Baiami and the emu chase: an astronomical interpretation of a Wiradjuri Dreaming associated with the Burbung

A Wiradjuri Dreaming connected to the Aboriginal creation ancestor Baiami, and enacted during a Burbung male initiation ceremony, was recorded by the Australian anthropologist R.H. Mathews in 1896. We investigate this further and conclude that the Dreaming most likely relates to the annual movements of the constellations in the Wiradjuri night sky, with Baiami represented by the stars in the Greek constellation of Orion, and the terrestrial emu featured in the Dreaming represented by the Wiradjuri ‗dark‘ constellation of Gugurmin the Celestial Emu, formed from the dust bands of the Milky Way. The Celestial Emu may also represent Daramulun, another important ancestral figure associated with the Burbung, whose spirit descends from the Milky Way in emu form to take part in the male initiation ceremony. The Dreaming narrative has parallels with the Greek myth of Orion and the scorpion, represented by the constellation of Scorpius, in eternal pursuit of each other in the sky throughout the year. The Dreaming narrative recorded by Mathews also suggests a reference to the orientation of Baiami in Orion. He appears to be oriented the same way in the sky as Orion from Greek mythology, which is upside-down as seen from a Southern Hemisphere perspective. This is consistent with rock art depictions of Baiami from the Sydney Basin, and that of Nyeeruna, a creation ancestor of the Kokatha and Ngalea peoples from the Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, which shares similar characteristics and attributions with Baiami. The alternative ‗right-side-up‘ orientation is also being investigated and will be the subject of a follow-up paper.