In the beginning, when the world was new, there was no
sun and the humans and animals had to hunt and gather by the light of the
dim moon. One day the brolga and the emu had a huge argument over
whose babies were best. The brolga got so furious that she stole one of
the emu’s eggs which she threw into the sky. As she threw it into
the air it smashed on a few sticks. The yellow yolk burst into flames and
lit up the earth. The beauty of the land could
be seen for the first time by the people of the sky. They thought the land
was so beautiful that they decided to light a giant fire as soon as the
morning star appeared. This
didn’t work all the time because on an overcast day the
star couldn’t be seen.
The star people decided to ask the Kookaburra to help because of his loud, striking call. He was asked to call every morning so that they knew when to light the sun.
That’s why the kookaburra can be heard first thing every
morning before the fire starts to burn. The fire only lets a small
amount of light and heat, and gradually it gets hotter and brighter.
During the day, after
it brightens, the fire begins to burn out, so the light
dims again.