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The Noongar name for the black swan is Maali, and its colour also features in one of their Dreaming stories.
Back then, they say, swans were white with grey beaks until they made the mistake of boasting about how beautiful they were in front of the wedge-tailed eagles, who punished their pride by pulling out their feathers and leaving them to die in the desert. The crows found the plucked birds and took pity on them, covering the swans with their own black feathers so that the eagles could no longer recognise and attack them. But the swan still has a few white feathers left at the end of its wings to remind it of what it once looked like, and its beak has been forever stained red from the bloody attack by the eagles. Text from Ancient tales of Perth's fascinating birds Black Swans painting by Dovey Dee |
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