In the

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 include ...

of the

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

of south-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, Loo-errn (Looern, Lohan, Lo-an) is the spirit ancestor and guardian of the

Brataualung people The Brataualung are an Indigenous Australian people, one of the five tribes of Gippsland, in the state of Victoria, Australia, and part of a wider regional grouping known as the Kurnai. Language Brataualung language is a variety of what is ge ...

, and is also described as an ancestor of the

Bunurong people The Boonwurrung, also spelt Bunurong or Bun wurrung, are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land from the Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory in the Australian state of Victoria. Their territory in ...

. Loo-errn had his home at Yiruk/Wamoon, and controlled the land between Hoddle's Creek and Yiruk/Wamoon, known as ''Marr-ne-beek''. The myth of Loo-errn holds that if any one not belonging to his country passed through it without his consent, he died an awful death as soon as he arrived at the end of his journey. Loo-errn was great and very powerful. The Loo-errn myth stretches from Coorong, South Australia, to Wilsons Promontory, and is described thus: Loo-errn and his wife Lo-an-tuka were sitting and eating their usual meal of eel when a black swan feather fell from the sky and alerted Looern to the presence of the two Koonawara sisters (black swans) whom he decided to follow to try and kill to eat. When he followed them onto Wathaurong country, the Elders warned the sisters to stay away from him but he cursed them and turned the sisters into nasty beings. When the Elders then banished Looern, he chased the sisters across the sky and each time he landed he created granite formations such as the You Yangs (Wurdi Youang) and the formations north and west of Anakie, both south of the Parwan, as well as several other locations extending to Wilsons Promontory.

Footnotes

Australian Aboriginal gods {{deity-stub