The Dhui Dhui (pronounced Doo-ee Doo-ee) Story appears courtesy of Russell Butler, of the Bandjin People. The sea country belonging to the Bandjin (‘Saltwater’) people includes Hinchinbrook Island and Lucinda Point on the adjoining mainland of north Queensland, as well as Gould and Garden Islands and part of Dunk Island.
Long ago, two boys paddled out in a canoe south
of Dunk Island (Coonangalbah) and dropped their stone anchor to fish. The elders had warned them not to fish on that
sand spit because there was a big dangerous shovelnose ray (Dhui Dhui)
that lived there. But the boys were
defiant and fished there anyway. As they
fished, the ray bit their line and started to tow them around in the canoe, but
the boys wouldn't let go of the line. It towed them around the ocean for a
while before going down the Hinchinbrook channel. They disappeared into the
horizon. By then, it was getting dark and everyone was worried about the
boys. As the people looked south after sunset, they saw the Southern Cross rising,
which was Dhui Dhui (the shovelnose ray), followed by the two
Pointer stars (the two boys in their canoe).
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| Dhui Dhui (the Southern Cross) and the two fisherman. |
From far northern Queensland, you can see Dhui Dhui rising in the southeastern sky after sunset in early February.
