Traditional Story

A Traditional Story from near Lake Eyre South

The Bubbler, with Hamilton Hill in background
The Bubbler, with Hamilton Hill in background

The wide flood-out of the Margaret River near the old railway siding of Curdimurka is the starting point for a story which involves a number of springs near Lake Eyre South, including the principal springs within the Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park.

A Kuyani ancestor Kakakutanha is hunting the ancestral Rainbow Serpent Kanmari and the serpent escapes by disappearing into a spring on the north side of the Margaret. In pursuit of the serpent the ancestor arrives at the Little Bubbler spring Thari-tharinha, believing that the bubbles he can see are from the serpent, which is travelling underground. The serpent is not there, but at the nearby Bubbler Pirdalinha the ancestor comes upon it and kills it with a boomerang, the writhing convulsions of the water being the serpent in its death throes.

At Blanche Cup Thirka the ancestor cooks the serpent, the word thirka meaning an oven. The ancestor then throws away the head of the serpent and it becomes Wabma- kardayapu, the snake’s head of Hamilton Hill, the large extinct mound spring near Blanche Cup. At Mt Hamilton Spring Tjarrtha-njudlu south east of Blanche Cup the ancestor eats the serpent, leaving only a rib-bone without any meat for his wife. She subsequently places a curse on him and after journeying back towards Curdimurka via several other springs he eventually arrives at the tea tree-surrounded Kudna-ngampa springs.

Near death, his testicles having swollen to an enormous size, he calls all his people to him and then bursts, killing almost all of them and turning them into reeds. Hurled a long way off by the force of the explosion, his testicles become two little islands in Lake Eyre South called Kadlupinpipipalpila.

Adapted from Luise Hercus and Peter Sutton, 1985 ‘The Assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance of Mound Springs in South Australia’ in Heritage of the Mound Springs, Department of Environment & Planning South Australia, 1986.

A Traditional Story of Mangkapiljinha, Edith Springs

Arabana people talk with awe of two springs near Mt Margaret, one bright green, the other red like blood. The red spring is associated with a deadly curse that belongs to the Fish and Crane history and nothing will grow around it.

Nearby are said to be rocks that look like girls, a locality known as Thita-puntakanha, ‘Bushes Broken’. The crane had become so distracted by his obscenities with his daughters in law that he let go of the bushes with which they were sweeping the water for the two giant Yellow-bellies and the fish escaped. As a result of this a curse is uttered which belongs to the Mangkapilji spring: it makes people swell up and die.

Some say that the curse can be turned back by means of the right incantations, but no Arabana person will go anywhere near the Mangkapilji spring. They say the water is undrinkable in any case.

[From Heritage of the Mound Springs: the Assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance. Dr Luise Hercus & Dr Peter Sutton in association with Kinhill Stearns, South Australian Department of Environment & Planning, 1986. See also FOMS Newsletter No. 4 August 2007 for additional information on the Fish and Crane history]

Panki Warrunha ‘White Ribs’ at Strangways Springs

Panki Warrunha ‘White Ribs’ at Strangways Springs
Panki Warrunha ‘White Ribs’
Solanum quadriloculatum (bush tomato)
Solanum quadriloculatum (bush tomato)

“There are many springs around Strangways, most of them close to the old Telegraph Station but some on the other (northeast) side of the old main Marree–Oodnadatta road, easily visible as the road approaches the Warriner Creek or Warditji Karla. Some of the mound springs are extinct and a few still active, but they all form part of the one mythological site Panki Warrunha White Ribs.’

The myth to which this site refers is that of the two ancestral Snakes, Kukari the green snake and Yurkunangku the Red-Bellied Black Snake. They have traveled from far away …and they have had many adventures…. They are now travelling south from Toogamoona Creek Thungka-marna, having their mouths full of solanum berries. They camp overnight at Strangways and waking in the morning they say “ mathapurda ngunanayi arimpa pangki warru-thirnda-ki, warritharu yukarndinaru”

“Eh, old fellow, my friend, our ribs have turned white! It’s because we have traveled such a long way!”

The many mound springs around Strangways, both active and extinct, do in fact have bands of white silcrete that look like the ribs of snakes.

Quoted from SA Dept of Environment & Planning (1986) Heritage of the Mound Springs: The assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance of Mound Springs in South Australia prepared by Dr Luise Hercus & Dr Peter Sutton.

A traditional tale of Yardiya (Freeling Springs)

Freeling Spring
Freeling Spring
Spindle
Spindle

The two springs closest to the Peake are called Yardiya Parnda and Yardiya Kupa, meaning big and little spindle. The two ancestral snakes Yurkunangku the red bellied black snake and Kurkari the green snake camped at Yardiya “and spent a lot of time just sitting there and making hair string with a spindle. To stop the wind blowing away the bits of hair they were using, they built a wind-break of rocks which are still there. Finally when they had finished they walked on up into the range on their way south.”

This story was taken from SA Dept of Environment & Planning (1986) Heritage of the Mound Springs: The assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance of Mound Springs in South Australia prepared by Dr Luise Hercus & Dr Peter Sutton.

A Traditional Story of Tarlton Spring Yatjaparanha

Great egret (Egretta alba)
Great egret (Egretta alba)
Arabunna Fish
Arabunna Fish

Yatjaparanha is where the Arabunna Fish History starts. Two huge ancestral Yellow- bellies appeared here and the Crane and other birds decided to drive them into the shallows by sweeping the water with bushes. They swept them along to Loudon Springs or Katirinha. At Brinkley Springs or Thurru-hurrunha one big isolated box tree next to the spring represents the wicked ancestral Crane Wurru. He was supposed to be in charge of the sweeping operation but was too busy making lewd gestures to his two daughters-in-law. On the upper Umbum Creek the Crane became so distracted that he let go of the bushes, and at Edith Springs or Mangkapil-jinha the fish escaped. A deadly curse was uttered which is associated with a red spring where nothing will grow, on top of the range not far from Mt Margaret. The two big Yellow-Bellies then went to Little Perry Spring and are still represented there by Markara-Pula. The two big lumps of this hill can be seen from far away. The Fish pursued by the Crane go through Primrose Spring or Papu-ngaljuru and camp at the two sandhills Mudlu-mudlu-pulanha to the north. They then split up and the two big Yellow-bellies go back north, and the Cranes go northeast to the lower Diamantina.

This story was taken from SA Dept of Environment & Planning (1986) Heritage of the Mound Springs: The assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance of Mound Springs in South Australia prepared by Dr Luise Hercus & Dr Peter Sutton.

A Traditional Story of Big Cadna-owie Kadnjawi

Nardoo
Nardoo

Big Cadna-owie Spring was an important traditional camping site until 1919 when the entire group of traditional people living there was killed by an influenza epidemic brought by a passing camel-driver. Cadna-owie or Kadnjawi is also the name given to Mt Dutton and means hill-water or hill with springs. Big Cadna-owie, and four other springs in the vicinity of Mt Dutton including the Wandillina Springs are all connected with the story of the ngampa or nardoo stone. A ngampa stone is a large stone on which nardoo and other large seeds are broken up with a hammer stone. The outline of the story is that the Aranda ancestor Indarra could hear the beautiful ringing sound of the ngampa far far away to the south. It drew him towards the lower Finke, and then to the northern tip of the Alkaowra flood flats before he tracked the sound all the way to Mt Dutton. He camped first at the Ngampayiwalanha spring and asked the Kadnjawi people for the stone. They tried to fob him off with a broken stone and then inferior ones. He moved onto other springs and repeated his request. Finally they had to give him their favourite ngampa stone. Big Cadna-owie was one of the places where Indarra camped and the main camp of the Kadnajawi people was nearby.

ngampa stone
ngampa stone

Between the ruins of Wandillina homestead and the main Marree-Oodnadatta road there are three springs almost in a straight line to the north-east. In the far distance, almost in a straight line and visible from far away is Mt Arthur. As soon as Indarra got the ngampa stone, he said he was going back, and that now it was indeed he who would beat seed with the stone. He put the stone on his head and without looking back he set off towards home via Mt Arthur or Pakalta. He stayed there for a while, put down the stone and just looked at it and admired it. Mt Arthur represents the stone. The Kadnjawi song cycle, much of which is in Aranda, goes with this story.

This story was taken from SA Dept of Environment & Planning (1986) Heritage of the Mound Springs: The assessment of Aboriginal Cultural Significance of Mound Springs in   South Australia prepared by Dr Luise Hercus & Dr Peter Sutton.