WILSONS PROMONTORY

LOO-ERRN

Wamoon (Yirik) is the home of the spirit ancestor of the Brataualung people known as - 'Loo-errn', the guardian of his people. Legend tells the story of when Loo-errn was living by the Yarra River with his wife Lohan-tuka. One day, when cooking eels, he observed a swan feather carried by the wind towards the south and decided to follow its journey. He came upon the swans in Westernport Bay and waited until they migrated to the east, whereupon he followed them to Corner Inlet. They made their home in the mountains of Wamoon, in a cave on Mount Hunter,where this 'spirit man' watched over the welfare of the Brataualung people that visited there. Wamoon was a place of retreat from attackers, so in times of danger, canoes were kept strategically located around the coast from Port Welshpool in preparation for making a quick getaway. Loo-errn protected his people from strangers and raids from other groups, and could be seen by his people marching over the Wamoon mountains.

It seems that those of Western heritage where not excluded from this sense of a presence as a quote by a Mr. Smyth when visiting the area in the 19th century goes ...
"...he was seen by strangers occasionally ... at a great distance ... clothed in mist and regarding with unnatural but human eyes these intruders in his domain - 'Loo-errn' - awful and majestic ... permitting for only a few seconds his form to be visible ..."