Many Indigenous Australian picture books begin in similar fashion. To the non-Aboriginal reader it may seem like the beginning of a myth or legend – ‘… in a land far, far away…’ But it is important to note here that ‘the Dreaming is not so much a place, as a sense of being’ (Cowan 1989: 23). In text, and without the required cultural understanding and relevance of The Dreaming in Aboriginal lore, it is easy for this beginning to be downplayed to the point of undermining what the Aboriginal Dreaming truly is. By applying our Western concept to their experience we can greatly demean a story’s importance.

In The Rainbow Serpent, Gooriala, the Rainbow Serpent, travelled the Australian continent. As he did so, he created gorges, rivers, billabongs, mountains, hills and caves. These landmarks would all be relevant features known and utilized by the people of those areas.

[The Aboriginal] … was not called upon to believe in an unseen god … He [sic] saw their works on the earth. He observed them in the form of plants and animals, obeying the patterns laid down for them in the Dreaming. He felt them in changes in the seasons and watched them as they moved through the skies … all life was one and he was a part of life, bound immutably within the great design worked out for him by his creation ancestors
(Roberts & Roberts 1981: 10)

For it was the land; their country that gave each Aboriginal tribe their identity. Collicot (1994: 184) believes ‘the Australian Aboriginal have articulated their sense of self in terms of place … more clearly and vividly than any other peoples on the planet’. It is this intimate attachment and knowledge of their specific landscape and country that grounds each story’s relevance and meaning.

We should also be sensitive to the many compromises an oral story has taken when translated, written down, and read by a contrasting and often conflicting worldview. Not only is the atmosphere of oral storytelling lost, ‘but inevitably the nuances, subtleties of meanings and concepts are lost in the translating’ (Hill 1983).

I feel The Rainbow Serpent depicts quite a realistic landscape in its simple artwork. I like the way in which the text introduces some of the indigenous language through place names, peoples names and the use of words like “humpy” (shelter) and “Bora” (ritual dance) instead of translating every word to our Western language. However, it still rings of nothing but a light story. The relevance of Gooriala to my culture or being is non-existent within my society’s beliefs or values.

The meaning that accompanies the Bil-bil birds (Rainbow Lorikeets) is also unknown. Are they an important aspect or totem within the story teller's tribal lifestyle? Do they herald the coming of a particular season or food source? Its relevance may be lost to not only the non-Aboriginal reader but also to an Aboriginal reader from another country.

For even Gooriala who had travelled and shaped much of Australia’s landmass was tied to his country:

He listened on the wind and heard only voices speaking strange languages. “This is not my country, the people here speak a different tongue. I must look further for my own people.”
(Roughsey 1983: np)

As a story, The Rainbow Serpent is just that - a story. I feel it lacks the true depth, acknowledgement or meaning to be a true or worthwhile representation of Aboriginality or their Dreaming. It is a quaint story devoid of meaning and context, yet a quaint story nonetheless.

Review by Nicholas Tait

© 2005 Nicholas Tait

This piece was originally submitted as part of the course work in Post-colonial Literature for Children. It listed as references:

Callicot, J.B. (1994) Earth’s Insights. University of California Press: California.

Cowan, James (1989) “Landscape in Tradition and Metaphor” from Mysteries of the Dreaming. Lindfield: Unity Press.

Hill, Marji (1983) "Guidelines for Selecting and Introducing Students to Traditional Narratives". Notes adapted by author from "Of the lives and deeds of immortal beings; Aboriginal stories - a cultural perspective." Orana: journal of school and children's librarianship. 19(2).

Roberts, Ainslie and Roberts, Melva Jean (1981) Dreamtime: The Aboriginal Heritage. Adelaide: Rigby Publishers Limited.

Roughsey, Dick (1983) The Rainbow Serpent. Times House Pty Ltd: Kensington