Here Is My Country - Creation and Country

How the Murray River was Made

Told by IRENE THOMAS Bangerang

Are you listening? I’m going to tell you a Bangerang story about how the Murray River was made.

One day an old woman was walking with her three dingoes. She was looking for grubs and berries. She walked a long way over hills and mountains, through forests and bushland and across a flat and waterless plain.

Do you know what she did? As she walked she dragged her digging stick behind her. The stick dragged and scratched, dragged and scratched, making a track along the ground.

Nearby there was Toonatpan, a big snake of many colours sleeping in the hills. The sound of the digging stick woke Toonatpan up and he came down the hills slithering and sliding. He was very angry!

He thrashed to and fro deepening the track made by the old woman. His movements carved out a wide riverbed. Soon after it rained and rained creating a river that was long, deep and wide.

And that’s how the Murray River was made, stretching all the way to the sea. Listen to the sound of the sea and you may hear the voice of the old woman as she sings in her sleep.