This story tells about the creation of Kangaroo Island. It is of the Ngarrindjeri people, whose country land in Australia extended from the upper Murray River to Cape Jaffa in the South East. The story is passed down from many generations about the great Ngurunderi and his two wives.
NGURUNDERI AND PONDI
As Ngurunderi paddled his bark canoe along the small stream, he was able to spear a very large cod which he named Pondi. The great fish struggled so fiercely that it widened the river with its tail and flooded the nearby swamps and billabongs by spilling the water over the banks.
THE RUNAWAY WIVES
Ngurunderi was searching for his runaway wives in the southern end of the Coorong. He searched for many years and continued searching as far south as the lakes, continuing all the way to the beach along the Murray River until reaching Encounter Bay. Here he finally found his wives laughing and splashing in the shallow water.
THE PAGES
Ngurunderi finally found his wives who had deserted him and was full of anger. He summoned a great storm that caused the waters to rise and drown his wives. His wives spirits were formed into the two rugged and rocky islands known as the Pages.
THE LAST WALK
When Ngurunderi's anger subsided he realised what a dreadful thing he had done to his wives. He fled over to Kangaroo Island, full of remorse, to try and cleanse his soul. Here he rested in the scrub among logs, gum trees, yaccas, and sheoks. The morning sighing sound among the trees helped him to temporarily forget about his terrible actions.
THE FINAL ACTION
Ngurunderi rested a long time on Kangaroo Island. The time had come for him to return to his heavenly home. His final action on earth was to leave instructions for his people to follow his steps to the western end of Kangaroo Island and pay respects to the rugged Pages Islands. In remorse for his wives, he leapt from a cliff into the sea and drowned, but his cleansed spirit rose to the sky.
