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Bawaliba and Ngalyod (Rainbow Serpent)
‘My Kikka (mother), when she was alive, she would tell me these stories. I was just a little girl and she would tell us the stories in her language Gurrgoni.
In the camps there were boy and girl Bawaliba, and old Bawaliba too. They loved to dance by the firelight, keeping rhythm with a stick. They had lots of hair, they were really tall and skinny, with spots on their bodies. The Bawaliba lived a long time in peace. They were the only spirits on their country and so they were never disturbed.
One day, a long time ago, the Bawaliba were out hunting and they saw a large snake- they didn’t know then but she was the Rainbow Serpent. They were really scared, they had never seen that. creature before. She was really beautiful- like a normal king brown snake but with a rainbow from the sky on her back. The rainbow serpent was really hungry, and she could smell the Bawaliba from a long way away. She was out looking for food. The Bawaliba tried to stop Ngalyod coming for them but she was just too quick. She snuck up behind the Bawaliba and before they could get away she ate them up. When she was really full and couldn’t eat anymore Bawaliba she changed the rest of them into stone. Still til this day, the Bawaliba stay on that same country as stones.’ Lucy Yarawanga
377810582130109
Mimih and Modjarrkki Bag
‘This is a true story. My great great grandfather and my father told this story and I tell it to my children. It’s about a freshwater crocodile called Modjarrkki. One day an unmarried man who was camping with his brother and his brothers wife went walking by himself. He came to a creek where he found a crocodile. He went back to camp and said to his brother ‘hey I found a croc, lets go kill it!’. He tried to kill the crocodile but the crocodile bit his brother. He bit his guts, his hand, his legs and he died. Modjarrkki was an angry crocodile but today Modjarkki doesn’t bite people, he’s only a little crocodile and he eats barramundi. He is still alive and he lives in rock country, Karrabarda, which is in Gorlobidahdah.’ Jay Rostron Jurrupula
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Mimih and Modjarrkki Bag
‘This is a true story. My great great grandfather and my father told this story and I tell it to my children. It’s about a freshwater crocodile called Modjarrkki. One day an unmarried man who was camping with his brother and his brothers wife went walking by himself. He came to a creek where he found a crocodile. He went back to camp and said to his brother ‘hey I found a croc, lets go kill it!’. He tried to kill the crocodile but the crocodile bit his brother. He bit his guts, his hand, his legs and he died. Modjarrkki was an angry crocodile but today Modjarkki doesn’t bite people, he’s only a little crocodile and he eats barramundi. He is still alive and he lives in rock country, Karrabarda, which is in Gorlobidahdah.’ Jay Rostron Jurrupula
377810582130106
Mandjabu Bag with Pocket
Kuninjku people traditionally make two sorts of conical fish traps. One is called mandjabu and is made from a strong, durable vine called milil, and a smaller one is called manylik mandjabu, and made from the grass manylik. The mandjabuconical fish trap is bigger and stronger and used in tidal reaches of creeks to catch large fish. The smaller, lighter manyliktrap is used in freshwater flowing creeks to catch smaller fish and freshwater prawns. In earlier times, only men were involved in the construction of the large fish traps, but children would often crawl inside and assist.
To make mandjabu, weavers firstly harvest milil (burney vine, Malaisia scandens) and put it in water overnight to make it soft. Then they start weaving it; they make rings for the inside to keep the fish trap’s shape. People also make string from the bark of burdaga (kurrajong) to attach the bardainy (hibiscus) rings and to tie the conical end of the fish trap. It’s hard work and it can take three or four weeks to make a fish trap. People also use fish-net fences called kunkarlewabe. They would put the kunkarlewabe across rivers and creeks. In the middle they would place the mandjabu. They also used small things like sticks, rocks, mud and grass to block the fish from going through. This way we would catch fish such as saltwater barramundi rajarra, ngaldadmurrng (freshwater barramundi), small black freshwater catfish (buliya), bonefish (an-guwirrpiya), and sand bass (dalakan) in the mandjabu.
377810582130105
Mandjabu Bag with Pocket
Kuninjku people traditionally make two sorts of conical fish traps. One is called mandjabu and is made from a strong, durable vine called milil, and a smaller one is called manylik mandjabu, and made from the grass manylik. The mandjabuconical fish trap is bigger and stronger and used in tidal reaches of creeks to catch large fish. The smaller, lighter manyliktrap is used in freshwater flowing creeks to catch smaller fish and freshwater prawns. In earlier times, only men were involved in the construction of the large fish traps, but children would often crawl inside and assist.
To make mandjabu, weavers firstly harvest milil (burney vine, Malaisia scandens) and put it in water overnight to make it soft. Then they start weaving it; they make rings for the inside to keep the fish trap’s shape. People also make string from the bark of burdaga (kurrajong) to attach the bardainy (hibiscus) rings and to tie the conical end of the fish trap. It’s hard work and it can take three or four weeks to make a fish trap. People also use fish-net fences called kunkarlewabe. They would put the kunkarlewabe across rivers and creeks. In the middle they would place the mandjabu. They also used small things like sticks, rocks, mud and grass to block the fish from going through. This way we would catch fish such as saltwater barramundi rajarra, ngaldadmurrng (freshwater barramundi), small black freshwater catfish (buliya), bonefish (an-guwirrpiya), and sand bass (dalakan) in the mandjabu.
111982130101
Wak Wak
This painting depicts a sacred site at ‘Kurrurldul’, an outstation south of Maningrida.
The ‘rarrk’, or abstract crosshatching, on this work represents the design for the crow totem ancestor called ‘Djimarr’. Today this being exists in the form of a rock, which is permanently submerged at the bottom of Kurrurldul Creek. The ‘Djimarr’ rock in the stream at Kurrurldul is said to move around and call out in a soft hooting tone at night. Both the stone itself and the area around it are considered sacred.
The imagery represents the rock mentioned above at the bottom of Kurrurldul creek, which is the final transmutation of the dreaming ancestor ‘Djimarr’. Finally, the pattern used here is also the crow design used in the sacred ‘Mardayin’ ceremony, which is a large regional patri-moiety ceremony now rarely conducted in central and eastern Arnhem Land.
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Gulach (Spike rush)
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.
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Lorrkkon Skirt
Marilyn’s first screen print design depicts the story of lorrkkon (hollow funeral logs). This the story of her great, great grandfather and grandmother who were bark painters, as well as also sacred lorrkkon painters.
When designing this screen print, Marilyn was remembering her childhood living in a small house on Liverpool river Ngar-wunja (Thompson hole) with other families.
Through the painting process, Marilyn remembered and relived the times when people still lived permanently on remote homelands, living off the land before balanda (non-indigenous people) arrived.
Marilyn recalls “it makes me think back, we did lots of things, some people was hunting, some was weaving, some was painting barks and lorrkkon. As my great, great grandfather and grandmother was painters, I painted this my story for them.”
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Lorrkkon Skirt
Marilyn’s first screen print design depicts the story of lorrkkon (hollow funeral logs). This the story of her great, great grandfather and grandmother who were bark painters, as well as also sacred lorrkkon painters.
When designing this screen print, Marilyn was remembering her childhood living in a small house on Liverpool river Ngar-wunja (Thompson hole) with other families.
Through the painting process, Marilyn remembered and relived the times when people still lived permanently on remote homelands, living off the land before balanda (non-indigenous people) arrived.
Marilyn recalls “it makes me think back, we did lots of things, some people was hunting, some was weaving, some was painting barks and lorrkkon. As my great, great grandfather and grandmother was painters, I painted this my story for them.”