Aboriginal Astronomy In 1788, when the British drove the Indigenous Australians out of their land, British navigators

possessed a high level of knowledge about Australias sky. However, the Aborigines knew much more than the British about the Southern Sky The Canoe in Orion The constellation Orion is very well known in Australians. However, Aborigines see the constellation differently; they see it as a canoe. This canoe constellation is called, The Canoe in Orion. This constellation inspired the creation of many myths, and it also acts as a calendar to show Indigenous Australians a variety of changes in the natural world. A myth from the Yolngu people of the Northern Territory tells how three brothers of the King-fish clan went fishing; however, all they were able to catch were king-fish. One of the three brothers broke the law of the King-fish clan stating that you werent allowed to eat king-fish and ate one of their catches in order to satisfy his hunger. When the Sun-woman saw this, she created a waterspout which shot the brothers into the sky, and to this day, you can still see them. What we know as the Belt of Orion are the three brothers. The Kuwema people of Katherine in the Northern Territory used the Canoe of Orion as a calendar; they knew the when the constellation rose, dingoes will bore puppies which help the people survive, and they knew the constellation rose in the early morning of winter. The Emu in the Sky The Emu in the Sky is a mass of dark dust clouds in space, forming an emu-like shape. The head of the emu is known as the Coalsack which is the dark spot next to the Southern Cross. The Emu in the Sky shows that emus have laid their eggs, allowing Indigenous Australians to collect them. Emu eggs are an important source of food for the Aborigines, as it contains high protein.

The Emu in the Sky is of great significance to the elderly Aborigines, because it represents a male emu. Male emus hatch their mates eggs and look after the young until they are strong enough to look after themselves. The elderly Indigenous Australians carry out initiation ceremonies that allowed boys to be guided into manhood. Banumbirr and the Morning Star Ceremony What we call Venus is known to the Indigenous Australians as Banumbirr . It is said that she travelled from the east to the west, and along the way, she created and named animals and lands. Yolngu people communicate with their deceased ancestors through the important Morning Star Ceremony. The ceremony starts at dusk and last the entire night, when the main section of the ceremony is when Banumbirr rises a few hours before dawn. Aborigines believe she holds a faint rope where messages are sent and prevents her from going too far away from the sun. The Morning Star Ceremony tells us two things. It tells us that the Yolngu people have observed that Venus always stay close to the sun, and it also tells us that because Venus only rises a few hours before dawn at certain times of the year, the ceremony had to be planned beforehand, meaning the Yolngu people had tracked the motion of Venus across the sky.

Sean Gong