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Jilukurru (Killagurra Springs, Canning Stock Route, Well 17)

“When I went back to my County, I thought how beautiful the spinifex was. How the sun glazed against the spinifex. The county that I speak of is Jilukurru, my grandfather’s Country.”

– Kathleen Maree Sorenson

Jilukurru (Killagurra Springs, Canning Stock Route Well 17) is a yinta (permanent spring) located in the hills and gorges yapurra (west) of Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment). This spring was an important site for meetings during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era.

Jilukurru is also sacred for its relation to the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narrative of the Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men), one of the key foundational myths for Western Desert people, and for this reason access to the site is respectfully restricted. The Wati Kujarra existed as half men, half goanna. They were responsible for the creation of many land features in Martu Country and beyond as they travelled, hunted and burned Country together. Wati Kujarra is a ngurlu (sacred, taboo) men’s story, and much of the content is only shared with initiated men.

At Jilukurru, the Wati Kujarra lived for a time. Here they also trimmed their ngarnkurrpa (beards). On one of the rocky headlands of the range system, the form of the two men can be seen, with their long beards rolling down the escarpment. After the Wati Kujarra left Jilukurru the site became home to an ancestral rainmaking jila (snake).