(var. Moitt, Muit ) in Central Arnhemland by the Rembarrnga, etc. Ngalyod by the Kunwinjku Yingarna, the original (female) Rainbow Serpent, whose son is Ngalyod, though these names may be used interchangeably Dhakkan (or Takkan) by the Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi) Andrénjinyi by the natives of Pennefather River, North Queensland Kajura by the Ingarda Goorialla by the Lardil people Wanampi by the Aṉangu Kunmanggur by the Murinbata Numereji by the Kakadu (Gaagudju) Taipan by the Wikmunkan Wagyl by the Noongar Wanamangura by the Thalanyji (Talainji) Galeru Langal Myndie Ungur Wollunqua by the Warumungu Wonambi Wonungar Worombi Yero Development of concept Though the concept of the Rainbow Serpent has existed for a very long time in Aboriginal Australian cultures, it was introduced to the wider world through the work of anthropologists. In fact, the name Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake appears to have been coined in English by Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, an anthropologist who noticed the same concept going under different names among various Aboriginal Australian cultures, and called it "the rainbow-serpent myth of Australia." It has been suggested that this name implies that there is only one Rainbow Serpent, when the concept actually varies quite a bit from one Aboriginal culture to another, and should be properly called the Rainbow Serpent myths of Australia. It has also been suggested that the Serpent's position as the most prominent creator God in the Australian tradition has largely been the creation of non-Aboriginal anthropologists. Another error of the same kind is the way in which Western-educated people, with a cultural stereotype of Greco-Roman or Norse myths, tell the Aboriginal stories in the past tense. For the indigenous people of Australia, the stories are everywhenpast, present and future. Characteristics The rainbow serpent is in the first instance, is the rainbow itself. It is said to inhabit particular waterholes, springs etc., owing to the fact that such bodies of water can exhibit spectral colors by diffracting light, according to one explanation. Likewise, the rainbow quartz crystal and certain seashells are also associated with the Rainbow Serpent, and are used in rituals involving the rainbow serpent. The underlying reasons are likewise explainable, since quartz acts as a prism to diffract light into different colours, while the mother of pearl exhibits an iridescence of colours. The Dreaming (or Dreamtime or Tjukurrpa or Jukurrpa) stories tell of the great spirits and totems during creation, in animal and human form that