The Camel and the Greedy Pelican

[Nungali]

Down on the south coast here is a place the 'white fellahs'  call  ' Mt Dromedary ' . Capt Cook started that  by naming it what he thought it looked like from sea . 

 

from a local indigenous man ;  '' What !  And WTF is a dromedary anyway ?  How dare he call our beautiful mother Gulaga  , that anyone can see  from the ocean - a woman lying down -  a friggen CAMEL  ... what an insult ! 

 

And , the old people , they told us about that Capt Cook going past , they all saw him , how could you miss it ! Of course, back then we didnt know what it was , a big thing like that with white wings floating on top of the water .  The only thing we ever seen like that before  was a pelican . Now ,  is was a long way away and hard to see but they decided it must be a giant pelican , coming back from the dreamtime .  Now pelican - he is a greedy fellah, you go fishing, he will steal your fish . if you dont stop him, he will eat all your fish - gobble them up . Imagine what a giant pelican would do . 

 

So they were worried that giant greedy pelican would come and steal all our  fish and  other stuff .   But that pelican, he kept going .

 

But later , well, in a way, he came back and he did what the old people feared  would happen . ''

 

 

- going up Gulaga ;