Two Brothers & The Pointer Stars an Australian Aboriginal Legend

This is a legend from the Dreamtime about two young brothers who went up into the Northern Fliders Ranges of South Australia to hunt

There were two young brothers of the tribe who were known as very clever hunters. The tribe desperately needed meat so the brothers decided to make a hunting trip up into the mountains that we now call the Flinders Ranges.

Soon after they had begun to climb they spotted an emu hiding among the boulders and they quickly caught and killed it. They carried it with them as they continued on up into the mountains. However by midday the emu was covered in flies. The brothers tried to drive them away but whatever they did the flies kept returning and increasing in numbers. The brothers became worried that the meat would be spoiled so they eventually decided to light a fire, hoping that the flames and smoke would drive the flies away. It did, but a strong wind blew up and fanned the fire so that it quickly began to spread through the dry grass that was all around. In a short time the whole side of the mountain side was on fire and the two young brothers were trapped.

There was no way they could get back down onto the plains so they scrambled onto a rocky ledge and watched terrified as the fire grew stronger and more widespread. The flames coming closer and closer to them. The brothers were frantic, they could barely breathe because of the smoke and with a great effort they began to climb higher up the cliff until they reached the uppermost tip. Even here they were not safe. The fire reached out to them and the flames burned their skin. There was nothing they could do, there was nowhere else to go. In desperation they began to scream and suddenly they discovered they could fly. They flew up high over the flames and smoke of the fire. Higher and higher into the distant world of the night sky.

The ancestors, who had been watching, had taken pity on them and given them the power of flight to escape the flames. With relief the two men realised they were at last safe and they made their camp in the sky world where they remain till this day. At night their camp fires can still be seen as 'The Pointers', the two bright stars that point to the 'Southern Cross'.