Namarrgon is an indigenous Australian creation ancestor, a powerful spirit of the Arnhem Land plateau in the Kakadu region responsible for violent monsoon storms of Northern Australia. In the indigenous stories of Namarrgon, violent lightning and thunder storms each tropical summer are associated with the axes he throws, splitting the clouds to cause thunder and lightning as the axes strike the ground.
” All things in the landscape were left by the creation ancestors. They taught Aboriginal people how to live with the land. From then on Aboriginal people became keepers of their country. “
– Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre
Namarrgon resides in the sandstone cliffs of the Arnhem Land plateau but the Creation story tells his travel inland, moving from the coastline toward the sandstone cliffs where he leaves an eye on the escarpment, ever gazing eastward where he waits for the summer storm season. The summer monsoon lightning storms are preceded by vast numbers of Leichhardt’s Grasshoppers, called the alyurr in the indigenous languages, representing Namarrgon’s children. While feasting on the pityrodia plants, the alyurr call to Namarrgon who responds with the lightning and thunder storms of the coming monsoon.
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