List Of Australian Aboriginal Mythological Figures
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The following is a list of Australian Indigenous Australian deities and spirits.


New South Wales

* Baiame, creator god of the peoples of New South Wales *
Baloo Baloo (from hi, भालू ur, بھالو ''bhālū'' "bear") is a main fictional character featured in Rudyard Kipling's ''The Jungle Book'' from 1894 and ''The Second Jungle Book'' from 1895. Baloo, a sloth bear, is the strict teacher of ...
, Kamilaroi moon god who keeps three pet snakes *
Birrahgnooloo In Australian Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Kamilaroi), Birrangulu or Birrahgnooloo is a goddess of fertility who would send floods if properly asked. She is one of two wives of Baiame, with whom she is the mother of Daramulum In Abo ...
, Kamilaroi goddess of fertility who would send floods if properly asked to *
Daramulum In Aboriginal cultures of south-east Australia, Daramulum (variations: Darhumulan, Daramulan, Dhurramoolun or Dharramaalan) (“one legged”, from dharra 'leg, thigh' + maal 'one' + -an suffix) is a sky hero associated with Baiame, and an emu-w ...
, sky hero and son of Baiame and Birrahngnooloo * Dirawong, Bundjalung creator being *
Ganhanbili In Australian Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Kamilaroi), Ganhanbili or Kunnanbeili is one of the two wives of Bayaami, the other being Birrangulu In Australian Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Kamilaroi), Birrangulu or Birrahgnooloo ...
, second wife of Baiame * Wurrunna, culture hero * Yhi, Kamilaroi solar goddess associated with light and creation


Northern Territory

* Adnoartina, the lizard guard of
Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially Gazette#Gazette as a verb, gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone geological formation, formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the ...
*
Altjira The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his col ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Australi ...
sky god who created the earth * Ankotarinja, first man of Arrernte mythology * Onur, Karraur lunar deity *
Bamapana In Yolngu mythology, Bamapana is a trickster god who causes discord. He is obscene and profane and once committed incest, thus breaking a strict taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually ...
, Yolngu trickster spirit who creates discord * Banaitja, creator deity * Barnumbirr, Yolngu creator spirit *
Barraiya Barraiya is a god in Australian Aboriginal mythology who created the first vagina with a spear so that Eingana Eingana is a creator goddess in Australian Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Jawoyn). Otherwise known as the "Dreamtime Snake", she i ...
, creator of the first vagina *
Bobbi-Bobbi In myths of the Binbinga people of northern Australia, Bobbi-Bobbi was a supernatural being who lived in the heavens in the Dreamtime. He was a huge snake, similar to the Rainbow Serpent, and was originally benevolent towards humans. From the heave ...
, benevolent
Binbinga The Binbinga, also pronounced Binbinka, are an Indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory of Australia. Language Binbinga is a dialect classified as a variety of the Ngurlun branch of the Mirndi languages, closely related to Wambaya ...
snake deity *
Djanggawul The Djang'kawu, also spelt Djanggawul or Djan'kawu, are creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in Aboriginal Australian mytholo ...
, three creator-siblings of northeast
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 ...
mythology *
Galeru The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion ...
, rainbow snake in Arnhem Land mythology who swallowed the Djanggawul *
Djunkgao The Djang'kawu, also spelt Djanggawul or Djan'kawu, are creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in Aboriginal Australian mytholog ...
, group of sisters associated with floods and ocean currents *
Julunggul The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion ...
, Yolngu rainbow snake goddess associated with initiation, fertility, rebirth and water *
Karora In Arrernte mythology, Karora is a bandicoot ancestral deity. According to one legend, during the Dreamtime Karora lay sleeping in the earth when from his head rose a tall pole called a ''tnatantja''. It was a living creature, its bottom resting o ...
, creator god *
Kunapipi Kunapipi, also spelt Gunabibi, ('womb') is a mother goddess and the patron deity of many heroes in Australian Aboriginal mythology. Story Kunapipi gave birth to human beings as well as to most animals and plants. Now a vague, otiose, spiritu ...
, 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), Lightning man, makes lightning appear and creates roars of thunder in storms * Mokoi, evil Yolngu spirit who kidnapped and ate children * Ngintaka,
Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...
creator being *
Nogomain In Murrinh-Patha Australian aboriginal mythology, mythology, Nogamain is a god who gives spirit children to mortal parents. He created himself from nothingness. References

Australian Aboriginal gods Creator gods Fertility gods Childhood go ...
, a god who gives spirit children to mortal parents * Manuriki, god of beauty *
Papinijuwari In Tiwi people, Tiwi Aboriginal Australian religion and mythology, mythology, Papinijuwaris are one-eyed giants who live in a large hut where the sky ends. meteoroid, Shooting stars are said to be Papinijuwaris stalking across the heavens with a bu ...
, a type of one-eyed giant which feeds on the bodies of the dead and the blood of the sick *
Tjinimin In Murrinh-Patha Australian Aboriginal mythology, mythology, Tjinimin is the ancestor of the Australian Aborigine, Australian peoples. He is associated with the bat and with Kunmanggur the rainbow serpent. One story of Tjinimin tells of an argu ...
, the ancestor of the Australian peoples. He is associated with the bat and with Kunmanggur the rainbow serpent - per the
Murinbata The Murrinh-Patha, or Murinbata, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Murrinh-Patha is spoken by about 2500 people, and serves as a lingua franca for several other ethnic groups, such as the Mati Ke or Marid ...
* Ulanji, snake-ancestor of the Binbinga *
Wala __NOTOC__ Wala may refer to: Places *Wala (island), a small island in Vanuatu, and a popular destination for cruise ships * Wala, Panama, a community in Kuna de Wargandí, Panama *Kingdom of Wala a pre-colonial polity in the north of modern Ghana ...
, solar goddess *
Wawalag The Wawalag sisters, also written as Wauwaluk Wawilak Waggilak, Wagilag, or Wawalik, are ancestral creator beings whose story is part of "the most widespread" sacred rituals in the Aboriginal Australian culture, Aboriginal culture from Arnhem L ...
, Yolngu sisters who were swallowed by a serpent, only to be regurgitated *
Wollunqua Wollunqua, also written Wollunka or Wollunkua, is a snake-god of rain and fertility in Australian Aboriginal mythology of the Warramunga people of the Northern Territory of Australia, a variation of the "Rainbow Serpent" present in the mythology ...
, snake-deity associated with rain and fertility *
Wuluwaid In Australian Aboriginal mythology , Wuluwaid (see also Wuluwait) is a rain god. He is a god from northern Arnhem Land (northern Australia) and is known to work with Bunbulama as a rainmaker. He is also recorded by Charles Mountford and Ainslie ...
, rain god of Arnhem Land *
Wuriupranili In the mythology of the Tiwi people of northern Australia, the Sun Woman Wuriupranili (or Wuriunpranilli) is a solar goddess whose stringybark torch is the Sun. When she wakes each morning in the east she lights a small fire, which mankind sees ...
, a solar goddess whose torch is the sun *
Wurugag and Waramurungundi In aboriginal mythology (specifically: Kunwinjku), Wurugag and Waramurungundi are the first man and woman, respectively. Waramurungundi is said to have given birth to all living things and taught language Language is a structured system o ...
, first man and woman of
Kunwinjku The Kunwinjku (formerly written Gunwinggu) people are an Australian Aboriginal people, one of several groups within the Bininj people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of Darwin, Northern Territory. Kunwinjku people generally refer t ...
legend * Yawkyawk, Aboriginal mermaids who live in waterholes, freshwater springs, and rock pools. *
Yurlungur The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religi ...
, Yolngu snake deity who swallowed and regurgitated the Wawalag sisters; associated with initiation and rebirth


Queensland

*
Anjea In Australian Aboriginal mythology , Anjea is a fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female du ...
, fertility goddess or spirit, in whom people's souls reside between their incarnations * Gaiya, giant devil dingo of lower Cape York Peninsula *
Dhakhan In Gubbi Gubbi mythology, Dhakhan is an ancestral spirit. He is described as a giant serpent with the tail of a giant fish. He often appears as a rainbow, as this is his way of travelling between the watering holes which are his homes. He is also ...
, ancestral god of the
Kabi Kabi or KABI may refer to: Places * Kabi Longstok, town in North Sikkim district, Sikkim, India * Kabi, Sikkim, village in North Sikkim district, Sikkim, India * Kabi River (''Kafu River''), river in Uganda People * Boris Kabi (born 1984), Ivorian ...
*
I'wai In Australian Aboriginal mythology, I'wai is the culture hero of the Koko Y'ao. I'wai was a crocodilian Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first app ...
, culture hero of the Kuuku-Ya'u *
Yalungur In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Yalungur is a great bird, an eagle or hawk. He was castrated either by Gidja or by Gidja's brother Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
, god of the first baby


South Australia

* Akurra, great snake deity of the Adnyamathanha people * Bila, cannibal
sun goddess A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...
of the Adnyamathanha people * Bunyip, mythical creature said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes * Mar'rallang, mythical twin sisters *
Muldjewangk The Muldjewangk is a water-creature in Ngarrindjeri mythology that inhabited the Murray River, particularly Lake Alexandrina. It was used as a deterrent for Aboriginal children who wished to play near the riverside after dark. Sometimes they ar ...
, water spirit or spirits inhabiting the Murray River * Ngintaka,
Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...
creator being *
Tjilbruke Tjilbruke (also Tjirbruki, Tjilbruki, Tjirbruke, Tjirbuk or Tjirbuki,) is an important creation ancestor for the Kaurna of the Adelaide plains in the Australian state of South Australia. Tjilbruke was a Kaurna man, who appeared in Kaurna Dream ...
,
Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...
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 In the mythology of the Aboriginal people of south-eastern Australia (specifically, the Kulin nation), Balayang or Pallian the bat was a brother of Bunjil the eaglehawk, but lived apart from him. Once, Bunjil asked him to come and live with him, b ...
,
bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...
deity and brother of Bunjil * Binbeal, Kulin rainbow deity and son of Bunjil *
Bunjil Bunjil, also spelt Bundjil, is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being, often depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle in Australian Aboriginal mythology of some of the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria. Creation stories In the Kulin nation ...
, Kulin creator deity and ancestral being, represented as an eagle * Bunyip, mythical creature said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes *
Daramulum In Aboriginal cultures of south-east Australia, Daramulum (variations: Darhumulan, Daramulan, Dhurramoolun or Dharramaalan) (“one legged”, from dharra 'leg, thigh' + maal 'one' + -an suffix) is a sky hero associated with Baiame, and an emu-w ...
, southeast Australian deity and son of Baiame *
Gnowee In Wotjobaluk mythology, Gnowee is a solar goddess whose torch is the Sun. She was once a woman who lived upon the Earth at a time when it was eternally dark, and people could only move about with the aid of bark torches. One day, she left her li ...
, solar goddess who searches daily for her lost son; her torch is the sun *
Karatgurk In the Australian Aboriginal mythology of the Aboriginal people of south-eastern Australian state of Victoria, the Karatgurk were seven sisters who represented the constellation known in western astronomy as the Pleiades. According to a legend to ...
, seven sisters who represent the
Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of ...
star cluster Star clusters are large groups of stars. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters are more loosely clust ...
* Kondole, man who became the first whale * Lo-an-tuka, wife of Loo-errn * Loo-errn, spirit ancestor and guardian of the
Brataualung people The Brataualung are an Indigenous Australian people, one of the five tribes of Gippsland, in the state of Victoria, Australia, and part of a wider regional grouping known as the Kurnai. Language Brataualung language is a variety of what is gener ...
* Nargun, fierce half-human, half-stone creature of Gunai legend * Thinan-malkia, evil spirit who captures victims with nets that entangle their feet *
Tiddalik The tale of Tiddalik the Frog is a creation story from The Dreaming, Australian Indigenous Dreaming Stories. The legend of Tiddalik is not only an important story of the Dreamtime, but has been the subject of popular modern children's books. In som ...
, frog of southeast Australian legend who drank all the water in the land, and had to be made to laugh to regurgitate it *
Waang ''Santalum spicatum'', the Australian sandalwood, also Waang and other names (Noongar) and Dutjahn ( Martu), is a tree native to semi-arid areas at the edge of Southwest Australia, in the state of Western Australia. It is also found in South ...
,
Kulin Kulin may refer to: Places *Kulin, Western Australia, a small town in Australia ** Shire of Kulin, a local government area *Kulin, Iran, a village near Tehran *Kulin, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, a village in south-west Poland *Kulin, Kuyavian-Pome ...
trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...
,
culture hero A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group ( cultural, ethnic, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or discovery. Although many culture heroes help with the creation of the world, most culture heroes are imp ...
and ancestral being, represented as a crow * Wambeen, evil lightning-hurling figure who targets travellers


Western Australia

* Bagadjimbiri, a pair of
Karadjeri Garadjari (Karajarri, many other spellings; see below) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Karajarri people. The language is a member of the Marrngu subgroup of the Pama-Nyungan family. It is spoken along the coast of northweste ...
creator-spirits * Dilga, Karadjeri goddess of fertility and growth, and mother of the Bagadjimbiri *
Julana In Luritja mythology, Julana is a lecherous spirit who surprises women by burrowing beneath the sand, leaping out, and raping them. He was alive, and wandered the Earth with his father, Njirana, during the Dreamtime The Dreaming, also refe ...
, lecherous Jumu spirit who surprises women by burrowing beneath the sand, leaping out, and raping them *
Kidili In Australian aboriginal mythology (specifically: Mandjindja), Kidili (or Kidilli) was an ancient moon-man who attempted to rape some of the first women on Earth. The Wati-kutjara wounded him in battle, castrating him with a boomerang, and he di ...
,
Mandjindja The Mandjindja or Mantjintjarra are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Australia belonging to the Western Desert cultural bloc. Country According to Norman Tindale's estimate, the Mandjindja's territory extended over roughly , in the sa ...
moon deity who was castrated for attempting to rape the first women, who in turn became the
Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of ...
*
Kurdaitcha A kurdaitcha, or kurdaitcha man, also spelt gadaidja, cadiche, kadaitcha, karadji, or kaditcha, is a type of shaman amongst the Arrernte people, an Aboriginal group in Central Australia. The name featherfoot is used to denote the same figure by ...
(or kurdaitcha man) is a ritual "executioner" in Australian Indigenous Australian culture (specifically the term comes from the Arrernte people). * Ngariman, Karadjeri quoll-man who killed the Bagadjimbiri and was drowned in revenge *
Njirana In Luritja Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, religion and mythology, Njirana is a god, father of Julana, who was alive during the Dreamtime (mythology), Dreamtime. References

Australian Aboriginal gods {{deity-stub ...
, Jumu deity and father of Julana *
Ungud In the mythology of the Wunambal people of northwestern Australia, Ungud is a snake god who is sometimes male and sometimes female. He is associated with rainbows and the fertility and erections of the tribe's shamans. In the beginning, when only ...
, snake deity associated with rainbows and the fertility and erections of the tribe's shamans *
Wagyl The Wagyl (also written Waugal and Waagal and variants) is the Noongar manifestation of the Rainbow Serpent in Australian Aboriginal mythology, from the culture based around the south-west of Western Australia. The Noongar describe the Wagyl as ...
,
Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...
snakelike creator being *
Wati-kutjara In Australian Aboriginal mythology, the Wati kutjara (also Wati kutjarra or Wadi Gudjara) are two young lizard-men (totem: goanna) who, in the Dreaming, travelled all over the Western Desert. In English, their songline is often called the ''Two Me ...
, a pair of western Australian lizard-men * Wondjina,
Mowanjum Mowanjum is a medium-sized Aboriginal community, located south east of Derby in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, within the Shire of Derby-West Kimberley. At the 2016 Australian census, Mowanjum had a population of 311. The settlem ...
cloud or rain spirits


Pan-continental

* Rainbow Serpent, a common feature of the art and mythology of Indigenous Australian cultures * Erathipa, central Australia, a boulder that has the shape of a pregnant woman


Unknown

*
Kinie Ger In the traditional stories of Southeastern Australia, Kinie Ger is an evil half-man, half- quoll beast that hunts and kills the innocent with his spear, until he is himself killed in an ambush. The myth The Kinie Ger was a monster from Australia ...
, evil half-man, half-quoll beast *
Thardid Jimbo Thardid Jimbo is a character in the Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology of the Ngarrindjeri The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coo ...
, cannibalistic giant * Yara-ma-yha-who, monstrous bloodsucking dwarf *
Bluetongue Lizard Bluetongue Lizard is an old man in Australian Aboriginal mythology. He is a trickster and a powerful sorcerer, as well. The myth involving him is the wellspring of the Warlpiri fire ceremonies. He is often regarded as a deity, but this notion ...
, an elderly trickster *
Nogomain In Murrinh-Patha Australian aboriginal mythology, mythology, Nogamain is a god who gives spirit children to mortal parents. He created himself from nothingness. References

Australian Aboriginal gods Creator gods Fertility gods Childhood go ...
, a god who gives spirit children to mortal parents. * Mar'rallang, the name shared by twin sisters *
Djunkgao The Djang'kawu, also spelt Djanggawul or Djan'kawu, are creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in Aboriginal Australian mytholog ...
, a group of sisters who are associated with floods and ocean currents * Yee-Na-Pah, a devil girl


Notes


References

* * {{List of mythological figures by region Australian Deities, Australian
Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
Mythological figures