Roseleen has depicted a hill located within Ngargaroon country known as Red Butte – the hill itself appears red in person, it is a very long distance inland, and usually would take about 2/3 days.. To get out there you would have to need a very good reliable 4WD vehicle – The hill itself is apart of Ngarankarni (dreaming). This is the main subject within this artwork that Roseleen has depicted.
“This story was told to me from my grandpa – my father’s dad. When my grandpa was young, they were living in the desert south-west of Yakanarra at Karrajarri country.
“Anyway, in that time tribes were always moving around the desert. The lost families (man, woman, and a couple of kids) wanted to move further away and went away from my grandpa’s area. They told my grandpa’s family that they were going looking for more bush food, and also waterholes. They went for a week and didn’t come back.
“My grandpa’s family were starting to get worried, So some men got together and went looking for the families. They looked day and night and didn’t find them. They were burning bush fires to try to get a response but nothing happened. It took 2 years for my people (Walmajarri tribe) to find them. Close by from kurtal they came across two billabongs surrounded by bush onions plants on the sandhills. They knew that was their people lying near the billabong, because my people know their knowledge in the desert. For a long time, at those two billabongs, there were never any bush onions around that area. The people founded bush onion plants here. They knew the families died here, so my grandpa’s people sat at the billabong and started crying for their families.
“Those lost families, before they died, they ate bush onions and those seeds were in their stomach and that is where they grow today.”
The river flowing through at Two Mile.. The water travels to Glen Helen and all the way. The Finke River flows strong and goes through my country. I love seeing the Finke run all the time when there is big rain. It’s good to go fishing and swimming with family on country.
Last series of painting for Desert Mob 2022 for Vanessa
Painting two for Desert Mob : Creek Flowing series
Painting two for Desert Mob: Creek flowing
