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Waterhole at Barlparnmarra
The artist has depicted gachalan – Merten’s Water Goannas [Varanus mertensi] – at a waterhole in the large swamp called Barlparnarra. The swamp lies to the north-west of Gochan Jiny-jirra, where Ngamandara lives. Ngamandara is a senior custodian for Barlparnarra, which is a complex of important sacred sites for the Jowunga moiety group throughout central Arnhem Land. It is associated with the creation myth of the two sisters, which has a number of versions celebrated throughout Arnhem Land. The sisters are commonly known as Djangkawu, but in the Barlparnarra version they are called Murlurlu. Many dreaming tracks of mythological beings associated with the two sisters converge at this site and ceremonies which celebrate their journeys are still held there.
The water goanna ancestral creator being is deeply associated with the two sisters story. There are a number of sacred sites, which are attributed to the water goanna dotted throughout Arnhem Land, including Barlparnarra, Miwirnbi, Ngarla Ji-bama and Ji-marda. The goanna’s route from place to place is said to link people belonging to different clan groups across wide tracts of country. Here the artist is painting a story, which proves his custodianship of a particular estate and simultaneously flags his membership of a wider network of kinship links, which share a common dreaming in the water goanna.
Barlparnarra
is also a major hunting and gathering site providing many vegetable foods such as spike rush corms and waterlilies. Game animals are also hunted at Barlpanarra as they are attracted to the waterhole to drink. Fishing is also an activity very popular in this area.
