In Aboriginal Dream-time stories from this area, “Taggan” was the spirit of the Rainbow.
Whenever the end of the rainbow touched the water, Taggan would leave small crystal stones, and the Aborigines seemed to know exactly where to dive for these prized stones.
Only one or two older, experienced men in a tribe would be allowed to have these stones which they believed gave them special powers to bring thunder, cure disease, or bring rain.
These special men were called “Turwrans”.
One of the great Turrwans of our area was Dalaipi. The local people looked on him as their Rain Maker.
Tom Petrie tells of how Dalaipi wanted to make rain come once, and dove into the North Pine River with his tomahawk to look for a “taggan” stone quite close to where I took this picture today.
The North Pine Tribe believed that in winter, the flying foxes hid under the water where the “taggan stops”, and that they waited till the warm weather came back before returning.
Today I couldn’t see any rainbow spirits, or flying foxes, but I thought a lot about Dalaipi and this place that was special to him.
(Source: “Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland” by Constance Campbell Petrie)
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