| Description/Remarks |
Image depicts three sacred waterholes on three horizontal bands. Each band is detailed with arrow-shaped Brolga tracks pointing in different directions. All on background of vertical stripes detailed with red, yellow and white ochre cross hatching (rarrk).
Printed label verso (from Aboriginal Artists, 251 St George Terrace, Perth, WA) reads: "The Djanggawul brother and two sisters are the most important Dhuwa moiety ancestral beings in NE Arnhem Land. They travelled from thje spirit country far across the ocean to Yalangbara on the east coars of Arnhem Land. They then travelled north and west through various Dhuwa moiety clans' country to beyond Ramingining. /
As they travelled, the Djanggawul marked the country with their creative activities. They made waterholes and certain species, encountered others and made them sacred; they left behind their children to look after their country, and gave them the culture and the law appropriate to each group. The Djanggawul made the people and the country rich and fertile, both physically and culturally. /
In Garangarri (or Dhuruputjpi) in Djapu country, the Djanggawul made waterholes by driving their sacred digging sticks (rrangga djota), into the ground - and waster gushed out. From the waterhole came freshwater goanna (Djerrka) to see the sunrise. At the lagoon, the Djanggawul saw pelican (galumay) and brolga (danggulti) and their footprints in the mud. The Djanggawul saw these creatures and sang about them, making them sacred and giving them to the Djapu people as a Dreaming. /
On the surface of the lagoon, wild banana leaves (darangi or barngul) were floating. The Djanggawul sang about them and the representation of them became a sacred clan design for Ngaymil people." /
Handwritten note beneath reads: This painting shows the waterholes made by the Djanggawul and the tracks to and from them, of danggultji (brolga). The freshwater and darangi design is the background design." |
