A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Quarrian and Gidgereegah follow a hunted kangaroo to a creek where Gwineeboo and Goomai have killed and hidden it. The women deny seeing it and offer mussels, but Gwineeboo’s child keeps asking for kangaroo. The hunters leave, hide nearby and return when the women retrieve the carcass. Claiming the animal because they pursued it, the men cook it apart and refuse to share with the women or the crying child, saying that their leftovers will go to hawks instead.

The women shelter with the child and call up a destructive storm. When the hunters seek refuge, they are refused shelter in return for their earlier refusal of food. The storm would have killed them, but the narrative says they are changed first into birds and afterward into stars. They remain in the sky with the kangaroo between them, retaining their names. The sequence therefore includes two successive changes; neither a particular bird species nor modern astronomical star names are assigned in the chapter.

Kangaroo ownership disputeRefused food and shelterBird transformationSubsequent star placement
01

Origins & earliest records

K. Langloh Parker, Australian Legendary Tales (1896), The Gwineeboos the Redbreasts. Narran-region collection; individual narrator unspecified.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete published English chapter supplies the stated sequence and ending. Its account is situated in Parker’s historical collection and not universalised across Australian communities.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Australian Legendary Tales: The Gwineeboos the Redbreasts

    K. Langloh Parker · 1896

    Complete selected chapter; historical editorial witness, with no independently inspected original-language recording.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary historical collected narrativeParker: The Gwineeboos the RedbreastsResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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