Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation

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Gurrpurdu (Diving Bird)

A design by emerging textile designer, Charmaine Pascoe.

‘My Gurrpurdu (diving bird) was white. She flew from Gan Gan to Gapuwiyak and then to Yathalamarra. And then she flew to Gartji.

At Gartji two fresh water seaweed shoots, one long and one short were trying to keep diving bird down. They were saying, “Don’t go away you belong to this country”.  Diving bird said “No! I’m going to travel around to other country”.  She was flapping her wings and then those two seaweed shoots let her go.

Then diving bird flew to make water hole at Gamurra Gu-yurra. She tasted the water but it was salty not fresh water. Then she put her poo like white clay on the ground at Gamurra Gu-yurra. The while clay was used for painting, funerals and ceremonies.

Then she continued to fly to Ji-balbal where she put the white clay again and then from Ji-balbal she dived underwater to Gochan Jiny-jirra. When she got there she got out of the water and was flapping her wings. At the same time she was singing. She was using her wings to dry out so that she could fly to Nangak.’ Charmaine Pascoe 2020

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Djomi (Fresh Water Spirit)

This design depicts the story of the artist’s ancestral dreaming, the Djómi (Fresh Water Spirit).

The Djómi figure is a mermaid-like spirit with fish tail that lives in the freshwater stream that flows out to the sea cliff near Maningrida. Djómi is known to be a very powerful fertility symbol.

“If you go there, you can get pregnant easily. Djómi has babies, and they can give other babies too. The Djómi spirit is so powerful, that women can end up with multiple babies at once, twins or sometimes even more. The Djómi spirits lay eggs near the sacred freshwater stream in Maningrida. Inside the eggs are human babies as well as young Djómi. Men do not go near that swamp, because Djomi is so powerful that men might get pregnant there too. So men are too scared of that Djómi. When we visit the Djómi freshwater spring, we can hear young Djómi  crying. They sound like normal babies crying, those Djómi spirits. They are looking for a mother. This Djómi is my dreaming, I got permission from my djungkay (ritual manager) to paint this Djómi design. For me I always ask my djunguy permission to paint, because that is our cultural way. This design also depicts the freshwater lily leaves and seaweed from the base of the sea floor.” Joy Galrbin

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Djomi (Fresh Water Spirit)

This design depicts the story of the artist’s ancestral dreaming, the Djómi (Fresh Water Spirit).

The Djómi figure is a mermaid-like spirit with fish tail that lives in the freshwater stream that flows out to the sea cliff near Maningrida. Djómi is known to be a very powerful fertility symbol.

“If you go there, you can get pregnant easily. Djómi has babies, and they can give other babies too. The Djómi spirit is so powerful, that women can end up with multiple babies at once, twins or sometimes even more. The Djómi spirits lay eggs near the sacred freshwater stream in Maningrida. Inside the eggs are human babies as well as young Djómi. Men do not go near that swamp, because Djomi is so powerful that men might get pregnant there too. So men are too scared of that Djómi. When we visit the Djómi freshwater spring, we can hear young Djómi  crying. They sound like normal babies crying, those Djómi spirits. They are looking for a mother. This Djómi is my dreaming, I got permission from my djungkay (ritual manager) to paint this Djómi design. For me I always ask my djunguy permission to paint, because that is our cultural way. This design also depicts the freshwater lily leaves and seaweed from the base of the sea floor.” Joy Galrbin

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Manbirrbbirr (small bush flowers)

In Kuninjku the name manbirrbbirr is used for a number of densely flowering shrubs and small trees including Verticordia cunninghamii, yellow-flowering Austromyrtus species and also Acacia platycarpa which also has dense white flowers.

A multicoloured cloth with interlocking designs in a patchwork repeat. This cloth was printed by hand using the linocut technique. 

 

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Djomi (Fresh Water Spirit)

This design depicts the story of the artist’s ancestral dreaming, the Djómi (Fresh Water Spirit).

The Djómi figure is a mermaid-like spirit with fish tail that lives in the freshwater stream that flows out to the sea cliff near Maningrida. Djómi is known to be a very powerful fertility symbol.

“If you go there, you can get pregnant easily. Djómi has babies, and they can give other babies too. The Djómi spirit is so powerful, that women can end up with multiple babies at once, twins or sometimes even more. The Djómi spirits lay eggs near the sacred freshwater stream in Maningrida. Inside the eggs are human babies as well as young Djómi. Men do not go near that swamp, because Djomi is so powerful that men might get pregnant there too. So men are too scared of that Djómi. When we visit the Djómi freshwater spring, we can hear young Djómi  crying. They sound like normal babies crying, those Djómi spirits. They are looking for a mother. This Djómi is my dreaming, I got permission from my djungkay (ritual manager) to paint this Djómi design. For me I always ask my djunguy permission to paint, because that is our cultural way. This design also depicts the freshwater lily leaves and seaweed from the base of the sea floor.” Joy Galrbin

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Ngalyod (Rainbow Serpent)

The third part of the story is Ngalyod. Kuninjku people say there are two Rainbow serpents. One is Yingarna, who is said to have been the original creator of all ancestral beings, the ‘first mother’. Yingarna’s first born is Ngaloyd. Yingarna, or her son Ngalyod, are a common subject on contemporary Kuninjku bark paintings. 

Ngalyod is very important in Kuninjku cosmology and is associated with the creation of all sacred sites, djang, in Kuninjku clan lands. For example, ancestral stories relate how creator, or ancestral beings, had travelled across the country and had angered Ngalyod who swallowed them and returned to the earth to create the site. Today, Ngalyod protects these sites, and its power is present in each one. 

Ngalyod has both powers of creation and destruction and is most strongly associated with rain, monsoon seasons and rainbows, which are a manifestation of Ngalyod’s power and presence. Ngalyod is associated with the destructive power of the storms and with the plenty of the wet season, being both a destroyer and a giver of life. Ngalyod’s power controls the fertility of the country and the seasons.

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Yawkyawk (young women spirit) (on a rock)

“This mermaid lives in a special freshwater billabong in the manberrk (savanna woodland).

She is sitting on a rock on the edge of the kunronj (billabong). When we see the kunronj shining, and the sun goes down we call this kahbohmimihmeh.

 

 

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Karndóya (Cheeky Yam) *Ndjebbana

Bright green cotton with dark green and orange/red ink. 

When we go hunting we look for the white flower which shows us Karndóya. It’s white outside and yellow inside. It starts to come up in the early wet season. We cut like a potato and we put in the freshwater for two weeks to make it soft. We don’t need to cook it. 

We put inside dillybag, 

Joy Garlbin

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Namorrorddo (Shooting star Spirit) and Kalawan (Goanna)

Warm pink on natural gold silk.

Mythical creatures of a malevolent nature, namorrorddo are shooting star spirits. They have long claws and trails of white light coming from their heads. They also carry a long club called miyarrurl which they use to beat victims.Yiman kabenerohrok nakidjkidj ya nakka wanjh kabenerohrok namorrorddo. Namorrorddo kabirlikan, bidngalnjkuyeng yoh.

Namorrorddo is similar to the spirit called ‘Nakidjkidj’, the same as Nakidjkidj. Namorrorddo however carries light (ie. the shooting star) and has really long claws, yes.

Source: https://www.njamed.com/

Marawarr depicts Namorrorddo in many forms. The angel is usually situated within the dry bushland and rocky outcrops of the stone country around Mankorlod. 

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Namorrorddo (Shooting star Spirit)

Mythical creatures of a malevolent nature, namorrorddo are shooting star spirits. They have long claws and trails of white light coming from their heads. They also carry a long club called miyarrurl which they use to beat victims.Yiman kabenerohrok nakidjkidj ya nakka wanjh kabenerohrok namorrorddo. Namorrorddo kabirlikan, bidngalnjkuyeng yoh.

Namorrorddo is similar to the spirit called ‘Nakidjkidj’, the same as Nakidjkidj. Namorrorddo however carries light (ie. the shooting star) and has really long claws, yes.

Source: https://www.njamed.com/

Marawarr depicts Namorrorddo in many forms. The angel is usually situated within the dry bushland and rocky outcrops of the stone country around Mankorlod.