Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

May O'Brien, Susan Wyatt

The Legend of the Seven Sisters: A Traditional Aboriginal Story from Western Australia

In her story of the Seven Sisters legend, May O’Brien dedicates this traditional Aboriginal story to the descendants of the Wongutha people who came to live at Mount Margaret Mission in Western Australia. Beginning with “Long, Long ago when only Aboriginal people lived in Australia” there were “small men…Yayarrs” who walked all over the country. These small men would leave Earth and travel up and down the Milky Way, coming back to Earth and landing on a speci(...)

nonclassical

YEAR: 1990

COUNTRY: Australia

TAGS: Creation Myths Indigenous Myths Pleiades

Reggie Sultan

The Seven Sisters

This story reveals how the stars of the Seven Sisters visited the earth and asked the Milky Way to bring them down in a creek in the desert, where they were turned into people. Seven hunters showed them the emus, goannas (monitor lizards) and the blackbirds. It was the first time the sisters had seen human men. The hunters showed the sisters where to collect plant food in their coolamons (carved wooden dishes for carrying food and small babies). At night time six of the sisters jumped onto the M(...)

nonclassical

YEAR: 2012

COUNTRY: Australia

TAGS: Creation Myths Indigenous Myths Pleiades