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

New South Wales

Baiame In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Baiame (or Biame, Baayami, Baayama or Byamee) was the creator god and sky father in the Dreaming of several Aboriginal Australian peoples of south-eastern Australia, such as the Wonnarua, Kamilaroi, Guring ...

, 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 The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...

moon god who keeps three pet snakes * Birrahgnooloo,

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 In Australian Aboriginal mythology of the Bundjalung, an area known as "the land of the three rivers, "the Dirawong, an unseen spiritual creature also known as the goanna spirit, is one of the Creator Beings of the Bundjalung, that 1) Protects ...

, 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 In Gamilaraay mythology), Yhi (sometimes also rendered Yarai/Yaay) is a female creator spirit and personification of the sun. She chases Bahloo (the moon) across the sky; supernovas are said to happen when she catches up to him. According to a c ...

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 Barnumbirr, also known as Banumbirr or Morning Star, is a creator-spirit in the Yolngu culture of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, who is identified as the planet Venus. In Yolngu Dreaming mythology, she is believed to have ...

, Yolngu creator spirit * Barraiya, 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 Wamba ...

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 relig ...

, 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 mythol ...

, 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 ...

, 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 In Arrernte religion and mythology, Mangar-kunjer-kunja is a lizard Ancestral Being who created humans. He found the first aboriginal beings, Rella manerinja, on one side of a hill; they were fused together and he separated them with a knife and ...

, 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 * Ulanji, snake-ancestor of the Binbinga * Wala, 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, snake-deity associated with rain and fertility * Wuluwaid, 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 The Yawkyawk is a female creature originating in the mythology of the Kunwinjku people of Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. It is also known as ngal-kunburriyaymi. It is a creature similar to the typical mermaid in appearance, ...

, 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 * I'wai, 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 The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia, formed as an aggregate of several distinct peoples. Strictly speaking the ethnonym Adnyamathanha was an alternativ ...

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

people *

Bunyip The bunyip is a creature from the aboriginal mythology of southeastern Australia, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. Name The origin of the word ''bunyip'' has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia ...

, 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 The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest r ...

* Ngintaka,

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

, 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 In Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Binbeal is the god of rainbows. He is a son of Bunjil Bunjil, also spelt Bundjil, is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being, often depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle in Australian A ...

, 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 *

, mythical creature said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes *

, 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 A Nargun, according to Gunai people, Gunai/Kurnai tribal legends, a fierce half-human half-stone creature that lived in the Den of Nargun, a cave under a rock overhang behind a small waterfall located in the Mitchell River National Park (Victoria) ...

, 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 In Karajarri Australian Aboriginal mythology, mythology, the Bagadjimbiri are two brothers and creator gods. They arose from the ground as dingos and made water-holes, sex organs (from a mushroom and another fungus) for the androgynous first peo ...

, a pair of Karadjeri creator-spirits *

Dilga In Australian aboriginal mythology (specifically: Karadjeri), Dilga is a goddess of fertility and growth, and the mother of the Bagadjimbiri. She avenged their deaths at the hands of Ngariman by drowning him in her milk. References

, 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

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 In Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Karadjeri), Ngariman is a quoll-man who killed the Bagadjimbiri, two dingo gods and sons of Dilga, an earth goddess. In revenge, she drowned Ngariman with her milk by flooding the cavern where he killed her ...

, 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, 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 The Wandjina, also written Wanjina and Wondjina and also known as Gulingi, are cloud and rain spirits from Australian Aboriginal mythology that are depicted prominently in rock art in Australia. Some of the artwork in the Kimberley (Western Aust ...

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 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 ...

, 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, evil half-man, half-quoll beast * Thardid Jimbo,

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...

istic giant *

Yara-ma-yha-who The Yara-ma-yha-who is a legendary creature found in Australian Aboriginal mythology. The legend is recounted by David Unaipon. According to legend, the creature resembles a little red frog-like man with a very big head, a large mouth with no tee ...

, 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 *

, 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 Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

Deities, Australian Aboriginal Mythological figures