……The post-glacial rise in sea level may have led to the birth of the tradition of the rainbow snake. Generally associated with stories concerning floods and rain, which could reflect the rising sea, this ancestral creative being is estimated to have swallowed up several hundred metres of land each decade or even year. the change from pre-estuarine to estuarine conditions and its appearance seem to belong to between 6,000 and 7,000 years ago, which would make the rainbow snake tradition the longest continuous religious belief documented in the world…..
Josephine Flood The Riches of Ancient Australia University of Queensland Press
In my country, I got plenty of dragon up there.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
This is our dragon, we know him. He looks after all the Yellow Belly Snake, File Snake, Tortoise, other dragons, Water Goanna, everything. He got the power. If the dragon die then there is no water. He is the one that holds all the water inside him.
He is the same mob like the one in the saltwater but different.
We know these things from the caves. His picture on the caves from long time. I got told his song. Biggest song!
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
Marndarrk we call him, on his back. Him can look up, backwards way, to look out of the water. This one my wife know him. Some of these on rock painting too.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
I saw this one down the river. it was raining there. We had alot of dogs and they just went for this thing now.
We were living at Russ Jones….we used to have bush camp there, my parents used to work for that person. It was raining, wet season. The water was rushing up and my parents say “We gotta go now!” To John Ivanoff farm. We used to call him Long Johns.
I ran behind and then I heard all the dogs biting him….I ran down there and I saw it. And it frightened me. It had those things on his back, he was not really big but small. He had a long skinny neck and big round tummy like a catfish tummy……
…..I think all the dog had killed that thing.
Nancy Warren
He got his own story. People all died. He got a song. He’s a buffalo made dragon.
We call him borlung from language, Borlung Wayjili. A dangerous thing, if he come to us all the country will be smoke and wind.
This borlung like a buffalo, he got horns and he got to have water or he die. They the same. They like to sit down in one place, they don’t like to move around…..He can’t go out of that water. They the mate for water. This is the story for Rembarrnga and Ngalakgan people.
All of these water beetle in the water are called dimidiminy (giant water bug). They come from the cloud but live in the water with the rainbow.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
This is Rembarrnga mixed dragon. King Brown made that country. He ripped the river that comes out at the saltwater, comes out at Nimirrili…. They are there now all the Karmadi People.
For a long time there wasn’t any water, then King Brown from Middle Arnhemland, from Bamdibu Spring. That’s our place Kulajuk. That’s where he walked out from the spring, two miles out he made a black rock finish. He turned. He got four eye. He still there. Gammoemoeduru (place name).
He was hiding in the spring, then he got out and walked. Cut the river to saltwater.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
First borlung from country…..Dragon come up, smell him. “Oh he’s here.” Go in his house and eat him up.
Second back, there was another dragon….
This happened in the early days, if you lived by yourself he can come. He can do that. Early times it was a very fresh world when people were living and starving .
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
We call him Yingnala. From the olden days dream.…
This one is very hide and seek but the people know the story. I know from grand grand father time right up to dad, big brothers or uncles like that. They tell the story every bedtime before man sleep. We carry it on.
We can tell this story but it’s very hard. Other story it’s alright. Not this one! That’s all I can tell, thank you.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
That’s a Yawkyawk for water country, for dragon. Owner for dragon can take it anywhere he want to…..With a bush rope might take him for drought if people humbug….
Borlung and Yawkyawk, they from the deep water, no one can touch him. Yawkyawk, they look after him just like a dog. Like you look after your pup or anything else. When he go to water now, they leave him.
He can talk through his heart like a Emu. He make him noise to water, you can listen. If you fishing my country you can listen him talking at that place. Don’t worry about.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
We call him Jinijinijingun.
He got a sharp nose. I killed this kind at Beswick. I went driving to get wood and I cut him the right tree and he fall down. He doubled up. I reckoned that he was proper snake, cheeky one, but that one was a dragon! I looked at his face, I didn’t think. He made me overheated. I killed him! …….
……Then water came from all over. Go more and more……
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
This one a tree snake from our country, Bamdibu area.
He was a human being but he was walking like a whip snake. He was a snake animal from dreamtime, from when the water was boiling. For a long time he dreamed that tree. Bolungbolung Tree he called himself, but he really Whip Snake tree.
When people climbing, he moving, he move slowly. Rocking, move up and down.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
We call him Nono dragon, from where I live Bamdibu. He drank the water there. He’s not a proper dragon, only half.
He said “Buttanarrjarran country”, and named his place.
When you look every afternoon he looks like a straight light. My wife know that. Nancy, my wife looked. But I said “Don’t be frightened, that a Rembarrnga dragon, he lives, you can see that Nono dragon.”
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
How Dragons are Made
Dragon can be King Brown, File Snake, Quiet Snake or Blackhead Snake. They all lay their egg in their camp. A hole. The husband respect all that egg but mother one look after all that egg in case anything might eat them.
They know their father or mum. The father is a dragon. All the baby one climb up on his back. Hold on! Like a line and he carry them to the billabong or could be river or could be spring, to test them out the secret way.
Nobody can watch but old people know this. My father and grandfather knew this.
They take all their kid and chuck him in the water. If he go down and then float, he come outside. “Who are you? You different now? You not like dragon, you like that mother, or father.”
If he chuck another one, he go down, go down. “We’ll leave him. He is going to make a dragon. He dragon that one. Borlung, this one!” A different power.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
We don’t talk of this dragon of the world, Yellow Belly Dragon, Borlung Borlohkkoh we call him. This one anybody can listen, secret way is different. They can look. He got a law and we got it. He got a secret side but we just put picture in. Man ourselves we can tell. Any secret side woman can’t listen.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
Wilawaddah is the place that they killed him. Borlung.
…… Yingnala died when the sun went down. Arbullangaden on the Jawoyn side, hill, mountain country. That’s where he died, Arbullangaden, Yingala born there. They understand Bamdibu side, Kolinjok. This was the place everybody breed from. Rembarrnga People.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
She came from the north. Under her arms she had many dilly bags with water. she would flick this water out as she moved through the country.
Miliwanga Wurrben
That’s the dragon that cut the biggest hole. People can look inside, all his toilet is red. When he have a shit, it was red and he went away. He gone.
Biggest cave, Walbatdi. He had a shit then leave him. Red ochre inside the cave. Just look, you not allowed to go inside, you don’t know what will happen. Too dangerous!
Karlnglangdeh, the skin belong to him when he walk, he rattle everything when he walk. Wind, rain that’s his power. Storm. We can sing him to stop but not to come kill with us.
That’s his spy, Marrapul, cockatoo mimih spirit.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
This is a different dragon, a quiet snake one. She has the womans month, womans business. He was the first one to make like that for all the people, woman or young girl.
My wife know that place Bawurrbandah, that’s the place where she was bleeding there. Bawurrbandah, this one is part of my country at Bamdibu. You can’t see him. You can wash there or fishing there, he just looking after that place.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
I was a little girl when my mother told me this story, maybe 5 or 6 years old. These two men sat down at this place, Wally Marndarrk and Willy Mungninga, they were my two grandfather. They both had 4 wives each, that’s why we’re a big family today.
They went hunting, but were perishing for water. Willy went to the top of the hill. Gandiyah, that’s where borlung ate him. He could see water down there ……..
Nancy Warren
This dragon go along the top, he travels on the land. He lives in the spring water along the river, quiet place is where he live and that’s where the kangaroo go to drink the spring water. He is like a tadpole when the kangaroo take him on from the spring water. That is the Plains Kangaroo, red one, he takes him to the dry desert country. Kangaroo will drop him. He will poke his tongue out and this will make the clouds and rain come for himself. He not walk long way, just short one. He starts off small but when he finished he is from one hill to another. It’s in the Bible. He stands up like colour when the rain come.
This is the story for the Rembarrnga People. If you go to another country, he got dragon too. Everybody got their own dragon.
God made him dragon to look out over us.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
Rock Painting Borlung 188 02 gp
This is from where my grandfather, his father lived in a cave. Its name Dunngalajarren, near to Maningrida. I know this one from rock painting, Maningrida side, Red Rock way.
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham
This is a mix File Snake dragon. This one a billabong dragon he lives along with the turtle and other things like the File Snake.
Nancy knows him. Yeah, we know him. Couple year back we nearly got killed by that one. You remember that billabong at Beswick? Everyone in that community nearly got killed! Jarraluk.
Some of those File Snake had whiskers on them, they were related to that thing now.
The Billabong dragon came up from nowhere. It just came up! The biggest wind and rain. Pretty strong, real strong. Us mob were frightened. We ran.
That billabong called Jarraluk, he’s there!
Paddy Wainburranga Fordham.
Special thanks to Millywanga for additional Rembarrnga cultural & language assistance.
Borlung and Turtles 225 03 gp
Drinking in the Cemetery 