Hello, my name is Warren Foster.
A Yuin Djiringanj man from Wallaga Lake.
And I'm here to tell you a story of Joolah the lyrebird and Goorgaty the frog.
So long, long ago, way back in the Dreamtime all the animals, all the moojingarls, all the birds, all the feathered and all the fur animals all used to come together for a big Bunaan, big corroboree.
And so, all the animals all got together, and all the birds all got together.
They grabbed all their best dancers—Mooreeya the emu and Booroo the kangaroo.
Mooreeya the emu and Booroo the kangaroo were the last two, because they were like mad, deadly dancers.
And Booroo, he jumped around, made a lot of dust fly.
Mooreeya was watching him and he seen it.
So he came in stomping and doing mad moves.
The birds were the winners of that dance competition.
So they were getting ready for the next competition, which was a running race.
All the birds got Mooreeya the emu because he was a real fast runner, and the fur animals got Booroo the kangaroo.
And as they was getting ready, doing all their stretching and stuff, Goorgaty the frog—he was sitting under the tree, and he was watching them.
First, Goorgaty, he had the most loveliest voice you can hear in all the land.
And you used to hear him singing, using his voice, singing around.
And he also could imitate all the animals, all the birds and all the fur animals, like Bungadung the wombat and Budalleema the wallaby.
And he also liked making trouble with his special gift.
He started using the voice of Booroo the kangaroo, and said to Mooreeya the emu,
“Mooreeya … you think you so good.
You think you're so big, you're the biggest bird in the land.
And … you can't even fly!”
So Mooreeya looked around at Booroo and he said,
“What was that?”
And Booroo, he didn't know what was going on.
He turned around and said,
“I didn't say nothing.”
And Goorgaty the frog used Mooreeya’s voice and said to Booroo,
“You're the biggest animal on this land and you can't even run.
You think you're so deadly.
You think you're so good.
Even little Boogalee the mouse can beat you running.”
So Booroo turned around to Mooreeya, real angry and wild,
“What did you say?”
And Mooreeya didn't know what was going on.
All the time, Goorgaty the frog was sitting under the tree.
He was giggling to himself “hee hee”.
The kangaroo and the emu, Mooreeya, started fighting.
All of the fur creatures all got together, and all the feathered creatures all got together, and they was all in a big fight.
The dust flying everywhere, squawking, squeaking, screeching, fur flying.
Dust flying.
The Creator came down and he asked them,
“What's going on here?
What?
Why ya’s all fighting?”
And no one could answer.
So he asked the two big fellows—Booroo and Moreeya, the kangaroo and emu.
“What's going on?
What happened here?”
“It was Booroo!
He said that I was the biggest bird, but I couldn't fly.”
Booroo said, “No, I never said that.”
“He said I was the biggest animal in the land and I couldn't run.
Boogalee the little mouse, he can run faster than me.”
Mooreeya said, “No, I didn't say that.”
And they’re going back and forwards.
So the Creator looked around and he saw Joolah the lyrebird.
He was sitting up on the rock.
And back in the Dreamtime, Joolah, he had no voice.
He couldn't really talk.
He was just observing them.
He wasn't really participating in all the competitions and the dances and that because, he didn't have enough confidence.
He was ashamed.
So the Creator called him down and touched his voice, touched his throat, gave him a voice just to talk.
He said, “Well, what happened?”
“Goorgaty was under the tree.
And he said in Booroo’s voice that Mooreeya was the biggest bird, but he couldn't fly.
And Djirrit-Djirrit the willy wagtail can fly higher.
He used Mooreeya’s voice and told Booroo that you're the biggest animal and you can't even run.
Boogalee …
Boogalee the mouse, he can run faster than you.
All that big fight started, he was sitting under the tree laughing.”
So the Creator called Goorgaty the frog over and asked him, “Did you start all this struggle?”
He nodded his head.
Creator took his voice from the frog—took a lovely, beautiful singing voice.
He gave it to the lyrebird.
He also gave him, the lyrebird, lovely tail feathers.
So now, these days, when you're walking in the bush, you can hear the lyrebird singing out and dancing.
And he talks to all the birds and all the other animals, and he can imitate all, all different sounds.
And because the frog, Goorgaty, he mucked up and he misused his special gift—
He got an old croaky voice now, and he only ever croak around.
Yeah… the story of the lyrebird and the frog.
Joolah and Goorgaty.
