Aboriginal
Astronomy Mysteries
by David R. Griffiths
In the west of Victoria lies a road named after an Aboriginal tribe
famous for their knowledge of astronomy, the Borung highway.
Their knowledge which has parallels with our Greek astronomical
heritage, is now being re-popularised.
Driving down the Western Highway you pass the majestic Grampians
between Stawell and Horsham. You then enter wheat country as
you
approach Dimboola.
Dimboola is the gateway to the Little Dessert National Park, the
Wimmera River is flanked by gums and boasts a rowing club.
From
here the Borung Highway connects to Charlton on the Calder Hwy.
Getting off the main highway gives and immediate sense of peace, the
joy of being practically the only car on the road.
Alongside the sandy soil is sprinkled with golden flowers.
A road turn off is to Willenabrina. We are in the Shire of
Yarriambiak, if we care to know of it, Aboriginal heritage exists all
around us.
The empty road has wide flat fields extending to the horizon and a big
open sky - never the less, while it could be the land of the Borung
they actually lived further north, near Lake Tyrrell.
The Borung (also spelt Boorong or Booroung) in 1857 were described to a
gathering of Melbourne's early scientific community as "priding
themselves on knowing more of Astronomy than any other tribe".
Amongst their beliefs Marpeankurrk (Arcturus - the fourth brightest
star in the sky, visible in the northern sky from autumn to spring) is
the discoverer of the Bittur - the larvae of the wood ant which formed
the main part of the diet for the Borung in the months of August and
September.
Their stories are no different in style to those of the Greeks having
both a direct reference to their daily activities, and also a
mythological, moral meaning. Marpeankuurk is the mother of
Djuit
(Antares - the brightest star in Scorpius, and like Arcturus, a reddish
star) and Weetkurrk (a neighbouring star).
Whilst in Greek legend Arcturus means "bearkeeper", neighbouring Ursa
Major represents the nymph Callisto who was turned into a bear by
Zeus's jealous wife Hera.
The Greek moralist Hesiod who lived in the eight century BC, wrote in
his text "Works and Days": "When Zeus has finished sixty
wintry
days after the solstice, then the star Arcturus leaves the holy stream
of Ocean and first rises brilliant at dusk. After him the shrilly
wailing daughter of Pandion, the swallow, appears to men when spring is
just beginning. Before she comes, prune the vines, for it is best so."
Thus for the Borung people Arcturus signaled the time to eat ant
larvae, while for the Greeks it was time to prune vines.
Before
clocks and calendars the night sky itself marked the passage
of
seasons and activities in daily living.
Today the work of Edward Stanbridge has been used by Melbourne Academic
Dr. John Morieson to teach Koori youth at Swan Hill TAFE aspects of
their cultural heritage which have become lost. A programme
was
also produced for Melbourne Planetarium at Scienceworks.
Regrettably the
Borung people as a distinct group are no more, most likely a result of dispersal,
dispossession and disease. They were a clan of the Wergaia people whose descendants still live in north-west Victoria.
There is no one set of Aboriginal star beliefs however, as hundreds of
tribes throughout Australia each had their own languages and mythic
beliefs. Sometimes their stories can be similar, and at other
times, quite different. Coastal people, considered some
stars to
represent a shark, but other tribes associated different stars as the
shark constellation.
The word Borung means "night, darkness", and far from the city lights
of modern life the stars still shine brightly against the dark velvet
of space. Initially I had contacted the State's
road authority but they had no information on why the Borung Highway
got its name. I
travelled the length of this road, endeavouring to find out why it was
named after the Borung people.
I spent the night at the first major town on the Highway,
Warracknabeal (the word
means 'mouth of creek with red gum trees').
The Shire was originally named the Shire of Borung in 1891 by the
Governor in Council when it was split off from the Shire of St.
Arnaud. The name was changed in 1938 to the Shire of
Warracknabeal
due to confusion in mail deliveries with the town of Borung near Boort
and more recently in 1995 during Victorian Council amalgamations it was
changed again to the Shire of Yarriambiak as Yarriambiak creek runs the
whole length of the new local government body.
This is most likely where the name for the Borung Hwy. came
from. But nobody could tell me why the shire was named after
a tribe that actually lived around 100 kilometres to the north.
Warracknabeal is a lovely town, well preserved. And the
coolest
place on a hot day is still the shade of the red gums at the
Yarriambiak creek.
Leaving Warracknabeal the Borung Hwy. heads east toward Lake Buloke and
Donald.
The Borung Hwy. ends at Charlton, the country has become more
undulating now than the previous billiard table. Charlton, on
the
Avoca river was once home to John Curtin, our wartime Prime Minister.
Here there is a road to Borung township 80 kilometres to the
east, the Charlton to Borung Rd. This could quite possibly
be seen as a continuation of the Borung Hwy with the old Shire of
Borung at the western end and the small township of Borung at the
Eastern end. But Borung is a very small place and while it was once
bigger than the handful of houses remaining, it is fairly unremarkable.
So why the name?
I visited
the hamlet and made inquiries at the current local government centre,
the shire of Loddon at Wedderburn. I was lent a copy of the
history of Borung, "Golden Grain: a history of Borung 1877-1977" by Fae Hewson Stevens.
Reading
this history I was taken by the spirit of the people, particularly in
the early years. Borung was a place where friendships ran deep
and people were
always there to help each other. Times have changed with
mechanisation of farms and economic pressures reducing
population on the land, and trucks replacing trains so that local towns
no longer serve as collection points for produce, and service functions
tend to graduate to the larger cities nearby while the smaller towns
have dwindled. Borung is such a place, once a thriving small
town that has now withered.
Fae Hewson Stevens' history says: "Borung, which takes its name
from an Aboriginal word meaning the broad leafed mallee scrub..was
proclaimed in the Victorian Government Gazette in 1885".
A school had been established by the Education Department in 1877 for
some 30 children, it was originally known as Mysia which lies between
Borung and Boort, but the Headmaster "James May requested that it be
changed to Borung. The Department adopted this name in 1884."
The
town of
Borung is around 140 kilometres south-east from Lake Tyrrell where the
Borung tribe lived. Possibly the history is correct on the origin
of the name, as it could be a similar sounding word in a different
aboriginal language. Or it may be a local legend passed on when
the real reason
had been forgotten.
Early
in the life of the colony of Victoria Aboriginal words were frequently
used as place names, when they were not being named after places in
Britain and Europe. I tend to believe that Stanbridge's paper on their knowledge of Astronomy in
1857, had an impact in making a name for the Borung people.
Off the main traffic routes there is an interesting diversion to a
world with a slower pace and links ancient and modern, on the Borung
Hwy.
copyright (c) David R. Griffiths 2006, revised 2012.
