Australian Aboriginal astronomy
At the head of the emu, the Southern Cross is easily spotted in the sky, and there are many different interpretations of this constellation across Australia. Several groups identify it as an eagle, a sky god, or both. For the Arrernte, it represents the foot of Waluwara, an eagle spirit – the four bright stars mark his talons, and the Coalsack is his nest. To the Ngarrindjeri of South Australia, the Southern Cross is a stingray being chased by two sharks. The sharks, which is a sacred totem to the Ngarrindjeri, are represented by Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri. In Victoria, the Boorong people identified the Southern Cross as the possum Bunya hiding from an emu spirit whose outline could be seen in the Coalsack nebula. To the Wardaman, the Coalsack is the head of a "law man". In 1972, the poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal wrote of the Southern Cross as the hands and feet of a wise leader named Mirabooka, who was given eternal life as a spirit in the sky.