List of Australian Aboriginal mythological figures

The Rainbow Snake is a common feature of the mythology and art of indigenous Australian cultures^[1]

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

New South Wales

• Birrahgnooloo, Kamilaroi goddess of fertility who would send floods if properly asked
• Dirawong, Bundjalung creator being this is a 'Djurble' and 'increase site' a totemic being not a creator being
• Wurrunna, culture hero

Northern Territory

• Adnoartina, the lizard guard of Uluru
• Altjira, Arrernte sky god who created the earth
• Ankotarinja, first man of Arrernte mythology
• Onur, Karraur lunar deity
• Bamapana, Murngin trickster spirit who creates discord
• Banaitja, creator deity
• Barnumbirr, Yolgnu creator spirit
• Barraiya, creator of the first vagina
• Bobbi-Bobbi, benevolent Binbinga snake deity
• Djanggawul, three creator-siblings of northeast Arnhem Land mythology
• Galeru, rainbow snake in Arnhem Land mythology who swallowed the Djanggawul
• Djunkgao, group of sisters associated with floods and ocean currents
• Julunggul, Yolgnu rainbow snake goddess associated with initiation, fertility, rebirth and water
• Karora, creator god
• Kunapipi, 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
• Mokoi, evil Murgnin spirit who kidnapped and ate children
• Ngintaka, Pitjantjatjara creator being
• Nogomain, god who gives spirit children to mortal parents
• Numakulla, two sky gods who created all life on earth
• Papinijuwari, a type of one-eyed giant which feeds on the bodies of the dead and the blood of the sick
• Ulanji, snake-ancestor of the Binbinga
• Wala, solar goddess
• Wawalag, Murgnin sisters who were swallowed by Yurlungur, only to be regurgitated
• Wollunqua, snake-deity associated with rain and fertility
• Wuluwaid, rain god of Arnhem Land
• Wuriupranili, solar goddess whose torch is the sun
• Wurugag and Waramurungundi, first man and woman of Gunwinggu legend
• Yhi, Karraur solar goddess associated with light and creation
• Yurlungur, Murgnin snake deity who swallowed and regurgitated the Wawalag sisters; associated with initiation and rebirth

Queensland

• Anjea, fertility goddess or spirit, in whom people's souls reside between their incarnations
• Dhakhan, ancestral god of the Kabi
• I'wai, culture hero of the Kuuku-Ya'u
• Yalungur, god of the first baby

South Australia

• Akurra, great snake deity of the Adnyamathanha people
• Bunyip, 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
• Ngintaka, Pitjantjatjara creator being
• Tjilbruke, Kaurna creation ancestor

Tasmania

• Willauk, giant demon that inhabited Lake Derwent
• Tebwem, flesh-eating ghost of southern Tasmania
• Pioial, giant scorpion like creature

Victoria

• Crow (Waa), Kulin trickster, culture hero and ancestral being
• Baiame, southeast Australian creational ancestral hero
• Balayang, bat deity and brother of Bunjil
• Binbeal, Kulin rainbow deity and son of Bunjil
• Bunjil, Kulin creator deity and ancestral being, represented as an eagle
• Bunyip, mythical creature said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes
• Daramulum, southeast Australian deity and son of Baiame
• Gnowee, solar goddess who searches daily for her lost son; her torch is the sun
• Karatgurk, seven sisters who represent the Pleiades star cluster
• Kondole, man who became the first whale
• Nargun, fierce half-human, half-stone female creature of Gunai legend
• Pundjel, creator deity involved in the initiation of boys
• Thinan-malkia, evil spirit who captures victims with nets that entangle their feet
• Tiddalik, frog of southeast Australian legend who drank all the water in the land, and had to be made to laugh to regurgitate it
• Wambeen, evil lightning-hurling figure who targets travellers

Western Australia

• Bagadjimbiri, a pair of Karadjeri creator-spirits
• Dilga, Karadjeri goddess of fertility and growth, and mother of the Bagadjimbiri
• Julana, lecherous Jumu spirit who surprises women by burrowing beneath the sand, leaping out, and raping them
• Kidili, Mandjindja moon deity who was castrated for attempting to rape the first women, who in turn became the Pleiades
• Kurdaitcha (or kurdaitcha man) is a ritual "executioner" in Australian Aboriginal culture (specifically the term comes from the Arrernte people).^[2]
• Ngariman, Karadjeri cat-man who killed the Bagadjimbiri and was drowned in revenge
• Njirana, Jumu deity and father of Julana
• Ungud, snake deity associated with rainbows and the fertility and erections of the tribe's shamans
• Wagyl, Noongar snakelike creator being
• Wati-kutjara, a pair of western Australian lizard-men
• Wondjina, Mowanjum cloud or rain spirits

Pan-continental

• Rainbow Serpent, a common feature of the art and mythology of Aboriginal Australian cultures^[3]

Unknown

• Kinie Ger, evil half-man, half-cat beast
• Thardid Jimbo, cannibalistic giant
• Yara-ma-yha-who, monstrous bloodsucking dwarf
• Bluetongue Lizard, an elderly trickster

Notes

1. Noonuccal, Oodgeroo; Noonuccal, Kabul Oodgeroo (September 1988), "The Rainbow Serpent", Meanjin 47 (3): 373–377, ISSN 0025-6293
2. Kurdaitcha
3. Oodgeroo Noonuccal; Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 1953-; Haywood, Eric Shane; Narkaling Inc (2001), The rainbow serpent, Narkaling Inc, retrieved 12 May 2013

References

• Bishop, W (1970), Australian Aboriginal mythology, retrieved 12 May 2013
• Hiatt, L. R. (Lester Richard), 1931-2008, (ed.); Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (1975), Australian Aboriginal mythology : essays in honour of W.E.H. Stanner, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, ISBN 978-0-85575-044-2