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Published by CompNet Systems on

Kungkarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters) – Kuru Ala

Kuru Ala is a important women’s sites associated with the Kungkarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters) Tjukurrpa (Dreaming / story) across the Western and Central Deserts. Located south, west of Papulankutja (Blackstone), the site holds deep cultural, spiritual, and ceremonial significance for women in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands.

In the sky, Wati Nyiru is associated with Orion’s Belt, while the sisters become the star cluster known widely as the Pleiades. Many desert families still track these stars seasonally, tying sky and Country together in the story.

This place marks a key moment in the Seven Sisters story, where the sisters rested, gathered strength, and cared for one another while escaping the persistent pursuit of Wati Nyiru. The surrounding caves, rock formations, and ground features are recognised as physical evidence of the ancestral events that took place here during the Tjukurrpa.

Across many desert communities, the Seven Sisters Tjukurrpa follows the travels of the sisters as they move through Country, constantly evading Nyiru, who uses magic to disguise himself in many forms — bush foods, trees, and even animals — in an attempt to catch them. At Kuru Ala, the sisters stop to protect and heal the eldest sister before continuing their journey eastward.

Today, Kuru Ala remains an active cultural site, cared for and visited by women with ties to this Country. The story is still taught, sung, and remembered. The paintings created by artists of Papulankutja and Mantamaru reflect both the ancestral narrative and the living landscape, mapping the caves, water sources, and pathways the sisters travelled.

Categories: Papulankutja Artists

Name: Jennifer Nginyaka Mitchell

Language: Pitjantjatjara

Community: Papulankutja (Blackstone)

Biography:

Jennifer was born in c1955 at Kala Tjuti near Irruntju (Wingelina) in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. Kala Tjuti is an important place culturally as it is the site of the Emu dreaming place and the Wati Kutjara dreaming story.

As a child she travelled across the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunyjatjarra Lands (APY Lands) with her family and was near Maralinga when atomic rocket testing was conducted by the British, American and Australian Defense Forces in the 1950s. Her grandfather became ill from the radioactive flalout and died soon after. Having returned from Oodnadatta, SA Jennifer and her family hid away in wiltja (bush shelters) at Watinuma to be safe from the bomb.

Jennifer remembers hiding during the day, only coming out at night when the smoke was gone. She said her eyes stung after the bomb. They were helped by Mr McDonald a government official who made sure the Aboriginal people were well away, over the range, from the test site.

Jennifer became a senior custodian of the Kuru Ala Seven Sisters site  after her mother Eileen Tjayanka Woods passed away. 

She started making tjanpi (grass) baskets in 1995 and has been painting since 2008. Jennifer is also an accomplished basket-maker and sculptor (animated dogs and caricatures of people) out of wool and grass. 

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