Wp/nys/Jindang (Star)
Jindang, Djindang[1] or Djinda[2] are Noongar words for what in English is called a star. The night time stars are suns in their own right, some bigger than our own Sun, many smaller. Stars have colours, wer these colours tell us the temperature of the star's surface - blue is hotter wer red cooler.[3] With the naked meeyal they appear as pale, subtle colours because from nidja immense distance they are not bright sources of light as our Ngaangk (Sun) is. Red stars are the stars Antares wer Betelgeuse, a blue star is the star Rigel; Sirius is white wer our Sun wer the brighter pointer Alpha Centauri are yellow.
The colour of stars is important in Aboriginal astronomy. To the Aranda people of central Australia Antares is Tatakaindora (meaning "very red").[4]
The colours of stars are related to their spectral type, which is how they are classified. The main types are O, B, A, F, G, K, M - which can be remembered by using the mnemonic "Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me", ranging from type 'O' being hot (blue) stars to 'M' being cooler (red) stars. The Ngaangk (Sun) is a type G (specifically type G2V) star.
Jiindang Waarnk - Stories about stars
[edit | edit source]Charrnock Woman
[edit | edit source]- Main NoongarPedia entry il Charrnock Woman (Junda)
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"The Charrnock Woman animation" - CAN Community Arts Network
warra yorga wiern. Nidja yoga koorliny karla barruniny koorlingah, Baal joornt white baal koomba nitja Karri Djaraly. Nidja (hid) koorlingah baal joornt. Birdiyah wiern waarnk nidja yoga yuawart. Baal yoga dwonka burt ball waarnk. Birdiyah wiern (turned into) Koorlbardies (to catch) nidja yorga ( wer save ) nidja koorlingahs. Koomba baaminy baal birdiyah wiern baal yorga. Baal wiern koorlingah (falling from the sky, wer as they struck the Earth turning to stone). Nidja boya kwel 'Bwia-ee-Koolungur-Nyinna'. Charrnock woort koorliny Wave Rock. Milky Way nidja Charrnook djoornt, Jinang baal koorlingah.[5]
English version:
[edit | edit source]In the Nyitting (Dreaming or Cold Time) there was a giant woman, known as the ‘Charrnock Woman’ or 'Charnok Woman', who was taller even than the Karri wer Djaraly (Jarrah) trees. She went from camp fire to camp fire trapping the spirit children, known as koolongurs, in her long white hair. The spirit ancestors tried to stop her, but were unable to get close enough to her. They then hatched a plan to change themselves into Koorlbardi (Magpie)s in order to get close to her.
The spirit ancestors plan worked, wer there was a great battle in the sky between the koorlbardies wer the Charrnock Woman, with many of the spirit children falling from the sky. As they struck the Earth they each turned to stone. These stones are called Bwia-ee-Koolungur-Nyinna - ‘the place where the spirit children fell’. The Charrnock Woman eventually escaped the koorlbardies by leaping from the top of Katter Kich (Wave Rock). The misty band of the Milky Way is the long hair of the Charrnock Woman, with the stars being the spirit children still trapped in her hair.[5][6]
You can see Charrrnock's long white hair in Lake Joondalup il a clear night as the reflection of Meeka (Moon) with the reflections of the jindang being the koolongurs (spirit children). The story of Charrnock Woman (or Charnok) is particularly important to Joondalup.[6]
The five stars of the Hyades star cluster which form an upside down 'V' represent Charrnock Woman's kallep or camp. The star Aldebaran il the bottom right side of the Hyades represents her campfire, wer it is always burning bright orange. The star pattern 'Charrnock Woman's kallep' is located half way between the Three Women Elders (Orion's Belt), wer Danakat (Pleiades or the Seven Sisters).[7][8]
Ngiyan waarnk
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Bernard Rooney. "The Nyoongar Legacy". Batchelor Press (2011). ISBN 978 174131 232 4
- ↑ Noongar Word List - Djinda. Kaartdijin Noongar - Noongar Knowledge. Kaartdijin Noongar South West Aboriginal Land & Sea Council. Retrieved 18 January 2017
- ↑ The Colour of Stars. Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO. Retrieved 24 May 2016
- ↑ Haynes, Roslynn: "Dreaming the Sky". Sky & Telescope, Vol 94, No 3, pp 72 - 75, September 1977
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Curnow, Paul. "Night Skies of the Noongar". Lively Stories. Retrieved 23 May 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Joondalup Mooro Boodjar: Aboriginal Culture within Mooro Country". City of Joondalup Libraries. Retrieved 12 July 2017
- ↑ John Martin Goldsmith (2014). "Cosmos culture and landscape documenting learning and sharing Aboriginal astronomical knowledge in contemporary society". PhD thesis. Curtin University, Faculty of Science and Engineering. 1 May 2014. p. 198
- ↑ The Bibbullmun Dreamtime Story Plaque. On the Solar Alignment monument in Victoria Gardens, Claisebrook Inlet, East Perth