January 2023

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Yawkyawk (Ngalkunburriyaymi)

This is a painting of Ngalkunburriyaymi, the fish-women spirit. The water spirits Yawkyawk or Ngalkunburriyaymi are perhaps the most enigmatic. Sometimes compared to the European notion of mermaids, they exist as spiritual beings living in freshwater streams, particularly those in the stone country. The spirit Yawkyawk are usually describe and depicted with the tails of fish, as in this painting. Thus the Kununjku people sometime call them ngalberddjenj which literally means ‘the 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) found in freshwater streams and rock pools. At times they leave their aquatic homes to walk about on dry land, particularly at night.

Aboriginal people believe that at one time all animals were humans. During the time of the creation of landscapes and plants and animals, these ancestors heroes in human form changed into their animal forms via a series of various significant events now recorded as oral mythologies. 

Today the Kuninjku believe that ngalkunburriyaymi are alive and well and living in freshwater sites in a number of sacred locations. The Kuninjku also believe that ‘clever’ man (magicians with mystical powers called in Kuninjku na-kordang) may take these spirits as wives. The father of Mandarrk, a well known artist who resided in the Central Arnhem area, is said to have had such a spirit as a wife. Unfortunately, it is said, she failed one day to return from being sent to fetch water from the river, and returned to her kin. The ngalkunburriyaymi also have husbands and children of their own kind. Their sites are usually shared with the rainbow serpent ngalyod. Some have ritual importance, for example in some depictions, the yawkyawk spirit holds ceremonial string, just like the lengths of string women hold between both hands today during certain public ceremonies. 

There are at least three major ngalkunburriyaymi sacred sites that are well known in the area south and south-west of Maningrida. One site Bolerrhlerr is on the Mann River at a place near Yikarrakkal Outstation where the Mann River has rugged rocky banks and clefts beneath stone overhangs in the water. The yawkyawk in this painting refers to this site. Another very similar site further west in the Kumadderr River district is surrounded by a number of small but very old rock art sites and has become known in English as ‘Dreaming Lady’. A third site is a major yawkyawk dreaming place which is so significant that the traditional clan custodians have set up an outstation community near the site the identify of this group is very much related to their yawkyawk dreaming for which they have spiritual and practical responsibility. This group, known as the Dangkorlo clan, are well known for their bark paintings and sculptures of yawkyawk. Both of Kubarkku’s wives are members of the Dangkorlo clan.

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Yawkyawk (Ngalkunburriyaymi)

This is a painting of Ngalkunburriyaymi, the fish-women spirit. The water spirits Yawkyawk or Ngalkunburriyaymi are perhaps the most enigmatic. Sometimes compared to the European notion of mermaids, they exist as spiritual beings living in freshwater streams, particularly those in the stone country. The spirit Yawkyawk are usually describe and depicted with the tails of fish, as in this painting. Thus the Kununjku people sometime call them ngalberddjenj which literally means ‘the 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) found in freshwater streams and rock pools. At times they leave their aquatic homes to walk about on dry land, particularly at night.

Aboriginal people believe that at one time all animals were humans. During the time of the creation of landscapes and plants and animals, these ancestors heroes in human form changed into their animal forms via a series of various significant events now recorded as oral mythologies. 

Today the Kuninjku believe that ngalkunburriyaymi are alive and well and living in freshwater sites in a number of sacred locations. The Kuninjku also believe that ‘clever’ man (magicians with mystical powers called in Kuninjku na-kordang) may take these spirits as wives. The father of Mandarrk, a well known artist who resided in the Central Arnhem area, is said to have had such a spirit as a wife. Unfortunately, it is said, she failed one day to return from being sent to fetch water from the river, and returned to her kin. The ngalkunburriyaymi also have husbands and children of their own kind. Their sites are usually shared with the rainbow serpent ngalyod. Some have ritual importance, for example in some depictions, the yawkyawk spirit holds ceremonial string, just like the lengths of string women hold between both hands today during certain public ceremonies. 

There are at least three major ngalkunburriyaymi sacred sites that are well known in the area south and south-west of Maningrida. One site Bolerrhlerr is on the Mann River at a place near Yikarrakkal Outstation where the Mann River has rugged rocky banks and clefts beneath stone overhangs in the water. The yawkyawk in this painting refers to this site. Another very similar site further west in the Kumadderr River district is surrounded by a number of small but very old rock art sites and has become known in English as ‘Dreaming Lady’. A third site is a major yawkyawk dreaming place which is so significant that the traditional clan custodians have set up an outstation community near the site the identify of this group is very much related to their yawkyawk dreaming for which they have spiritual and practical responsibility. This group, known as the Dangkorlo clan, are well known for their bark paintings and sculptures of yawkyawk. Both of Kubarkku’s wives are members of the Dangkorlo clan.

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Man-ngalinj (bush potato)

Man-ngalinj is a root vegetable often described as ‘bush potato’. It’s duwa, the artist’s moiety. It has a bulbous root and a long thin vine with small flowers that grows across the ground or up the trunks of nearby trees. Large crops can be found near the artist’s outstation, Bolkdjam. Man-ngalinj are harvested after the Wet season in the early Dry

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Ngalkodjek Spirit Pole

Transcription of text by Jack Nawilil about two ceremonial objects— Karlanj and Ngalkodjek. Transcribed by Murray Garde and Margaret Carew 2 & 5 December 2017. Notes by Margaret Carew on 5 Dec 2017

 

Note: The site Jack refers to as Kœnœdjangka is in the Rembarrnga language. The ‘œ’ vowel sounds like the ‘ur’ in English ‘fur’. As this vowel does not exist in neighbouring languages, it is usually converted to an ‘i’ as Kinidjangka by Kuninjku and Burarra speakers. I have used that spelling also in the English translation but retained Kœnœdjangka in the transcription of Jack’s speech. Jack’s speech involves code switching amongst Kriol, Kune, Burarra and English.

 

 

[00:00:01] This one here, like ngaye ngakurrmeng, im my draw.

 

This one here [ceremonial objects], I have drawn my own personal designs on them.

 

[00:00:09] This one Ngalkodjek.

 

This one (is called) Ngalkodjek. (MG- note, that this is not the subsection term Ngalkodjok, rather the stem -kodjek is formative in the verb -kodjekmang ‘to abduct’ and may refer to a secret episode in the Nakorrkko story, the father and son cultural heroes for Bininj in western Arnhem Land).

 

[00:00:13] Daluk, im from Elcho im bin travellng, im from Elcho, gama ngarla, jiny-bona didjan na, and didjan du.

 

This represents a woman, she travelled (here) from Elcho Island, she is from Elcho, she was a woman indeed, she went/travelled, this one and this one too.

 

[00:00:27] Didjan najawan, didjan na.

 

This is another one however, this one.

 

[00:00:30] Shemaiah: Those two are the same story?

 

[00:00:33] Same story this mob but I’ll bringim next week. I’ll bring another one.

 

[00:00:39] This one here, an-nerranga, an-guna balaji, mun-anngiya langa djolworra kantri, im from gun-anngiya, im from like im 

 

This one here, this is a different one and represents a food plant, what’s its name (that tucker), it is from the saltwater country, from this way, like, it’s from what’s that place

 

 

(MC comment: -anngiya is a ‘what’s its name’ word, that inflects for noun class.)

 

[00:01:05] In my country where that Kœnidjangka way. Didjan na.

 

In my country there at Kinidjangka. This one here.

 

[00:01:09] Yo an-guna. Yo Murray, Murray im save, marn.gi.

 

This one. Murray knows about this.

 

[00:01:19] Yo, Murray ngudda yibengkan ngayi ngarduk nani Murray. From Kœnidjangka ngamarnbom.

 

Murray you know this one, it’s my design Murray. I made it, the one from Kinidjangka.

 

[00:01:28] En nani Kœnidjangka ngamarnbom, en nani kuluban kayo kure Nakorrkko wam. Nani ngamarnbom. Ungke nane ngamarnbom that story ngarduk na. Ngakurrmeng ngaye. Ngudda yibengkan. Kanmarnebengkan Bulanj. Yoh.

 

This one I made it, the design from Kinidjangka, the place where flying foxes live where the Nakorrkko passed through. I made that. I’ve made that story for you, that one of mine. I have put it there. You know that. You know what I’m talking about Bulanj (to Murray Garde).

 

[00:01:51] Didjan, nane, dijan gama i bin travelling garra didjei, garra didjei.

 

This one here, she is a woman who travelled this way, coming this way (to the west from north-east Arnhem Land).

 

[00:02:03] Im gona garra ebrijing. From Kunidjangka i bin make it. From Kœnidjangka ngamarnbom en nani Kœnidjangka ngamarnbom. En dijan Kœnidjangka ngamarnbom. Nane now.

 

She has many things. I made it, the one from Kinidjangka. From Kinidjangka I made it. It is from Kinidjangka, this thing i have made. That’s it now.

 

[00:02:25] Ngarduk my draw nane. Like ngamarnbun, like im nomo marrek ba morning star, im different nani. ngardapa ngardapa ngarla dreaming. Mu-gurrmurra, yo a-gurrmurra a-bona. Wangarr ngarla.

 

This design belongs to me. Like, I made it, and it should not be confused with a morning star pole, no, it is something different. they are separate indeed, these dreamings. It (an ancestral spirit) put it there. It is my totemic emblem. It is my ancestral design of the ancestral beings, indeed.

 

MC note: 

mu-gurrmurra

00:02:44.460 – 00:02:45.310

it put it (object belongs to mun- vegetable noun class)

00:02:44.460 – 00:02:45.310

a-gurrmurra a-bona

00:02:45.310 – 00:02:47.928

it put it (object now belongs to an- masculine noun class). a-bona here literally means ‘it (masculine) went’ but functions as an aspectual auxilliary, showing that the action is completed. Tense suffixes construe this in the past.

 

Shemaiah responds: yo gun-burral

00:02:49.570 – 00:02:51.155

yes that’s true

00:02:49.570 – 00:02:51.155

 

[00:02:53] Dijan, dijan, im from dijei na, from Elcho. mm dijan.

 

This one, its origins are from this way (the east), from Elcho, mm, this one.

 

[00:03:00] gama

 

a woman

 

[00:03:02] Shemaiah: Ngay ngay ngay

 

yeah yeah yeah

 

[00:03:05] Dijan, im daga ia la Kœnidjangka. Balajiya. But im Mardayin. Bad ai jas putumbat eniwe yuno?

 

This other one is an edible plant. Food. But it is a sacred thing from the Mardayin ceremony. But I have adapted it to make it a secular version.

 

MC note: balajiya – note emphasis -ya final syllable.

 

@Shemaiah: balaji murda

00:03:09.370 – 00:03:10.530

food this one

00:03:09.370 – 00:03:10.530

murda is a contracted demonstrative (from mun-narda), ‘this one in focus’ compare arda, jirda, gurda, other noun class inflected forms. These contracted demonstrative forms are a feature of modern Burarra. 

00:03:09.370 – 00:03:10.530

 

[00:03:19] Dijan na. Dijan, dijan mun-anngeyo balaji gen

 

This one. This is also a food.

 

[00:03:27] Shemaiah: balaji?

 

Food?

 

[00:03:28] Yo im my country igen bad awirri-gapajinga ngarla. We digim and karrimang. We eatim na, dijan na. 

 

Yes, in my country, we dig it, but has a secret element to the story. We dig it and take it out. Then we eat it, this thing.

 

MC note:

The transitive prefix awirri- (~abirri-) reads to me as ‘you and me plus one more’, ie inclusive unit augmented. If plural/augmented we’d expect mbi-gapajinga ie third person augmented acting on singular object, where there is noun class agreement with the object. If just ‘you and me’ is intended it would be ay-gapajinga. Quite commonly unit augmented prefixes are used in generic statements such as this, where one might expect another prefix going from the speech or discourse context.

00:03:29.960 – 00:03:31.565

 

[00:03:42] Like ngakurrmeng namekke Murray, Bulanj, nane Ngalkodjek wam from aa kure kamdolkkang from aam, Elcho.

 

So, Murray, that’s what I’ve put on it (the design). This is Ngalkodjek who travelled, setting out from Elcho Island.

 

[00:03:58] Ngamarnbom. Nabuyika nane, ngamarnbom manme rerri. Manme ngamarnbom, mane manme kangeydi manbingkanj.

 

I made it. The other one, I also made that one too. I made the plant food emblem, and the name of that plant is manbingkanj.

 

[00:04:16] Nane, nane ngamarnbom karlanj ngamarnbom, manme rerrih. Nane na Kœnidjangka ngamarnbom. Ngaleng nani, ngaleng Elcho kamwam daluk. Dijan na.

 

This thing here, I made it, this object is called karlanj and it represents a plant food. This one I have made is from Kinidjangka. She is a woman who came from Elcho Island. This one now.

 

[00:04:34] Im from long way dijan i bin travelling, from Elcho, (kala xxx ) like yu nomo save… yuno that, daluk, blanga im business, garra dijan i bin travelling. Yo. Dijan ia im mine dijan. Nane ngarduk rowk Bulanj, namekke draw namekke recordim ngayeman ngangeykurrmehkurrmeng nane.

 

She was travelling a long way, from Elcho Island (…..) like, you don’t know that story (it’s secret)… you know it related to a woman, it was her ceremonial story, and she was travelling. This thing here is my (clan) design. These are all mine Bulanj (to Garde) and what I have drawn, it’s being recorded now and I’m explaining all the names relating to it.

 

[00:05:03] Nane Ngalkodjek daluk, nane manme karlanj en nane mak, njamed, um. Karlanj manih manbu. Mak mane manbuyika, djal manbuyika yerri.

 

This woman, her name is Ngalkodjek, and this is the food, the karlanj, and this whatsit, um. Karlanj, that’s it. And there is another one but it is different again.

 

[00:05:24] Manbu rerri kayime wanjh mani nawu.

 

It is similar again, this one here.

 

[00:05:26] Ngamarnbom.

 

I made them.

 

[00:05:28] Ungke Murray. Kaluk yibekkan yingan kumekke mankarre yimarnbun. Yo namekke. Ma, thank you.

 

This (recording) is for you Murray (to transcribe for the art and cultural centre). You can listen to it and document the cultural story. That’s it. Okay, thank you.

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Banaka ‘digging stick’

This is a Jowunga design, associated with Mick England’s mother country of Barlparnarra.

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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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Mandjabu

Kuninjku people traditionally make two sorts of conical fish traps. One called Mandjabu made from milil a vine. And another smaller one called manyilk Mandjabu, made from the grass manylik. The milil conical fish trap is bigger and stronger and used in tidal reaches of creeks to catch large fish. the smaller and lighter manylik trap is used in freshwater flowing creeks to catch smaller fish and freshwater prawns. Traditionally only men were involved in the construction of the large fish traps, but smaller children were used to crawl inside and assist.

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Mimih Spirit

The mimih spirit exists in a realm that runs parallel to and mirrors many facets of human life, also demonstrating the deep sense of time and place understood by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Such spirits feature importantly in relation to Aboriginal spirituality, cosmology, social and moral tales as well as ritual. As is true with the multiple mediums employed by artists of West Arnhem Land, the development of artistic style and form is in line with an awareness by the artist that the work produced is predominantly made for a broader audience. Whether show in a national or international context these works communicate and exist in a particular space that is cross-cultural and simultaneously so particular to the Arnhem region.



The mimih sits within a complex and important pedagogical and religious body of knowledge which links Kuninjku people to their distinctive escarpment homelands. Young Kuninjku artists, or apprentices, employ the mimih as an important exercise for the practice of the rarrk technique, as it could be achieved on a smaller surface area before, being attempted in larger scale, on pieces of bark. The mimih serves a purpose for those young artists first learning to carve in a social space of sharing and innovating. The initial mimih manifestation was a large form that almost mirrored the anatomy of a human and at this stage the sculptures have been likened to morkuy carvings visible in eastern Arnhem Land. Contemporaneously, mimih are depicted in a refined, slender, even emaciated form with a broad range of facial expressions giving both individual character to, and denoting the potential volatility and humour that mimih spirits are notable for in their interaction with bininj (humans). The sculptures are frequently carved from the thin trunks of softwoods such as kapok (bombax ceiba or cottonwood) kurrajong, beach hibiscus or leichardt and are painted with earth pigments for their colouring and design.

A leading figure engaging the spirit in visual storytelling was Crusoe Kuningbal, a Kuninjku man, who while traveling was familiarised with carving styles from the east of Arnhem at the mission in Milingimbi pre-dating World War II. This showing a notable connection and interaction of different language groups across such space. As well as travel and the development of art forms being informed by cross cultural dialogues within northern Aboriginal language groups. The mimih became a valued inclusion in performance and public ceremony by Kuninjku people like Kuningbal. At times these ceremonies were performed for extended language groups in the local region.

Now a familiar and broadly depicted figure of iconography, it is important to acknowledge the development of this quite recent sculptural tradition. The depiction of this particular spirit being, once used as an addition to the sharing of song cycles and ceremony, has since been elevated to a prominent form and subject of contemporary sculpture. Variation in the creation of mimih acts as an indication of the individualism of each artist and their stylistic markers. Additionally significant to note is that in the space of the past thirty years the mimih has begun being produced by multiple language groups residing in the Maningrida area including the traditional owners of Maningrida, the Ndjébbana, speaking Kunibidji as well as Gurrgoni people who have strong ties to Kuninjku.

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*Maningrida Arts & Culture acknowledge the work of many academic and non-academic voices when writing on this topic, it is important to note Luke Taylor, who’s broad research has informed this text.

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Mimih Spirit

The mimih spirit exists in a realm that runs parallel to and mirrors many facets of human life, also demonstrating the deep sense of time and place understood by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Such spirits feature importantly in relation to Aboriginal spirituality, cosmology, social and moral tales as well as ritual. As is true with the multiple mediums employed by artists of West Arnhem Land, the development of artistic style and form is in line with an awareness by the artist that the work produced is predominantly made for a broader audience. Whether show in a national or international context these works communicate and exist in a particular space that is cross-cultural and simultaneously so particular to the Arnhem region.



The mimih sits within a complex and important pedagogical and religious body of knowledge which links Kuninjku people to their distinctive escarpment homelands. Young Kuninjku artists, or apprentices, employ the mimih as an important exercise for the practice of the rarrk technique, as it could be achieved on a smaller surface area before, being attempted in larger scale, on pieces of bark. The mimih serves a purpose for those young artists first learning to carve in a social space of sharing and innovating. The initial mimih manifestation was a large form that almost mirrored the anatomy of a human and at this stage the sculptures have been likened to morkuy carvings visible in eastern Arnhem Land. Contemporaneously, mimih are depicted in a refined, slender, even emaciated form with a broad range of facial expressions giving both individual character to, and denoting the potential volatility and humour that mimih spirits are notable for in their interaction with bininj (humans). The sculptures are frequently carved from the thin trunks of softwoods such as kapok (bombax ceiba or cottonwood) kurrajong, beach hibiscus or leichardt and are painted with earth pigments for their colouring and design.

A leading figure engaging the spirit in visual storytelling was Crusoe Kuningbal, a Kuninjku man, who while traveling was familiarised with carving styles from the east of Arnhem at the mission in Milingimbi pre-dating World War II. This showing a notable connection and interaction of different language groups across such space. As well as travel and the development of art forms being informed by cross cultural dialogues within northern Aboriginal language groups. The mimih became a valued inclusion in performance and public ceremony by Kuninjku people like Kuningbal. At times these ceremonies were performed for extended language groups in the local region.

Now a familiar and broadly depicted figure of iconography, it is important to acknowledge the development of this quite recent sculptural tradition. The depiction of this particular spirit being, once used as an addition to the sharing of song cycles and ceremony, has since been elevated to a prominent form and subject of contemporary sculpture. Variation in the creation of mimih acts as an indication of the individualism of each artist and their stylistic markers. Additionally significant to note is that in the space of the past thirty years the mimih has begun being produced by multiple language groups residing in the Maningrida area including the traditional owners of Maningrida, the Ndjébbana, speaking Kunibidji as well as Gurrgoni people who have strong ties to Kuninjku.

________
*Maningrida Arts & Culture acknowledge the work of many academic and non-academic voices when writing on this topic, it is important to note Luke Taylor, who’s broad research has informed this text.

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Mimih Spirit

The mimih spirit exists in a realm that runs parallel to and mirrors many facets of human life, also demonstrating the deep sense of time and place understood by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Such spirits feature importantly in relation to Aboriginal spirituality, cosmology, social and moral tales as well as ritual. As is true with the multiple mediums employed by artists of West Arnhem Land, the development of artistic style and form is in line with an awareness by the artist that the work produced is predominantly made for a broader audience. Whether show in a national or international context these works communicate and exist in a particular space that is cross-cultural and simultaneously so particular to the Arnhem region.



The mimih sits within a complex and important pedagogical and religious body of knowledge which links Kuninjku people to their distinctive escarpment homelands. Young Kuninjku artists, or apprentices, employ the mimih as an important exercise for the practice of the rarrk technique, as it could be achieved on a smaller surface area before, being attempted in larger scale, on pieces of bark. The mimih serves a purpose for those young artists first learning to carve in a social space of sharing and innovating. The initial mimih manifestation was a large form that almost mirrored the anatomy of a human and at this stage the sculptures have been likened to morkuy carvings visible in eastern Arnhem Land. Contemporaneously, mimih are depicted in a refined, slender, even emaciated form with a broad range of facial expressions giving both individual character to, and denoting the potential volatility and humour that mimih spirits are notable for in their interaction with bininj (humans). The sculptures are frequently carved from the thin trunks of softwoods such as kapok (bombax ceiba or cottonwood) kurrajong, beach hibiscus or leichardt and are painted with earth pigments for their colouring and design.

A leading figure engaging the spirit in visual storytelling was Crusoe Kuningbal, a Kuninjku man, who while traveling was familiarised with carving styles from the east of Arnhem at the mission in Milingimbi pre-dating World War II. This showing a notable connection and interaction of different language groups across such space. As well as travel and the development of art forms being informed by cross cultural dialogues within northern Aboriginal language groups. The mimih became a valued inclusion in performance and public ceremony by Kuninjku people like Kuningbal. At times these ceremonies were performed for extended language groups in the local region.

Now a familiar and broadly depicted figure of iconography, it is important to acknowledge the development of this quite recent sculptural tradition. The depiction of this particular spirit being, once used as an addition to the sharing of song cycles and ceremony, has since been elevated to a prominent form and subject of contemporary sculpture. Variation in the creation of mimih acts as an indication of the individualism of each artist and their stylistic markers. Additionally significant to note is that in the space of the past thirty years the mimih has begun being produced by multiple language groups residing in the Maningrida area including the traditional owners of Maningrida, the Ndjébbana, speaking Kunibidji as well as Gurrgoni people who have strong ties to Kuninjku.

________
*Maningrida Arts & Culture acknowledge the work of many academic and non-academic voices when writing on this topic, it is important to note Luke Taylor, who’s broad research has informed this text.