Kurru had left the sandhill country once, with Yinti, and spent time on Cherrabun cattle station. He had returned to the desert, but he knew that most people were leaving, going one way, never coming back. He knew that, sooner or later, he too would take his new wife to live on the station. Meanwhile, desert life went on as usual for the dwindling number of people.
The young couple moved to another waterhole. One day, a huge animal came to the water to drink. Mana had never seen anything like it; it was big and brown, with white markings on its face, and it had what looked like sharp branches or sticks coming out of its head.
‘Look, look — a bullock!’ said Kurru. ‘I’m going to kill it.’
Mana tried to stop him. ‘No, no!’ she said. ‘Don’t spear it; I’m frightened! It might get angry and attack you with those things on its head!’
‘It’s for meat, that one,’ said Kurru. He went down into the flat, downwind of the bullock, and then crept up as close to it as he could before he let fly with his spear.
The spear hit the bullock in the ribs and went right through its body, the point coming out on the other side. The bullock crumpled and lay down, making a strange noise: ‘Moo, moo.’ Then Kurru hooked another spear into his spear-thrower and pierced him again. The second blow was lethal, and the bullock kicked and lay still.
After that, Kurru and Mana cut pieces of meat from the bullock’s body and put them in the fire to cook. When the meat was done, Kurru pulled it out and gave some to his wife. This was the first time Mana had eaten beef. The rest of the cooked meat the couple carried to Purturnjarti, where their families were camping, and shared it with everyone. The children were excited about trying the new meat, and said they liked it.
MARRIAGE
There was no special ceremony to celebrate marriage in the desert. When a girl had reached puberty and was considered mature enough to marry, there would be an exchange of gifts of food, and she then went to live with her promised husband. A younger wife might join her husband’s family group even earlier, to get to know his older wife or wives and become familiar with his country before she took on the full responsibilities of marriage. Sons-in-law had an obligation to help provide for their wives’ parents.
Not long after this, the whole family group moved to Kunajarti and stayed there for a while. Kurru started talking about going to live on Cherrabun Station. He told Mana what it was like there: so much food and meat that no one had to go hunting, and all sorts of new things, like cars and windmills. Mana knew that many of her relations were living on the station already. Yinti had gone back, this time taking his mother and Kana with him. And so, still with some misgivings, she agreed to go.
When the couple told their families of their plans, the old people were sad. Kurru wanted to take everyone with him, but his grandparents and Mana’s Jaja said they were too old to travel so far. They told Kurru they would stay behind in their own country. Mana’s mother said she would stay with her own mother, Mana’s Jaja, who, with her bad back, would need someone to look after her. Then Tili said she didn’t want to go to the station either. She would stay with her mother and Jaja and her little brother.
When the dry season was over and the rains were just starting, and they knew that the waterholes would be filling up again, Mana and Kurru set off with Kurru’s mother and father and his younger sister. Everyone else stayed behind. It would be thirty years before Mana saw her country again.
Walmajarri pronunciation guide
Like most Australian languages, Walmajarri uses some sounds that do not occur in English. Because of the limitations of the English (Roman) alphabet, these sounds are in most cases expressed by a combination of two letters, eg the consonants ‘ng’, ‘ny’, ‘rl’, ‘rt’.
There are also some English sounds, such as those written ‘f’, ‘h’, ‘s’, ‘e’ and ‘o’, which are not found in Walmajarri.
In Kimberley languages, no distinction is made between the sounds in the pairs written in English as ‘b’ and ‘p’, ‘d’ and ‘t’, ‘g’ and ‘k’. For this reason, only one of each pair of letters is used in the written languages. Some languages, including Walmajarri, use ‘p’, ‘t’ and ‘k’. Others use ‘b’, ‘d’ and ‘g’ instead, but the choice is arbitrary.
a
like u in but
aa
long a as in pa or ah
i
like i in big
iyi
like ee in greet
j
like j in just
k
like g in girl or k in kill
l
like l in lamp
ly
like lli in million
m
like m in mother
n
like n in nut
ng
like ng in singer
ny
like ni in onion
p
like b in boy or p in pal
r
like r in parade
rl
like American pronunciation of rl in curl; r is sounded
rn
like American pronunciation of rn in corn; r is sounded
rr
rolled r as in Scottish and Italian r
rt
like American pronunciation of rt in party; r is sounded
t
like d in drum or t in tap
u
like u in pull; not like u in but
uwu
long u as in clue
w
like w in window
y
like y in yellow. Note: y at the end of a word modifies the preceding letter (n or l). It is never an extra syllable as in many.
Walmajarri glossary
Japi
a landscape feature near a jila where the resident jila snake comes up from underground to look out. The japi might be a rock, a sandhill formation or a small hill
Jaja
mother’s mother; woman’s daughter’s child (a reciprocal term)
Japingka
an important jila, where people used to gather in the hot time of year and perform ceremonies
Jarra
firestick, which people carried around to light fires
Jarriny
conception place and totem
Jila
‘living water’; waterhole that never runs dry and home of a spirit snake
Jumu
temporary waterhole, which holds water for a time after rain but eventually runs dry
Jurnta
a small, edible bulb of a desert grass that grows in salty ground
Kana
digging stick, used mainly by women
Kartiya
non-Aboriginal person, especially of European descent. Term used across the Kimberley
Kayalajarti
name of a waterhole
Kukurr
a mischievous spirit
Kumpupaja
greenish fruit of small shrub, Solanum sp.
Kunajarti
name of a waterhole
Kungkala
type of wood used to make fire by friction; the short sticks used for this purpose
Kurra
stone axe; the sharpened axe heads were attached to wooden handles with animal sinews and spinifex wax
Lantimangu
place name of a particular japi, Mana’s conception site
Mana
tree
Mantarta
name of a jila
Minijarti
Great Desert Skink (Egernia kintorei), a burrowing lizard with a pale skin, once common, now an endangered species
Ngapajarra
name of a double waterhole
Ngawiji
grandmother (father’s mother)
Nimpi
name of a jila
Nyalyka
type of tree
Pakartparta
toddler
Paparta
name of a waterhole
name of a waterhole
Purturnjarti
name of a waterhole
Puyurruyurru
edible insect
Tapu
the main jila in Mana’s country
Tartaku
edible bloodwood gall made by insects
Turtujarti
Desert Walnut Tree (Owenia reticulata); produces abundant nuts and an edible gum
Wali
All right; that’s it, then; an expression used to bring a conversation or discussion to a close
Walypa
name of a waterhole
Warawu!
an exclamation of alarm or dismay
Wirrikarijarti
name of a waterhole
Wirtuka
plant that grows along the ground near a waterhole; has edible roots
Wirtukawarnti
name of a waterhole
Wurruwurru
spirit baby
Yakapiri
Bird-flower Bush (Crotalaria cunninghamii); a shrub that grows on sandhills
Yarun
type of tree (Corymbia aff. Chippendalei)
Yii!
call to a dog, urging it on in a hunt
About the creators
JUKUNA MONA CHUGUNA
Jukuna Mona Chuguna was a Walmajarri woman from the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia, where she grew up. As a young bride she left the desert with her husband in the 1950s, to live and work on cattle and sheep stations in the Kimberley’s Fitzroy Valley. From the late 1960s, Jukuna worked with linguists who were studying Walmajarri. She taught them her language and at the same time learnt to read and write it herself. In middle age, Jukuna took up painting and became a well-regarded artist, holding exhibitions of her work around Australia and overseas. She was a natural teacher and great storyteller. She died in 2011.
PAT LOWE
Pat Lowe hails from England and, after doing some globetrotting, fulfilled her childhood ambition to settle in Western Australia. She spent a few years in Perth, working as a psychologist in child welfare and in prisons. She then applied for transfer to the Regional Prison in Broome, where she moved in 1979. In 1986, Pat went to live in a desert camp with Jukuna’s uncle and age-mate, Jimmy Pike, where she came to know Jukuna and her family. Later in life, when both Pat and Jukuna were living in Broome, they worked together to record Jukuna’s stories.
MERVYN STREET
Mervyn Street is a Gooniyandi artist, who was born on Louisa Downs Station in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. In his youth he worked as a stockman and later developed his artistic talents. Mervyn has produced many paintings, drawings and prints of station life. Nowadays, Mervyn has his own community at Pullout Springs, and divides his time between drawing and painting at Mangkaja Arts in Fitzroy Crossing and teaching the Gooniyandi language at the Yiyili Community school.
Further reading
Pat Lowe, illustrated by Jimmy Pike, Yinti Desert Child, Magabala Books, Broome, 1992
Pat Lowe, illustrated by Jimmy Pike, Desert Dog, Magabala Books, Broome,1997
Pat Lowe & Jimmy Pike, You Call it Desert — We Used to Live There, Magabala Books, Broome, second edition 2009
Eirlys Richards, Joyce Hudson, Pat Lowe (Eds.) Out of the Desert — Stories from the Walmajarri Exodus, Magabala Books, 2002
Ngarta Jinny Bent, Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Pat Lowe & Eirlys Richards, Two Sisters Ngarta and Jukuna, Fremantle Press, 2004
Pat Lowe, In the Desert — Jimmy Pike as a Boy, Penguin Books, 2007
Jimmy Pike, The Art of Fire, Backroom Press, Broome, 2008
Joyce Hudson & Eirlys Richards, The Walmajarri Dictionary, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Darwin, 1990, second edition 2012. Digital version at: www.ausil.org.au
Some of these books are now out of print but may be obtained through libraries or purchased second-hand.
NGAPA PUKURNPUKURN FLOWERS NEAR WATER
JUKUNA MONA CHUGUNA
When it rains the rockholes overflow. The wet ground around the rockholes sets the grass seeds growing and later the flowers are everywhere. We call this sight ngapa pukurnpukurn.
Design elements from this painting have been used in the cultural information boxes.
The Girl from the Great Sandy Desert Page 6