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Punmu

“This area here is our Country. It’s our Country right here. We returned to our Country with a Toyota and a grader that made the road. A grader right up to here. Punmu is a good place. It’s a happy place to live. My spirit feels good living here. In pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) time we lived in this area now. I’m happy with this life now, happy because I feel grounded by my Country. It’s important to hold onto the legacy of the ancestors. It’s up to the young people to carry it on now. For the ancestors past and present.”

– Minyawe Miller as translated by Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa

 

Punmu refers to a region and an Aboriginal community within its vicinity, located 670km North-East of Newman. Created during the return to Country movement of the 1980s, with the recognition of Martu land rights and native title, the community was named after a nearby Jukurrpa (Dreaming) story.

Punmu Aboriginal community sits on the edge of a large salt lake known as Nyayartakujarra, or Lake Dora. The lake runs south into Karlamilyi River (Rudall River). Surrounding Punmu are numerous fresh water soaks and the red tali (sandhills) typical of the area. The most frequently visited yinta (permanent springs) around Punmu include Wirlarra, Rawa, Yilyara, Jila-jila and Tuu-tuu.

The Country around Punmu features in several Jukurrpa stories. Of particular importance is the story of the Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes), one of the key Jukurrpa narratives for the Martu. Though the story belongs to Warnman people, it is shared across the Western Desert with several other language groups. The narrative centres on the travels of two snakes as they are pursued by the Niminjarra, spiritual ancestors of the Warnman people. 

Before transforming themselves into snakes, the Jila Kujarra were young brothers. As snakes, they began travelling home to their mother, but were intercepted by the Niminjarra, who tracked the Jila Kujarra to Paji, east of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora). Though the Jila Kujarra eluded their pursuers here by escaping under the lake at Paji, they were soon after speared and injured by two Pukurti (initiates with bundled hair) at Nyayartakujarra, who returned with the Niminjarra to cook the snakes at the site of Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment). As the Niminjarra cut down the length of the Jila Kujarra, the snake’s bladders were pierced, causing an explosion of scalding hot urine in which the Niminjarra all perished and became black rocks at the site. The spirits of the Jila Kujarra returned to their mother at Nyayartakujarra, where the mother and her sons entered the ground below Nyayartakujarra and remain to this day.

Categories: Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

Name: Debra Thomas

Language: Manyjilyjarra

Community: Punmu

Biography:

“We’ve been in Punmu long time. We moved from Camp 61 where we were schooling the kids there. And moved to Punmu, and we stayed there. Big mob of us came back in a truck, in an old tractor with the trailer. That old truck still there at the turnoff. We came in that one now. Me and my partner and my two kids, a boy and a girl. We went there. I had Nyriti [her youngest boy] in Punmu. Right there, next to the school, near the lake. It was good! We started a school there in the bough shed. Before it was in a building. I was there with my two kids. No power or houses. Just a tent. We used to make pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling era) style, with the warta [wood] and leaves, make some shade. Big mob of us there, they all finish now. Jakayu [Biljabu], Minyawe [Miller] there. Then we made the houses. 

Good work with the rangers [Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa ranger program]. We see the waterholes, they tell us about our family trees. Go see our Country. Mother’s Country and father’s Country. And now we painting with Martumili. I want to go do painting more. Lovely one, juri [lovely] one. Sit down. I sit down all day, nothing to do at home.”

- Debra Thomas

Debra grew up in Nullagine and went to school both in Nullagine and Jigalong. Later in life she settled at Camp 61, an outstation on Bilanooka Station where she helped set up a community school. Moving to Punmu during the Return to Country movement of the early 1980s, Debra assisted with the establishment of the Punmu School in the Community’s bough shelter. 

Over the last several years, Debra has learned to paint by sitting with the older women. She particularly enjoys learning about Country from the senior women and ensuring that her children spend time watching their elders paint and learning the stories for and history of their County. While painting, she talks about the subtle sparkling colours of the plants and flowers that grow around Karlamilyi (Rudall River). In recent years she has also worked as a ranger for the Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa ranger program. 

Debra paints her mother's country, which is Warnman country, surrounding Karlamilyi (Rudall River) as well as her father's country, around Kunawarritji.

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