This story happened a long time ago, way back in the Dreamtime. That's when all the legends and stories of the people and the land started.
Goorialla, the Great Rainbow Serpent, was travelling the length and breadth of the land. He was looking for a place to stay and call his own.
The south east of the land was mountainous and cold. In the winter time the falling snow melted on his bright scales. It dripped to the ground and formed the great river systems.
The north west was hot and dry and empty. There Goorialla shed his skin. That made great rugged cliffs that lay buckled in the bright hot sunshine. Goorialla gave the dead skin to his people to use for their rock paintings about the Dreamtime and other things.
He slithered across the north of the land and left waves in the sand. They made the great sandy deserts of the inland. Goorialla rested and dug holes along the way for his comfort. The rains came later and filled up these holes with lakes. So there was always water in the desert even if it was hidden deep below the ground.
In the middle of the country the great serpent rested for a while as he was sick. He had eaten one of the great red kangaroos that he considered his to take as he wished. But it had been too old and tough and hard to digest. Goorialla spewed it up again and left it lying in the desert. Many years later his people found the remains and called this great red lump Uluru.
In the far south east of the country Goorialla slid into the great ocean and swam around. He broke off a great chunk of the land. It made the island people now call Tasmania.
Goorialla was very tired after all this work. But still he made a long trek across to the western part of this great new land of his.
In the south west there were many many trees. Goorialla enjoyed lying and sleeping in their shade for a little while, but he knew this was not the place he wanted to be for ever.
He slid northwards along the coast, every so often breaking off a little chunk of land and making it into an island. This is the way that Carnac, Rottnest and the Abrolhos came into being, as well as many other smaller islands up the coast.
When Goorialla saw Carnac, he liked it so much he blessed it particularly by giving it to the tiger snakes and dugites as a special place for them, right up to the present day. He gave Rottnest to the small creatures that reminded him of the great leaping kangaroos of the distant plains.
After Goorialla swam in the ocean and made the islands of the Abrolhos he lay on the dry land and the water streamed from him. When it evaporated in the sunshine it left a residue of white salty crystals.
Goorialla continued up to the north west of the land. He looked with satisfaction upon the rocks and gorges and great outcroppings he had left there. But still this was not where he wanted to stay.
He turned southwards and crossed the western part of the land. Pretty soon he came to a great granite rock at a place called Hyden. He was tired by now and so he curled up beside the rock to sleep.
The night was cool and pleasant but Goorialla was bothered greatly by the many tiny creatures that flew around and whined and tried to sting him. All night long the mosquitoes hassled Goorialla. Every time he thought he had a good place, they buzzed and whined and stopped him from going to to sleep. They settled near his earholes. They tried to sting him through his eyelids and the softer scales of his underbelly. The mosquitoes tried to drink the blood of Goorialla. They annoyed him and prevented him from sleeping, so he twisted and turned all night.
Goorialla wriggled and twisted and turned against the edge of the great granite rock. By the time morning came he had worn part of it away, so that now it hung over him. All its colours and patterns were bright in the morning light.
Goorialla flicked his tongue out at the mosquitoes, but they flew away beyond his reach. He was cross and he was tired and he wanted to leave this place. He slid off towards the coast so he could bathe himself and his itchy, sore body in the pleasant warm salty water of the great western beaches.v As Goorialla travelled away from the Hyden Rock he muttered curses against the mosquitoes that had plagued him. From that time to this, his people have never liked living too near the rock or the places along the way, like Kulin and Kondinin and Jitarning and Jilakin. Goorialla's curses sunk into the ground and remained there. His curses made those bad places for his people to be.
Later on the child eater Mulka lived near Hyden Rock, but he was feared and hated by his people for his crimes. Mulka fled along as far as Dumbleyung and there he was caught and killed.
When Goorialla reached the western coast he rested for a while and then he set off on his travels again. A long time afterwards he got to the eastern coast. He was tired and worn out from all his adventures. So he slid into the shallow warm water near the coast and stretched out his long bright body. Goorialla became the great reef out from the coastline. That's where the great rainbow serpent lies sleeping to this very day.