Transcript

A long long time ago the Dharawal people lived in a place called Nuran and Nuran was going really bad. All the water was drying up so there wasn't any creeks or rivers running healthy anymore. All the plant life we starting to die off because they couldn't get water, so there wasn't any fruit and vegetables to eat. So they had to move to another place, a better place to live. And there was this great big Dharawal man, his name was Burri burri. He had a huge canoe. The canoe was so big all the Dharawal people could've got on that canoe and went to a better place to live. However, he was a very greedy person. He wouldn't share his canoe. And there was two smaller men Kooala and Junagen who got together and they started the scheme. And koala said to Junagen “well why don't you put Burri burri to sleep and as he's sleeping I'll jump in the canoe with everybody aboard and I'll row to a better place to live”. So Junagen did that he tricked Burri burri into laying down and he pretended to take lice off his back and he put him to sleep eventually. But every now and then Burri burri would say with his eyes still closed is my canoe okay is it still there. And Junagen had these two big sticks right next to him and he would pick one up and he would tap the other one and say yeah can you hear it. It’s still here, it's okay. But then all of a sudden Burri burri wakes up. He realized that he was tricked. So he looks at out to sea, he sees his canoe being rowed away by Kooala and everybody else aboard. So him and Junagen have a fight on the rocks, Junagen got one of those sticks and he stabbed Burri burri in the top of the head with it. But Burri burri was so big and strong he just picked Junagen up and he just threw him down on the rocks and splattered him. He took a different shape once he's hit the rocks. Then Junagen just rolled off the rocks and he gently drifted down to the bottom of the ocean and as he did so he started to turn into a starfish. Burri burri jumped in the ocean and he started swimming after the canoe. The chase went on for days and days on end. Kooala seen Burri burri coming, so he rowed faster and faster and as he did so he grew great big arms he grew fur all over himself and big ears. Burri burri was swimming so fast he started to take shape as well. He started the change into a big animal that has a large tail, big fins on the side and the bloods coming to the top of his head and then came clear water. He started to turn into a big whale and that's what we call whales, Burri burris. Kooala saw him coming, so he rode faster and faster, so fast that he eventually saw land. And there was another person on the canoe as well. His name was Galoo. He was a crane. But he was a person first and then he started to dance with such excitement that he eventually turned into a crane. They hit land and then what they did is everybody dragged the canoe up onto the shore and they flipped it over so Burri burri couldn't recognize it anymore. Kooala was so tired he just went up into a tree and fell asleep. And he still sleeps there today. Junagen still sleeps at the bottom of the ocean and the little crane, he still dances on Dharawal country. The canoe though, Burri burri can't find it because he can't recognize it anymore, it's been turned upside down. And every year if you look at the sea you see Burri burri going up and down the coastline spouting up water and continuing to look for his canoe.

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