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.