This story reveals how the stars of the Seven Sisters visited the earth and asked the Milky Way to bring them down in a creek in the desert, where they were turned into people. Seven hunters showed them the emus, goannas, and the blackbirds. It was the first time the sisters had seen human men. The hunters showed the sisters where to collect plant food in their coolamons. At night time six of the sisters jumped onto the Milky Way and became stars again. One of the hunters pleaded with the seventh sister to stay on earth. Realising what was happening, the seventh sister climbed into the sky where all her sisters were glowing. The seventh star is the seventh sister trying to catch up with her sisters. The hunters, now old men with white hair, tell this story to their children and grandchildren, sitting around a campfire.
Reggie Sultan’s story introduces young readers to Aboriginal Astronomy. Older readers can interpret the narrative for its depiction of transgressive behaviour regarding relationships between men and women.
Reggie Sultan Apengarte was born in Alice Springs in 1955. He is a Kaytja Aboriginal man from the Barrow Creek north Central Desert area. This is his mother's country, 280 kilometres north of Alice Springs. His father was descended from Afghan camel drivers. Reggie was told the story of the Seven Sisters by the mother of his brother’s Pitjanjara girlfriend. His illustrations for The Seven Sisters reflect his fusion of contemporary and traditional styles. The naïve earthly figures of the hunters are boldly depicted against Namatjira style landscapes of recognisable iconic Northern Territory landforms. The perspective of the celestial Seven Sisters is told against speckled splotchy backgrounds, in the dot painting style from Reggie’s mother’s country of Barrow Creek and Neutral Junction. Another retelling of this story, also included in this database, is entitled, ‘The Legend of the Seven Sisters: a Traditional Aboriginal Story from Western Australia’ written by May L O’Brien and illustrated by Sue Wyatt.
Series: Australian Aboriginal Culture
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
