Biology of Australia

The fauna of Australia

Among the stories from the Dreamtime of the Aborigines in many parts of Australia are reference to giant animals that in many cases can be traced to fossils of animals that formed the megafauna of Australia. There are also mentions in some stories of what appear to be a time before much of the country reached the arid state it is now in.

In the Aranda stories of the giant kadimakara there is what could be an oral tradition of the coming of the dry times to central Australia. In places that are now desolate, such as the Willandra Lakes and Lake Eyre, the country was much different when the Aborigines first arrived there. At that time the lakes were full and there is evidence of Aboriginal camps beside the lakes.

The kadimakara story speaks of a time when the climate of the area was much wetter than at the present, and the clouds were thick and the ground was covered with vegetation. At that time, the sky was held up by tall gum trees. In this sky-land lived monsters called kadimakara. Often the smell of fresh vegetation enticed them down from their home, climbing down the gum trees to feed in the lush vegetation. The last time the kadimakara came down to earth they were feeding on the plants when the 3 gum trees that had been supporting the sky fell and they were unable to return to their land. They roamed the country and wallowed in the marshes of Lake Eyre until they died, their bones still being present where they died. With the fall of the 3 gums the sky became a single continuous hole, 'Pura wilpanina' (great hole). In times of prolonged drought the Dieri held ceremonies at the bones of the kadimakara to ask them to intercede with those who remained in the sky land and control the clouds and rain.

The lakes of central Australia never refilled permanently after the last glacial maximum. At most, they partially fill after heavy monsoonal rains in their northern catchments, but soon dry out again once the floods diminish and the extremely high evaporation rates of the hot, dry areas takes its toll.

Megafauna dreamtime stories

• Giant eagle
• Giant emu
• Giant Frogs
• Giant kangaroos
• Yamuti (Adnyamathanha people)

Roch art

• Diprotodon
• Giant kangaroo (Sthenurus)
• Long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus)
• Palorchestes
• Quinkana
• Thylacoleo (marsupial lion)

Artefacts associated with Megafauna

• Cuddie Springs
• Coral Bay, Western Australia
• Devil's Lair
• Mammoth Cave

Possible events recorded by Dreamtime stories

See Aboriginal Occupation of Greater Australia

Sources & Further reading

1. Josephine Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, J. B. Publishing
2. Jennifer Isaacs, Australia Dreaming: 40,000 years of Aboriginal History, New Holland Publishers
3. Chris Johnson, Australia's Mammal Extinctions, a 50,000 year history, Cambridge University Press, 2006