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Paula's Reading Nook!

August 2026

 

Wise Women of the Dreamtime:

Aboriginal Tales of the Ancestral Powers

Collected by K. Langloh Parker

Published 1993

Find out more about the book here.

Edited with commentary by Johanna Lambert.

Check out this link to read an article about Katie Langloh Parker

entitled "An Empathetic Female Ethnographer in Australia: The Life and Work of Katie Langloh Parker"

by Barbara Chambers Dawson.

Listen to "What Katy did: a 19th century documenter of indigenous language and stories" via ABC Listen.

 

Here's an extract from the book:

Part One: Tales of the Ancestral Powers, p. 18

Wahwee and Nerida: The Water Monster and the Water Lily

"When they were a girl and boy, Nerida and Birwain used to play beside a deep water hole.

They used to dig in the muddy margin for mussels and

never knew how angry they were making Wahwee, to whom the hole belonged.

There used to come a roar of thunder, and when it was very loud, 

they used to drop their mussel shells and run home to their mothers' camps.

But they did not know that this roaring thunder was really Wahwee's voice,

threatening them with a flood if his mussel shells were not given back;

for Wahwee was the greediest of water spirits;

he would allow no one to touch anything belonging to him."

 

What a fascinating read about Aboriginal women's cultural practices, rituals, and spiritual power this book is!

 

Saved from drowning by Aboriginal friends in her childhood,

Katie Langloh Parker became forever drawn to the depths of their culture. 

After marrying in 1875, she moved to the outback with her husband to a sheep property where she gathered, translated, and published a collection of Aboriginal tales in the late 1800s from many of her Aboriginal friends who lived or worked nearby.

 

Johanna Lambert's commentary offers her spiritual interpretation of the tales. 

 

Such an interesting book that highlights how connections can be made through storytelling!

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A Reading Nook Inspiration!

How lucky was I to snap these five fluffballs (Australian Shelduck ducklings) at Manning Lake yesterday?

They were following Mum and Dad across the park. See full video here.

What a beautiful space for a reading nook and to enjoy some time in Nature!

 

💚 Enjoy Every Moment!! 💚

#WiseWomenOfTheDreamtime #DreamtimeTales #AboriginalMythology

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