Wollunqua, also written Wollunka or Wollunkua, is a

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

-god of

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...

and fertility in

Australian Aboriginal mythology Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology is the sacred spirituality represented in the stories performed by Aboriginal Australians within each of the language groups across Australia in their ceremonies. Aboriginal spirituality includes ...

of the Warramunga people of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

of Australia, a variation of the "

Rainbow Serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion ...

" present in the

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

of many other

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

peoples. The snake, which emerged from a watering hole called Kadjinara in the

Murchison Ranges __NOTOC__ Iytwelepenty / Davenport Range, or Davenport Ranges National Park (Iytwellepenty), previously the Davenport Murchison National Park, is a national park in the Northern Territory of Australia about south-east of the territorial capital ...

, is said to be many miles long. When speaking of the Wollunqua snake in public, the name ''urkulu nappaurinnia'' is used, because if they were to call it too often by its real name they would lose control and it would come out and devour them all. It can place the

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

in the sky at will. Wollunqua is a totemic ancestor of the Warramunga people, specifically the Uluuru

moiety Moiety may refer to: Chemistry * Moiety (chemistry), a part or functional group of a molecule ** Moiety conservation, conservation of a subgroup in a chemical species Anthropology * Moiety (kinship), either of two groups into which a society is ...

of the tribe. Amongst the Warramunga tribe, the snake totems are of considerable importance, the great majority of individuals of the Uluuru moiety belonging either to the Wollunqua, Thalaualla (black snake), or Tjudia ( deaf adder) totems; but at the same time the Wollunqua is undoubtedly the most important, and is regarded as the great father of all of the snakes. Wollunqua originated at a certain spot in the Wingara time, and wandered about over the country. He started from the watering hole Kadjinara in the upper part of a rocky gorge in the Murchison Range, and travelled thence away out to the west. A different tradition says that he stood up and tried to go down into the earth so as to return to Thapauerlu, but could not do so until he reached a place called Ununtumurra, where at last he succeeded, and, diving down, travelled back underground to Thapauerlu, where he has lived ever since. Setting out towards the east, he travelled at first underground, coming up at various spots where he performed

ceremonies A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''. Church and civil (secular ...

and left behind large numbers of spirit children, forming local totemic centres when he passed on. There are eleven spots which are especially associated with him in connection with his wanderings. The first is called Pitingari. Here, there is a water-hole where the old Wollunqua is reported to have come out of the earth and looked around. Still travelling on underground, the Wollunqua reached and halted at a place called Antipataringa. From Antipataringa the Wollunqua, still travelling underground, went on to Tjunguniari, and there he came out and walked about amongst the sand-hills, or rather, the head end of the body came out, for he was so long that although he had travelled very many miles away from his home at Kadjinara, his tail end still remained there. The last place on his wanderings, Ununtumurra, is especially important in the Wollonqua ceremonies.

References

Rainbow serpent deities Australian Aboriginal gods Fertility gods Sky and weather gods Legendary serpents Rain deities {{deity-stub