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Jarntinti

“This is a linyji (claypan). We find kalaru (seed used for making damper from samphire bush) there that we collect. Too much good tucker! 

I been go, everywhere, all over the place, and bush tucker. Get ‘em, collecting them and go back. I been jartu working, find ‘em, digging take em back. Piyarna piyarna piyarna put em in the wika, waru [fire], yamparl [damper].  

Kalaru [seed, samphire species], mirrka [making food], damper pirrangka

[talking about making damper at Jarntinti from Kalaru seed in the desert.]

Pirra, pirra country, desert long way. Ngarninya jiliku ngalka. Going hunting pujikatuku, and parnajarrpa, parnaparti, ngula, come back, lungkurta, nyiyari, take em back, cook em, (…) go back, right up, another one.

 Pararra pararra, kakarra Tarlpa, Tarlpa water, Jarntinti yaninpa kararra, kararra kararra, Jarntinti, Tarlpa water one, Jutupa long way. Parraja yalinyja Jutupa, Jutupa, yanikirninya palarri yanikirninya yanikirninya kakarra warrarn kakarra warrarn, yanikirninya kuwiyikarti pungkanyikinrinya pujikatu pujikatu, lungkurta everything. Kuwiyilangu yanikirninya malka wanikirninya.

Finished yankula nyarni Jarntinti… gone Jutupa, Jutupakarti.”

 – May Chapman Mayiwalku (May Wokka)

[Talks about travelling across a lot of country, collecting seed, yandying, grinding and making damper on the fire. 

Making damper from Kalaru seed in the desert at Jarntinti.

Hunting in the desert for cats, sand goannas, thorny devils, blue-tongue lizards.

She talks about travelling from Tarl springs to Jarntinti claypan, walking the country hunting all different bush meats, filling up and carrying the leftovers, travelling further towards Jutupa in the northwest, further away.]

 

Jarntinti is a large claypan at the Southern end of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), a large salt lake surrounded by tali (sand hills) within the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) region. This area forms part of Mayiwalku’s ngurra (home Country, camp), the region which she traversed extensively as a young girl. Mayiwalku’s sister Nyanjilpayi was born at Jarntinti. 

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era, Jarntinti was primarily used as a camping site in the wantajarra (wet season), when the claypan filled with kapi (water). Other nearby water sources include Tarl, Kartuny, Wawul, Warnkarr, Jutupa, and Kunalimpi. 

Jarntinti is known as a site where kalaru grows in abundance. In the pujiman era, the black kalaru seeds were seasonally harvested from this area. Once collected a labour intensive process began to produce damper, a type of flat bread. The kalaru seeds were first washed several times before being ground with a jiwa (stones used by women for grinding seeds) to make a type of flour, which was then mixed with water to create a dough that was finally cooked in the ashes of a fire.

May Mayiwalku (May Wokka) Chapman

Name: May Mayiwalku (May Wokka) Chapman

Language: Manyjilyjarra

Community: Warralong

Biography:

Mayiwalku May Chapman is the eldest sister of fellow Martumili Artists Nancy Nyanjilpayi (Ngarnjapayi) Chapman, Mulyatingki Marney and Marjorie Yates (dec.). Her mother was Warnman and her father was Manyjilyjarra. Mayiwalku was born to the East, in Yirnangarri, “where the two footprints lie”. Her family’s Country extends across the Punmu, Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well 33) and Karlamilyi (Rudall River) regions. Following the death of both their parents, Mayiwalku and her sisters travelled alone between Punmu and Kunawarritji, occasionally meeting with other family groups. They later walked south into Karlamilyi, where they first saw a plane flying overhead. Petrified, they hid under spinifex grass until the plane had passed.

Following the construction of the Canning Stock Route in 1910, the family increasingly came into contact with Europeans and Martu working as cattle drovers along the route. Gradually men from Mayiwalku’s family began to work seasonally at stations around Jigalong, but as a family group they remained living in the desert long after most Martu had moved to Jigalong Mission. Finally, in 1966, following a prolonged and severe drought, Mayiwalku and her sisters made the decision to walk to Balfour Downs, where they were collected by Jigalong Mission staff.

Mayiwalku lived for many years at Jigalong Mission before eventually relocating with her five children to Warralong, a community south east of Port Hedland. She continues to live in Warralong today with her daughter and equally renowned artist, Doreen Chapman. Mayiwalku was one of Martumili’s pioneering artists, and is highly regarded for her technically sophisticated works. Her paintings depict her ngurra (home Country, camp); the Country she walked as a young woman, its animals, plants, waterholes and associated Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives. Mayiwalku’s work has been exhibited widely across Australia and internationally, and acquired by the National Museum of Australia.