Shire of East Pilbara (Martumili Artists)

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Bush banana

“It’s at the creek in Summer, Springtime. I remember going to the creek and you can eat it. Taste like yellow banana but a bit softer. At any river. I paint the bush banana because it’s nice and good to eat.”

– Raelene Sambo

 

Karlkula (bush banana, silky pear or native pear) is a vine found throughout the dry regions of Western Australia and Central Australia. From November to April, and following rains, the plant produces fruit. When young, the green fruit is eaten raw. Older fruits are cooked and the seeds eaten.

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) 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 remain equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally.

 

 

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Waterhole

“Waterholes in redrock side. Other side of Mulyie [Station]. The river, when you go past that station (Mulgi Station). Close to Warralong. Go swimming and fishing there. From a long time ago. At school time. Sometimes we still go there.”

– Raelene Sambo

 

This work depicts a waterhole within Raylene’s ngurra (home Country, camp), typically represented with circular forms. Waterholes are sites that require maintenance, including digging to increase flow, clearing out surrounding growth, and cleaning up after sullying by camels or cattle.

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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Bush banana

“It’s at the creek in Summer, Springtime. I remember going to the creek and you can eat it. Taste like yellow banana but a bit softer. At any river. I paint the bush banana because it’s nice and good to eat.”

– Raelene Sambo

 

Karlkula (bush banana, silky pear or native pear) is a vine found throughout the dry regions of Western Australia and Central Australia. From November to April, and following rains, the plant produces fruit. When young, the green fruit is eaten raw. Older fruits are cooked and the seeds eaten.

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) 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 remain equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally.

 

 

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Bush banana

“It’s at the creek in Summer, Springtime. I remember going to the creek and you can eat it. Taste like yellow banana but a bit softer. At any river. I paint the bush banana because it’s nice and good to eat.”

– Raelene Sambo

 

Karlkula (bush banana, silky pear or native pear) is a vine found throughout the dry regions of Western Australia and Central Australia. From November to April, and following rains, the plant produces fruit. When young, the green fruit is eaten raw. Older fruits are cooked and the seeds eaten.

During the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) 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 remain equally valuable as an important cultural practice that is passed on intergenerationally.

 

 

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Cuppa Tea

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Cuppa Tea

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Junpunjunya, Junpunkutja

“That’s my great, great grandparent’s Country. My grandfathers’ and grandmother’s Country. You go through 33 Well (Kunawarritji, Canning Stock Route Well 33).”

– Marianne Burton

This work depicts two specific sites that form part of Marianne’s ngurra (home Country, camp) through her great, great grandparents. 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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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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Wirlarra (Wilarra)

Wirlarra, the site depicted in this painting, lies on the eastern edge of a large salt lake, Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora), near Punmu Aboriginal community. A distinctive group of small salt water pools are clustered together here. The water from these pools is known for its’ powerful healing properties, and the pools are still visited today by Martu to bathe cuts and sores. 

Wirlarra is also a term for ‘moon’ in Manyjilyjarra, and through the site’s Jukurrpa (Dreaming) narrative, the site is united with the moon in significance. It is said that at Wirlarra, the moon called to a family of dingoes; a mother, father and their large litter of dingo pups. The dingoes gathered at Wirlarra, where the moon cared for them and created a windbreak for the family to shelter. Here the dingoes scratched at the surface of the salt lake and created the cluster of salt water pools located there today. They lay down there. After a time, the dingoes continued travelling eastward toward the rising moon until they reached Kinyu (Well 35 on the Canning Stock Route), where they remained until all of the dingo pups had grown up. From Kinyu the family travelled further east with the moon.

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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.