Aboriginal education teaching and learning support.
Victoria
Budj Bim (Mount Eccles) – Located in southwestern Victoria near Lake Condah. This dormant volcano is central to the Gunditjmara People's Dreaming and is associated with the creation story of Budj Bim, an ancestral being who erupted from the ground.
Mount Franklin and Mount Tarrengower – These volcanic cones near Daylesford and Castlemaine are linked to the Dja Dja Wurrung People's story of The Two Feuding Volcanoes.
New South Wales
Nobbys Head (Whibayganba), Newcastle – An extinct volcanic plug connected to the Awabakal People's Dreaming story of The Kangaroo that lives in Nobbys, which is believed to explain local earthquake activity.
Mount Warning (Wollumbin) – Located in northern NSW, part of the Tweed Volcano system. It features prominently in the cultural lore of the Bundjalung People.
Queensland
Atherton Tablelands – This region in Far North Queensland has many volcanic features such as crater lakes (Lake Eacham, Lake Barrine), with oral traditions like When the Bullin Shrieked reflecting eruptions and ground-shaking events, likely from now-extinct volcanoes.
Toowoomba region – Contains evidence of ancient lava flows, with associated stories held by local Aboriginal groups.
These sites highlight how Aboriginal communities across Australia have recorded and interpreted volcanic activity, often with remarkable geographical and geological accuracy.
(Password protected) Like some other oral traditions of Australian Aborigines, those that relate to widespread and enduring coastal inundation appear to be several thousand years old.
The mural also reminds us that landscapes are formidable and yet fleeting achievements, which bring together complex cultural and natural forces. As the linguist, R. M. W. Dixon observes, the account of the origin of the crater lakes on the Atherton Tableland is a “plausible account of a volcanic eruption”
The publication Nyernila – Listen Continuously: Aboriginal Creation Stories of Victoria is unique. This uniqueness is differentiated by two significant and distinguishing features. It is the first contemporary compilation of Victorian Aboriginal Creation Stories told by Victorian Aboriginal People, and it is the first to extensively use languages of origin to tell the stories.
