September 2021

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Kintyre

“We are Warnman ladies, painting Kintyre and Karlamilyi (Rudall River region). We can share this Country. [Kintyre] belongs to Pulikati [Hill], ngurra (home Country, camp) for my sister and all the Warnman families. My fathers and brothers and husbands, my sister they was there, 200 peoples was there [in the] bushman day! Everybody finished now (passed away), just me and my sister and Daniel, nyirti (youngest) one. 

[North west of Kintyre is] Yanytikuji, red hill over there. They working, doing the mining there now [at Yandicoogina Mine]. Next to Yanytikuji is a big claypan, Yalpalpa, main camp and a water. That’s a hunting place. Plenty of bush tucker round there; kanyjamarra (yam, bush carrot), like a carrot growing in the ground in the riverbed there. You pull it out, just like a carrot! Lunki (witchetty grub), and jatarrpa, that’s like a seed, you gotta clean him up and grind it to make a flour wheat, make a damper in the waru (fire). We gonna get that seed and show you fellas. Minyarra (bush onion) there, and ngaputa (sweet, patterned green melon), they all grow in the river banks.”

– Sisters Jatarr Lily Long and Wurta Amy French

Kintyre is a claypan located just north of the Karlamilyi region. Kintyre lies within sisters Wurta and Jatarr’s ngurra (home Country, camp), the area which they knew intimately and travelled extensively with their family in their youth. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era, the site was a popular camping ground in the wantajarra (wet season), when the claypan filled with kapi (water). Today Kintyre is best known for its substantial uranium deposits, and the area has been developed for mining. Protest from traditional land owners in combination with a declining uranium market have resulted in the project being put on hold for the time being.

The area around Kintyre was created during the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) by the Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men). The Wati Kujarra existed as half men, half goanna. They were responsible for the creation of many land features in Martu Country and beyond as they travelled, hunted and burned Country together. Wati Kujarra is a ngurlu (sacred, taboo) men’s story, and for this reason much of the content is only shared with initiated men. 

In their account, Wurta and Jatarr describe the collection of various types of bush tuckers in the region surrounding Kintyre. During the pujiman 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. Whilst desert life has moved away from mobile hunter-gatherer subsistence throughout the course of the twentieth century, bush tucker continues to be a significant component of the modern Martu diet. 

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Waterhole

“All the girls in Newman took me there to this place, my grandfathers country. There are four rock holes near the lake near Cotton Creek (Parnngurr) way.”

– Mary Rowlands

This work depicts a waterhole within the artists’ ngurra (home Country, camp), typically represented with circular forms. Waterholes are sites that require maintenance, including digging to increase flow, clearing out surrounding growth, and cleaning up after sullying by camels or cattle.

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, knowledge of water sources was critical for survival, and today Martu Country is still defined in terms of the location and type of water. Each of the hundreds of claypans, rockholes, waterholes, soaks and springs found in the Martu desert homelands is known through real life experience and the recounting of Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives by name, location, quality and seasonal availability. This encyclopedic knowledge extends even to the nature and movement of arterial waterways, and sustained Martu as they travelled across their Country, hunting and gathering, visiting family, and fulfilling ceremonial obligations. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant.

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Kulyakartu

“My Country, Kulyakartu. I grew up there, from little boy to big boy grew up there.”

 – Muuki Taylor

This painting depicts Kulyakartu, Muuki’s ngurra (home Country, camp). Kulyakartu is located in the far north of the Martu homelands, near the Percival Lakes region of Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Muuki has extensive knowledge of the Country in this region, where he grew up living traditionally during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) days with his family. Kulyakartu is mostly grass Country where there is very good hunting. In particular parnajarrpa (goanna), wild cats, and lunki (witchetty grub) are found in abundance here. There is no permanent water source in Kulyakartu, so Muuki’s family would walk here annually following the wantajarra (wet season). During the yalijarra (hot, dry season) they would head south again to more permanent water.

Muuki paints Kulyakartu in all its different seasonal stages. Often visible in his work is the patchwork nature of regrowth subsequent to the practice of waru (fire) burning that assists with hunting, regenerates growth, and encourages greater diversity in plant and animal life. This mosaic patterning is aligned with the five distinct Martu cyclical phases of burning and regrowth. First is nyurnma (freshly burnt Country) when Muuki is “making waru”. Following nyurnma are the rains and subsequent waru-waru, when young, bright green plants start to grow. Nyukura occurs between one and three years after burning, when plants have matured and are fruiting and seeding. Manguu is “when him finished”, four to six years post burning, and when spinifex has matured to the point that it can be burned once again. Finally, kunarka signifies the time when spinifex and other plant species have become old growth, and pose a risk of destructive bushfires.

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Kulyakartu

“My Country, Kulyakartu. I grew up there, from little boy to big boy grew up there.”

 – Muuki Taylor

This painting depicts Kulyakartu, Muuki’s ngurra (home Country, camp). Kulyakartu is located in the far north of the Martu homelands, near the Percival Lakes region of Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Muuki has extensive knowledge of the Country in this region, where he grew up living traditionally during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) days with his family. Kulyakartu is mostly grass Country where there is very good hunting. In particular parnajarrpa (goanna), wild cats, and lunki (witchetty grub) are found in abundance here. There is no permanent water source in Kulyakartu, so Muuki’s family would walk here annually following the wantajarra (wet season). During the yalijarra (hot, dry season) they would head south again to more permanent water.

Muuki paints Kulyakartu in all its different seasonal stages. Often visible in his work is the patchwork nature of regrowth subsequent to the practice of waru (fire) burning that assists with hunting, regenerates growth, and encourages greater diversity in plant and animal life. This mosaic patterning is aligned with the five distinct Martu cyclical phases of burning and regrowth. First is nyurnma (freshly burnt Country) when Muuki is “making waru”. Following nyurnma are the rains and subsequent waru-waru, when young, bright green plants start to grow. Nyukura occurs between one and three years after burning, when plants have matured and are fruiting and seeding. Manguu is “when him finished”, four to six years post burning, and when spinifex has matured to the point that it can be burned once again. Finally, kunarka signifies the time when spinifex and other plant species have become old growth, and pose a risk of destructive bushfires.

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Untitled

“I paint these stories about gathering and hunting in saltwater Country; String rays, turtles, fish. Bidyadanga that’s my home, i feel free camping and going out bush, swimming, gathering oysters, mud-worms and hermit crabs.”

– Colleen Jadai

Coleen paints salt water cCuntry and dream time stories, all the stories that the old people taught her growing up in the Kimberley community of Bidyadanga.