Indigenous people have used the stars in the sky for at least 65,000 years. Stars can reveal the changes of season and help forecast the weather. But Indigenous astronomy is also related to many beliefs, where stars are used in song, dance and storytelling. The role of astronomy in Indigenous cultures has always been an important one, adopted and handed down by Elders who hold the knowledge.
When writing his book, The First Astronomers: How Indigenous Elders Read the Stars, author and academic Duane Hamacher worked closely with Elders and Indigenous Knowledge Holders to help understand the ways in which Indigenous peoples view the sky and the way Indigenous cultures use the position of the stars in their day-to-day lives.
“Elders have always known how to read the environment [including the night sky] – it’s very deeply ingrained,” says Duane. “They have always learned how to change with the environment, how to adapt and how to do it sustainably in the phase of droughts, floods, fires and everything else.”
One of the big differences between Indigenous and Western astronomy is how constellations are seen. Western astronomers have broken up the sky into 88 different constellations, but not many people know about the many sacred Indigenous constellations that hold great cultural meanings and practical information.
Here, we look at three different constellations, where you might see them in the night sky and what they mean for different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. You can find out more about the Indigenous night sky by reading Duane Hamacher’s book or visiting the Australian Indigenous Astronomy website.
Did You Know?
For thousands of years, First Peoples in different cultures have been able to predict an eclipse and prepare ceremonies ahead of it occurring.
The Pursuit of the Miyay Miyay
The constellation of Orion and the Pleiades star cluster are most visible during the Australian summer. In many Indigenous traditions, the Pleiades are commonly believed to be seven young sisters, who the Kamilaroi (pronounced kah-mee-lah-roi) people know as Miyay-Miyay, meaning ‘group of girls’. Their position in the sky allowed their parents in the mountains to watch over them as they were desired and chased by young men, the Birray Birray, or the Orion constellation.
Miyay-Miyay appearing low on the horizon as the sun disappears indicates the start of emu-breeding season (usually around April and May). This is when the eggs can be gathered.
Duane writes in his book how Yamaji woman Charmaine Green explained how the constellation can also be used to predict rain: “If fewer stars are visible than normal, and if they appear ‘muddier’ in appearance, rainfall is likely. As this area [the central coast of Western Australia to the edges of the Western Desert] is prone to drought, it is critically important for the Yamaji to read natural signs to estimate the amount and duration of rainfall they are likely to receive.”
To find the Miyay-Miyay cluster, look for the three stars that make up Orion’s belt, then follow that line in the sky to where they point to the red star Aldebaran, and continue it through to the Miyay-Miyay group.
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Gawarrgay Runs Across the Night Sky
Stretching from the Coalsack nebula under the Southern Cross through to Scorpius, Gawarrgay, the Celestial Emu, is a ‘dark constellation’. Dark constellations, commonly recognised in Indigenous astronomy, can be traced by the dark spaces between the stars rather than the actual stars themselves.
“Dark constellations are formed by the contrast of light and dark spaces in the Milky Way,” says Duane, and are regarded by First Peoples across the globe as “animals, ancestral places, campsites, caves, waterways or serpents”.
Uncle Ghillar Michael Anderson is a Euahlayi (pronounced you-AR-lay-ee) Elder, whose country is on the border of New South Wales and Queensland. Uncle Ghillar teaches us about Gawarrgay. He holds and shares knowledge of the ways the Emu is seen depending on the time of year. In Australia from March, Gawarrgay begins to rise after dusk and is easier to see during April and May, where it is perceived to be a female emu running. (Female emus run in circles around male emus to attract their attention.) April is also the beginning of emu-breeding season, when Aboriginal people collect some of the eggs from nests.
During June and August, the Emu is high in the sky after dusk and almost horizontal from east to south-west. During this time it is seen as a male emu sitting on the nest. After August, the dark constellation sits at 90-degrees compared to the south-eastern horizon at dusk (the male emu rising from the nest to look after the new chicks).
By October and November, says Uncle Ghillar, Gawarrgay has continued rotating in the sky and now appears to be lying on its back on the horizon. This, however, is the bird sitting in a waterhole – the bump is its rump. The weather is heating up and the birds seek the coolness of puddles formed by seasonal rain. Gawarrgay then disappears again before returning once more in April.
Interestingly, this constellation is also regarded as a flightless bird in other Indigenous cultures, including by the First Peoples of South America, who know it as a rhea. The rhea has similar breeding cycles to the emu, as well as similar ceremonial significance to the traditional Euahlayi teachings of Gawarrgay.
Did You Know?
Many Aboriginal traditions see the planets as representing ancestor spirits walking across the sky and that they are children of the Sun and Moon.
The Cockatoos in the Coolabah Tree
The Southern Cross is perhaps the most famous constellation in the Southern Hemisphere. Euahlayi/Kamilaroi Elders speak of this place as being very significant to all mankind. It holds remarkably similar meanings from culture to culture, and intersects with other First Nations constellations in the sky.
In Kamilaroi and Euahlayi belief systems, the Southern Cross links to the story of Bhiamie, the Creator. Bhiamie made the Earth, sky and water; Bhiamie also brought the rain and taught the rains how to travel and water the earth, helping life to thrive.
The Euahlayi/Kamilaroi people believe Bhiamie left with his second wife Gunnum-beillee, the caterer, leaving the Mother Earth spirit of his first wife, Birring-oolloo, in the grounds and water. Bhiamie and Gunnum-beillee travelled south into the sky carrying Birring-oolloo’s physical body with them. They left from Lake Eyre and went to the Southern Cross. During this trip, they camped near the river red gum tree (Yarran). This camp, called the Wolli, is represented by Alpha Centauri.
The Coalsack Nebula of the Southern Cross (the dark patch between Mimosa and Acrux) represents a hole in the tree. Travelling through the hollow of this dead tree takes the spirits to a special place known as Bulimah, or sky camp, which is situated behind the Milky Way. The Pointer stars are four cockatoos roosting in the tree, while Beta Centauri is a cockatoo feeding on the ground between the Wolli and Yarran.
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Did You Know?
Indigenous cultures consider the sky part of the environment, and many Dreaming Stories involve the sky as well as the land.
With thanks to the following people who read these stories to ensure astronomical and cultural correctness: Karlie Noon, co-author of Astronomy: Sky Country, Uncle Ghillar Michael Anderson, and Corey Tutt of Deadly Science.
