April 2023

Jarntinti

“I, me, Nyanjilpayi paint this one, Jarntinti Lake. I been born there, mine. I been little girl born there, Jarntinti area.  

Jarntinti big claypan near Punmu. Tarlpa, Jutupa, Wawulpa, all waterhole and yinta (permanent spring) in Jarntinti area. Long time [ago] plenty bush tucker there, yukuri (green grass, vegetation) everywhere, plenty kalaru (Samphire, salt bush). You can find him biggest mob there. You got to get that kalaru, grind it and make a damper. Get him up and wash him, wash him, wash him then grind him into flour for a damper. 

No kalaru today, no bush tucker, nothing. I don’t know [why]. Bush tucker nothing now, he never grow there anymore. Jarntinti everywhere clean water today, big rain there. I don’t know why no bush tucker now. I don’t know what’s wrong”.  

– Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Nancy Chapman

“When I was born, my spirit appeared at Jarntinti. I was born at the waterhole called Jarntinti. That’s my Country, Jarntinti. I know all about it, about that water over there, about my home, our grandparent’s Country. We travelled all around as pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling), camping and then setting off again by foot. My family’s water, my grandmother’s, my grandfathers and my ancestors. I was taught from them. Our knowledge is ancient and has been passed on by our grandparents.”

– Nyanjilpayi Nancy Chapman, as translated by Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa

Jarntinti is a large claypan at the Southern end of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), a large salt lake surrounded by tali (sand hills) within the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region. This area is Nyanjilpayi’s birthplace; her ngurra (home Country, camp). Jarntinti formed part of the region which Nyanjilpayi traversed extensively as a young girl. During the pujiman era, Jarntinti was primarily used as a camping site in the wantajarra (wet season), when the claypan filled with kapi (water).

As related by Nyanjilpayi, an abundance of bush tucker could be found at Jarntinti. During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. Whilst desert life has moved away from mobile hunter-gatherer subsistence throughout the course of the twentieth century, bush tucker continues to be a significant component of the modern Martu diet. Hunting and gathering bush tucker remains equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally.

Jarntinti

“I, me, Nyanjilpayi paint this one, Jarntinti Lake. I been born there, mine. I been little girl born there, Jarntinti area.  

Jarntinti big claypan near Punmu. Tarlpa, Jutupa, Wawulpa, all waterhole and yinta (permanent spring) in Jarntinti area. Long time [ago] plenty bush tucker there, yukuri (green grass, vegetation) everywhere, plenty kalaru (Samphire, salt bush). You can find him biggest mob there. You got to get that kalaru, grind it and make a damper. Get him up and wash him, wash him, wash him then grind him into flour for a damper. 

No kalaru today, no bush tucker, nothing. I don’t know [why]. Bush tucker nothing now, he never grow there anymore. Jarntinti everywhere clean water today, big rain there. I don’t know why no bush tucker now. I don’t know what’s wrong”.  

– Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Nancy Chapman

“When I was born, my spirit appeared at Jarntinti. I was born at the waterhole called Jarntinti. That’s my Country, Jarntinti. I know all about it, about that water over there, about my home, our grandparent’s Country. We travelled all around as pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling), camping and then setting off again by foot. My family’s water, my grandmother’s, my grandfathers and my ancestors. I was taught from them. Our knowledge is ancient and has been passed on by our grandparents.”

– Nyanjilpayi Nancy Chapman, as translated by Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa

Jarntinti is a large claypan at the Southern end of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), a large salt lake surrounded by tali (sand hills) within the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region. This area is Nyanjilpayi’s birthplace; her ngurra (home Country, camp). Jarntinti formed part of the region which Nyanjilpayi traversed extensively as a young girl. During the pujiman era, Jarntinti was primarily used as a camping site in the wantajarra (wet season), when the claypan filled with kapi (water).

As related by Nyanjilpayi, an abundance of bush tucker could be found at Jarntinti. During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. Whilst desert life has moved away from mobile hunter-gatherer subsistence throughout the course of the twentieth century, bush tucker continues to be a significant component of the modern Martu diet. Hunting and gathering bush tucker remains equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally.

Wirlarra (Wilarra)

“The moon and the lake. The moon is taking care of the dingo pups, it’s looking after them. This here is the salt lake [and the] dingo pups laying down, they’re laying there with their mum. [The] father is here, [the] father of the pups with his wife. They are talking to each other, laying down next to each other. They sang out, kept howling. The pups listened and ran away. The moon is laying down taking care of the pups.”

– Mulyatingki Marney

 Wirlarra, the site depicted in this painting, lies on the edge of a large salt lake, Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), near Punmu Aboriginal community. A distinctive group of small salt water pools are clustered together here. The water from these pools is known for its’ powerful healing properties, and the pools are still visited today by Martu to bathe cuts and sores. As young girls, sisters Mayiwalku May Chapman, Mulyatingki Marney and Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Nancy Chapman travelled extensively around the Punmu area. They often camped at Wirlarra, where a windbreak provided shelter.

Wirlarra is also a term for ‘moon’ in Manyjilyjarra, and through the site’s Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narrative, the site is united with the moon in significance. It is said that at Wirlarra, the moon called to a family of dingoes; a mother, father and their large litter of dingo pups. The dingoes gathered at Wirlarra, where the moon cared for them and created a windbreak for the family to shelter. Here the dingoes scratched at the surface of the salt lake and created the cluster of salt water pools located there today. They lay down there. After a time, the dingoes continued travelling eastward toward the rising moon until they reached Kinyu (Well 35 on the Canning Stock Route), where they remained until all of the dingo pups had grown up. From Kinyu the family travelled further east with the moon.

Karlamilyi

“These are all the rockholes and soaks that lie on the western, northern and eastern sides of Karlamilyi (Rudall River region), all the rockholes and soaks that I can remember today. My family took me from Pangkapirni when I was little. They took me to Karlamilyi where I was [nearly] drowned…at Jintirripalangu [claypan] when I was very small. And then I grew up in Karlamilyi.”

 – Mulyatingki Marney, as translated by Ngalangka Nola Taylor

Karlamilyi is Warnman Country, located in the very heart of the Martu homelands. The Karlamilyi region forms part of Mulyatingki’s ngurra (home Country, camp), the area which she knew intimately and travelled extensively with her family in her youth. Mulyatingki spent a significant part of her childhood living in this area.

Karlamilyi is situated southwest of the Great Sandy Desert and northeast of the Little Sandy Desert. Spanning through the region is the epic Karlamilyi River, which runs north into Nyayartakujarra (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora), a large salt lake. The Broadhurst and Fingoon Ranges extend diagonally across the river’s path. The landscape is striking for its abundance of gorges and valleys carved by ice age glaciers, rugged cliffs, red tali (sand dunes), grasslands, sandstone and quartz rocky outcrops, and salt lakes. 

Across the whole region are hundreds of water sources; including waterholes, creeks, soaks, lakes, pools and rockholes. Lining the rivers are coolabah, walyji (river gum), yulbah (bats wing coral tree), and several species of acacia and hakea. Jalkuran (paperbark), kurrulyu/ mijarrpa (bloodwood) and jawirli (quandong) are found in the region’s valleys, and wikirrpa (desert oaks) and grasses in the sandplains. The area is abundant with bird species, jila (snakes), maruntu (goannas), red kangaroos and warlpaju (rock wallabies). The region is also home to remote aboriginal communities Punmu and Parnngurr.

According to two of the central Martu Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives, the Karlamilyi River and its surrounds were created by the ancestral beings Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) and the Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men) as they travelled across the lands.

Karlamilyi

“These are all the rockholes and soaks that lie on the western, northern and eastern sides of Karlamilyi (Rudall River region), all the rockholes and soaks that I can remember today. My family took me from Pangkapirni when I was little. They took me to Karlamilyi where I was [nearly] drowned…at Jintirripalangu [claypan] when I was very small. And then I grew up in Karlamilyi.”

 – Mulyatingki Marney, as translated by Ngalangka Nola Taylor

Karlamilyi is Warnman Country, located in the very heart of the Martu homelands. The Karlamilyi region forms part of Mulyatingki’s ngurra (home Country, camp), the area which she knew intimately and travelled extensively with her family in her youth. Mulyatingki spent a significant part of her childhood living in this area.

Karlamilyi is situated southwest of the Great Sandy Desert and northeast of the Little Sandy Desert. Spanning through the region is the epic Karlamilyi River, which runs north into Nyayartakujarra (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora), a large salt lake. The Broadhurst and Fingoon Ranges extend diagonally across the river’s path. The landscape is striking for its abundance of gorges and valleys carved by ice age glaciers, rugged cliffs, red tali (sand dunes), grasslands, sandstone and quartz rocky outcrops, and salt lakes. 

Across the whole region are hundreds of water sources; including waterholes, creeks, soaks, lakes, pools and rockholes. Lining the rivers are coolabah, walyji (river gum), yulbah (bats wing coral tree), and several species of acacia and hakea. Jalkuran (paperbark), kurrulyu/ mijarrpa (bloodwood) and jawirli (quandong) are found in the region’s valleys, and wikirrpa (desert oaks) and grasses in the sandplains. The area is abundant with bird species, jila (snakes), maruntu (goannas), red kangaroos and warlpaju (rock wallabies). The region is also home to remote aboriginal communities Punmu and Parnngurr.

According to two of the central Martu Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives, the Karlamilyi River and its surrounds were created by the ancestral beings Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) and the Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men) as they travelled across the lands.

Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33)

“We went to Kunawarritji. We went out to see the waterholes with Kumpaya [Girgirba], my aunty – my dad’s sister. It’s the first time I went in a chopper to see the waterholes. Kumpaya take me to show me the waterholes, show me my father’s Country. It was good. I went first to see the waterholes and then I start painting. The waterholes are my father’s Country.

We go out there sometimes, but now I’m doing a lot of painting there in Punmu. I was learning to make a painting now, with the old people. But they all passed away now. And they told me, “You can do your own Country, your dad’s Country.” And I made a couple of paintings of my father’s Country. They were telling me, “Just do your father’s Country, Kunawarritji.”

– Debra Thomas

Kunawarritji is an important site in the Great Sandy Desert where multiple stories and histories intersect. Originally a spring water and major Martu pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) camping site, at the turn of the 20th century Kunawarritji was converted into a well along the Canning Stock Route. Each year throughout the 1930-50s, the well became a site of contact between the drovers, their cattle, and desert families. 

Long before colonial history entered this Country, however, other stories dominated the site. Primarily, Kunawarritji features in the Minyipuru (Jakulyukulyu, Seven Sisters Jukurrpa (Dreaming). Minyipuru is a central Jukurrpa narrative for Martu, Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people that is associated with the seasonal Pleiades star constellation. Beginning in Roebourne on the west coast of Western Australia, the story morphs in its movement eastward across the land, following a group of women as they walk, dance, and even fly from waterhole to waterhole. As they travelled the women left markers in the landscape and create landforms that remain to this day. During the entirety of their journey the women are pursued by a lustful old man, Yurla, although interactions with other animals, groups of men, and spirit beings are also chronicled in the narrative.

The Minyipuru travelled to Kunawarritji from Nyipily (Nyipil, Nibil, Canning Stock Route Well 34), and transformed themselves into a distinctive group of trees that remain in the area between these two sites. From Kunawarritji Yurla followed the sisters to Pangkapirni, where he finally caught one of the women. 

Today, Kunawarritji is a site of return, a place where people came back to continue their life in the desert with the formation of Kunawarritji Aboriginal community in the early 1980s. The community’s cultural significance endures, with the population swelling up to 1000 during cultural business.

Nyinyiri

Nyinyiri is a small soak yulparirra (south) of Juntu-juntu (Canning Stock Route Well 30). This area is Mulyatingki’s birthplace; her ngurra (home Country, camp), and forms part of the area which she knew intimately and travelled extensively with her family in her youth. 

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. At this time knowledge of water sources was critical for survival, and today Martu Country is still defined in terms of the location and type of water. Each of the hundreds of claypans, rockholes, waterholes, soaks and springs found in the Martu desert homelands is known by name, location, quality and seasonal availability through real life experience and the recounting of Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives. 

Soaks, or soakwaters, derive their name from the manner in which their waters generally seep into the sand from below stores, sometimes as part of an ephemeral river or creek. Soaks were an especially important source of water during the pujiman era, being the most dependable water source in times of drought. Water was obtained from soaks by scooping away the sand with a piti (timber bowls used for carrying food and water) until clear water gathered at the base of the hole, sometimes at a depth of several metres.

Jarntinti

“I, me, Nyanjilpayi paint this one, Jarntinti Lake. I been born there, mine. I been little girl born there, Jarntinti area.  

Jarntinti big claypan near Punmu. Tarlpa, Jutupa, Wawulpa, all waterhole and yinta (permanent spring) in Jarntinti area. Long time [ago] plenty bush tucker there, yukuri (green grass, vegetation) everywhere, plenty kalaru (Samphire, salt bush). You can find him biggest mob there. You got to get that kalaru, grind it and make a damper. Get him up and wash him, wash him, wash him then grind him into flour for a damper. 

No kalaru today, no bush tucker, nothing. I don’t know [why]. Bush tucker nothing now, he never grow there anymore. Jarntinti everywhere clean water today, big rain there. I don’t know why no bush tucker now. I don’t know what’s wrong”.  

– Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Nancy Chapman

“When I was born, my spirit appeared at Jarntinti. I was born at the waterhole called Jarntinti. That’s my Country, Jarntinti. I know all about it, about that water over there, about my home, our grandparent’s Country. We travelled all around as pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling), camping and then setting off again by foot. My family’s water, my grandmother’s, my grandfathers and my ancestors. I was taught from them. Our knowledge is ancient and has been passed on by our grandparents.”

– Nyanjilpayi Nancy Chapman, as translated by Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa

Jarntinti is a large claypan at the Southern end of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), a large salt lake surrounded by tali (sand hills) within the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region. This area is Nyanjilpayi’s birthplace; her ngurra (home Country, camp). Jarntinti formed part of the region which Nyanjilpayi traversed extensively as a young girl. During the pujiman era, Jarntinti was primarily used as a camping site in the wantajarra (wet season), when the claypan filled with kapi (water).

As related by Nyanjilpayi, an abundance of bush tucker could be found at Jarntinti. During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. Whilst desert life has moved away from mobile hunter-gatherer subsistence throughout the course of the twentieth century, bush tucker continues to be a significant component of the modern Martu diet. Hunting and gathering bush tucker remains equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally.

Karlamilyi

“These are all the rockholes and soaks that lie on the western, northern and eastern sides of Karlamilyi (Rudall River region), all the rockholes and soaks that I can remember today. My family took me from Pangkapirni when I was little. They took me to Karlamilyi where I was [nearly] drowned…at Jintirripalangu [claypan] when I was very small. And then I grew up in Karlamilyi.”

 – Mulyatingki Marney, as translated by Ngalangka Nola Taylor

Karlamilyi is Warnman Country, located in the very heart of the Martu homelands. The Karlamilyi region forms part of Mulyatingki’s ngurra (home Country, camp), the area which she knew intimately and travelled extensively with her family in her youth. Mulyatingki spent a significant part of her childhood living in this area.

Karlamilyi is situated southwest of the Great Sandy Desert and northeast of the Little Sandy Desert. Spanning through the region is the epic Karlamilyi River, which runs north into Nyayartakujarra (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora), a large salt lake. The Broadhurst and Fingoon Ranges extend diagonally across the river’s path. The landscape is striking for its abundance of gorges and valleys carved by ice age glaciers, rugged cliffs, red tali (sand dunes), grasslands, sandstone and quartz rocky outcrops, and salt lakes. 

Across the whole region are hundreds of water sources; including waterholes, creeks, soaks, lakes, pools and rockholes. Lining the rivers are coolabah, walyji (river gum), yulbah (bats wing coral tree), and several species of acacia and hakea. Jalkuran (paperbark), kurrulyu/ mijarrpa (bloodwood) and jawirli (quandong) are found in the region’s valleys, and wikirrpa (desert oaks) and grasses in the sandplains. The area is abundant with bird species, jila (snakes), maruntu (goannas), red kangaroos and warlpaju (rock wallabies). The region is also home to remote aboriginal communities Punmu and Parnngurr.

According to two of the central Martu Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives, the Karlamilyi River and its surrounds were created by the ancestral beings Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) and the Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men) as they travelled across the lands.