Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

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Dreamtime

“The shapes represent the family groups from different regions.

It’s been really good, reconnecting with family and getting to know which family member is who. Getting to know my uncles, telling me about my mum that has passed away. Hearing about the stories and about my grandmother as well. Her stories, yeah, uncle Matthew tells us stories about my family. It’s nice to know where you come from, especially coming back home and connecting back to family.”

– Kerri- Anne Wilson

In the heart of central Western Australia, the Martu people are the traditional owners of a vast landscape stretching from the Great Sandy Desert in the north to Wiluna in the south. Across this Country, their lives are bound by a common ancestral heritage, law, and culture. To one another, they are walytja (family).

Walytja

The Martu term for family, walytja, encapsulates a broader idea of relatedness that permeates every aspect of life. The Martu four-section kinship system determines a person as belonging to either the Purungu, Milangka, Panaka or Karrimarra skin group, and was created by the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) ancestors.

This system not only defines relationships, it also establishes a framework for expectations and obligations, and extends the importance of family far beyond mere blood or marriage ties. Family is not limited to blood connections; it encompasses all relationships within the entire community, forming a network of relationships that was crucial to survival during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era, and that remains fundamental to Martu life today. The kinship system allows everyone to know what expectations one person can have in relation to another, and means that familial terms and relationships are present between any two individuals, whether or not they are related by blood.

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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.

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Lalapakujarra

Lalapakujarra is a creek located along the Karlamilyi River (Rudall River). According to two of the central Martu Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narratives, the Karlamilyi River and its surrounds were created by the ancestral beings Jila Kujarra (Two Snakes) and the Wati Kujarra (Two Goanna Men) as they travelled across the lands.

Jila Kujarra is one of the key Jukurrpa narratives for the Martu. Though the story belongs to Warnman people, it is shared across the Western Desert with several other language groups. The narrative centres on the travels of two snakes as they are pursued by the Niminjarra, spiritual ancestors of the Warnman people.

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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.

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Bushfire in my Mother’s Country

This work depicts the practice of fire burning as it continues to be used today through the Martu homelands. Over thousands of years, as Martu travelled and hunted on foot they would burn tracts of land, using waru (fire) as a means to assist with hunting and to encourage regenerative growth. Whilst fire burning practices have modernised in recent times, with Martu burning areas close to Aboriginal communities and along roads, or else further afield using helicopters and 4WDs with Indigenous ranger group Karnyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ), the same objectives are met as those during pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) times.

Targeted waru is an important tool in animal tracking. Small burns are lit to clear vegetation, expose burrows, and to allow for access to walk and track readily in exposed sands. Fires are typically burnt during cooler weather in small, controlled areas, reducing the risk of unmanageable, spontaneous bush fires whilst simultaneously providing diverse regenerating habitats. Remaining is a defined mosaic fire scar pattern in the land, across tali (sand dunes), linyji (clay pans), parulyukurru (spinifex country) and pila (sandy plains). This patterning is clearly visible from an aerial perspective, and becomes even more defined as new growth emerges. 

The patchwork nature of regrowth is aligned with the Martu cycle of burning and regrowth and its five distinct phases. First is nyurnma (freshly burnt Country), followed after the rains by waru-waru, when young, bright green plants start to grow. Nyukura occurs between one and three years after burning, when plants have matured and are fruiting and seeding. Manguu is four to six years post burning, when spinifex has matured to the point that it can be burned once again. Finally, kunarka signifies the time when spinifex and other plant species have become old growth, and pose a risk of destructive bushfires.

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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.

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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.

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Home (Country)

“It’s their home for them, real ngurra (home Country, camp). Real ngurra is where they been born and grow up.”

– Corban Clause Williams

The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. People identify with their ngurra in terms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Country for Martu is full of memory; not just the memory of their own movement through it, but also of their family. As summarised by Ngalangka Nola Taylor, “painting the ngurra, they do it to remember their connections.” 

Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance. Physical maintenance of one’s ngurra, like cultural maintenance, ensures a site’s wellbeing, and is a responsibility of the people belonging to that area.  

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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.

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Tuwa (Sandhills)

‘’Went with Martumili. Old Jigalong. Judith’s nanna Country, where Judith nanna was born. Went from old Jigalong to Jigalong to right through Parnngurr, Camped the night and then Judith’s pop went to pick him up. His name is Mr Rowlands and I call him brother. He showing me where my nanna’s Country started from Parnngurr towards Lake Disappointment. We camped the night. Judith’s nanna was getting cheeky bossing him (Mr Rowland) around; “we not married anymore that’s why I left him.” Between Lake Disappointment and Durba Springs (Pinpi) there were these beautiful rolling sand hills, we winding through them over top, we stopped half way and I looked out to the sunset saw all the glistening spinifex. The orange from the sunset lit the sand dunes up. When I do the Tuwa paintings I think of that day.’’

– Kathleen Sorensen

The traditional lands of the Martu people encompass the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia, an enormous tract dominated by distinctive red tali, or tuwa (sandhills). These sandhills present an unforgiving landscape; sparse vegetation covers a seemingly never ending expanse of dunes, and yet these lands and the location of resources within them was known intimately by its pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) inhabitants. At this time, Martu traversed very large distances annually in small family groups, moving from water source to water source through the harsh desert landscape with incredible stamina and resourcefulness. Travel was often undertaken at night, and when travelling during the day, Martu wore yakipiri (woven bark sandals) to protect their feet from the hot desert sand.