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Wantili, Canning Stock Route Area
“This is Wantili, this is my Country, Amy’s Country, everybody’s Country. . It’s the hill and all the kapi (water). This one big Country, big area, pubajba (hills) claypan- big one. Water been running, rolling, rolling from these hill here. Trees and spinifex all the marba (bush tucker) Amy was born here. All palya (good).”
– Lily Jatarr Long
Wantili is a large lyinji (clay pan) near Well 24 on the Canning Stock Route. The area is dominated by claypans surrounded by tuwa (sandhills), and following rain the claypans are filled with water. At that time the site becomes an important place for obtaining fresh water for drinking and bathing. Wantili is significant for the fact that at this site Kartujarra, Manyjilyjarra, Putujarra and Warnman people would all come together for ceremonies. Many jiwa (stones used by women for grinding seeds) from these times can still be found there today.
This painting is a collaborative by the three sisters, a work that portrays part of the Country where their family lived traditionally during the pujiman (traditional, desert-dwelling) days. The Martu lived very nomadically moving from water source to water source hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. They would traverse very large distances visiting some areas in the dry and some in the wet season depending on the availability of water. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of country creating a larger diversity of plant and animal life.