09/11/2026
In the Dreaming of north-western Australian Aboriginal Groups who live on the coast - comes the story of the first fire on Earth. Two brothers, who lived within the Southern Cross, named Kanbi and Jitabidi, came down from the sky and brought their fire-sticks with them and left them on the ground while they went off hunting. Food was scare in the sky world at the time, so they had come down to hunt for possums. The story says that while the hunters were away the firesticks became bored, so they started to chase each other and dance around the place. This resulted in the flames from the sticks setting fire to the bush and burning out the countryside. The hunters, realising that the firesticks had caused the fire, rushed back to their earthly camp and placed the firesticks back in the sky - where they can still be seen today as the stars Alpha & Beta Centauri. Before this time there was no fire on the Earth and the local Aboriginal People realised that fire could be used to cook food and keep warm. Now all Aboriginals use the fire that once only belonged to the men of the Southern Cross. This story was depicted by the renown Australian artist Ainslie Roberts in 1965.
