Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

The peoples of northern Australia have an explanation of why there is night and day. They say the Sun is the light from a torch made from the stringy bark tree that is carried by the Sun Woman, Wuriunpranilli. When she wakes each morning she makes a small fire, this is the dawn glow on the horizon. She then decorates herself with red ochre, some of which gets onto the clouds, resulting in red sunrises. As she is getting ready for her journey across the sky the birds start calling to wake the people for the day's activities. She lights her giant stringy bark torch from the small fire, then begins her journey across the sky. When she drops below the western horizon she puts her torch out and applies more red ochre in the glow from her smoldering torch, which again often gets onto clouds to give red sunsets.

During the night she walks through the tunnel connecting her evening camp to her morning camp. At this time the birds stop calling until she wakes them next morning.

Sources & Further reading

1. Jennifer Isaacs, 2005, Australian Dreaming: 40,000 years of Aboriginal History, New Holland Publishers.