In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Baiame (or Biame, Baayami, Baayama or Byamee) was the creator god and sky father [1] in the Dreaming of several Aboriginal Australian peoples of south-eastern Australia, such as the Wonnarua, Kamilaroi, Guringay, Eora, Darkinjung, and Wiradjuri peoples.
The Baiame story tells how Baiame came down from the sky to the land and created rivers, mountains, and forests. He then gave the people their laws of life, traditions, songs, and culture. He also created the first initiation site. This is known as a bora; a place where boys were initiated into manhood. When he had finished, he returned to the sky and people called him the Sky Hero or All Father or Sky Father. [2]
He is said to have two wives, Ganhanbili and Birrangulu, [3] the latter often being identified as an emu, and with whom he has a son Dharramalan. In other stories Dharramalan is said to be brother to Baiame.[ citation needed ]
It was forbidden to mention or talk about the name of Baiame publicly. Women were not allowed to see drawings of Baiame nor approach Baiame sites, which are often male initiation sites (boras).[ citation needed ]
In rock paintings Baiame is often depicted as a human figure with a large head-dress or hairstyle, with lines of footsteps nearby. He is always painted in front view; Dharramalan is drawn in profile. Baiame is often shown with internal decorations such as waistbands, vertical lines running down the body, bands and dots.[ citation needed ]
The missionary William Ridley adopted the name of Baiame for the Christian God when translating into Gamilaraay (the language of the Kamilaroi). It is sometimes suggested that Baiame was a construct of early Christian missionaries, but K Langloh Parker dated belief in Baiame to (at latest) 1830, prior to missionary activity in the region. [4]
In the area surrounding Awaba (Lake Macquarie) in New South Wales, Australia, [5] [6] he was believed to have created all of the mountains, lakes, rivers and caves in the area. After he finished creating, he jumped back up to the spirit world from Mount Yengo, which he flattened. Its flat top can still be seen to this day, near Wollombi Valley. [7] A cave near Milbrodale contains many Wonnarua Aboriginal paintings, including a large figure of a man who may be Baiame. It is popularly known as the Baiame Cave and is part of a series of rock shelters on an area of 80 hectares. The site is listed on the Register of the National Estate and is considered a sacred site. [8]
The Wonnarua people, otherwise written Wanarruwa, are a group of Aboriginal Australian people united by strong ties of kinship, and who survived in family groups or clans scattered along the inland area of what is now known as the Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. Their creation spirit is Baiami, also known as Koin, the creator of all things and the Keeper of the Valley.
Cessnock is a city in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about 52 km (32 mi) by road west of Newcastle. It is the administrative centre of the City of Cessnock LGA and was named after an 1826 grant of land called Cessnock Estate, which was owned by John Campbell. The local area was once known as "The Coalfields", and it is the gateway city to the vineyards of the Hunter Valley, which includes Pokolbin, Mount View, Lovedale, Broke, Rothbury, and Branxton.
The Awabakal people, are those Aboriginal Australians who identify with or are descended from the Awabakal tribe and its clans, Indigenous to the coastal area of what is now known as the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Their traditional territory spread from Wollombi in the west, to the Lower Hunter River near Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in the north.
The Gamilaraay, also rendered Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Australia.
The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi language is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in south-eastern Australia. It is the traditional language of the Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi), an Aboriginal Australian people. It has been noted as endangered, but the number of speakers grew from 87 in the 2011 Australian Census to 105 in the 2016 Australian Census. Thousands of Australians identify as Gamilaraay, and the language is taught in some schools.
Robert Hamilton Mathews (1841–1918) was an Australian surveyor and self-taught anthropologist who studied the Aboriginal cultures of Australia, especially those of Victoria, New South Wales and southern Queensland. He was a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales and a corresponding member of the Anthropological Institute of London.
Broke is a village of approximately 292 people in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia in Singleton Shire. It is located 157 kilometres (98 mi) to the north of Sydney on the original early colonial road from Sydney to Singleton.
Bora is an initiation ceremony of the Aboriginal people of Eastern Australia. The word "bora" also refers to the site on which the initiation is performed. At such a site, boys, having reached puberty, achieve the status of men. The initiation ceremony differs from Aboriginal culture to culture, but often, at a physical level, involved scarification, circumcision, subincision and, in some regions, also the removal of a tooth. During the rites, the youths who were to be initiated were taught traditional sacred songs, the secrets of the tribe's religious visions, dances, and traditional lore. Many different clans would assemble to participate in an initiation ceremony. Women and children were not permitted to be present at the sacred bora ground where these rituals were undertaken.
Mount Yengo is a mountain that is located in the Lower Hunter region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 668-metre (2,192 ft) mountain is part of the Calore Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, and is situated within the Yengo National Park, approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east of the Macdonald River and 17 kilometres (11 mi) east by south of Putty.
Wollombi is a small village in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is within the Cessnock City Council LGA, situated 29 kilometres (18 mi) southwest of Cessnock and 128 km (80 mi) north of Sydney. To the south is the village of Laguna, to the east, the village of Millfield and to the north, the village of Broke.
Aboriginal sites of New South Wales consist of a large number of places in the Australian state of New South Wales where it is still possible to see visible signs of the activities and culture of the Australian Aboriginals who previously occupied these areas.
Milbrodale is a village in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the local government area of Singleton Council.
Barnumbirr, also known as Banumbirr or Morning Star, is a creator-spirit in the Yolngu culture of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, who is identified as the planet Venus. In Yolngu Dreaming mythology, she is believed to have guided the first humans, the Djanggawul sisters, to Australia. After the Djanggawul sisters arrived safely near Yirrkala in North East Arnhem Land, Barnumbirr flew across the land from east to west, creating a songline which named and created the animals, plants, and geographical features.
Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps are heritage-listed Australian Aboriginal fish traps on the Barwon River at Brewarrina, Brewarrina Shire, New South Wales, Australia. They are also known as Baiame's Ngunnhu, Nonah, or Nyemba Fish Traps. The Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum, opened in 1988, adjoins the site. The fish traps were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 11 August 2000 and to the Australian National Heritage List on 3 June 2005.
The Wodiwodi also pronounced Whardi Whardi peoples are the Indigenous Australian people of New South Wales, a sub-group of the Dharawal nation.
The Yuwaalaraay, also spelt Euahlayi, Euayelai, Eualeyai, Ualarai, Yuwaaliyaay and Yuwallarai, are an Aboriginal Australian people of north-western New South Wales.
Baiame Cave is a heritage-listed cave and cultural site of the Wonnarua people at Milbrodale, Singleton Council, New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Baiame’s Cave, Creator Cave, Dhurramulan, Goign, Wabooee, Baiamai, Biami, Baimae, Biamie, Biaime, Byarmie and Byarme. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 31 July 2015.
Eliza Hamilton Dunlop was an Irish–Australian poet and songwriter, known for composing the poem "The Aboriginal Mother" among others. She was born in County Armagh, Ireland, and was raised by her grandmother and a guardian after her father travelled to India and her mother died. Later she travelled to India to visit her father and discovered that she had two Indian half-sisters. Her writing career began in Ireland while she was still a child. After moving to Australia, her works were published in newspapers there, some set to music by Isaac Nathan after he arrived in Australia in 1841.
Calga Aboriginal Cultural Landscape is a heritage-listed site at Peats Ridge Road, Calga, Central Coast Council, New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Calga Aboriginal Women's Site and Calga Aboriginal Sites. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 October 2019.
Media related to Hunter Valley at Wikimedia Commons