Wagyl

Wagyl
Giver of life, or sustenance for life, to the people who are the custodians of its land
A track marker from the Bibbulmun Track featuring a symbol of the Wagyl
Other names
  • Waugal
  • Waagal
Gender
  • Male
  • Female
RegionSouthwest Western Australia
Ethnic groupNoongar
Equivalents
Australian Aboriginal equivalentRainbow Serpent

The Wagyl (also written Waugal, Waagal, and variants) is the Noongar manifestation of the Rainbow Serpent in Australian Aboriginal mythology, from the culture based around the south-west of Western Australia. The Noongar describe the Wagyl as a snakelike Dreaming creature responsible for the creation of the Swan and Canning rivers and other waterways and landforms around present day Perth and the south-west of Western Australia.

The Wagyl stories may represent the survival in oral tradition of extinct Australian megafauna, as there was a python-like snake, Wonambi naracoortensis, with a length of five to six metres (16 to 20 ft).[1]

  1. ^ "The Age of the Megafauna: The Beasts". ABC Science Online. 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2018.