September 2021

Nawarlah – Brown River Stingray

We hunt the Nawarlah (Brown River Stingray) during the wet season.  There is a plant with a yellow flower that tells us that it is the right time.  We know it will be fat. 

It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment.

Barnda – long neck turtle

In the mythology or dreaming history of the Ganalbingu and Gurrgurrdjunggu peoples, two sisters who were the human forms of barnda ‘the Long-neck Turtle’ (Chelodina rugosa) came travelling a long distance from the east towards Ganalbingu country in Central Arnhem Land. They travelled through Martay country arriving at a place called Ji-malawa, the site today of a homeland/outstation community in the Blyth River district. At this place they turned their speech to the Burarra language and named sites as they travelled. The two Barnda sisters continued their journey to Gamardi, a site in Djinang country and they again changed their language to a dialect of Djinang called Wulagi.

Barnda is also Bulunbulun’s personal ‘Dreaming’ given to him by his father who was walking in the swamp at the time of the artist’s birth. 

While discussing the painting’s imagery, Bulunbulun explained that some components were the domain of ‘inside’ or secret ceremonial meaning and therefore he could only describe the ‘outside’ or public aspects of them.

In the painting Bulunbulun depicts the passage of the barnda through the country and the locations where the long neck turtle stopped to create features in the landscape in the Dreamtime. The two black circular forms are ngambul ‘a waterhole’ formed by barnda. The two horizontal bands of rarrk ‘crosshatching’ in the midlle and upper section of the painting are marwurru ‘a paperbark log’ over which barnda walked along the journey. The large areas of rarrk represent gurrwiling ‘the swamp’ created by barnda. The vertical swaying lines are gunbuluru and wuye different types of reeds that are so sharp that they can cut one legs when walking through the swamp. At the top of the painting above the head of the image of the turtle is a band of rarrk, which represents the view of the plain country and swamp from a hill.

Barnda – long neck turtle

In the mythology or dreaming history of the Ganalbingu and Gurrgurrdjunggu peoples, two sisters who were the human forms of barnda ‘the Long-neck Turtle’ (Chelodina rugosa) came travelling a long distance from the east towards Ganalbingu country in Central Arnhem Land. They travelled through Martay country arriving at a place called Ji-malawa, the site today of a homeland/outstation community in the Blyth River district. At this place they turned their speech to the Burarra language and named sites as they travelled. The two Barnda sisters continued their journey to Gamardi, a site in Djinang country and they again changed their language to a dialect of Djinang called Wulagi.

Barnda is also Bulunbulun’s personal ‘Dreaming’ given to him by his father who was walking in the swamp at the time of the artist’s birth. 

While discussing the painting’s imagery, Bulunbulun explained that some components were the domain of ‘inside’ or secret ceremonial meaning and therefore he could only describe the ‘outside’ or public aspects of them.

In the painting Bulunbulun depicts the passage of the barnda through the country and the locations where the long neck turtle stopped to create features in the landscape in the Dreamtime. The two black circular forms are ngambul ‘a waterhole’ formed by barnda. The two horizontal bands of rarrk ‘crosshatching’ in the midlle and upper section of the painting are marwurru ‘a paperbark log’ over which barnda walked along the journey. The large areas of rarrk represent gurrwiling ‘the swamp’ created by barnda. The vertical swaying lines are gunbuluru and wuye different types of reeds that are so sharp that they can cut one legs when walking through the swamp. At the top of the painting above the head of the image of the turtle is a band of rarrk, which represents the view of the plain country and swamp from a hill.

Yawkyawk

Yawkyawk is a word in the Kunwinjku/Kunwok language of Western Arnhem Land meaning ‘young woman’ and ‘young woman spirit being’. The different groups of Kunwinjku people (one of the Eastern dialect groups call themselves Kuninjku) each have Yawkyawk mythologies, which relate to specific locations in clan estates. These mythologies are represented in bark paintings and sculptures of Yawkyawk beings. There are also a few examples of rock art images of these beings.
The female water spirits Yawkyawk or Ngalkunburriyaymi are perhaps the most enigmatic of mythological themes. Sometimes compared to the European notion of mermaids, they exist as spiritual beings living in freshwater streams and rock pools, particularly those in the stone country. The spirit Yawkyawk is usually described and depicted with the tail of a fish. Thus the Kuninjku people sometimes call them ngalberddjenj which literally means ‘the young woman who has a tail like a fish’. They have long hair, which is associated with trailing blooms of green algae (called man-bak in Kuninjku). At times they leave their aquatic homes to walk about on dry land, particularly at night.
Aboriginal people believe that in the beginning most animals were humans. During the time of the creation of landscapes and plants and animals, these ancestral heroes in human form transmutated into their animal forms via a series of various significant events now recorded as oral mythologies. The creation ancestor Yawkyawk travelled the country in human form and changed into the form of Ngalkunburriyaymi as a result of various ancestral adventures. Today the Kuninjku believe that Ngalkunburriyaymi are alive and well and living in freshwater sites in a number of sacred locations.
Some features of a respective country are equated with body parts of Yawkyawk. For example a bend in a river or creek may be said to be ‘the tail of the Yawkyawk, a billabong may be ‘the head of the Yawkyawk and so on. Thus different groups can be linked together by means of a shared mythology featured in the landscape, which crosscuts clan and language group boundaries.

Birlmu or Namarnkorl (Barramundi)

It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment. The artist has painted ‘birlmu’ or ‘namarnkorl’ (Barramundi [Lates calcarifer]). During the dry season the barramundi is an important food source for inland Aboriginal people. These fish are caught throughout the artist’s clan estate, either in fishtraps woven from pandanus or sedge grass, or else hunted with spears and fishing lines in billabongs and streams where they shelter from the sun under fallen logs or amongst the leaves of water plants.

Birlmu or Namarnkorl (Barramundi)

It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment. The artist has painted ‘birlmu’ or ‘namarnkorl’ (Barramundi [Lates calcarifer]). During the dry season the barramundi is an important food source for inland Aboriginal people. These fish are caught throughout the artist’s clan estate, either in fishtraps woven from pandanus or sedge grass, or else hunted with spears and fishing lines in billabongs and streams where they shelter from the sun under fallen logs or amongst the leaves of water plants.

Nawarlah – Brown River Stingray

We hunt the Nawarlah (Brown River Stingray) during the wet season.  There is a plant with a yellow flower that tells us that it is the right time.  We know it will be fat. 

It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment.

Nawarlah – Brown River Stingray

We hunt the Nawarlah (Brown River Stingray) during the wet season.  There is a plant with a yellow flower that tells us that it is the right time.  We know it will be fat. 

It is well known that Aboriginal art often depicts images of sacred totems or dreamings of Aboriginal culture. However, the world of the non-sacred also provides a rich source of subject matter for Aboriginal art. Much of the rock art of western Arnhem Land for example features secular topics such as common food animals and plants, depicted because of their economic importance but also merely because of their existence in the environment.