Wirrili | The Yellow Ochre Ancestor

The saltwater painting starts on the horizon and goes toward Gurruŋawuy, where we get yellow ochre. From their it goes up, right up, to where the songline ends at Birany’birany. Yes, the song comes right up for the water, the saltwater, when it rises up with the big wind rushing in to wash away the yellow ochre. Then we sing at the sandbar at Birany’birany, where the long beach is, and from there the manikay (songline) starts its journey inland.

It starts with the ancestor Wirrili, whom you can see in the painting by Yäma Munuŋgirritj. Wirrili has a lot of names, but we use the names that the old people used: Wirrili or Baḻaŋarrtji. One person, but a lot of names. Wirrili was in the water, and the tide was heading out, so Wirrili jumped onto the sand, leaving his footprints. The footprints showed where he had been on the sand. He carried two digging sticks to dig into the ground looking for yellow ochre to put in his dilly bag. He took his white digging stick and started digging the yellow ochre. You can see his two digging sticks in Narritjin Maymuru’s painting. Narritjin is from the Maŋgalili clan. He is painting a Gumatj clan design, because it is his mother’s mother’s Country.

Narritjin has painted the Gaḻaŋarr (yellow rock) that is burning, so we cannot see it in the distance. That is the shore of a place called Bonhuwa where Wirrili went and dug with his digging sticks. Gaḻaŋarr is the rock itself: Gaḻaŋarr, the yellow ochre. The place where we get the Gaḻaŋarr is called Gurruŋa or Gurruŋawuy. That is where we still go to get yellow ochre. And I call these digging sticks gaṉiny. And when Baḻaŋarrtji stuck his digging stick in the ground, it made a hole. And a goanna named Djarrawuywuy or Gamunuŋbi slipped over and went inside. He went inside black and came out yellow from the Gaḻaŋarr. And the hawk, Gurrututu, was flying around and saw the pieces of yellow ochre on the ground. He picked one up and flew away with that yellow ochre to the lands of the Gupapuyŋu clan. We sing Gaḻaŋarr together, Gupapuyŋu and Gumatj clans.

That is the Gaḻaŋarr beach, going up to Binmila and Guwayba, where you can see the hills from the beach where Birany’birany is, looking toward the creeks. And behind, you can see those big hills. When you are at Birany’birany, you will hear the men sing that name—Baḻaŋarrtji. There will be a dancer standing, waiting. This is what we are singing, Baḻaŋarrtji, at the yellow ochre site. The dancer is painted up and holds the digging stick. And he will tell you that he is Baḻaŋarrtji getting ready to go into Gurruŋawuy to get some Gaḻaŋarr with his digging sticks.

– YÄLPI YUNUPIŊU