Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

There are a number of versions of how fresh water became salty, all connected with Dreamtime beings urinating in the fresh water.

The bush cockroach

At Milingimbi the story of the Gamalanga tribe involves the bush cockroach, the lizard and the wallaby. As they travelled around the wallaby had some fresh water in a paperbark basket. At the time all the water was fresh, even that which is now salty. The lizard sent the cockroach off to find some white clay to paint each other. The cockroach did a good job painting the lizard, but when the lizard painted the cockroach he did a careless job. When the cockroach saw what a bad job the lizard had done paining him he got angry and urinated in all the water making it salty. The wallaby hid his fresh water to stop the cockroach urinating in it and turning it salty. That is the reason there is so much salt water and the fresh water that is now present was provided by the wallaby hiding his paperbark container of water.

Bathurst Island

According to this Dreamtime story there wasn't any sea, and all the water was fresh. When a turtle was killed it urinated, making the water salty.

The Kimberley

In the Kimberley region of Western Australia the Dreamtime stories tell of Wonnaira, a giant serpent, who travelled inland from the sea, making the rivers as he went. The places he rested along the way became the big waterholes. Sturt Creek flows into a shallow lake, he camped at this lake, turning the water salty when he urinated. It is said the water in other salty lakes was also produced by Wonnaira urinating.

Sources & Further reading

1. Jennifer Isaacs, Australia Dreaming: 40,000 years of Aboriginal History, New Holland Publishers, 2005