About the book: 1965 / Myths and fairy tales of Australians are of exceptional interest. The indigenous population of Australia, now partly exterminated, partly pushed back by European colonists to the western and northern regions of the country that are least favorable for life, is the bearer of a unique archaic culture. From their original homeland in Southeast Asia, the ancestors of Australians arrived on the Australian mainland through the islands of Indonesia and New Guinea. On the edge of the world inhabited by humans, in conditions of complete isolation and in a specifically difficult natural environment, Australians combined amazing adaptation to local conditions with the preservation of primitive forms of material and spiritual culture (the use of stone tools, early tribal organization, classical totemism, etc.). This gave grounds to some scientists, of course with a certain stretch, having in mind only some important features, to compare the culture of the Australians with the Azilian-Tardenoise archaeological culture of the early Neolithic. The archaic nature of the culture of Australian tribes makes their folklore especially interesting. Unfortunately, any significant recordings of oral poetic creativity began to be made in Australia only in the last quarter of the 19th century, that is, almost a hundred years after the arrival of European colonists there, so much was already irretrievably lost.