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DINGO DREAMTIME

The Dreamtime or Jurkurdbah describes the Aboriginal Australian belief system for many inland Indigenous Australians. The Jurkurdbah is so much more than merely being dreams as the English term coined by anthropologists would suggest. Knowledge in Indigneous Australian society was passed down from generation to generation through an oral tradition. Stories, although may seem simplistic, held meaning on may different levels for the intended audience, and were told to children and adults as a way of explaining the origins of the natural environment and its spiritual connectivity.

The following dingo stories originate from the Yamatji (Tjupan) nation around the Mount Magnet, Meekatharra, and Sandstone in the Murchison of Western Australia. These stories were told to Lorraine Barnard by her elders about the dingo or Wunghoo. Stories written by Jeff Barnard for Nic Papalia.

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Birth Of The Dingo

Long ago in The Dreamtime there was an enormous black kangaroo. He would chase and kill people whenever he saw them hunting and going about their daily life. Many brave men had tried to kill this kangaroo but only to be slain by this massive, ferocious monster. One day the leader of the clan called a meeting with everyone. The leader had clever powers and was known as the Mabarn man by his and extended families in the area. He said to his people  I have this magic axe and it is made of special stone, and we are sick and tied of living in fear! I am giving this axe to my sons to collect wood from the sacred country of the mulga trees. From this wood I will carve a guardian creature that will fight the monster kangaroo and protect us. Hope was given to the clan and that evening the sons set off on their journey and returned after two nights with the wood. The spirit dingo was made with mulga branch for a backbone, forked sticks for ears, the teeth of a marsupial mole, and the tail of a bilby. After several days and nights of sacred secret rituals and chanting, the clever mabarn man was finally able to bring the great big Dingo guardian to life. The mabarn man and his clan believed that the Dingo had enough power, hatred and venom to destroy the monster kangaroo. The following morning, some clan members and the mabarn man's sons set out to hunt and gather food, with the Dingo following closely behind carefully disguised. Bringing small children was a clever ploy to flush the Monster out, thought the mabarn man as they would venture near the monsters camping ground. Finally the hunting party came across the monster kangaroo fast asleep in the afternoon shade near a large breakaway hill. The sons shouted and woke the monster kangaroo from its slumber. At the same time the dingo pounced and grabbed the monster kangaroo by its throat and killed him instantly. The hunting party and the Guardian returned home and the sons told their father what had happened. Now the people were able hunt and gather food near the billabong without fear of the monster kangaroo killing them. To this day the elders had two or three dingos as pets to protect them from harm and dingos do not bark, they howl.

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Dingo Hunting

In The Dreamtime there was a giant dingo that lived on the eastern side of Australia. One day as he was about to go into a deep sleep in the afternoon he heard a faint deep drumming sound in the distance coming from westward direction. He suddenly stood up as the sound became louder, trying to see where it was coming from. He began to follow the sound as it led him to a rise. He could not see anything yet but continued to follow the deep rumbling beats until he came to a gigantic hill (Uluru) in the middle of Australia. From here he was able to see what was making this sound and the dingo tingled with excitement. The dingo saw the giant emu nesting on its eggs, and the emu had also seen the giant dingo and was very worried about its eggs. As a way of protecting the eggs the giant emu suddenly took off running northward, and the giant dingo hungrily gave chase. They ran and ran for miles over plain after plain, and spinifex country. As they ran they left great big marks in the landscape which later became hills, gullies and canyons in central and north Western Australia. The began to have a big appetite from chasing the emu who was beginning to get very tied. The emu soon slowed until he could finally run no more and the dingo grabbed it by the throat and killed it. He started to eat the emu from behind and ripped out all of its fat and vomited about the ground scattering it as he journeyed southward. The dingo then had a drink at a huge lagoon before heading to Albany. As he arrived in Albany the dingo met a huge whale in the harbour before resting near the shore. Here the dingo still looks out to sea and often is visited by the whales every so often. Today the dingos resting place is known as dog rock. The emu can still be seen lying on its stomach if you visit Meekatharra at place known as Gabinintha or Yagoongoo. Sometimes when the wildflowers bloom in red and yellow you can see the emus fat and blood below Yagoongoo hill. But most of the emus fat turned into gold and was named kulkulli. Kulkulli has been mined of its gold now, but that is the place where the giant dingo travelled leaving behind the emus fat.

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