in Sydney, under the supervision of cultural astronomer Dr Duane Hamacher (Monash University) and ethnographer Professor Stephen Muecke (UNSW).
Trevor is especially interested in the seasonal, calendrical, meteorological, navigational and spiritual significance of the night sky for Wiradjuri people.
His documentary research includes an analysis of the historic record for information about Wiradjuri astronomy and the ways people have traditionally incorporated this knowledge into seasonal hunting and food gathering practices, and their ceremonies and rituals.
He has found, for example, that Wiradjuri people and their neighbours used astronomy to time important gatherings, some of which were only held every 20 years or so and were most likely timed to coincide with the conjunction of three planets.
Traditional sky watchers would have needed a deep astronomical knowledge to predict such events in advance.
“The Wiradjuri Astronomy Project has been going on for about four years now and I have a lot of cultural advisers from Wiradjuri communities such as Dubbo, Peak Hill and Wagga,” Mr Leaman told
“Astronomy was an integral part of culture, it was what informed them of their food resources, using a food resource calendar by certain constellations related to certain animals in the sky.”
It also informed them when ceremonies such as a corroboree were performed. Initiations were linked to the position of the emu in the sky, and so they were integral to everything else that went on through their cultural year, according to Mr Leaman.
Much of the knowledge base comes from archival material which researchers have been ploughing through, including observations and insights from early settlers and scientists in the colony.
Mr Leaman said there’s a continual growing awareness of the importance of this missing cultural knowledge, and a hunger from communities to learn more.
“It does need to be reintroduced into the minds of the younger generations because a lot of the knowledge is being lost through elders not able to pass on that information before they pass on themselves,” Mr Leaman said.
“It’s very important to have that passed on before it’s lost forever.”
He believes these legends of the night sky should be an integral part of creating an Indigenous cultural experience in this region, with the stars able to captivate interest both from local communities as well as attract visitors who have a hunger for adventure and knowledge-based tourism.
“The reason why my project was initiated was for exactly that reason. There was a fear that this knowledge was being lost and it needed to be re-learnt to establish the importance of the astronomical connection to culture,” he said.
Madeline Austin is a Wellington local and home on holidays from studying media, communications and journalism at UNSW.
To say she was surprised to see researchers from her own university delivering the Wiradjuri Astronomy Project presentation in her hometown would be putting it mildly.
“I loved it, it was so interesting, I’m actually minoring in Indigenous Studies at uni and we briefly touched on this. I love it, it’s so interesting learning the different interpretations and ways of looking at the sky versus the western way of thinking,” Ms Austin said.
“It’s great – Wellington definitely needs more things like this.
“The potential for tourism and to create cultural jobs in the community (is huge). There’s so much potential out here.
“It’s so beautiful, if only more people knew,” she said.
•••
John Ryan is employed parttime by Mid Macquarie Landcare as a Local Landcare Co-ordinator