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| Mullum Mullum Creek | |||
| What's Mullum Mullum Mean? | |||
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| Photos: Helen Moss | |||
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The true meaning is lost in time. In the history of Ringwood, Mullum Mullum is thought to mean "place of many big birds" and so historians decided therefore that it meant "Place of Eagles". But there are other possible meanings: |
- Around Ringwood, high on the hilltops around Loughnan's Hill in the first week of December, just as we have a burst of insect life, the migratory flocks of knife tailed swifts arrive in large numbers from the Philippines. These birds nest in the vast limestone caves on the island of Palawan, where the river caves are about 5 kilometres in extent. When these large birds arrive they swoop very low and very fast over the hills feeding on these insects. Around late February / early March they gather again and migrate home. Swifts do not land in Australia, but spend the whole time in the air. You can see them above hills and headlands soaring on the wind currents eating the insects drawn up by rising air currents.
Perhaps Mullum Mullum means place of many big swifts?
- Around the gorge country of the Mullum Mullum Creek, there are Powerful Owls. These are very large predators. They are about 60cm high and have very large talons. (About the size of a single pillow on its end.) They are our largest night time predators, and are becoming increasingly rare and endangered. Perhaps Mullum Mullum means place of many big owls? 
- Along the Mullum Mullum Creek, you will often see the Rufous Night Herons. These are very large water birds that feed at night. They are about 59cm high. So perhaps Mullum Mullum means place of many Night Herons? - Further down the Mullum Mullum Creek, where the Yarra meets the Mullum you will see Wedge tailed eagles, and Perigrene Falcons. "Bunjil" - a significant totem of the Wurundjeri. So perhaps Mullum Mullum does mean place of many eagles. 
- Around the higher grassy woodlands there are large numbers of Butterfly and Moth species breeding in the heathy grasslands - many of them not yet described by the experts. So perhaps Mullum Mullum is a European corruption of another Wurundjeri expression: Ballum Ballum - place of many butterflies. |
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| Friends of Mullum Mullum Valley | |
| 53 Aurum Crescent, Ringwood North VIC 3134 AUS | |