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I want to share this with you: You know stars have always been integral to ancient cultures and have been especially useful for navigation. Our people gazed at the stars to make sense of the reason for human existence. I wish to acknowledge my mother for sharing this story with me:

A long time ago when the world was formed, Birrugan was an ancestral hero. He was a man who could transform into a Magpie goose. He was known to live between species, and he was one powerful creator of the landscape.

At the time of creation, species and humans were mixed in a primeval soup. It was the ancestral heroes who were able to separate it. All humans are made of the same stuff.

Birrugan travelled to the coast and created islands, he traveled from Nambucca Heads to Seal Rocks along the beaches. Seal Rocks is our most important site. It is a nature reserve located 32 kilometers south of the entrance to Forster on the lower north coast of New South Wales. The Seal Rocks Nature Reserve consists of two exposed low-lying rocks, less than one hectare in size.

The beaches were our highways, and this can only able be translated as a dreaming track. (I remind everyone the word dreaming has been widely misused.) It has been the journey taken yearly by local tribes for thousands of years.

He met people on the way, including a young woman who indicated she would like to be his wife using a digging stick. He was a good hunter and fighter, and he protected his family. He possessed the qualities required to be a good husband.

He took her as his wife, and her sister as their companion. This is important. She is with him, but she has a family who needs to be looked after.

At Seal Rocks, they ascend into the sky and form the Southern Cross constellation, which lies one third of the way between the equator and the southern celestial pole. Its stars vary in brightness, one of the first magnitude, two of the second magnitude and one of the third magnitude.

The neighbouring stars Alpha and Beta Centauri are known as the Pointers. The Southern Cross has been an ancient teaching tool and it involves many creation stories. One is marriage law.

Marriage is not a given, because one needs to be fit for the responsibility — it had to be earned, and it is one reason explaining the fact we do not always get what we want. It feeds the gift-giving aspects of our culture, and it has become a paradigm for proper marriage, which has been enacted within the Birrugan story. Marriage is a gift.

I am inspired by the fact the Southern Cross constellation is inscribed on our Australian flag.

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Originally published at Big River Impact Foundation.
Photo: BigStock