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Emu Tracks to Puntawarri

“Emu go to the springs to have a drink of water and then move on to the next one.”

– Judith Anya Samson

Puntawarri is an important cultural area, as well as the site of a now abandoned community, a waterhole, creek and lake. Puntawarri is located on the middle stretches of the Canning Stock Route and east of the Jigalong Aboriginal Community, where Judith grew up with her grandmother and senior Martumili Artist Dadda Samson. Both artists continue to live there today.

Puntawarri lies within Judith’s ngurra (home Country, camp) through her mother’s family, and as a young girl she frequently travelled and hunted with her family in this area, learning the stories for this Country. Depicted in this work are the tracks of a group of emus on their way to Puntawarri waterhole, searching for kapi (water). 

Karlaya (emu) were traditionally hunted during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era, and they continue to be a favoured bush tucker for Martu today. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. Jina (tracks, footprints) are used by Martu people when tracking bush tucker. In the absence of an actual animal sighting, tracks act as an identifier that an animal was present, which can then be followed to the animal’s present location. Besides providing information on location, Martu are able to interpret from tracks the passage of time since the tracks were imprinted, as well as the corresponding animal species and its size.

The softer and more extensive the ground surface, the easier it is to locate and follow tracks, thus certain conditions are favoured for tracking. Tuulparra (spring) and yalijarra (hot time) are preferred over wantajarra (winter), when south easterly tradewinds blow strongly to obscure tracks. Tracks and burrows are also more readily visible in early growth lands, such as nyurnma (freshly burnt Country) and waru-waru (growth of new shoots and young plants). For this reason, fire burning is an important tool in animal tracking. Small burns are lit to clear vegetation, expose burrows, and to allow for access to walk and track readily in exposed sands, while simultaneously providing diverse regenerating habitats.

Categories: Martumili Artists

Name: Judith Anya Samson

Language: Putijarra

Community: Jigalong

Biography:

"I was born in Hedland, Port Hedland seaside, but I moved to Jigalong community with my nanna [Dadda Samson] and my pop. Then we moved to desert, to Puntawarri, Well 17. I was still a young girl, still crawling in the desert. It was nice there. Some other families lived there with us. We had some farm, some vegetables. We went schooling in Puntawarri at the school, learning ‘two way’ [refers to teaching in both Martu Wangka and English, with a focus on local cultural and ecological knowledge]. We used to go and get some parnajalpa (goanna) and turkey. We had a Toyota truck. We been go hunting at the desert. Some people there still, but they gotta build some new houses and then then we going back to [live in] Puntawarri. My nanna’s sister had a house here in Newman, so we used to come and visit. I did high school here in Newman. Now I move between Jigalong and Newman. My nanna is living in Jigalong, so I still go visit here. She’s got a green house. My sister is there looking after her.

I started to do painting here at Martumili when I was a young girl. I been help my nanna painting, we were painting Puntawarri one. My nanna was teach me to paint. I work with Martumili now. I help sell the painting, and photograph and catalogue them. I went to America, Fremantle, the Gold Coast, Sydney,  and Alice Springs with Martumili. I also like playing softball. We play for Jigalong, Western Desert. I work for KJ (Karninyanpa Jukurrpa ranger group) mob in Jigalong too. I like to dance and listen to music."

Anya is the granddaughter of Dadda Samson and Yanjimi (Peter) Rowlands, both senior Martu artists. She was born in Port Hedland and has lived most of her life in Jigalong. Any was raised by her grandparents Dadda and Yanjimi, as her parents passed away when she was very youn. Dadda has taught Anya to paint; she has passed stories onto Anya for painting. Anya frequently travels with Dadda to her country around Jigalong, Puntawarri and the Rabbit Proof Fence, the subject of many of her paintings. Anya has exhibited in most Martumili Artists' exhibitions in recent years. Her work has been acquired by the Art Gallery of Queensland (GOMA) and the National Museum of Australia. In 2011, Anya travelled to the United States of America with other Martu artists for the exhibition "Waru" at the Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University.

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