Picture by Renae Hood
The Port Albert Frog
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Bataluk cultural trail

Once long ago there was a big frog, Tidda-lick. He was sick and got full of water. He could not get rid of this water and did not know what to do. One day he was walking where Port Albert is now, where he saw a sand eel dancing on his tail, on a mud flat by the sea. It made him laugh so much that he burst and all the water ran out. There was a great flood and all the blackfellows were drowned except two or three men and a woman, who got on a mud flat island.

While they were there, a pelican came by in his canoe. He took off the men, one at a time, but left the woman till last, he wanted her for himself. She was frightened and so she put a log in her possum rug, like a person asleep and swam to shore. When the pelican returned, he called her to come. No answer. Then he got very angry and went off to paint himself with pipeclay to go out and look for a fight with the blackfellows.

Before that time pelicans were all black. When he was partly painted with Marloo (clay) another pelican came by, and not liking the look of him, hit him with his beak and killed him. That is the reason that pelicans are partly black and partly white to this day.

There was a time when the first Kurnai, who was Borun the pelican, came down from the mountains of the north west, and reached the level country. He crossed the Latrobe River near Sale, and continued his journey to Port Albert. He was  alone and carrying a bark canoe on his head.

As he was walking, he heard a constant tapping sound, but look as he may he could not find the source of it. At last he reached the deep water of the inlets and put his canoe down. Much to his surprise, he saw w woman sitting in it. She was Tuk, the musk duck. He was very pleased to see her and she became his wife and mother of all the Kurnai.