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Pirlita (Bush Tomato)
“These are Pirlita (bush tomato in Nyangumarta language). You find them in the flat claypan, the flat area. Find them on the side of the road, side of the river down in Coongan or Strelley way. You cut off the top and clean it out. You have to clean it out before you can eat it.”
– Mary Rowlands
Depicted in this work are pirlita, known as ‘wamurla’ in Martu languages. Pirlita are a spherical yellow bush fruit harvested from small, prickly shrubs. Pirlita are a favoured bush tucker amongst the Martu, popular for their sweet taste and for the relative ease with which they are foraged. The shrubs prolifically produce purple flowers before fruiting, and require fire burning followed by rains in the months preceding their growth. The fruit is high in vitamin C content, and has a taste likened to banana, passionfruit, and rockmelon. Pirlita can be eaten raw or dried, though only the thick outer rind is eaten; the black seeds and the thin inner part of the fruit are very bitter and inedible. Typically pirlita is collected in large quantities and then eaten or stored for later consumption.
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.
