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Starry skies, bright-eyed people – and
sparkling-dark shadows of Spirituals!
This is a groundbreaking work in indigenous astronomy and
cosmology. It faithfully records, pictures, maps, investigates
and discusses celestial relationships in the ancient Aboriginal
rock art and present traditional culture of Wardaman lands
and people. Senior Elder Bill Harney shows how night skies
are integral to stories, art, ceremonies and normal practices
in an original traditional human cosmos.
Dark Sparklers is perhaps the first integrated indigenous
astronomy published anywhere in the world. Uniquely it presents
the intellectual world of this Aboriginal people.
You can read the book in 5 main ways (and dip into it, and
go through it backwards too!):
- Indented and direct, Bill Harney’s
own words reveal the Aboriginal oral traditions he saw
and learned from his mother and Law Man uncle Joe Jomorrnji,
in a childhood hidden in heavy bush from Welfare, and
in later years as he gained knowledge to become the Senior
Elder.
- Visually, you can view the photographs
and sketches with the commentaries that introduce them,
so the story is learned in pictures.
- You can peruse the sky-maps through the
book to get a feel for how stories move in and through
the particular stars, star-groups and constellations.
- You can view the computer-illustrations
of great dust-gas nebulae as these cosmic wonders fill
the story with Cosmic Presences.
- You can read the main text to hear Hugh
Cairns’ reflections on what he was hearing and seeing
when Bill Harney and he talked together, observing night
skies under the stars at campfire or in rooms with maps.
BUY
IT NOW!
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