The Emu in the Sky: reading the dark shapes of the Milky Way

A shape made of darkness

On a clear night, far away from city lights, the Milky Way stretches across the sky like a band of glowing mist. That glow comes from countless faint stars in our own galaxy. But look closely and you will notice something else: dark patches and winding lanes where the glow seems to disappear.

Those dark shapes are huge clouds of dust and gas, called dark nebulae, that block the light of the stars behind them. Most constellations you may know, like the Southern Cross, are made by joining up bright stars. Many First Nations peoples also read the dark spaces. These shapes are often called dark constellations.

The most famous of them all is the Emu in the Sky. Its head is the Coalsack, an inky patch right beside the Southern Cross. Its long neck stretches past the two bright Pointers, and its body is the thick, dark band of dust near the constellation Scorpius. Some communities also see its legs, trailing further along the Milky Way.

Many Nations, many names

Records of an emu in the Milky Way come from many parts of Australia, including communities in Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. One of the earliest written records, from Victoria in the 1850s, describes an emu living in the dark patch beneath the Southern Cross.

Each Nation has its own language, its own names and its own knowledge. The Wiradjuri people of central New South Wales call the sky emu Gugurmin. To the Kamilaroi (also spelt Gamilaraay) and Euahlayi peoples of northern New South Wales it is Gawarrgay, while the emu that walks on the ground is dhinawan.

This knowledge and these stories belong to their communities, and they differ from Nation to Nation. Some knowledge is shared openly and some is not. The seasonal knowledge below is what Kamilaroi and Euahlayi people chose to share with researchers, who published it in 2014 with a Euahlayi Law Man as one of the authors.

A calendar written in the sky

As Earth travels around the Sun, the night sky slowly shifts. At the same time each evening, the Milky Way sits in a slightly different place from month to month. So the Emu seems to change its pose through the year, and each pose carries a message.

In Kamilaroi and Euahlayi knowledge, the Emu's head and neck appear in the evening sky around March. In April and May, the whole Emu stretches out after sunset, from the south towards the south-east. It seems to have legs and to be running, like a female emu chasing a male. This is when real emus are mating and laying eggs, so the sky reminds people that emu eggs can be found.

By June and July, the legs have disappeared. Now the Emu is seen as a male sitting on his nest. In August and September the neck fades, leaving a rounded shape like an egg: a sign that the chicks are hatching and it is no longer time to collect eggs. Around November, the Emu sits low on the horizon and is said to be resting in a waterhole, at a time of year when waterholes are usually full after the winter rains.

Sky and land working together

The sky Emu matches the real birds remarkably well. The Australian Museum says emus breed from about April to June and nest in winter. The female lays large, dark bluish-green eggs and then wanders off. The male sits on them for around eight weeks, without eating, drinking or leaving the nest.

That is why this knowledge is so useful. Knowing when eggs are laid, and when chicks are growing inside them, tells people when eggs can be gathered and when to leave them alone. Researchers describe it as a way of managing an important food and caring for Country, passed down through generations.

The researchers also recorded an idea that runs through this knowledge: what is up there is also down here. The Emu in the sky and the emus on the ground are part of the same story.

How to find the Emu yourself

The best time to look is on a clear evening between April and July. You will need a dark sky, well away from streetlights, because light pollution from towns and cities washes the dark shapes away.

Face south and find the Southern Cross and its two bright Pointers. Right next to the Cross is a dark patch with hardly any stars in it: that is the Emu's head. Now follow the dark lane along the Milky Way, past the Pointers, until it widens into the Emu's body near Scorpius.

You will be seeing something people on this continent have watched and understood for a very long time. If you want to learn the sky knowledge of the Country where you live, ask your local Aboriginal community, land council or language centre. They can share what is right to share.

📚 Words to know

Dark nebula

A huge cloud of dust and gas in space that blocks the light of the stars behind it, so it looks like a dark patch.

Dark constellation

A shape in the sky made from the dark spaces of the Milky Way, instead of from lines joining bright stars.

Milky Way

Our home galaxy. From Earth it looks like a glowing band of countless faint stars across the night sky.

Incubate

To keep eggs warm until they hatch. Male emus do all the incubating.

Country

A word many First Nations people use for the lands, waters and skies they are connected to, together with the law, language and culture that belong with them.

🧪 Try this: spot the Emu, or make your own dark constellation

1. On a clear night between April and July, ask an adult to take you somewhere dark, away from streetlights. Give your eyes about 20 minutes to get used to the dark.
2. Face south and find the Southern Cross and the two bright Pointers beside it. Look for the dark, almost starless patch next to the Cross: the Emu's head.
3. Trace the dark lane of the Milky Way from the head towards Scorpius. Can you see a long neck and a big body? Sketch what you see, and write down the date and time.
4. Look again about a month later, at the same time of night. Has the Emu changed its pose?
5. Cloudy, or too many city lights? Make a starry sky instead: dip an old toothbrush in white paint and flick it over black paper. When it dries, look at the dark gaps between the dots and trace a creature or object you can see.