Mullian the Eaglehawk
Kamilaroi · numen · dreaming creator era · Recorded classification
Mullian (Gamilaraay maliyan, the wedge-tailed eagle) is an individuated Dreaming being of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi peoples. In the tale 'Mullyangah the Morning Star' recorded by K. Langloh Parker, Mullian is a man-eating eaglehawk who dwells at the top of an enormous yaraan tree; when the people fire the tree to destroy him, he escapes upward and becomes a star, still visible with the marks of his burning. Kamilaroi and Euahlayi star knowledge recorded by Fuller and colleagues identifies Mullyan the eaglehawk with the bright star Altair.
Domains
- eagles and sky hunting
- stars
Powers
- to ascend into the sky and shine as a star after his tree is burned
Sources
- Mullian is the cannibal eaglehawk of Kamilaroi/Euahlayi legend who, after being burned in his yaraan-tree home, became the star Mullyangah (Altair).: K. Langloh Parker, Australian Legendary Tales, David Nutt, London, 1896 (secondary); R.S. Fuller, M.G. Anderson, R.P. Norris & M. Trudgett, 'The Astronomy of the Kamilaroi and Euahlayi Peoples and Their Neighbours', Australian Aboriginal Studies 2014/2, pp. 3-27 (secondary)