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Nullagine River

“Good spring, lots of fish and rockholes too, and a big jila (snake). There are three rivers all around Nullagine, all join the Nullagine river. You can swim here, there’s lots of hunting. We go camp in the river, lovely river. Take the kids for holiday, play around, climb in the trees. 

Near Nullagine one man always chasing the Seven Sisters. In our Country, old man is standing in the rock. The other side is trees- the ladies. That man he still standing there, hanging on. He went from Nullagine to Parnngurr, he met them there and kept going to the central desert, chasing the sisters.” 

 – Jatarr Lily Long

Nullagine, an old goldrush town, and the adjacent Irrungadji (Yirrangadji) Aboriginal community are located at the heart of Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Both the town and Community lie along the Nullagine River, the site of many Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives including that of the Minyipuru (Jakulyukulyu, Seven Sisters). As described by Jatarr, the Minyipuru passed through this area, and carved on a rock just outside of Nullagine is Yurla, the relentless pursuer of the Minyipuru, eternally watching the women. 

Minyipuru is a key creation 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 travel the women camp, sing, wash, dance and gather food, leaving markers in the landscape and creating landforms that remain to this day, such as groupings of rocks and trees, grinding stones and seeds. During the entirety of their journey the women are pursued by the lustful old man, Yurla, although interactions with other animals, groups of men, and spirit beings are also chronicled in the narrative.

Categories: Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

Name: Lily Jatarr Long

Language: Ngarnijarra, Warnman

Community: Irrungadji (Nullagine)

Biography:

“This Karlamilyi area, big land. That’s a ngurra (home Country, camp) belonging to our old people, Warnman people. We talk for our land, our jila (snake). I grew up in this Country, my Country. This land belongs to our father. In pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) days I walked around here, used to walk up and down tuwa (sandhill) and back to the main camp belonging to Martu. We are Warnman ladies, painting Kintyre and Karlamilyi. We can share this Country.”

 - Sisters Wurta Amy French and Jatarr Lily Long

 

Jatarr is a Warnman woman and custodian of the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region. She was born in the late 1930’s at Jatarrngara, a water source located along the Karlamilyi River, and the site from which her name is derived. Jatarr is the sister of fellow Martumili Artists Wurta Amy French and Helen Dale Samson. Her father was a drover who attempted, unsuccessfully, to steal Jatarr’s mother and take her back to the Kimberley region. 

Jatarr grew up with her family in the area surrounding Tiwa (Canning Stock Route Well 26), a water source located east of Parnngurr Aboriginal Community and just west of a culturally significant group of hills called Partujarrapirri. Her family returned to the Karlamily region for a time, moving between camps located all along the Karlamily River and up to the large salt lake, Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora). In the late 1940’s her family left Karlamily and travelled on foot for more than 200 kilometres to Jigalong Mission, where a supply of rationed food and water was assured. There they were reunited with family members that had already moved in from the desert. 

At Jigalong, Jatarr lived in a dormitory with her two sisters and went to school. Later, she worked as a cook on various pastoral stations in the Pilbara and mined for tin and other minerals with a yandy (dish used for winnowing seed). Eventually, Jatarr relocated Irrungadji Aboriginal community, just outside of Nullagine, where she continues to live with her sister Wurta, children and grandchildren.

Wurta and Jatarr paint individually and also collaboratively, primarily depicting their ngurra in Karlamilyi; its animals, plants, waterholes and associated Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories. Jatarr uses her artwork as a means of transferring cultural knowledge to her children and grandchildren, and as a political platform, protecting her Country from mining and other disruptions. Jatarr is known for her gorgeous pastel palettes and dreamy landscapes, blending aerial and frontal perspectives. She has exhibited extensively since the inception of Martumili Artists in 2006 in galleries throughout Australia, in Singapore and the USA.

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