Ungamilia

The name of the evening star. Among the people of the Alice Springs district the evening star is supposed to have been a Kumara woman in the Alcheringa who had a nurtunja (sacred pole) and lived alone. She is associated with a large white stone which arose at a place near to what is now called Temple Bar — a gap in the Macdonneli Ranges — to mark the spot where she went into the earth and left behind, along with her tjurunga, her spirit part. Every night the evening star is supposed to go down into this stone which lies away to the west of Alice Springs. It is situated in the middle of a strip of country which belongs to the big lizard totem.

Ungamilia is supposed to have fed in the Alcheringa upon owadowa, a kind of grass seed, just as did the group of lizard people among whom she dwelt.

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References

Source

  • Spencer, Baldwin; Gillen, F. J. (1968). The Native Tribes of Central Australia. New York: Dover, p. 565.

This article incorporates text from The Native Tribes of Central Australia (1968) by Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, which is in the public domain.