MOWANJUM ART AND CULTURE CENTRE

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Ungud (Snake)

The Ungud Snake story is about two young boys who didn’t listen to their elders or believe in them. There is a big waterhole an in it lies a large Ungud Snake. The old people told the kids not to go near that waterhole, but these boys thought the elders were tricking them so they wanted to find out for themselves. So they went to the waterhole and built a hideout from branches with small holes so that they can see ( just in case the elders told the truth) they looked at the billabong and it was calm. They banged two sticks together to make clapping noise and then they saw all the lilypads starting to move apart on the water and large logs came up from out of the water, then came bubbles and after a huge head coming out of the water to have a look around for who had been making all the noise. He hadn’t seen annone so he went back down and the lilypads went flat and the water went calm. Those two boys ran back to the camp and told the elders that they were right , there was a snake and the elders told them that they should have listened in the first place. The Ungud Snake also was the chosen animal in helping with the creation of mother earth, creating rivers, gorges, stream’s and helped with the formation of the earth. Still today it lives in these dark deep water hole’s in our country which doesn’t want to be disturbed.

 

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Wandjina, Dumbi & Ungud (cloud and rain spirit, barn owl & totem)

The Wandjina is the creator spirit that belongs to the Wororra, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people. He is the one who created everything, gave us our culture, law and songs and even the dreaming of each child before they are born. The Dumbis belong to the Wandjina and nobody can make fun or kill them, because the Wandjina will send a big rainstorm just like in the flood story. The Ungud snake is the one that made the rivers and holds water. If they are disturbed then they will kill whoever disturbs them.

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Wandjina & Wara Inja (cloud and rain spirits & kangaroo)

The Wandjina spirits are highly respected by the Worrora, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people who live at Mowanjum and up the Gibb River Road to Kalumburru in the North West Kimberley region of Western Australia. Where you see a lot of Wandjinas they represent the laws of tree, rivers, rocks, bush fruit and animals, all creation. These customs are carried on today. This painting represents the kangaroo and how people hunted them. They were hunted for food and used the skin of female kangaroos for making hair belts.

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Wandjinas (cloud and rain spirits)

Where you see a lot of Wandjinas they represent the laws of trees, rivers, rocks, bush fruit, animals and all of creation. The Wandjinas give the law on how we have to treat and use these creations. These customs are carried on today. The Wandjina spirits are highly respected by the Worrora, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people who live at Mowanjum and up the Gibb River Road to Kalumburru in the North West Kimberley region of Western Australia.

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Wandjina & Dumbi (cloud and rain spirits & barn owls)

The Wandjina is the creator spirit that belongs to us: the Wororra, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people. He is the one that created everything; our culture, law and songs and even the dreaming of each child before they are born. 

Dumbi is an owl which resides in Ngarinyin country. A boy and a girl teased Dumbi and plucked out his feathers. Dumbi flew to the Wandjina Wodjin who said he would create a large flood to punish the tribe from where the boy and girl came. At a place called Wanalirri, the Wandjina gathered a large flock of brolgas which stomped on a huge black soil plain to create quicksand. The flood came and drowned many people; those who tried to escape were lost in the quicksand. The boy and girl were safe because they were on high ground, they were taken there by a kangaroo, and they traveled on the kangaroo’s tail. A Tata lizard called Ganada warned the Wandjina that the boy and the girl had escaped. The rains and lightning started to chase the boy and girl and they ran to a hollowed out boab tree. Once they were in the tree, the Wandjina closed it up and they were lost for ever. In another version of the story the boy and girl survive the flood and mate to produce a new tribe.

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Wandjinas (cloud and rain spirits)

Where you see a lot of Wandjinas they represent the laws of trees, rivers, rocks, bush fruit, animals and all of creation. The Wandjinas give the law on how we have to treat and use these creations. These customs are carried on today. The Wandjina spirits are highly respected by the Worrora, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people who live at Mowanjum and up the Gibb River Road to Kalumburru in the North West Kimberley region of Western Australia.

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Jaiya & longneck turtle (woolamarra)

Wandjina is the creator for all the food on the land and in the sea.He’s the one who give us fish (Jaiya).
This painting is of the Woolamarra (longneck turtle) which lives in freshwater. This turtle has its own law which says that young children cannot eat them unless the elders make the turtle crawl on their backs and scratch them. If a young person eats it without it crawling on their back then the Wandjina will send a big rain storm with hail and strong winds. The young child must go out into the storm and get hit by the hail stones to satisfy the Wandjina then he will make the storm go away. When the turtle has been eaten up you can see the shape of a Wandjina in the shell.

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Wandjinas (cloud and rain spirits)

Where you see a lot of Wandjinas they represent the laws of trees, rivers, rocks, bush fruit, animals and all of creation. The Wandjinas give the law on how we have to treat and use these creations. These customs are carried on today. The Wandjina spirits are highly respected by the Worrora, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people who live at Mowanjum and up the Gibb River Road to Kalumburru in the North West Kimberley region of Western Australia.