Blog

DURROODJIE- Black Hill in Bow River- By Kathy Ramsay

This hill is the home of the caveman called Yoonggoog. He’s a spirit that clams the land. He’s like a traditional owner. Like our Ancestors, also knows who belongs to the land.

Also back in the days, where the Mistake Massacre happened, two of my Grandfathers Grandfathers ran away from the kardiya (white fella} and his tracker, who tried to kill them. He chased them on horseback. They shot one on the leg, so he acted like he was dead. The other one told him “you play dead so I can keep running.” He ran towards the black hill, but sadly, the bad black fella shot him before he could climb that black hill and grabbed him and cut his head off and left his body there. The man took the head and showed the kardiya. The white man was so happy about it. So tragic and sad.

Yarrunga – Chinamen’s Garden – IVY DRILL

As growing up me and my family used to go looking for gold and we put it in Milk Tins and bury the tins under ground, til we need it for rations or buy a Toyota for  whole family to go bush. The Warmun mob used to come visit us [at Yarrunga Chinamen’s Garden] for a few days, sometimes weeks. When that flood come we run up. Run to Halls Creek. We been camp then, camping there and go back, back Chinamen Garden. We been go there and camp, and see that cement where them houses used to be. That cement on the side, and that hole in the middle where houses used to be. They’re building now, building for us. I did them [painting] in Halls Creek. That’s my memory, Chinamen Garden after the flood, when I been in Halls Creek.

Garajbebirri Woolmooj-Woolmooj-Ngarri Yarrurn / When we twitch in our bodies

‘When we jump-jump you know la garajbe [twitch in our bodies]. Garajbebirri woolmooj-woolmooj-ngarri yarrurn [When we twitch in our bodies]. Well dambi lingagengarri yimberramenbeyoo jemernngarremboorroo [That is giving us a sign, reminding us about all those people from far away]. That mean we know all the people coming from long way country. That mean stranger [someone who lives far away] is coming.’ Shirley’s painting describes how, in Gija culture, twitches or spasms in certain muscles in the body are signals that someone from far away is about to visit or that something serious has happened to a family member. In this painting, the small circles painted on the body are these specific points where family members are ‘felt’. Shirley says these sensations can signal events that have happened to this relation, such as their dying, falling ill or being in danger. The small grey tree on the right of the body symbolises a relative’s death. It represents traditional Gija burial rites in which a body would be placed on a wooden platform in a tree. The lines emanating from around the groin signify that sensations in this part of the body signal that there is a dangerous person at large that is a threat to them. Shirley explains that each body part is associated with a different kinship relationship. For example, if the muscles at your breast ‘jump’, your children might arrive, they might be in danger or sick or they may have died. This relates both to biological relations and to people who are your classificatory family. According to the Gija kinship system, every person is related to every other through their skin-name. Shirley says she feels her father in her right shoulder and her mother in her right knee and all of those people with the same skin-name as her parents. The vertical lines radiating out from the body near the head represent the skin groups in Gija society. 

Moon dreaming – P.T

In the Ngarranggarni (Dreaming), Garnkiny (the moon) was a man. In the Ord River today there is a big flat red rock, called a blood rock, that was Garnkiny in the Ngarranggarni.

This is the Garnkiny Ngarranggarni – Moon Dreaming for Phyllis’ country, which lies south of Warrmarn. ‘In the dreamtime, the moon coming out of la hole, he dive down, sing out then come out. He sing, sing, sing. That the Ord River, big water, south, Mundi Mundi.’ Phyllis describes how the circles are the moon, where he (the moon) dived into a waterhole and then came out.

Ngubuny

This is Moodu Looriny country on Alice Downs,

This is near a place we call Ngubuny (Fig Tree).

I used to go there with my family, its a healing place.

RED BUTTE Texas Country by Charlene Carrington

Red Butte is a significant large red rock buttress located in the northern part of Ngarrgooroon Country. It is a popular place to visit because the Ord River passes close by and there is plenty of good fishing. Charlene’s family comes from Texas Downs Station, (Ngarrgooroon Country), which lies east of the Warmun Community. During the 50’s and 60’s many Gija people worked on cattle stations throughout the East Kimberley. Charlene’s grandmother, Betty Carrington worked on Texas up until the late 60’s and she knows this country well. Much of Charlene’s knowledge of this country comes from listening to Betty’s stories and going out bush with Betty and her partner Patrick Mung Mung. Charlene often visits Red Butte with her family and extended family. It is the subject of many of her paintings.

Ngapuny (Jesus) in Bow River

Every time I see theis pace I tell myself this is God’s country and the beautiness of it I feel so blessed to see country so much aline and that God himslef provide fish for us when we ask in prayer. I see myuself one on one with the Lord our Creator in this place his spirit is there. I thank God for giving such a beautiful country to the Late Joe Thomas and his families and generations to come. 

Bow River Country, Kathy Ramsay

This is Bow River County.

My family has a strong history of this place. My grandfather Timmy Timms (Snr) named the dams here redrock damn, and the redrock itself called redrock and the damn near the hill is called marringarnji dam, meaning where dingos come to drink water with the horses and cattle.

My families has drovin’ histories and traditional stories both.

The road is called the old Wyndham road back in the early days. In nowadays it’s been graded.

My ancestors used to live anywhere here, at camping areas near the river beds. They used to live off the land eating kangaroo, porcupine, all sorts of bush foods.

We are so blessed God gave us boundaries to keep and to hold our future generation children to have and to hold.