Aboriginal Astronomy

by Kirsten Banks

Aboriginal Astronomy and Western Astronomy are often thought of as two very different topics of conversation, but both can be melded together to give astronomers a different perspective of the night sky.

As humans, we are pattern finders, and we’re really good at it. The Ancient Greeks and modern astronomers find patterns in the stars by connecting the dots to form constellations. Constellations in Aboriginal Astronomy are very different. In general, a single star will represent a single entity like a person or an animal, but there are other constellations that take a very different form in Aboriginal Astronomy. These are dark constellations. These dark constellations are found using the dark parts of the sky as opposed to the light parts of the sky (the stars).

Gugurmin, the great celestial Emu. Image: Stellarium

When you look into the Milky Way, especially during the Southern Hemisphere winter, you can see a milkiness surrounding darker patches of dust and gas. Within this dust and gas is where the Indigenous people of Australia found their patterns. One particular pattern that comes from my country, Wiradjuri, is the great celestial Emu called Gugurmin (pronounced Goo-gur-min) that stretches across more than half of the night sky.

Gugurmin is not just a pretty constellation to look at, it is also used as a tool to indicate when it is the right time of year to go looking for Emu eggs. When the Emu is just above the Eastern horizon after sunset, this tells us that the Emu are running around trying to make a nest. Later in the year, when Gugurmin’s body is positioned high in the night sky after the sun has set, we now see the body as an egg in a nest. This tells us that now is the right time to go looking for Emu eggs!