Yawkyawk is a word from the Aboriginal Kuninjku language, meaning ‘young woman’ and ‘young woman spirit being’.
Sometimes compared to the European notion of mermaids, yawkyawks are usually depicted with the tails of fish. They have long hair, associated with trailing blooms of algae, typically found in Arnhem Land streams and rock pools.
Deborah Wurrkidj is a Kuninjku artist from the Kurulk clan whose country lies around the outstation of Mumeka in central Arnhem Land. This image depicts a female water spirit, or yawkyawk, from a creek in the rock country near Yikkarakal. The Yawkyawk is a story of the Duwa moiety that Deborah learnt to paint from her father.
Yawkyawk are water spirits (mermaids) and also young women. This design is yawkyawk in the billabong near Yikkarakal. Yawkyawk move like women, the one on the left is the old woman and on the right is the young woman. They are mother and daughter.
“Sometimes you can hear yawkyawk talking at night. My grandmother told me a story that they heard those yawkyawk and when they looked out with their torch at night, all the women saw the yawkyawk tails flapping and disappearing in the water. The water is very cold in that billabong and the sand is soft, you might fall down there in the mud. There are also wayuk (water lilies) in this design, and other grasses. Sometimes when they are cold, the yawkyawk get out of the water to lie in the sun, but when they hear our footsteps they quickly jump back in.
when wer were on the outstation our elders would tell us this story of the Yawkyawk. They look after my place. They also give a babay to you.” – Deborah Wurrkidj
Beautiful black linen with slight stretch, grey white and ochre ink.
Hand Screen Printed by Publisher, Sydney Australia
Djerrk are primarily made from the bark of Baḻgurr (Red-flowered Kurrajong – Brachychiton megaphyllus) but sometimes Banyan tree (Ficus virens) and Cocky Apple tree (Planchonia careya). Sections of the tree are cut, and depending on the size, whole portions or part portions from the trunk. The inner bark is beaten or chewed to soften then dyed with natural bush dyes. Once softened and dyed, parts of the fibre are separated into fine strips then rolled on the thigh to create a rope otherwise known as bush string. The bush string is then woven and knotted to create a djerrk (string bag). Djerrk were used for every day utilitarian purposes, particularly collecting bush foods such as bäḻtji (yam).
‘My designs, they are all alive living up in my head’- Janet Marawarr
Janet Marawarr has depicted kunkurra, the spiralling wind associated with several sites in the Kardbam clan. On one level, this design can be interpreted as a depiction of the kinds of mini-cyclones common during the wet season in Arnhem Land, where the artist lives. Kunkurra also relates specifically to a site called Bilwoyinj, near Mankorlod, on the artist’s clan estate.
At this site, two of the most important Kuninjku creation beings, a father and son known as na-korrkko, are believed to have hunted and eaten a goanna. They left some of the goanna fat behind at the site, which turned into the rock that still stands there today.
Bilwoyinj site is also a ceremonial ground for a ceremony called Yabbaduruwa, a major ceremony owned by the Yirridja patrimoiety. The Yabbaduruwa ceremony is primarily concerned with initiation, land ownership and promoting the cyclical regeneration of the human and natural worlds.
‘My designs, they are all alive living up in my head’- Janet Marawarr
Janet Marawarr has depicted kunkurra, the spiralling wind associated with several sites in the Kardbam clan. On one level, this design can be interpreted as a depiction of the kinds of mini-cyclones common during the wet season in Arnhem Land, where the artist lives. Kunkurra also relates specifically to a site called Bilwoyinj, near Mankorlod, on the artist’s clan estate.
At this site, two of the most important Kuninjku creation beings, a father and son known as na-korrkko, are believed to have hunted and eaten a goanna. They left some of the goanna fat behind at the site, which turned into the rock that still stands there today.
Bilwoyinj site is also a ceremonial ground for a ceremony called Yabbaduruwa, a major ceremony owned by the Yirridja patrimoiety. The Yabbaduruwa ceremony is primarily concerned with initiation, land ownership and promoting the cyclical regeneration of the human and natural worlds.
Ngalng (fresh water yabby)
‘This is a story from Mankorlod. This is a djang story. This is the creation story about the fresh water yabby. Starting with the stone, that’s the raw one and the cooked one. The stone rock suddenly turned to ngalng, in a flash. Ngalng started growing and turned into a body. It’s a magic one and it can change from rock to ngalng to human and back to ngalng. Now it’s a ngalng.
The country is near Mankorlod and Korlobididah. The ngalng is stuck there forever on the rock at Korlobididah,’
‘There is also duruk (camp dog) called ‘Djanbokkon’. This is a duruk that comes from water and no one has seen it. This is a true duruk, he goes everywhere in the country. His body is striped. He is a secret dog and he has a secret story.’
Janet Marawarr 2022
Ngalng (fresh water yabby)
‘This is a story from Mankorlod. This is a djang story. This is the creation story about the fresh water yabby. Starting with the stone, that’s the raw one and the cooked one. The stone rock suddenly turned to ngalng, in a flash. Ngalng started growing and turned into a body. It’s a magic one and it can change from rock to ngalng to human and back to ngalng. Now it’s a ngalng.
The country is near Mankorlod and Korlobididah. The ngalng is stuck there forever on the rock at Korlobididah,’
‘There is also duruk (camp dog) called ‘Djanbokkon’. This is a duruk that comes from water and no one has seen it. This is a true duruk, he goes everywhere in the country. His body is striped. He is a secret dog and he has a secret story.’
Janet Marawarr 2022
‘When we go out hunting we find bush potatoes, the long ones. They are called bulwud sp?. (Kuninjku) The flower is long and we follow the stem to the potato root. We peel it eat the white part. When we cook them they taste like potato.’ Lucy Yarawanga
