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The Aboriginal explanation of how
Mount Elephant and Mount Buninyong
were formed
as
explained to the early settlers
Mount Elephant and Mount Buninyong were once brave warriors.
Mount Elephant was in possession of a stone axe and Mount Buninyong offered him some gold in exchange for it.
Having agreed, they met (at what is now the Pitfield diggings) to exchange the axe for the gold.
Some time later Buninyong changed his mind and wanted his gold back, Elephant refused and Buninyong sent him a fighting message and Elephant accepted his challenge.
Once again they met (at the Pitfield diggings) and the fight began, Elephant buried his spear into Buninyong’s side, (the hole left by the wound can be seen to this day).
Elephant received a deadly blow to the head from Buninyong with the stone axe, (the gaping hole in Elephant’s head can also still be seen).
The two warriors, mortally wounded, retired in opposite directions and their bodies turned into mountains at the spot where they died.
These are the two mountains we see today with the wounds as mentioned above.
Mount Elephant was known as Djerrinallum to the local Aboriginal clan, the Djerrinallum gundidj.
Djerrinallum means “nest of sea swallows” and probably refers to a habitat for those birds.
Mount Buninyong was called Puninyong by the Northern Wathawurrung clans.
The local clan was the Keyeet balug and the name Puninyong means
“big hill like knee”
Story courtesy of the Aboriginal Art Centre Ballarat.
Paintings courtesy of the Aboriginal art centre website
http://www.aboriginalartcentre.com.au