Coiling technique was introduced in the 1920s at Goulburn Island to the Maung people by missionaries and quickly spread to the mainland. Many artists produce coiled baskets of varied shapes, ranging from small round baskets to large oval baby baskets made from dyed pandanus. Artists combine colours and patterns to obtain intricate new graphic patterns.
There are two Dreaming ladies at Bábbarra billabong – Djómi and Bábbarra. These two are sisters: one freshwater ‘mermaid’ and one saltwater one. Big long head, big stomach and very skinny legs that Bábbarra.
Their mother is the crocodile who lives in the Bábbarra billabong.
Both sisters will give people babies through the drinking water at Bábbarra. That’s why men stay away and Bábbarra is a sacred women’s site. Too strong our Dreaming – even men can get that baby in their tummies!
When it rains at Bábbarra, or when a cyclone comes, it’s because our Dreaming is too strong. There are lots of women spirits. When the storms come, the spirits go in the underground rivers and hide safely.
If you go fishing in our country, you have to be careful not to catch the Bábbarra and Djómi ‘mermaids’. Some people catch them thinking they are barramundi, but they are actually the ‘mermaid’ spirits. You will know, because they have white hair.
Lena Djabibba, djungkay (mother’s country and ceremonial manager of Bábbarra) and Joy Garlbin (landowner for Bábbarra)
Text courtesy of Bábbarra Women’s Centre copyright 2017
There are two Dreaming ladies at Bábbarra billabong – Djómi and Bábbarra. These two are sisters: one freshwater ‘mermaid’ and one saltwater one. Big long head, big stomach and very skinny legs that Bábbarra.
Their mother is the crocodile who lives in the Bábbarra billabong.
Both sisters will give people babies through the drinking water at Bábbarra. That’s why men stay away and Bábbarra is a sacred women’s site. Too strong our Dreaming – even men can get that baby in their tummies!
When it rains at Bábbarra, or when a cyclone comes, it’s because our Dreaming is too strong. There are lots of women spirits. When the storms come, the spirits go in the underground rivers and hide safely.
If you go fishing in our country, you have to be careful not to catch the Bábbarra and Djómi ‘mermaids’. Some people catch them thinking they are barramundi, but they are actually the ‘mermaid’ spirits. You will know, because they have white hair.
Lena Djabibba, djungkay (mother’s country and ceremonial manager of Bábbarra) and Joy Garlbin (landowner for Bábbarra)
Text courtesy of Bábbarra Women’s Centre copyright 2017
There are two Dreaming ladies at Bábbarra billabong – Djómi and Bábbarra. These two are sisters: one freshwater ‘mermaid’ and one saltwater one. Big long head, big stomach and very skinny legs that Bábbarra.
Their mother is the crocodile who lives in the Bábbarra billabong.
Both sisters will give people babies through the drinking water at Bábbarra. That’s why men stay away and Bábbarra is a sacred women’s site. Too strong our Dreaming – even men can get that baby in their tummies!
When it rains at Bábbarra, or when a cyclone comes, it’s because our Dreaming is too strong. There are lots of women spirits. When the storms come, the spirits go in the underground rivers and hide safely.
If you go fishing in our country, you have to be careful not to catch the Bábbarra and Djómi ‘mermaids’. Some people catch them thinking they are barramundi, but they are actually the ‘mermaid’ spirits. You will know, because they have white hair.
Lena Djabibba, djungkay (mother’s country and ceremonial manager of Bábbarra) and Joy Garlbin (landowner for Bábbarra)
Text courtesy of Bábbarra Women’s Centre copyright 2017
There are two Dreaming ladies at Bábbarra billabong – Djómi and Bábbarra. These two are sisters: one freshwater ‘mermaid’ and one saltwater one. Big long head, big stomach and very skinny legs that Bábbarra.
Their mother is the crocodile who lives in the Bábbarra billabong.
Both sisters will give people babies through the drinking water at Bábbarra. That’s why men stay away and Bábbarra is a sacred women’s site. Too strong our Dreaming – even men can get that baby in their tummies!
When it rains at Bábbarra, or when a cyclone comes, it’s because our Dreaming is too strong. There are lots of women spirits. When the storms come, the spirits go in the underground rivers and hide safely.
If you go fishing in our country, you have to be careful not to catch the Bábbarra and Djómi ‘mermaids’. Some people catch them thinking they are barramundi, but they are actually the ‘mermaid’ spirits. You will know, because they have white hair.
Lena Djabibba, djungkay (mother’s country and ceremonial manager of Bábbarra) and Joy Garlbin (landowner for Bábbarra)
Text courtesy of Bábbarra Women’s Centre copyright 2017
The Lorrkon or bone pole coffin ceremony was the final ceremony in a sequence of mortuary rituals celebrated by the people of Arnhem Land. This ceremony involves the placing of the deceased’s bones into a hollow log which was decorated with painted clan designs and ceremonially placed into the ground where it remained until it slowly decayed over many years.
The log is made from a termite hollowed Stringybark tree (Eucalyptus tetradonta) and is decorated with totemic emblems. The western Arnhem Land version of the Lorrkon ceremony involves the singing of sacred songs to the accompaniment of karlikarli, a pair of sacred boomerangs used as rhythm instruments. During the final evening of the ceremony, dancers decorate themselves with kapok down, or today, cotton wool and conduct much of the final segments of the ceremony in the secrecy of a restricted mens’ camp. The complete ceremony may stretch over a period of two weeks, but on the last night the bones of the deceased, which have been kept in a bark container or today wrapped in cloth and kept in a suitcase are taken out, are painted with red ochre and placed inside the hollow log. This ceremony may take place many years after the person has died.
At first light on the final morning of the Lorrkon ceremony, the men appear, coming out of their secret bush camp carrying the pole towards the women’s camp. The two groups call to each other using distinct ceremonial calls. The women have prepared a hole for the pole to be placed into and when it is stood upright, women in particular kinship relationships to the deceased dance around the pole in a jumping/shuffling motion. The Lorrkon is then often covered with a tarpaulin and left to slowly decay.
Jarrka is the Burarra word for a species of goanna (Varanus gouldii) which are associated with a site called Ngarla Ji-bama in East Central Arnhem Land. This place is associated with a complex of other sites including: M-bucha, Ji-gurremangunyja and Mu-garlmbarl. The Ancestral being, Jarrka, travelled a long way across Arnhem Land. Many different clans have custodianship over its design and songs associated with it. On the final stage of his journey, Jarrka travelled from Miwirnbi to the south before entering the ground at Ngarla Ji-bama. The depiction of Jarrka therefore implies the artist’s ceremonial and kinship affiliations to clan and country outside of his own clan estates and thus identifies himself and his own clan in the context of a regional kinship network.
Terry Ngamandara is a senior custodian of the Gun-gulol Gu-rrenyjinga group of clans, which includes his own clans Girnimba and Garramirra. These clans are all land owners for different areas of the large swamp called Barlparnarra which lies to the north-west of Gochan Jiny-jirra outstation on the Cadell River. Barlparnarra 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 artist has depicted a key emblem for the Gun-gulol Gu-rrenyjinga clans. It is a design for gulach, the spike rush (Eleocharis dulcis) that dominates the Barlparnarra swamp country. The emblem appears as triangular motifs which cover the entire painting. The spike rush plant has edible corms which form a food source for magpie geese, a key swamp game animal. People also dig and eat the sweet corms.
The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets. Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.
The women of Maningrida and surrounding homelands use a combination of locally found seeds, bone and shells to make a variety of jewellery including necklaces. earrings and bracelets. Many of the artists use complex patterns and designs to make their beautiful creations.