“Having made the skies and the earth and all upon it, Baia-me came to earth. And thus was born the Dream Time. He then made man, in the pleasant country of our Namoi, Barwon, Calalal and Narran rivers. Having rested awhile he flew back to the skies. And there, deep within the Milky Way, he built the Pleasant Lands, the lands where we all go up to when we pass through the Land of Shades. For know this, we are not only built of skin and bone and flesh, but of what is inside us, and which we cannot see even if we cut a man open. And it is ‘this inside us’, which we call Tohi, that when we die flies up to the Pleasant Lands that Baia-me has prepared for us. It is only the skin and flesh and bones that go back to the earth. But of these things you will learn more as you grow older. Be good girls and boys and pass through the ceremonies. And after a long time those among you who are judged worthy to learn the Sacred Language will in great secrecy be told of the Deep Things.

“Now, although Baia-me has never come back to earth since he returned to his home in the skies, still he sees all things, hears all things, knows all things. And to us here on earth he sends the ‘One Between’—Turramulan. And of Turramulan, who watches over us here on earth for Baia-me, you will also learn more as you grow older.

“And now the pelican sleeps, his wise old head tucked up under his wing. It is only the hoary old mopoke and the fiery-eyed owl who listen and watch and wonder why you boys and girls are not snug and asleep under your mothers’ possum rugs. And hark! Just out dancing in the moonlight sings the willy wagtail, that carrier of tales. A sharp-eared little busybody is he! Hurry away to your gunyahs now, lest he slip away to your mothers and twitter that you are here with me, listening to the Teller of Tales. For I know that you would not like to get poor old Mullionkale into trouble. Away now, for another night will come. The stars will always shine. And there will always be a Teller of Tales.”

XXIV

THE WALLABY TRAP

Following the game in their nomadic life the tribe congregated, calling in the scattered family groups then leisurely hunting their way through bush to the Mullibah Lagoon camp just below the Bindea¹⁹ or Porcupine Ridges, adjoining the range upon which towered the look-out post Carrowreer. These ridges were covered in many parts with coarse, needle-tipped porcupine grass and prickly and thorny bushes. Other large areas of these ridges were clothed in the dense, dull green of hoop-vine scrub, a tangled mass of almost impenetrable undergrowth binding the scrub trees together. The hoop-bush itself, growing only to six feet, with a maze of roots, was entangled by looping cable and maze of cane and vine, creeper and fern. Within the very heart of the largest area of scrub was the Secret Camp. This gloomy hideout had been a sanctuary of the Gunn-e-darr tribe on occasions of dire peril from time immemorial, especially for the women and children. When once the helpless ones were safe within the Secret Camp the warriors could defy their enemies from the outskirts of the scrub, creeping forth from its shelter to attack when opportunity occurred, flying back to its sheltering labyrinths when hard pressed. Thus the Mullibah Lagoon camp, overlooked by the Porcupine Ridges with their dense scrubs and Secret Camp, overlooked again by the bold outpost of Carrowreer was a favourite and easily the safest camp of the Gunn-e-darr Tribe.