Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

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Ngayurnangalkumili Ngurra (cannibal Country)

“Ngayurnangalku (cannibal beings) fighting. They all come in here, all meet up here. Ngayurnangalku coming from this way [North], go in here. Ngayurnangalku coming from this way [East], they go in. They come from this way [West], get in there. And from the South, get in there again. Fighting all the way. All the yirrkili (boomerang) flying everywhere. All get up.”

This painting depicts several sequences in the jukurrpa (dreaming) of Kumpupirntily (Lake Disappointment) Country and the lives of it’s inhabitants, the cannibal beings Ngayurnangalku. The lake is the white section in the centre of the painting, which is further quartered by the creeks that feed into it. Including Kupayiyura (Savory Creek). In these sections, other elements of the jukurrpa intersect with the fighting scenes. Top right includes the partarta (bush turkey) and walawurru (eagle hawk) jukurrpa North of the lake Country. Bottom right includes a reference to Turnturnpa, an old woman who is not permitted into the lake area. This section and the others are interspersed by the imagery of the Ngayurnangalku fighting among themselves, indicated by their weapons flying around everywhere.

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Untitled

This painting portrays part of the artist’s country where their family lived traditionally during the pujiman (bush) days. The Martu lived very nomadically moving from water source to water source hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. They would traverse very large distances visiting some areas in the dry and some in the wet season depending on the availability of water. As they travelled and hunted they would also burn areas of country creating a larger diversity of plant and animal life.

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Parnngurr School

“In 1984 my nyupa (partner) Mr Williams and I moved our family from Jigalong to Parnngurr community. Our five children were all young back then. People wanted to mine at Parnngurr. There was lots of drilling going on.

There wasn’t much out there when Parnngurr community formed, just a bow shelter, a windmill and a 44 gallon drum.

We worked hard for there to be a good school in community. If there was going to be teachers at the school they needed somewhere to live. The first teacher to work at Parnngurr school lived in a caravan. I worked alongside her at the school.

The school is different now. It’s grown a lot. There are more buildings, and a new basketball court was recently built. A lot of people have worked hard to make the school a good place.

This painting shows the Parnngurr School and two of my granddaughters, Yvette and Jessica. My granddaughters attended Parnngurr School when they were kids, they’re teenagers now.”

 – Noreena Kadibil

 

 

Noreena Kadibil is a Martu artist currently living in Parnngurr community. Noreena is known for her historical paintings, sharing significant family histories through her work. Noreena regularly paints the Parnngurr School. Community schools are vital components of remote communities, enabling young families to continue living in community, providing employment and an opportunity for two-way learning.

Noreena has close ties to Parnngurr School. She was employed as a Martu teacher when the school was first formed, and many of her children and grandchildren have either attended or been employed by the school. Depicting her grandchildren alongside Parnngurr School illustrates the continuing importance of the school within Noreena’s family and the wider community.

 

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Mulyamiji

“Mangkarr (greater bilby), nurta (desert bandicoot), winyminji (quoll): those three animals, we protect them now. The old people use to eat the animals and we’re working with the KJ [Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa] ranger mob to protect them. Mangkarr is taller than nurta. This one [nurta] is stumpy like a guinea pig. Winyminji is the same size as a cat. It’s like a cat.” 

– Carol Williams

 

Mankarr (greater bilby) is an omnivorous desert-dwelling mammal found in a range of arid habitats across northwestern and central Australia, including rocky soils, shrublands, woodlands and spinifex regions. Its fur is usually grey or white, and it has a long, sharp nose and long pinkish ears. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s, and while the greater bilby has survived, it remains  a threatened species.

Nurta (desert bandicoot) was a bandicoot found in the central and western desserts up until 2016. It is now considered to be extinct. Small in size, the nurta had a long and narrow head which aided its investigation of the sand while digging. The nurta featured orange-brown fur on its back, with a white underbelly and one or two dark bands on the hindquarters. The decline and extinction of the desert bandicoot is attributed to a range of factors including predation by cats and foxes, and habitat destruction due to the combined impact of introduced exotic herbivores and to the cessation through large areas of culturally historical fire burning land management practices. 

Winyminji (quolls) are carnivorous marsupials also native to Australia. They are primarily nocturnal and spend most of the day in a den. They have brown or black fur and pink noses. Largely solitary, they come together for social interactions such as mating, which occurs during the winter season. The quolls’ diet includes smaller mammals, small birds, lizards, and insects.

Since European colonisation of Australia, all species depicted in this work have experienced a significant decline in number. One species, the eastern quoll, became extinct in the 1960s. As described by Carol, the preservation and conservation of the mangkarr and winyminji are managed as part of the Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa ranger program.

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Parnngurr Community

“In 1984 my nyupa (spouse), Williams, and I moved our family from Jigalong to Parnngurr community. Our five children were all young back then. People wanted to mine at Parnngurr. There was lots of drilling going on. There wasn’t much out there when Parnngurr community formed, just a bow shelter, a windmill and a 44 gallon drum. We worked hard for there to be a good school in community. If there was going to be teachers at the school, they needed somewhere to live. The first teacher to work at Parnngurr school lived in a caravan. I worked alongside her at the school. The school is different now. It’s grown a lot. There are more buildings, and a basketball court. A lot of people have worked hard to make the school a good place.”

 – Noreena Kadibil

In her account Noreena describes the early formation of Parnngurr Aboriginal community during the return to Country movement of the 1980s, with the recognition of Aboriginal land rights and native title. The community is located 370km east of Newman, at the Southern end of the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) area, and in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Parnngurr was named after its’ original primary water source, a nearby rockhole and yinta (permanent spring). Until recently the community was widely known as Cotton Creek, after the European name for the ephemeral creek running alongside the community. Parnngurr and its surrounds are physically dominated by distinctively red tali (sandhills), covered sparingly with spinifex and low lying shrub.

Parnngurr Rockhole, located just south of today’s community, was an important site for Aboriginal people during the pujiman (traditional, desert born) era. During this nomadic period families stopped and camped here depending on the seasonal availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant. At Parnngurr and other similarly important camp sites, families would meet for a time before moving to their next destination. 

Parnngurr Rockhole is also a site chronicled in the epic Jukurrpa (Dreaming) story of the Minyipuru (Jakulyukulyu, Seven Sisters), as they flee from the lustful old man, Yurla. The sisters stopped to rest on Parnngurr Hill before continuing on their long journey east. Minyipuru is a central Jukurrpa narrative for Martu, Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people that is associated with the seasonal Pleiades star constellation. Relayed in song, dance, stories and paintings, Minyipuru serves as a creation narrative, a source of information relating to the physical properties of the land, and an embodiment of Aboriginal cultural laws. Beginning in Roebourne on the west coast of Western Australia, the story morphs in its movement eastward across the land, following the women as they walk, dance, and even fly from waterhole to waterhole. As they travel the women camp, sing, wash, dance and gather food, leaving markers in the landscape and creating landforms that remain to this day, such as groupings of rocks and trees, grinding stones and seeds. During the entirety of their journey the women are pursued by a lustful old man, Yurla, although interactions with other animals, groups of men, and spirit beings are also chronicled in the narrative.

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Lunki (witchetty grub)

Lunki (witchetty grubs) are the large, pinkish white, wood eating larvae of several moth species. During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era, lunki were a reliable food source, forming a staple of the Martu diet, and today they remain equally popular. Lunki are eaten either raw or cooked in hot ashes, with a raw nutty taste that becomes creamy when cooked. Though they are available through the year, lunki are particularly prevalent in late wantajarra (cool season). They are found in the trunks and roots of several tree species including acacia, tinjirla (coolabah), and yurungkura (red river gum). 

Martu forage for lunki by creating a small incision in the bark of a tree where the lunki is located, which is then used as the entry point for the insertion of a small hook, typically fashioned from a stick but sometimes using wire. Typically, lunki is collected incidentally during hunting trips or resting stops, and is a relatively relaxing, sociable activity. 

During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. Whilst desert life has moved away from mobile hunter-gatherer subsistence throughout the course of the twentieth century, bush tucker continues to be a significant component of the modern Martu diet. Hunting and gathering bush tucker remains equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally. Though hunting and gathering implements have been modernised, methods of harvesting, tracking and the use of fire burning to drive animals from their retreats are still commonly practiced today.

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Mulyamiji

“This painting is of the Mulyamiji and the big clayplan out there – those red, white and yellow dots are the flowers that grow next to the claypan.” – Carol Williams As a part of the Mulyamiji March 2025 KJ (Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa) rangers held a three day camp in the area of Wantili. Managing and surveying the culturally significant Mulyamiji (great desert skink). Carol grew up in Jigalong and Wiluna before moving to Parnngurr Community when she was 13 or 14 she is both a KJ ranger and Martumili artist, these works were inspired and painted on her father’s country Wantili, sitting underneath a shady gum overlooking the large clayplan there after a day of surveying the Mulyamji Ngurra (home). The KJ program manages the conservation of the natural and cultural assets on Martu country through the employment of Martu as Indigenous rangers. KJ rangers work to build knowledge on and protect the many important species that occur on their country, including the Mankarr, the wiminyji and the mulyamiji (great desert skink).

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Linyji (claypan)

This work depicts a linyji (claypan) within the artists’ ngurra (home Country, camp), typically represented with circular forms. Claypans were visited more often during the wet seasons as they filled with water. 

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, knowledge of water sources was critical for survival, and today Martu Country is still defined in terms of the location and type of water. Each of the hundreds of claypans, rockholes, waterholes, soaks and springs found in the Martu desert homelands is known through real life experience and the recounting of Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives by name, location, quality and seasonal availability. This encyclopedic knowledge extends even to the nature and movement of arterial waterways, and sustained Martu as they travelled across their Country, hunting and gathering, visiting family, and fulfilling ceremonial obligations. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant.

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Linyji (claypan)

This work depicts a linyji (claypan) within the artists’ ngurra (home Country, camp), typically represented with circular forms. Claypans were visited more often during the wet seasons as they filled with water. 

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) period, knowledge of water sources was critical for survival, and today Martu Country is still defined in terms of the location and type of water. Each of the hundreds of claypans, rockholes, waterholes, soaks and springs found in the Martu desert homelands is known through real life experience and the recounting of Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives by name, location, quality and seasonal availability. This encyclopedic knowledge extends even to the nature and movement of arterial waterways, and sustained Martu as they travelled across their Country, hunting and gathering, visiting family, and fulfilling ceremonial obligations. They would traverse very large distances annually, visiting specific areas in the dry and wet season depending on the availability of water and the corresponding cycles of plant and animal life on which hunting and gathering bush tucker was reliant.

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Untitled

“When Martu paint, it’s like a map. Martu draw story on the ground and on the canvas, and all the circle and line there are the hunting areas and different waters and tracks where people used to walk, and [some you] can’t cross, like boundaries. So nowadays you see a colourful painting and wonder what it is, but that’s how Martu tell story long ago. It’s not just a lovely painting, it’s a story and a songline and a history and everything that goes with it.” 

– Ngalangka Nola Taylor and Joshua Booth

This work portrays an area of Country that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Firstly, the image may be read as an aerial representation of a particular location known to the artist- either land that they or their family travelled, from the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era to now. During the pujiman period, Martu would traverse very large distances annually in small family groups, moving seasonally from water source to water source, and hunting and gathering bush tucker as they went. At this time, one’s survival depended on their intimate knowledge of the location of resources; thus physical elements of Country, such as sources of kapi (water), tali (sandhills), different varieties of warta (trees, vegetation), ngarrini (camps), and jina (tracks) are typically recorded with the use of a use of a system of iconographic forms universally shared across the desert. 

An additional layer of meaning in the work relates to more intangible concepts; life cycles based around kalyu (rain, water) and waru (fire) are also often evident. A thousands of year old practice, fire burning continues to be carried out as both an aid for hunting and a means of land management today. As the Martu travelled and hunted they would burn tracts of land, ensuring plant and animal biodiversity and reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires. The patchwork nature of regrowth is evident in many landscape works, with each of the five distinctive phases of fire burning visually described with respect to the cycle of burning and regrowth.  

Finally, metaphysical information relating to a location may also be recorded; Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives chronicle the creation of physical landmarks, and can be referenced through depictions of ceremonial sites, songlines, and markers left in the land. Very often, however, information relating to Jukurrpa is censored by omission, or alternatively painted over with dotted patterns.