August 2023

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Depicted in this work are traditional types of bush tucker, their habitats, and their related hunting and gathering methods. 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. 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. Though hunting and gathering implements have been modernised, methods of harvesting, tracking and the use of fire burning to drive animals from their retreats are still commonly practiced today. 

Typically, animals hunted for their kuwiyi (meat) include kirti-kirti (euro kangaroo) and marlu (plains kangaroo), parnajarrpa (sand goanna), kipara (Australian bustard, bush turkey) and karlaya (emu). Lunki (witchetty grub) and wuukurta (honey ants) are dug from tree and bush trunks, or from underground nests. Popular mayi (plant food) includes minyarra (bush onion), collected from small, grass like plants; root vegetables dug from underground such as kulyu and mata (types of bush potato); and seeds such as kalaru (samphire, salt bush), yuwinyji, and marnkalpa (spinifex species). Jawirli (quondong), wamurla (bush tomatoes), jinyjiwirrily (wild gooseberry), ngaputa (melon), and karlkula (bush banana) are some of the most popular bush fruits. These are often collected in the wantajarra (cool season) and tuulpara (spring) months, along with juri (sweet) botanical gums and wama (nectar), obtained from various plant species. 

Traditional tools used for hunting and gathering bush tucker were carved from wanari (mulga), mulunturu (desert oak), yurungkura (river red gum) and mijarrpa (bloodwoods), and included kurlata (spears), jurna (hitting stick), karli (boomerangs), wana (digging-sticks), piti (timber bowls used for carrying food and water), and jiwa (grinding stones for grinding seeds into flour). While carved objects retain enormous social and ceremonial importance in Martu life, they are no longer used for hunting and gathering.

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KARLAYA (EMU)

Depicted in this work are karlaya (emus); large, flightless birds endemic to Australia, and found across the whole country. Emus have been hunted by Martu people as a source of bush tucker from the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era through to today. Typically emus were tracked using their distinctive jina (tracks, footprints). Acute skill in track observation and identification traditionally possessed by Aboriginal people developed directly in relation to their past hunter-gatherer existence, when survival depended in large part on the successful tracking of hunted animals. In the absence of an actual animal sighting, tracks act as an identifier that an animal was present, which were then followed to the animal’s location.

Once caught, the emu and its eggs were consumed, fat was harvested for several medicinal applications, bones were shaped into tools, feathers were used for adornment, and tendons substituted for string.

MARLU (KANGAROO)

Marlu (kangaroo) are one of the largest species that form part of the Martu diet, and are typically hunted by men on specific trips targeting major game. Marlu are prized not only for the high yield of meat which they represent, but also for the level of skill and stamina required to hunt them. When hunted, marlu are typically directed via fire and then tracked for a lengthy period of up to several hours. Effective hunting also relies on one’s knowledge of seasonal conditions and preferred foods and habitats. Traditionally, marlu were stalked and then speared. Today, marlu are generally hunted with rifles at the beginning of yalijarra (hot season), before the rains.

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. 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. Though hunting and gathering implements have been modernised, methods of harvesting, tracking and the use of fire burning to drive animals from their retreats are still commonly practiced today.

 

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Bilby

 

Mankarr (Greater Bilby) is a type of desert-dwelling omnivore, found in a range of habitats from rocky soils, shrublands, woodlands and spinifex regions. Its fur is usually grey or white, and has a long, sharp nose and long pinkish ears. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s, while the greater bilby has survived, it remains a threatened species.

KJ program manage the conservation of the natural and cultural assets on Martu country through the employment of Martu as Indigenous rangers.  KJ rangers work to build knowledge on and protect the many important species that occur on their country, including the Mankarr, the wiminyji and the mulyamiji (great desert skink).

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“Those three animals we protect them now. The old people use to eat the animals and we’re working with the KJ (Kanyirninpa Jukurrp Ranger) mob to protect them. The top one (Mangkarr) is taller than this one (middle – Nurta). This one (Nurta) is stumpy like a guinea pig. The bottom one (Winyminji) is the same size as a cat. It’s like a cat.”

– Carol Williams

Winyminji (Quolls) are carnivorous marsupials also native to Australia. They are primarily nocturnal and spend most of the day in a den. They have brown or black fur and pink noses. They are largely solitary, but come together for a few social interactions such as mating which occurs during the winter season. Quolls eat smaller mammals, small birds, lizards, and insects. All species have drastically declined in numbers since Australasia was colonised by Europeans, with one species, the eastern quoll, becoming extinct in the 1960s.

KJ program manage the conservation of the natural and cultural assets on Martu country through the employment of Martu as Indigenous rangers.  KJ rangers work to build knowledge on and protect the many important species that occur on their country, including the Mankarr, the wiminyji and the mulyamiji (great desert skink).

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Bilby in the flower season time

“Those three animals we protect them now. The old people use to eat the animals and we’re working with the KJ (Kanyirninpa Jukurrp Ranger) mob to protect them. The top one (Mangkarr) is taller than this one (middle – Nurta). This one (Nurta) is stumpy like a guinea pig. The bottom one (Winyminji) is the same size as a cat. It’s like a cat.”

– Carol Williams

Mankarr (Greater Bilby) is a type of desert-dwelling omnivore, found in a range of habitats from rocky soils, shrublands, woodlands and spinifex regions. Its fur is usually grey or white, and has a long, sharp nose and long pinkish ears. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s, while the greater bilby has survived, it remains a threatened species.

KJ program manage the conservation of the natural and cultural assets on Martu country through the employment of Martu as Indigenous rangers.  KJ rangers work to build knowledge on and protect the many important species that occur on their country, including the Mankarr, the wiminyji and the mulyamiji (great desert skink).

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Wings

“Feathers with many colours. Red cockatoo, yellow and white. They come in different colours but are one big family.”

– Charlie Gilligan

“When Martu paint, it’s like a map. Martu draw story on the ground and on the canvas, and all the circle and line there are the hunting areas and different waters and tracks where people used to walk, and [some you] can’t cross, like boundaries. So nowadays you see a colourful painting and wonder what it is, but that’s how Martu tell story long ago. It’s not just a lovely painting, it’s a story and a songline and a history and everything that goes with it.” 

– Ngalangka Nola Taylor and Joshua Booth

This work portrays an area of Country that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Firstly, the image may be read as an aerial representation of a particular location known to the artist- either land that they or their family travelled, from the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era to now. 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. At this time, one’s survival depended on their intimate knowledge of the location of resources; thus physical elements of Country, such as sources of kapi (water), tali (sandhills), different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation), ngarrini (camps), and jina (tracks) are typically recorded with the use of a use of a system of iconographic forms universally shared across the desert. 

An additional layer of meaning in the work relates to more intangible concepts; life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire) are also often evident. A thousands of year old practice, fire burning continues to be carried out as both an aid for hunting and a means of land management today. As the Martu travelled and hunted they would burn tracts of land, ensuring plant and animal biodiversity and reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires. The patchwork nature of regrowth is evident in many landscape works, with each of the five distinctive phases of fire burning visually described with respect to the cycle of burning and regrowth.  

Finally, metaphysical information relating to a location may also be recorded; Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives chronicle the creation of physical landmarks, and can be referenced through depictions of ceremonial sites, songlines, and markers left in the land. Very often, however, information relating to Jukurrpa is censored by omission, or alternatively painted over with dotted patterns.