Eclipses in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy

Abstract

We explore 50 Australian Aboriginal accounts of lunar and solar eclipses to determine how Aboriginal groups understood this phenomenon. We summarise the literature on Aboriginal references to eclipses, showing that many Aboriginal groups viewed eclipses negatively, frequently associating them with bad omens, evil magic, disease, blood and death. In many communities, Elders or medicine men were believed to have the ability to control or avert eclipses by magical means, solidifying their role as provider and protector within the community. We also show that many Aboriginal groups understood the motions of the sun-earth-moon system, the connection between the lunar phases and tides, and acknowledged that solar eclipses were caused by the moon blocking the sun.

Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, Vol. 14, No. 2 (July, 2011), in press

References in corpus (1)

• Australian Aboriginal Geomythology: Eyewitness Accounts of Cosmic Impacts?

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Wurdi Youang: an Australian Aboriginal stone arrangement with possible solar indications
• The Astronomy of the Kamilaroi People and their Neighbours
• The Planets in Indigenous Australian Traditions
• Fire in the sky: The southern lights in Indigenous oral traditions
• Death and Maier: meteors and mortuary rites in the eastern Torres Strait (Eud kerker: na korep maierira asmer opged Torres Straitge)