page_title: Australian Aboriginal astronomy
section_title: Orion and the Pleiades
hierarchical_section_title: Australian Aboriginal astronomy / Constellations / Orion and the Pleiades
caption_attribution_description: The Pleiades
context_page_description: Australian Aborigines were some of the first people in the world to develop ideas with astronomy. It is possible that their interpretation of astronomy is the oldest still alive today. Studying astronomical subjects – such as the Sun, Moon, stars and planets – and the way they appeared to move was used as a way to find and explain the relationship between people, nature and the sky. The ideas that came from this contributed to their basic perception of the universe, and still form an important part of traditional culture and knowledge. Many legends, art forms, music and ceremonies originate from interpretations of astronomical phenomena and objects in the sky. Many Aboriginal groups give spiritual or mythological meanings to these things. Some groups used their knowledge of the movement of objects across the sky to develop practical tools like calendars.
  Old Australian Aboriginal culture is an oral tradition, so knowledge of astronomy has been passed down through stories, song and dance. A lot of knowledge is kept secret, only passed to those who have been initiated. As in all aspects of Aboriginal society, some things are only known to men, other things are only known to women.
context_section_description: Aboriginal interpretations of the constellations Orion and Pleiades are very similar to the stories about them in Greek mythology. The stars of Orion are widely associated with young men – usually fishermen or hunters – while the seven stars of Pleiades are usually seen as young women. The two constellations often appear in legend together, and are part of the Dreamings of several language groups.
  In the central desert region, the Pleiades are said to be seven sisters running away from the unwelcome attentions of a man represented by some of the stars in Orion. In Pitjantjatjara legend, the Pleiades represent the Kungkarungkara, a group of seven ancestral sisters. They are guarded by a pack of dingos from Njiru, the hunter, who is the stars in Orion's Belt. Njiru is said to have raped one of the sisters, who then died and became the darkest of the Pleiades stars. The sisters transformed into birds and fled to safety in the sky, but Njiru still chases after them. Other legends are less harsh: the Adnyamathanha, for example, believe the Pleiades are the wives of the stars in Orion. Tiwi people see them as a group of kangaroos being chased by a pack of dingos.
  The similarity between these legends and the Orion and Pleiades of Greek mythology is believed to be a coincidence (by chance) – there is no proof of any cultural connection.
  Yolngu people see the constellation of Orion as a canoe. They tell the story of three brothers who went fishing, and one of them ate a fish that was forbidden under their law. Seeing this, the Sun blew the three brothers and their canoe up into the sky. The three stars in the constellation's centre, which form Orion's Belt in Western mythology, are the three brothers. The Orion Nebula above them is the forbidden fish, and the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel are the front and back of the canoe. In this example, the astronomical legend has a clear message about a moral that people would follow on Earth. Aboriginal myths such as these are often focused around moral lessons, such as reminders of whether it is alright to eat certain types of food.
caption: The Greek myth of the Pleiades, a group of seven sisters who were transformed into a cluster of stars, is very similar to Australian Aboriginal legends about the same cluster. In both mythologies, the seven stars are young women being chased by a man seen in the Orion stars. This same theme is also found in Māori mythology.
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