July 2026

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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.

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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.

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Home (Country)

“It’s their home for them, real ngurra (home Country, camp). Real ngurra is where they been born and grow up.”

– Corban Clause Williams

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. Country for Martu is full of memory; not just the memory of their own movement through it, but also of their family. As summarised by Ngalangka Nola Taylor, “painting the ngurra, they do it to remember their connections.” 

Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories 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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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.

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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.

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Rabbit Proof Fence

“When I was a little girl, my sister and I would visit our nanna [Molly Craig]. We really looked after her and checked if she had any food and sometimes she would say ” I’m hungry one.” We would race home to make damper and cook some meat and take it back to her before it got dark. She was a caring and beautiful lady but she never told her story about what happened when she was young because my sister and I were part of welfare. That’s why my sister and I had a great connection with our nanna, an unspoken connection.”

– Kathleen Sorenson

In 1931 sisters Molly Craig, Daisy Kadibil and Gracie Fields were taken from their families, like many other Aboriginal children at that time, and transported to Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth. They were taken away in the belief that part-Aboriginal children should be trained as domestic servants. 

The three girls escaped the next day and, incredibly, walked 1600 kilometres home to Jigalong using the Rabbit-Proof Fence to navigate. The Rabbit Proof Fence remains the world’s longest fence, and was built in the early 1900s to separate rabbits from pasture. For nine weeks, the girls followed its length in order to be reunited with their family. They crossed a flooded river, sand dunes, heathlands, wheatbelts and plains, claypans and salt lakes. They slept in dug-out rabbit burrows, and caught and cooked rabbits, along with other plant based bush tucker. For the duration of their journey they were pursued by policeman and an Aboriginal police tracker.

The girls’ story has been immortalised in the novel “Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence” by Doris Pilkington (Nugi Garimara, 1996), and was adapted into the film “Rabbit Proof Fence” (2002). This story retains special significance for the Martu, and in particular those inhabitants of Jigalong Aboriginal community. The three girls were Martu, and their children and grandchildren continue to live in the Martu homelands today.

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Nganjirr

“Grandfather’s Country, not far from Well 33, called Nganjirr. Not far, [you] can go up by car. Go camping there. When it rains, fills up, then is dry.

– Kara Patch

Nganjirr and Kun Kun are both significant parts of Kara’s ‘ngurra’ (home Country, camp). Nganjirr, a grouping of three rockholes just south of Kil-kil (Canning Stock Route Well 36), is an importaint place for the Patch family through two brothers, Nganjirrmarta and Wirrulypa. A large marntila/tarntulu (Acacia pruinocarpa) sitting on rocky outcrop close to Nganjirr is used to locate the rockholes.

Kun Kun (Kuny-kuny) is a soak accessing a large body of underground water, located southeast of Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33). The site is sacred for its association with the marlu (kangaroo) Jukurrpa (Dreaming), and was an important ceremonial site during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period. 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.

In the Pujiman time, 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. 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 narratives.

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Jartuti

“Jartuti water place east of Parnngurr. In pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) days old people walked and hunted there, we went there recently with KJ (Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa) ranger mob, lovely place.” 

 – Beverley Rogers

Jartuti is a water source located close to Parnngurr Aboriginal Community (otherwise known as Cotton Creek), and is part of Beverley’s father’s ngurra (home Country, camp). The site is near to the home of the jangara (cannibal devil), spiritual beings from the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) era.

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Wirlarra (Wilarra)

Wirlarra, the site depicted in this painting, lies on the eastern 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. 

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.

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Punmu Waterholes

“Punmu, I went there when I was a young girl, a teenager with my mother and father before my mother passed. Big mob of people was there. No building, just little cubby houses [bough shelters]. Long time I been there. 

These here are the waterholes around Punmu; Rawa spring- Rawa means ‘long time’, Tuu-tuu, Jila-jila, Wirlarra and Yilyara. That is my ngurra (home Country, camp). We grew up in Punmu around all these water holes. I still live here with my grandkids, [we share the] same stories for all these places.” 

 – Marianne Burton

 

Punmu refers to a region and an Aboriginal community within its vicinity, located 670km North-East of Newman. Created during the return to Country movement of the 1980s, with the recognition of Martu land rights and native title, the community was named after a nearby Jukurrpa (Dreaming) story. As described by Marianne, Punmu is her ngurra; she grew up in this region with her parents. 

Punmu community sits on the edge of a large salt lake known as Nyayartakujarra, or Lake Dora. The lake runs south into Karlamilyi River (Rudall River). Surrounding Punmu are numerous fresh water soaks and the red tali (sandhills) typical of the area. The most frequently visited yinta (permanent springs) around Punmu include Wirlarra, Rawa, Yilyara, Jila-jila and Tuu-tuu.

The Country around Punmu features in several Jukurrpa stories. Of particular importance is the story of the Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes), 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. 

Before transforming themselves into snakes, the Jila Kujarra were young brothers. As snakes, they began travelling home to their mother, but were intercepted by the Niminjarra, who tracked the Jila Kujarra to Paji, east of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora). Though the Jila Kujarra eluded their pursuers here by escaping under the lake at Paji, they were soon after speared and injured by two Pukurti (initiates with bundled hair) at Nyayartakujarra, who returned with the Niminjarra to cook the snakes at the site of Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment). As the Niminjarra cut down the length of the Jila Kujarra, the snake’s bladders were pierced, causing an explosion of scalding hot urine in which the Niminjarra all perished and became black rocks at the site. The spirits of the Jila Kujarra returned to their mother at Nyayartakujarra, where the mother and her sons entered the ground below Nyayartakujarra and remain to this day.