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Wagilag Sisters
The Wagalak sisters are creation sisters, Their spirit name is Djangka-Bu. In the Dreamtime they walked across the land.
As The two Wagalak sisters walked across the land, they scattered seeds and pods from their dilly bags creating the landscape. When the reached a river, they stopped to rest under a tree . They took off their dilly bags and hung them on the tree. Their dilly bags contained all their power – sacred ornaments, power objects.
While they were resting by the tree, they heard the sound of Men. The Wagalak sisters followed the sound of the Men, leaving their dilly bags behind hanging on the tree, while the Wagalak sisters were following the sounds, some of the men found the dilly bags and the powerful seeds and pods.
Much, much later, the Wagaglak sisters returned to the tree and the older sister had a baby. The Wagalak sisters went hunting for food and caught goanna, blue tongue lizard, and possum. They built a shelter with paperbark to sleep in and made a fire to cook their dinner. The elder sister went down to the river to wash her new baby, when she returned, the Wagalak sisters saw the animals that were cooking in the fire, get up and run towards the nearby river. So the sisters went to sleep hungry in their hut.
Suddenly, there was a fierce storm with rain and thunder and Lightning and they were awoken by the appearance of a native dog or dingo. The dog had smelled the mother and the new baby in the river and had come to the hut to look for the baby, then the dog disappeared and the storm stopped and a rainbow appeared. The rainbow became the Rainbow serpent.
The rainbow serpent encircled the Wagalak Sisters and their baby. And ate them. This is a Wagilak dreaming – this is the story that has been told and handed down from the beginning.
Painting has been completed using a mixture of modern paintbrushes along with a handmade grass reed brush called Jarlk. This traditional brush was harvested from billabongs and wet areas and used to create the fine line work. Fine line patterns visible is in Yirritja style and consists of multiple lines before alternating colour. Modern acrylic paint has been used.
