Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:25:51.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interpretations of the Pleiades in Australian Aboriginal astronomies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2011

Dianne Johnson
Dianne Johnson*
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, University of Technology in Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

As there are so many Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait astronomies and cosmologies, commonalities are unusual. However one of the ‘things belonging to the sky’ that seems common to all groups across the continent is the open star cluster of the Pleiades. Yet interpretations of this cluster vary. So far I have tentatively identified four different cultural areas, the first being most of mainland Australia; the second being the islands south of mainland Australia known as Tasmania; the third being the cultural area of north-eastern Arnhem Land; and the fourth being the cultural area of the Torres Strait Islands. Within these areas, versions of the stories vary as contemporary circumstances change.

Keywords

PleiadesAustralian Aboriginal astronomiesArnhem LandGroote EylandtTorres Straitstar mythologies
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 7 , Symposium S278: “Oxford IX” International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy , January 2011 , pp. 291 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

ABC Radio National 2004, ‘The Seven Stars of the Pleiades’, on The Spirit of Things (10 October 2004) (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/spirit/stories/s1213298.htm).Google Scholar
Andrews, M. 2004, The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades: Stories from around the World, Spinifex Press, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Clarke, P. A. 1997, The Aboriginal cosmic landscape of Southern Australia. Records of the South Australian Museum, 29 (2), 125–145.Google Scholar
Dawson, J. 1981 [1881], Australian Aborigines: the Languages and Customs of Several Tribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.Google Scholar
Elkin, A. P. 1974 [1938], The Aboriginal Australians, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. 1998, Night Skies of Aboriginal Australia: a Noctuary, Oceania Monograph 47, University of Sydney, Sydney.Google Scholar
MacPherson, P. 1881, Astronomy of the Australian Aborigines. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of NSW 15, 71–80.Google Scholar
Maegraith, B. G. 1932, The Astronomy of the Aranda and Loritja tribes, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 56, 19–26.Google Scholar
Mathews, J. 1982, The Two Worlds of Jimmy Barker, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.Google Scholar
Mountford, C. P. 1939, An Anyamatana legend of the Pleiades. Victorian Naturalist 56, 103–104.Google Scholar
Mountford, C. P. (ed.) 1956, Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, Vol 1: Art, Myth and Symbolism, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Perkins, H. 2010, Art + Soul: a Journey into the World of Aboriginal Art, The Miegunyuh Press, Carlton, Victoria.Google Scholar
Sharp, N. 1993, Stars of Tagai: the Torres Strait Islanders, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.Google Scholar
Sharp, N. 1994, Malo's Law in Court: the Religious Background to the Mabo Case, The Charles Strong Memorial Trust, Adelaide.Google Scholar
Shepherd, J. 2003, Legends of the Blue Mountains Valleys, retold by F. Walford, ed. Smith, J., Den Fenella Press, Wentworth Falls.Google Scholar
Spilia, E. 2010, Gulumbu Yunapingu: into the light. Art & Australia 48 (1), 118–123.Google Scholar
Tindale, N. B. 1959, Totemic beliefs in the Western Desert of Australia, Part 1: Women who became the Pleiades. Records of the South Australian Museum, 13 (3), 305–332.Google Scholar
Tunbridge, D. 1988, Flinders Ranges Dreaming, Australian Studies Press, Canberra.Google Scholar
White, I. M. 1975, Sexual conquest and submission in the myths of central Australia. In Hiatt, L.R. (ed.), Australian Aboriginal Mythology, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, pp. 123–142.Google Scholar