The Wagyl (also written Waugal, Waagal, and variants) is the Noongar manifestation of the Rainbow Serpent in Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, from the culture based around the south-west of Western Australia.
The Noongar describe the Wagyl as a snakelike Dreaming creature responsible for the creation of the Swan and Canning rivers and other waterways and landforms around present day Perth and the south-west of Western Australia.
The Wagyl stories may represent the survival in oral tradition of extinct Australian megafauna, as there was a python-like snake, Wonambi naracoortensis, with a length of five to six metres (16 to 20 ft).
Varieties include Waugal, Waagal, Wargyl, Waakal, Waakle, Woggal, Wogal, Waagle, Warrgul and Warkal.
[3] When it reached the area around Fremantle, it fought with a crocodile and used its tail to separate the salt and fresh water of the ocean and river from each other.
The Darling Scarp is said to represent the body of the Wagyl, which meandered over the land creating the curves and contours of the hills and gullies.
As the Wagyl slithered over the land, his track shaped the sand dunes, his body scoured out the course of the rivers; where he occasionally stopped for a rest, he created bays and lakes.
[11][13] In the Mooro clan's Karda myth, the Wagyl prevents Crocodile from entering the Swan River after his tail was torn off by Shark, which eventually formed Rottnest and Garden Island.
Following this, Crocodile was told by the Wagyl to go back to Two Rocks and talk with Yonga (kangeroo) and Bibyur (scrub turkey).
After the elders went out to hunt, the boys ventured off to discover what had caused a loud noise, only to find the Indian Ocean.
[15] When the Government of Western Australia wanted to redevelop land around the Old Swan Brewery in the 1980s, conflicting attitudes around the Wagyl arose.
It received $6,400 of funding to hold an exhibition at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre as part of NAIDOC Week in 2006.
[18] On 13 November 2020, a mural in Guildford depicting the Wagyl was unveiled by WA Minister for Water Dave Kelly as part of the Splash of Colour program launched in 2017.