Australian Aborigine Creation Myth

Identifying With Nature Rooted in The Beginning of Life

© Michael Streich

Nov 15, 2008

As in many ancient Creation stories, the Aboriginal myth details a sequence that begins with the coming of light and ends with the formation of male and female.

All Creation myths share notable characteristics and the Australian Aboriginal account is no exception. Light comes out of darkness. There is a distinct order in which animals and man are brought forth. The myth itself, retold over many generations, alludes to a once formless earth filled with ice, perhaps an environmental condition consistent with the Aborigine migration to Australia around 40,000 BC.

In the Beginning…The world was in utter darkness. No living things existed and there was no sound. The earth was bare. The Great Father Spirit whispered to the sleeping goddess. Yhi awoke and immediately light appeared. Yhi represents the mother goddess image so often associated with fertility and the bringing of life in many ancient Creation traditions.

The mother goddess brought vegetation to life and insects were the first to appear. Insects became an important part of Aboriginal life, both eaten and used as medicine. The witchety grub, for example, was an important insect desert food. Animals were brought to life, their spirits called out of dark caverns. According to the myth, evil spirits attempted to impede the efforts of Yhi.

The world was filled with ice. The light of the mother goddess melted the ice and she created the seasons. Significantly, at her departure, she promised the grieving animals reluctant to see her leave that their spirits, upon death, would live on with the goddess. That the afterlife extends to all living beings is a belief found in many early societies, including the Native American.

The Coming of Man and Woman

The Father of all Spirits was saddened that he had no personal relationship with any of the animals. According to A .W. Reed’s translation (see below reference), the Great Spirit determined to “clothe the power of my thought in flesh,” and formed man, an animal that walked erect. Reed continues that, “man, who was greater than all other animals, was fashioned as a vessel for the mind-power of the Great Spirit.” This relationship to a Creator parallel’s many other creation myths, including the Egyptian myth and the Biblical Genesis account.

The first man, however, became lonely so the Great Spirit created woman. The formation of the female was related to a deep sleep. Man, awakening, saw a tree transformed into a creature like himself but with different physical characteristics. William Smith’s analysis concludes that, “it was the care that man bestowed on the woman that gave an impetus to his mind and reason.” (note below reference)

The Role of Nature

Tending the natural environment has always been a part of Aboriginal culture. There is a deep respect for life that recounts the creation story itself. Woman, after all, came from among the plants. Sir James Frazier, in The Golden Bough, writes that, “Nowhere apparently are the alternations of the seasons more sudden…than in the deserts of Central Australia, where at the end of a long period of drought…and desolation of death appear…[the land] is transformed into a landscape…with teeming multitudes of insects and lizards, of frogs and birds.” Aboriginal peoples engaged in ceremonies and rituals to bring about the renewal of life, perhaps a reenactment of the first creation. Frazier equates magical ceremonies with, “the purpose of awakening the dormant energies of nature at the approach of…spring,” and compares this with European peasant activities.

The Aboriginal Creation myth is an integral part of a daily awareness that life and nature are not to be taken for granted or destroyed without purpose. Part of the Aboriginal “dream time” is reflective of a state of being that has no past or future but exists in a unique bonding with the Great Spirit and the work of Creation.

Sources:

Sir James George Frazier, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (New York: The MacMillian Company, 1966)

Alexander W. Reed, Aboriginal Stories of Australia (Sydney: Reed New Holland, 1965)

William Ramsay Smith, Myths & Legends of the Aborigine (Middlesex, UK: Tiger Books International, 1998)

The copyright of the article Australian Aborigine Creation Myth in Australian History is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish Australian Aborigine Creation Myth in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.