List of Australian Aboriginal mythological figures

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

New South Wales

• Baiame (Baayami), creator spirit of some peoples of New South Wales, including the Gamilaraay and the Wiradjuri
• Bahloo (Baaluu), Gamilaraay personification of the moon who keeps three pet snakes
• Birrahgnooloo (Birrangulu), Gamilaraay fertility spirit who would send floods if properly asked to; one of Baiame's two wives
• Ganhanbili, second wife of Baiame
• Daramulum (Dharramalan), sky hero and son of Baiame and Birrahngnooloo
• Wurrunna, culture hero
• Yhi (Yaraay/Yaay), Gamilaraay personification of the sun and creator spirit
• Dirawong, Bundjalung creator being

Northern Territory

• Adnoartina, the lizard guard of Uluru
• Altjira, Arrernte sky god who created the earth
• Ankotarinja, the first man of Arrernte mythology
• Onur, Karraur lunar deity
• Bamapana, Yolngu trickster spirit who creates discord
• Banaitja, creator deity
• Barnumbirr, Yolngu 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, a group of sisters associated with floods and ocean currents
• Julunggul, Yolngu rainbow snake goddess associated with initiation, fertility, rebirth and water
• Karora, creator god
• Kunapipi, a 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 Nambutji
• Namarrkon (also known as Namarrgon^[2]), Lightning man, makes lightning appear and creates roars of thunder in storms
• Mokoi, an evil Yolngu spirit who kidnapped and ate children
• Ngintaka, Pitjantjatjara creator being
• Nogomain, a god who gives spirit children to mortal parents
• Manuriki, god of beauty
• Papinijuwari, a type of one-eyed giant which feeds on the bodies of the dead and the blood of the sick
• Tjinimin, the ancestor of the Australian people. He is associated with the bat and with Kunmanggur the rainbow serpent - per the Murinbata
• 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, a solar goddess whose torch is the sun
• Wurugag and Waramurungundi, first man and woman of Kunwinjku legend
• Yawkyawk, Aboriginal mermaids who live in waterholes, freshwater springs, and rock pools.
• 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

• Akurra, great snake deity of the Adnyamathanha people
• Bila, cannibal sun goddess of the Adnyamathanha people
• Bunyip, mythical creature said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes
• Mar'rallang, mythical twin sisters
• Muldjewangk, water spirit or spirits inhabiting the Murray River
• Ngintaka, Pitjantjatjara creator being
• Tjilbruke, Kaurna creation ancestor

Tasmania

• Moinee, Creator spirit/God for Tasmania
• Droemerdene, Moinee's twin brother
• Rageowrapper, malevolent spirit

Victoria

• 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
• Lo-an-tuka, wife of Loo-errn
• Loo-errn, spirit ancestor and guardian of the Brataualung people
• Nargun, fierce half-human, half-stone creature of Gunai legend
• 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
• Waang, Kulin trickster, culture hero and ancestral being, represented as a crow
• 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
• 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

References

• Bishop, W (1970), Australian Indigenous Australian mythology, retrieved 12 May 2013
• Hiatt, L. R., ed. (1975), Australian Aboriginal Mythology: Essays in Honour of W.E.H. Stanner, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, ISBN 978-0-85575-044-2

This page was last edited on 1 March 2024, at 01:14