111581832336

Published by on

Wilarra

“2 Rockholes other side Punmu Kayili (North) all the way keep going Kakarra (East) long way. Dingo-mili ngurra (Dingo’s home).Big one is Willarra, dingos all stay in that place together wild one (dingo) became a quite on. All the dingos come from that place. Make a kuna (faeces) go home. Kirl Kirl  (well 36), Pinlankujarra and Karrarrngarri clay pan are here too”

– Wokka Taylor

This painting depicts a number of significant sites yinta (waterholes), rockhols and claypans.

This site [Wilara] is united with the moon in significance. In the Jukurrpa (dream time) dingoes travelled from Wilarra another site by the same name which lies on the edge of the large salt lake, Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), following the call of the moon. Wilarra, which also means ‘moon’ in Manyjilyjarra, is a very significant site lying on the edge of the large salt lake, Punmu Warle [Lake Dora]. The dingoes gave birth to a litter of puppies at Wilarra, where they were looked after by the moon. The dingoes stayed for a time at Wilarra, scratching into the earth to create several distinctive small salt water pools, which are still visited by the Martu for their healing properties. Later, the dingoes continued travelling east toward the rising moon, stopping as they went to sites like Kirl Kirl (well 36) Pinlankujarra and Karrarrngarri clay pan, finally stopping at Kinyu (Well 35).

Categories: Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

Name: Wokka Taylor

Language: Manyjilyjarra

Community: Parnngurr

Biography:

Wokka was born in the late 1940s at Kaljali waterhole in the Kulyakartu area; flat, grass Country in the far north of the Martu homelands and close to the Percival Lakes region. He is the middle brother to fellow Martumili Artists Muuki Taylor and Ngalangka Nola Taylor. Both Muuki and Wokka are highly regarded cultural leaders, and Ngalangka a skilled translator and cultural advisor. 

In his youth Wokka’s family seasonally travelled between the Kulyakartu and Percival Lakes regions depending on the availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant. Generally they lived in Kulyakartu during the wet season, when its' claypans filled with rain, and the Percival Lakes during the dry season, when they could rely on the area’s many permanent soaks. They continued to live a pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) lifestyle until being collected from Balfour Downs Station and taken to Jigalong Mission in the 1960s. They were one of the last Martu families to leave the desert. 

At Jigalong Wokka married Kanu (Karnu) Nancy Taylor (dec.); the pair were inseparable through to her passing in 2019. From Jigalong the couple lived and worked together on several cattle stations throughout the Pilbara. Eventually they relocated with their family to Parnngurr Aboriginal community as foundational community members during the ‘Return to Country’ movement of the 1980’s. Wokka continues to live in Parnngurr today.

Wokka paints his ngurra (home Country, camp), the Country he walked as a young man; its animals, plants, waterholes and associated Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives. His work has been exhibited widely across Australia.

Related Posts

Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

111582338675

Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

111582336332

Fiery Identities “Five fiery and hot heat circles of different Aboriginal identity groups in the Pilbara.” – Joan Lever   Martumili Artists work with over three hundred artists from remote Martu Aboriginal communities, including Punmu, Read more…

Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

111582336317

Helicopter “Flower after the rain, you know- a mix. Blue, pink, yellow and purple- grow up with the grass after the rain. You can see anywhere when the burnt ground grows after the rain. [On] Read more…

© the artist / art centre