June 2025

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Jamparri to Kulijatukujarra

Jamparri is a yinta (permanent spring) located yapurra (west) of Karlamilyi River (Rudall River) and ngaparti (south) of Yaralalu waterhole. Both areas are known as good hunting sites. The Karlamilyi River and its surrounds were created by the Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) as they journeyed north east to Nyayartakujarra (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora).

Jila Kujarra is one of the key Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives for the Martu. Though the story belongs to Warnman people, it is shared across the Western Desert with several other language groups. The narrative centres on the travels of two snakes as they are pursued by the Niminjarra, spiritual ancestors of the Warnman people.

“Big claypan, Kulijatukujarra, [in] Karlamilyi (Rudall River region) sandhill Country. I been walk around here with my three sisters long time, pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) time. This one my mummy’s Country, my nanna’s Country.” 

– Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Nancy Chapman

Kulijatukujarra is a soak located west of Nyayartakujarra (Ngayarta Kujarra, Lake Dora), forming part of Nyanjilpayi’s ngurra (home Country, camp) through her mother and grandmother. Nyanjilpayi knew this area intimately and travelled around here extensively with her family in her youth. She stayed at Kulijatukujarra with parents and sisters, Mayiwalku, Mulyatingki and Malatu Marjorie (dec.).

The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. People identify with their ngurra in terms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance. Physical maintenance of one’s ngurra, like cultural maintenance, ensures a site’s wellbeing, and is a responsibility of the people belonging to that area.

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Walytja (family): Martu kinship and family

There was a great big war here in the middle of the desert. Five different women found each other, they were all shocked wondering what to do or where to go. They saw seven young men that ran to them, they’ve asked them ‘where are you running to’, one of them answered ‘over the hills and far away from here as we can’. Other two men ran towards them so they all ran together, when they were long long way from there they saw a lost pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) who helped them find food and water. They couldn’t believe how wonderful his Ngurra (country) was and he shared it with them. Now because they were five girls and ten men they ended up fighting over love, the men argued ‘we ran from the war lets be fair with each other’, so the five women had to take two men each and find different place to live happily ever after and start a new life.    

                –     Norelle Barndabba (Bundabar)

 

In the heart of central Western Australia, the Martu people are the traditional owners of a vast landscape stretching from the Great Sandy Desert in the north to Wiluna in the south. Across this Country, their lives are bound by a common ancestral heritage, law, and culture. To one another, they are walytja (family).

 

Walytja

The Martu term for family, walytja, encapsulates a broader idea of relatedness that permeates every aspect of life. The Martu four-section kinship system determines a person as belonging to either the Purungu, Milangka, Panaka or Karrimarra skin group, and was created by the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) ancestors.

This system not only defines relationships, it also establishes a framework for expectations and obligations, and extends the importance of family far beyond mere blood or marriage ties. Family is not limited to blood connections; it encompasses all relationships within the entire community, forming a network of relationships that was crucial to survival during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era, and that remains fundamental to Martu life today. The kinship system allows everyone to know what expectations one person can have in relation to another, and means that familial terms and relationships are present between any two individuals, whether or not they are related by blood.

 

Walytja in relation to Country

Over thousands of years, Martu lived in small, kin-based bands that traversed their own territorial areas by foot according to seasonal changes and cultural obligations. Ngamaru Bidu describes this experience in the story for her work, ‘Wantili’; “My family and Jakayu’s family been walking round there together… Everywhere, we been walking everywhere.”  

Walytja groups had rights to their ngurra (home Country, camp) as inherited over generations. Also passed down over generations was the intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country, and the responsibility to care for and nurture one’s ngurra. The passing of rights and responsibilities through walytja in relation to specific lands continues today.

 

Walytja in Art

Many of the works by Martumili artists are representations of Country as defined by familial ties- artists paint “where their family is from and where they belong to” (Kuru Gladys Bidu). One’s Country encompasses their birthplace, and the Country they and their family lived on during the pujiman era. Collectively these works make clear the inseparable relationship between walytja and Country.

The significance of walytja is revealed in Martu art not only in its depiction of ngurra as delineated by ancestral inheritance, but also through the act of painting itself. Martumili artists begin to paint with their parents, grandparents and extended family, fostering an organic process of learning about painting techniques, along with knowledge of specific locations and their related Jukurrpa narratives. In this way, the passing down of cultural knowledge through art ensures the continuity of Martu heritage.

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Walytja (family

This is my painting showing the way we’re all connected. In the beginning when whitefellas came this was Martu Country. Still is. We Martu had to learn to walk together with whitefellas, and same way, whitefella walking alongside Martu. Now we all walk together and should respect one another. This painting showing us all together, Martu and whitefella.

              –  Judith Aspro

 

In the heart of central Western Australia, the Martu people are the traditional owners of a vast landscape stretching from the Great Sandy Desert in the north to Wiluna in the south. Across this Country, their lives are bound by a common ancestral heritage, law, and culture. To one another, they are walytja (family).

 

Walytja

The Martu term for family, walytja, encapsulates a broader idea of relatedness that permeates every aspect of life. The Martu four-section kinship system determines a person as belonging to either the Purungu, Milangka, Panaka or Karrimarra skin group, and was created by the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) ancestors.

This system not only defines relationships, it also establishes a framework for expectations and obligations, and extends the importance of family far beyond mere blood or marriage ties. Family is not limited to blood connections; it encompasses all relationships within the entire community, forming a network of relationships that was crucial to survival during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era, and that remains fundamental to Martu life today. The kinship system allows everyone to know what expectations one person can have in relation to another, and means that familial terms and relationships are present between any two individuals, whether or not they are related by blood.

 

Walytja in relation to Country

Over thousands of years, Martu lived in small, kin-based bands that traversed their own territorial areas by foot according to seasonal changes and cultural obligations. Ngamaru Bidu describes this experience in the story for her work, ‘Wantili’; “My family and Jakayu’s family been walking round there together… Everywhere, we been walking everywhere.”  

Walytja groups had rights to their ngurra (home Country, camp) as inherited over generations. Also passed down over generations was the intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country, and the responsibility to care for and nurture one’s ngurra. The passing of rights and responsibilities through walytja in relation to specific lands continues today.

 

Walytja in Art

Many of the works by Martumili artists are representations of Country as defined by familial ties- artists paint “where their family is from and where they belong to” (Kuru Gladys Bidu). One’s Country encompasses their birthplace, and the Country they and their family lived on during the pujiman era. Collectively these works make clear the inseparable relationship between walytja and Country.

The significance of walytja is revealed in Martu art not only in its depiction of ngurra as delineated by ancestral inheritance, but also through the act of painting itself. Martumili artists begin to paint with their parents, grandparents and extended family, fostering an organic process of learning about painting techniques, along with knowledge of specific locations and their related Jukurrpa narratives. In this way, the passing down of cultural knowledge through art ensures the continuity of Martu heritage.

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Waru at Yilyara

Yilyara is one of several frequently visited yinta (permanent springs) located in the Country immediately surrounding Punmu Aboriginal community. Yilyara is located immediately east of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), a vast and culturally significant salt lake in the north east section of the Karlamilyi River (Rudall River) region. Surrounding the site are the permanent tali (sandhills) typical of the area. 

Yilyara also features as a site in two important Jukurrpa narratives, Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) and Wirnpa. Jila Kujarra is one of the key Jukurrpa narratives for the Martu. Though the story belongs to Warnman people, it is shared across the Western Desert with several other language groups. The narrative centres on the travels of two snakes as they are pursued by the Niminjarra, spiritual ancestors of the Warnman people. Wirnpa is one of the most powerful of the ancestral jila (snake) men and the last to travel the desert during the Jukurrpa. Wirnpa is a rainmaking jila whose travels are described in the songs and stories of many language groups across the Western Desert, even those far removed from his home site. In his epic travels, Wirnpa created a series of different laws and ceremonies.

This work also depicts the practice of fire burning as it continues to be used today through the Martu homelands. Over thousands of years, as Martu travelled and hunted on foot they would burn tracts of land, using waru (fire) as a means to assist with hunting and to encourage regenerative growth. Whilst fire burning practices have modernised in recent times, with Martu burning areas close to Aboriginal communities and along roads, or else further afield using helicopters and 4WDs with Indigenous ranger group Karnyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ), the same objectives are met as those during pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) times.

Targeted waru is an important tool in animal tracking. Small burns are lit to clear vegetation, expose burrows, and to allow for access to walk and track readily in exposed sands. Fires are typically burnt during cooler weather in small, controlled areas, reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires whilst simultaneously providing diverse regenerating habitats. Remaining is a defined mosaic fire scar pattern in the land, across tali (sand dunes), linyji (clay pans), parulyukurru (spinifex country) and pila (sandy plains). This patterning is clearly visible from an aerial perspective, and becomes even more defined as new growth emerges. 

The patchwork nature of regrowth is aligned with the Martu cycle of burning and regrowth and its five distinct phases. First is nyurnma (freshly burnt Country), followed after the rains by waru-waru, when young, bright green plants start to grow. Nyukura occurs between one and three years after burning, when plants have matured and are fruiting and seeding. Manguu is four to six years post burning, when spinifex has matured to the point that it can be burned once again. Finally, kunarka signifies the time when spinifex and other plant species have become old growth, and pose a risk of destructive bushfires.