There was once a time when this land and all its creatures were new, very new, and all the birds, animals and other creatures shared a common language; when humans could interchange their form or personality with that of the animals and birds.

The concept of death and dying was unknown, it was still in the early days of the dreaming. As you might expect though, eventually a death did occur.

One evening a young cockatoo fell from its nest and lay lifeless on the ground with its neck broken.

The first people and all the birds and animals gathered round in a big crowd, very concerned and quite frightened. This was something that they had no concept of, they did not understand.

A great crowd stood around silently watching as the humans tried, unsuccessfully, to revive the bird.

After a time the Elders of the group decided that the spirits must have chosen to take the life of the cockatoo so that it could be transformed or used in some new way.

Still, they were very puzzled by this new occurrence. They all agreed they needed to experiment further.

They called for volunteers. At first no one at all was keen to die so that the process could be studied by the others, but after a time the lowly caterpillars stepped forward and offered their services.

It was understood that the phenomenom of death, from what they had seen with the young cockatoo, meant that those creatures involved in the experiment had to reach a stage where they were totally still.

They had to reach a stage in which they did not move at all, or eat, see, hear, or do anything at all.

It was agreed that somehow the caterpillars had to mesmerize themselves into such a state and then maintain it for a period of time, to see what would happen.

A protective cocoon was duly woven for each caterpillar. The cocoons were attached to the limbs of the tallest trees, some of which almost reached up to the sky world. All through the long , cold winter the cocoons hung there in that place. At first the eager people watched them with great anticipation, but the days and weeks went by and there was no change, no magic transformation, nothing at all to see.

Of course the people became very disappointed . Meanwhile, they kept themselves busy gathering food, making tools, learning to build shelters and generally helping each other.

Indeed, they were so busy most of them quite forgot about the caterpillars who had crawled into those dark cocoons, so many months ago.

Some had decided that to die meant nothing, no transformation, others still waited, hopefully .

During this beginning period of time the pattern of the four seasons was still developing.

The people were pleased indeed when, after the long, bleak, cold winter, the earth gradually began to warm up yet again. They were delighted to see the new buds burst and bloom into flower, the leaves again growing on the bare trees, and most of all to feel the sun becoming warmer and warmer each day.

The people were so pleased they planned a big feast and corroboree, to show their gratitude to the Creator spirit for all the joys of the new season, which we now know as spring.

The celebration feasts had only just begun when a huge swarm of dragonflies flew in among the people.

"Look up! Look up !".They cried, "Look up at the cocoons. They are splitting open!".

A breathless hush fell upon the crowd as all eyes turned expectantly towards the tall trees.

Each person gasped in wonder and amazement as, one after another, the cocoons opened, letting loose a host of butterflies, the like of which had never been seen before.

The delicate creatures fluttered gently down to be admired. They spread their fragile, multi-colored wings, the colors of which shone radiantly, iridescently, in the soft light. They rested gracefully on the nearby trees and bushes and flowers. They looked splendid.

All the people watched in quiet delight. They were well pleased their experiment had been successful.

The dull, ordinary caterpillars had indeed been magically and wonderfully transformed. It was a most exciting result and the people, after that, lost their fear of death. After such a demonstration, they would always see the process of death as a stage, as a still and silent stage, prior to a wondrous and exciting transformation, a new beginning.

Now, centuries have passed, and generation after generation of koori people have been born and lived out their lives in this land. And all of them, together with most people from other areas, have continued to hold this belief firmly in their hearts. Every spring their faith is renewed as yet another cluster of beautiful butterflies has magically emerged.

There was a time when all the tribes spoke the one tongue.

Every man understood what the stranger said and no man stumbled over strange words or was thought foolish in the silence that comes when the one cannot speak to the other. There were many tribes and there was one language, thus knowledge passed easily between them and friendship bound tribe to tribe, but the marriage laws that forbade those of one tribe from marrying those of another caused dissatisfaction among them, so the old men met and then announced that the members of all tribes could intermarry. A Dingo man could marry a Goanna woman; a Kangaroo woman could marry an Emu man, and so on through all the tribes.

But some tribes were angry at this change in the law. They refused to accept the ruling of the old men and they sharpened their spears and stood their ground. And the people that were angered the most were those of the Tortoise, the Frog, and -the, Crow tribes.

Then the old men called a meeting of the tribes so that the matter could be discussed between them. But those in favour of the change had no faith in the meeting. They prepared for an attack from the Tortoise, the Frog, and the Crow tribes, for these people were warriors. They brought forth their boomerangs, their nulla-nullas and their spears, and they waited. But the men of the Tortoise, the Frog, and the Crow tribes knew that they were outnumbered, and they made a plan whereby the tribes who favoured the changing of the law would fight between themselves and thus be destroyed. When all the tribes were together on the day arranged, the Tortoise, the Frog, and the Crow people started to sing and dance. When one tired another took his place. They pounded the earth and shouted, nor would they stop when it was customary that all should cat. Those that watched them did not leave the corroboree ground, for to do so in the midst of singing and dancing would have brought evil happenings upon them. So they stayed and their hunger grew and grew and their limbs ached and their eyes crew heavy in their heads. For three days the Tortoise and Crow and Frog people danced and sang, and on the third day the hunger and fatigue of those who watched made these tribesmen irritable and bitter-.tongued. They spoke angrily to each other and men struck their friends The common tongue made all understand the insults that were shouted from one tribesman to another, and anger grew to rage. So that the people rose to their feet and fought together. and the fighting between friends was more terrible than the fighting between enemies. Many were slain and the tribes parted in hate. Then each tribe resolved that they would never again speak the language of other tribes. Each tribe created a language of its own so that what they said was for themselves alone. And thus it is today