National Gallery of Australia | Audio Tour | National Indigenous Art Triennial 07

This painting represents a component of the Wagilag Sisters epic creation story. The upper-left corner of the work shows Wititj the sacred python emerging from its home, Mirarrmina waterhole. Wititj has already swallowed and regurgitated the sisters and their child, and the child is drinking the Mirarrmina water from a mungulk (a paperbark water vessel). The rarrk roundels in the work are djamundurr or gunda, which are stones. The stones are found surrounding Mirarrmina waterhole and the sisters use the stones for killing goannas to eat. ‘How much goanna? one, two, three, four…buduk (wait)…five. Five goanna.’ The goannas are djarrka(the Mertens’ water goanna) who live in hollow logs around the waterhole. This goanna is painted as a body design on initiates in high-order ceremonies such as Ngulmarrk and Djungguwan. Not all men make it to this level of ceremonial initiation as it is reserved for the (potentially) more powerful leaders and lawmen. The triangular shapes are ngambi (stone spearheads) collected