How Water Got To The Plains
This is the story of how water got to the plains of Australia and the development of Billabongs and as well the first Blue tongue lizard and emu
In the first times, when everything was new, there was a group of Aboriginal people living on a mountain. This mountain was lovely and provided everything they needed. After some time everyone became worried as it had not rained for a long time and they were very short of water.
All the wells, except for one were empty. When it rained, the water ran down one side of the mountain and straight into the sea which was far away. On the other side of the mountain, nothing grew from drought and there were just dry plains.
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Among the people were Weeri and Walawidbit. They were both greedy men who decided to steal the last of the water for themselves and then run away. In secret, they made a large water carrier which was called an ‘eel-a-mun’. When everyone was asleep, they stole the water from the last well and hurried off.
When the people woke, there was no water which was very bad because children and babies were thirsty as well as the old people. It was very hot therefore the elders called all the people together and it was then they realised Weeri and Walawidbit were missing.
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The warriors looked around and found the tracks of the two thieves. They followed the tracks which led down the side of the mountain to the big plains and then could see the men in the distance with the large water carrier.
The water carrier was very heavy and Weeri and Walawidbit had to walk slowly thinking they were a safe distance. Then, the best spearmen in the warrior group ran to a cliff and threw all the spears they had. One of the spears hit the eel-a-mun but bounced off not before it made a whole in the water carrier.
Weeri and Walawidbit started to run across the plains, not noticing that they could run faster and faster because the water was leaking out until the carrier was almost empty. However, the warriors, without anything heavy to carry, caught up to them.
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Now this was way back, in the first time of people when very strange things happened. The warriors took the men back home for the elders to call a big meeting to decide the punishment. The elders stated that punishment must happen for both Weeri and Walawidbit for stealing and thinking about themselves ahead of the community.
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So the Wonmutta, the clever man, made some very strong magic and Weeree was changed into the very first emu. He went running down the mountain, out onto the plains, in shame. Walawidbit was changed into the very first blue-tongued lizard and he crawled away to hide in the rocks.
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But, a wonderful thing had happened. Wherever the water had leaked onto the plains, there were now beautiful billabongs, or waterholes. There was grass and flowers and lovely water lilies and then there were shrubs and trees. And soon, the birds came and everyone was happy because there was enough water for everyone.
