Deutscher and Hackett

The stretch of rolling sand dunes at Yalangbara (Port Bradshaw) where the apical ancestors of the Dhuwa moiety, the Djang’kawu, landed after their voyage from the east, is the main sacred site of the Wandjuk Marika’s clan, the Rirratjingu. Here, the Djang’kawu women drove their digging sticks into the ground to create freshwater wells and they gave birth to the first human beings. The first creatures they encountered and named were the sacred goanna Djanda and the bush turkey Buwata. Wandjuk has depicted the bush turkeys in pairs wandering across the landscape in search of food; their tracks are clearly visible. The Djanda are associated with fertility and images of the goannas may symbolise the Djang’kawu sisters themselves. In Port Bradshaw two goannas are depicted copulating while others are shown on the sand dunes of Yalangbara. As the goannas climb the dunes, lines of sand trickle down from their claws creating the distinctive Rirratjingu clan design that appears as blocks of parallel cross-hatched patterning. Related paintings by Wandjuk Marika in public collections that feature Djanda and Buwata include Djang’kawu story, 1964, in the collection of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory;¹ and Sunset, 1982, in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.²

1. Marika, B. and West, M., (ed.), Yalangbara: Art of the Djang’kawu, Darwin: Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, 2008, p. 96 (illus.)
2. Caruana, W. (ed), Windows on the Dreaming: Aboriginal Paintings in the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Canberra and Ellsyd Press, Sydney, 1989, plate 64, p. 113 (illus.)

WALLY CARUANA