Garkain is a

legendary creature A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses ...

Australian Aboriginal mythology Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology is the sacred spirituality represented in the stories performed by Aboriginal Australians within each of the Aboriginal Australian languages, language groups across Australia in their Aboriginal ce ...

said to haunt the dense jungle along the Liverpool River in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Should an unwary traveler enter his domain, Garkain swoops down from the trees on his leathery wings and envelops them. It is a story parents tell to their

n children to tell them to not use physical violence as a way to solve problems. After suffocating his victim with his foul stench, Garkain eats their flesh, leaving the intruder’s spirit to forever wander the vast jungle in search of their final resting place.

In popular culture

* The 1971 book ''The First Sunrise: Australian Aboriginal Myths in Paintings'' by artist Ainslie Roberts and anthropologist

Charles P. Mountford Charles Pearcy Mountford OBE (8 May 189016 November 1976) was an Australian anthropologist and photographer. He is known for his pioneering work on Indigenous Australians and his depictions and descriptions of their art. He also led the American ...

contains the Aboriginal legend ''Garkain the Recluse''. In 1957 Mountford donated a

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

bark painting of Garkain (1948 or 1949) from the

Gunbalanya Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli) is an Aboriginal Australian town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunwi ...

Aboriginal community in western

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

to the Art Gallery of South Australia in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. * The 1990 novel ''Blood Wings'' by Stephen Gresham features Garkain haunting a small community on the edge of the

Florida Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimm ...

. * Garkain features in the ''Penumbra''

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

from ''

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''. * ''The Witcher'' video game series from ''

CD Projekt Red CD Projekt S.A. () is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, whi ...

'' features garkains as a type of

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

. Garkain appears in several short stories including: * ''Garkain'' (2009) by Samantha Henderson * ''Garkain'' (2016) by Karl Brandt

References

{{reflist Australian Aboriginal legendary creatures Australian Aboriginal words and phrases

In popular culture

See also

References