Wodjin- Aboriginal Australian SpiritSpirit
Also known as: Wodjan
Description
A Wanjina spirit of the Ngarinyin people who summoned the great flood at Tunbai. When children plucked the feathers from the owl Dumbi, the maimed bird flew to Wodjin for justice. Wodjin stroked his beard to bring heavy rain, gathered brolgas to stamp quicksand into the plains, and drowned the offenders in a catastrophic deluge.
Mythology & Lore
The Flood at Tunbai
In the Ngarinyin country of the Kimberley, an owl called Dumbi lived among the people. One day, a boy and a girl from a nearby tribe began to tease the owl, pelting him and plucking out all his feathers until he was maimed and humiliated. Stripped of his plumage, Dumbi flew to the Wanjina spirit Wodjin and begged for justice.
Wodjin called all the Wanjina from throughout the country and told them he would bring a great flood. At a place called Wanalirri, the Wanjina gathered a large flock of brolgas and set them stamping on a vast black soil plain, churning the earth into quicksand. Then Wodjin stroked his beard, and heavy rain began to fall. The waters rose into a great flood that swept toward the people gathered near the spring at Tunbai. Many drowned. Those who tried to flee became trapped in the quicksand the brolgas had made.
Not everyone perished. The boy and the girl who had tormented Dumbi were carried to high ground by a kangaroo, riding on its tail to safety above the floodwaters.
The Mouthless Face
Wodjin appears in rock shelter paintings across the Kimberley in the Wanjina's distinctive mouthless form, wide-eyed and silent. The Ngarinyin people repaint these images to ensure the wet season returns and the land stays fertile. David Mowaljarlai, a Ngarinyin elder and lawman, painted Wodjin as a subject in his own art, carrying the spirit's story into the twentieth century.
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