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Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes)

The term Jukurrpa is often translated in English as the ‘dreaming’, or ‘dreamtime’. It refers generally to the period in which the world was created by ancestral beings, who assumed both human and nonhuman forms. These beings shaped what had been a formless landscape; creating waters, plants, animals, and people. At the same time they provided cultural protocols for the people they created, as well as rules for interacting with the natural environment. At their journey’s end, the ancestral beings transformed themselves into important waters, hills, rocks, and even constellations. 

Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) is 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 (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora). Here the Niminjarra tried to smoke the snakes out from a nearby cave, but the Jila Kujarra eluded their pursuers by escaping under the lake at Paji. However, the Jila Kujarra 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 Kumpupirntily (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. At the same time, the urine of the Jila Kujarra formed the vast salt lake, Kumpupirntily, which translates to ‘bladder burst’.  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: Rosie Muntararr Williams (dec.)

Language: Manyjilyjarra

Community: Punmu

Biography:

Mantararr was born in the early 1940s at Kurupu, close to Kurtararra soak in the Percival Lakes region. Her mother was Mangala and her father was a Manyjilyjarra man. She grew up with her sisters, Jugarda Dulcie Gibbs and Muni Rita Simspon. In Mantararr’s youth her family lived a pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) lifestyle, travelling through their ngurra (home Country, camp), the Country extending between the Percival Lakes and Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33) regions. 

A severe and prolonged drought from the 1950s made it difficult to continue living in the desert, prompting her family to move further south to the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region. During that time, Mantararr's family met up with other Martu who informed them that their extended family members were living at Jigalong Mission. Following the death of Mantararr’s father in 1957, the family decided to join their relatives at the mission. 

Later Mantararr and her sister Muni married two brothers. Together they worked at various stations in the Pilbara; around Cue, Meekatharra, Mullewa and Mt Magnet. Mantararr and Muni left the stations to mine for minerals with a yandy (winnowing dish) around Marble Bar and Bamboo Springs. At various times the sisters and their families lived at Jigalong, Strelley and Camp 61, a community which has since disbanded. During the 1980s ‘Return to Country’ movement all three sisters relocated to Punmu Aboriginal community. Mantararr continued to live in Punmu with her children and grandchildren until her death in 2012. 

Mantararr was among the first Martu women to begin painting on canvas. A prolific artist, she often painted large collaborative works with her sisters. Her work has been exhibited widely across Australia, and acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Museum of Australia.

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