Ngurunderi

Ngurunderi is the pre-eminent creator-ancestor of the Ngarrindjeri and neighbouring Lower Murray peoples. In the Dreaming he travelled down the Murray in a bark canoe pursuing an enormous Murray cod, Pondi, whose thrashing tail cut the narrow stream into the broad river, the lakes and the Coorong. He also pursued his two wives, who had fled from him and had broken law by eating forbidden bony bream; at Cape Jervis he raised the sea and drowned them, and they became the Pages Islets. Having ordered the country and named its places, Ngurunderi crossed to Kangaroo Island (Kangarilla), dived into the sea to cleanse himself, and ascended to become a bright star in the sky. The fullest recorded account was given by the initiated Yaraldi man Albert Karloan to R.M. Berndt in 1939.

Domains

• creation
• rivers waterways

Powers

• shapes rivers and coastline
• commands the sea to rise

Epithets

• Ngurunderi — the great ancestorBerndt, Berndt & Stanton (1993). A World That Was. (secondary)

Relations

• ally: NepeleBrother of Ngurunderi's two wives, who helped him spear the cod.Berndt, Berndt & Stanton (1993). A World That Was (Nepele helps spear Pondi in Lake Alexandrina). (secondary)
• enemy: PondiThe giant cod he pursued down the Murray.Berndt, Berndt & Stanton (1993). A World That Was. (secondary)

Sources

• Ngurunderi is the principal ancestral hero of the Ngarrindjeri, creator of the lower Murray, the lakes and the Coorong, who finally departed the world to become a star in the Milky Way after crossing to Kangaroo Island.: Berndt, R.M., Berndt, C.H. & Stanton, J.E. (1993). A World That Was: The Yaraldi of the Murray River and the Lakes. Melbourne University Press. (secondary); Taplin, G. (1879). The Narrinyeri. Adelaide: E.S. Wigg & Son. (primary)