Wandjina

The Wandjina, also written Wanjina and Wondjina and also known as Gulingi, are cloud and rain spirits in the beliefs of the Wanjina Wunggurr cultural bloc of Aboriginal Australians, depicted prominently in rock art in northwestern Australia. Some of the artwork in the Kimberley region of Western Australia dates back to approximately 4,000 years ago. Another closely related spirit entity is the creator being Wunngurr, a being analogous to the Rainbow Serpent in other Aboriginal peoples' belief systems, but with a different interpretation. The stories of the Wandjina and the artwork depicting them remain important to the Mowanjum Community of Aboriginal people, and are one of the basic cultural elements of the Wanjina Wunggurr cultural bloc, which includes four Aboriginal peoples in the Kimberley.