CompNet Systems

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Ngalkunburriyaymi (Mermaid) – Jay Rostron

Ngalkunburriyaymi 

Kuninjku people call mermaids yawkyawk, but in my language, Kune, we call them Ngalkunburriyaymi (pronounced Ngaal gun borro yay mee).

The Ngalkunburriyaymi depicted in my artworks is from a place called Marra-yii (sp?).  There are too many Ngalkunburriyaymi living at this place.  They are always there and have been there forever. We can go camping and fishing at this place.  Marar-yii is a place in the river. They are freshwater. They are Duwa moiety. Same as the freshwater crocodile. 

My mum told me her story.  Ngalkunburriyaymi gave her a baby.  Ngalkunburriyaymi came to her in a dream.  They gave her my brother. In my mother’s dream, she went fishing Marra-yii and Ngalkunburriyaymi came to her to tell her she was having a baby.  She said to her I will give you a baby.  In a couple of months, you will be pregnant.

Ngalkunburriyaymi eats fish and waterlilies.

Owen Yalandja is my cousin from my father’s side and Lulu is my grandmother also from my father’s side. They are from different outstations, but we are family.  My Ngalkunburriyaymi story is connected to them but different.

I love my mother’s story and it is why I made a lino plate. I print it on different colour fabrics – silk, linen and cotton. I like using lots of different colours.  I come from a family who have made artwork on bark and hollow logs using ochre—black, yellow, red and white. But at Babbarra Designs, we can use bright colours in our fabric designs.

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Lorrkon

‘This is my new lino design, a long time ago when people passed away they used to put bones inside the lorrkon (hollow funeral log). This is an old history story. There is string and feathers on the side, that’s kunyarl. They put parrot feathers on the djerrh (dilly bag).

When I design lino, I think back to stories from when I was a little girl when I was staying at Barrihdjowkkeng next to Mumeka, with my mother and my father when he was still alive. I remember my dad used to make mimih, carrying all the wood. I used to help him when I was a little girl.’

Raylene Bonson

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River and Rocks

A  beautiful piece of bush dyed silk. This bright yellow colour has been harvested from the root of the man-kurdudjumuk shrub and dyed on country by Deborah Wurrkidj.  

“This river we call Mangabo. It is near Gudjarrngarrl homeland of my daughters, Deborah and Jennifer Wurrkidj. We cross that river when travelling to Munmoy outstation. In the wet season, that water comes up and covers over those rocks, and when you look down there are rocks all under the water.” 

– Helen Lanyinwanga

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Yawkyawk and bush flower

Yawkyawk is a word from the Aboriginal Kunwinjku language, meaning ‘young woman’ and ‘young woman spirit being’.

Sometimes compared to the European notion of mermaids, yawkyawks are usually depicted with the tails of fish. They have long hair, associated with trailing blooms of algae, typically found in Arnhem Land streams and rock pools.

This fabric has been printed by Jennifer at our studio in Maningrida. It features yawkyawk and bush flower design line tiles in soft colours on an beige linen cotton blend fabric. 

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Hand Made Bag with Screen Print Off Cuts

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Hand Made Bag with Lino Fabric Off Cuts

Hand made at Babbarra Designs, Maningrida.

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Hand Made Bag with Lino Fabric Off Cuts

Hand made at Babbarra Designs, Maningrida. 

Pocked featuring the Lino cut design by Jay Jurrupula Rostron. 

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Mandjabu – Hand Sewn Tablecloth

Kuninjku people traditionally make two sorts of conical fish traps. One is called mandjabu and is made from a strong, durable vine called milil, and a smaller one is called manylik mandjabu, and made from the grass manylik. The mandjabuconical fish trap is bigger and stronger and used in tidal reaches of creeks to catch large fish. The smaller, lighter manyliktrap is used in freshwater flowing creeks to catch smaller fish and freshwater prawns. In earlier times, only men were involved in the construction of the large fish traps, but children would often crawl inside and assist.

To make mandjabu, weavers firstly harvest milil (burney vine, Malaisia scandens) and put it in water overnight to make it soft. Then they start weaving it; they make rings for the inside to keep the fish trap’s shape. People also make string from the bark of burdaga (kurrajong) to attach the bardainy (hibiscus) rings and to tie the conical end of the fish trap. It’s hard work and it can take three or four weeks to make a fish trap. People also use fish-net fences called kunkarlewabe. They would put the kunkarlewabe  across rivers and creeks. In the middle they would place the mandjabu. They also used small things like sticks, rocks, mud and grass to block the fish from going through. This way we would catch fish such as saltwater barramundi rajarra, ngaldadmurrng (freshwater barramundi), small black freshwater catfish (buliya), bonefish (an-guwirrpiya), and sand bass (dalakan) in the mandjabu.

 

This small tablecloth was printed by hand and hemmed by Esther Yarllarlla at Babbarra Designs. 

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Butterfly

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Bolung

Bolung (Rainbow Serpent) is from the sacred country of Dukala- Djarranj. This is the country of Jay’s grandparent and a place of great significance, as Bolung, the Rainbow Serpent, travelled through the landscape. Rock art in the area depicts a rotund Bolung.