This works depicts a deep waterhole on Alice Downs Country. This is Gordon’s Country, this is where he was born and worked as a stockman when he was a young man. It is situated around an hour south of Warmun, where Gordon now lives. Gordon used to go mustering all over this Country. He often paints the hills as a feature in his artwork, which are characteristic of his Gija ancestral country.
In this painting Shirley has painted the flowers and seeds of a tree known as nyaardinji in our traditional language Kija – otherwise known as a Terminalia Platyphylla, this type are seen along creeks and is also a species that has edible gum that taste sweet. This is just one of the many bush food that the people of the old days use to live on, it starts to bloom between the month of January – October..
Shirley says that the early days women would look at the seeds and flowers and it would remind them of the dresses that were worn in those days. Which looked the same.
In the middle sits the seeds that are surrounded by the blooming red flowers and green leaves,
My family and I were traveling back from a fishing hole next to Bow River bridge. When we took the road back to community on a late afternoon in dusk, it was heavily cloudy, when a ray light came through the sky.
This is Mary’s mothers country, down on Springvale Station. That country is called Garradjain. The country is part of the Garnkiny (moon) dreaming. Seen in the painting are the grass bundles as green circles. These bundles were rolled up and thrown into the water. They’d sink and then fish would hide in the mass of grass, particularly to seek shelter from the cranes and other birds. The grass would be pulled up after a while, trapping the fish in the grass. The yellow bands are the two main rivers of Garradjain country, Rose’s Yard Creek (on the right) and Little Panton River (on the left). In the bottom of the picture you can see Garnkiny, the moon, who walked the lands now known as Springvale Station during the Ngarrangkarni, the Dreamtime, when he was a man. Mary has also included three Joomoolony (boab) trees in this painting of country.
Sometime early in the 20th century…
“That Ngargarrliny, he got a nawan. Deg ginini janga-janga-baya. That chain janga-janga. Right-Oh, when they bin thed-hi, they bin give it em that mawiya. You know, lardge-girrem. And deg ginini wayini gerloor. Ngerlil nginini. I’ll wiji there, he nginini. Right oh, they bin berralg janga-janga la olabat an start derlbawoo olabat. And that two jiyiliny bin bardal. Two fella bin bardal and bib benamanyji that goongoorloom an nawiyangem mawoojbe he bin jirri. An that, they bin goorloorrji gotta marne. Ngoowan. He neva boorrngoord. He bin wayini. Difbalany ngininiyin.
Yiligin ngoorrayang. An marra berrayi, marnem-booroo. An deg ginini, yiligi-biny. Ngoorrooma, ngoorrooma ngirribawoorroon, bawoo nginini, Ngoowan nhang-ngen-nga. You fella can berdij la me goorloorr, ngoorroon laarne. “You fella bin wanta thed la me.” Right-oh, marrarn nginiyi now.
An nginy gardiyany, benamanyji yawardam an wankil loorroobany ngoorrama. “Ngoowan, can’t kitch-em-ap him.” Walig giniyi yiligin, langa that nawan. Right-oh… berrayin yiligin doorlbawoo. “Wawoo! Wawoo!” He bin wawoo-wawoo yagoorn. Might e bin yagoorn, he bin look gerloorroong-biny. He bin deg gerliwirring-biny. Right oh, they bin booj, thadan marne.Dany marneny, he neva walig yiligin. He bin biriri. Doorr wanemayinde. Right oh, marra berrayi.
Mendawoon, deg wanema. He bin maj wainin, marne. Little bit warnkany. Goldbalam. Right-oh, he bin wethed ngarrgarle. He bin boorab ngoorroon, he bin, gerd mijelb here langa ngarrgarle. He bin go la moondoowoon naw. Right marrarn nginiyi, deg wanema. Wooraj nginiyin. Warrag ginini, Barliny-yoorroong Darrajayin.
Biri nginiyi, ngenengga. Nhang nginiward ngenengga. Yeah, that’s all.
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English transcript:
There is a cave in that rocky hill. This man at the cave when he was in chains. Chain is called “janga-janga.” Right-oh, when the white people killed the Aboriginal people here, they gave them that poison to make them bad in the head. And this man looked up to the hill in that way. He looked sideways. “I’ll run there” he said to himself. Right oh, they took the chains off the people and started to shoot them. And those two men fell down. Two men fell down and the other man got some of the blood and put it on his mouth to show himself as dead. And they poked him with a burning stick. No. He never flinched. He was like this. He stayed really still (stiff).
They put him in the middle of the pile of bodies. And they went away to get firewood. And he looked from inside the pile. They were over there, over there far away (and) he called out. I am not dead. You lot can climb up for me, over there up high. “You lot wanted to kill me.” Right-oh, he went away then.
And this white man, he got horses and a rifle, they chased him. “No, can’t catch up with him.” (they said). He went inside that cave then. Right oh… they came and were shooting inside. “Wawoo! Wawoo!” He called out ‘Wawoo-wawoo’ pretending to have been hit. He must have been lying, he looked from up in the cave. He looked up from up high. Right oh, they set fire to the firewood (piled outside the cave). The fire did not go right inside the cave. It kept coming back. It made a noise inside. Right oh, they went away (the murderers).
In the night he looked. He touched the burned part like this. It had cooled down a bit. It was cold. Alright then, he threw down a stone. He came out over there, he burned himself here on the stones. He went in the dark then. Right, he went away, he looked. He came this way. He walked to Springvale Station in Darrajayin country.
He came back here. He died here. Yeah, that’s all.
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With the assistance of Frances Kofod and Bernadette-Trench Thiedeman
We used to walk from here to the Station for work. The station was this way (near the hills).
Nancy depicts a scene of the New Camp where her family and her migrated to, when they were served as workers on Texas Station. The circles represent the new camp, and Nancy describes how she and her family used to walk to the Station through the landscape to get to work.
his is Bow River Community, we call it Juwurlinji Community (Aboriginal name). This is my place were I was born, my family still live there and brothers still Muster here as it is still a working Pastoral Station. Also this place is my grandfathers ancestors land Timmy Timms Snr from his mothers side.
