The legend of the Three Sisters
Three daughters and a bunyip
 
   In the morning light which splashes across the floor of the rainforest at the foot of the Three Sisters, a lyrebird scratches amongst the leaf litter. Lyrebirds are shy creatures, with a magical way of imitating the calls of other birds.
   With long, elegant legs and tough claws, the lyrebird rakes through the decay, looking for worms and insects to eat. Or does it?
 
   Casting an ominous shadow above is the Three Sisters, about which an Aboriginal story is still told.
 
   A magician named Tyawan had three daughters: Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo.
   The family and all the creatures in the valley were terrified of the bunyip which lived in a hole nearby. When Tyawan went travelling, he would leave his daughters standing on a ledge in front of a high rock wall, where the bunyip could not get at them.
   One time, a centipede appeared on the ledge. Frightened, Meehni threw a stone at it but the stone bounced over the cliff. the forest fell silent, and then the cliff behind the sisters split open. The girls now stood exposed on a narrow shelf while the forest creatures fell into a panic because the bunyip had been woken.
   The bunyip stalked closer, and the three huddled closely together for protection. But the magician Tyawan had heard the cries of the animals and he hurried to protect his daughters.
   Seeing the bunyip closing in on his loved ones, Tyawan drew out his magic bone and turned the girls to stone. This would keep them safe and, when the bunyip had gone, he would then restore them to their human form.
   Furious, the bunyip now turned on him. Tyawan ran. There are many cliffs and dead-end canyons in the valley. Soon, the magician found himself trapped. In the face of the bunyip, Tyawan turned himself into a lyrebird and escaped into a small cave.
   It would have ended happily had not the magician, in his hurry, dropped his magic bone.
   Once the bunyip had gone, Tyawan the lyrebird left his cave and began to scratch through the litter on the forest floor, looking for the magic bone that would restore him to his natural form, and bring his daughters back to life.
   Tyawan is still looking.
   This story is more a fable than a myth. Its authenticity is uncertain. In any case, it’s now firmly part of the folklore of the mountains.
 
from ‘the blue mountains on foot’ by Bruce Williams & Reece Scannell, New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd, 2001