Legend has it that in the Dreamtime - the mythical time of creation for the Aborigines - two rainmaking ancestors of the Jangala family called for rain with their songs and thus triggered a huge storm.

The storm moved along their clan territory with a thunderous noise produced by the lightning. It mixed with another storm and was seized by a brown hawk ancestor (kirrkarlanji) who let it fall on Purlungyanu, another sacred place where a very large swamp was formed.

Later, when the bird reached Puyurru, it dug up Warnayarra - a giant Rainbow Snake - from the ground. The snake carried with it water which gave birth to the lake of Jillyiumpa.