Wardapi Jukurrpa - Yarripurlangu


Wardapi Jukurrpa Yarripurlangu

This part of the Wardapi Jukurrpa comes from Yarripurlangu which is the the south-west of Yuendumu in Central Australia. It tells the story of a group of Karnta that were sitting down in a circle. A man from Mt. Theo of the Japangardi skin group named Wamaru came up to the women. He wanted to take a girl of the wrong skin, a Nungarrayi woman, named Yurlkurinyi and went up the hill to where they made love. 

As a result of this the Earth turned to Ngunjungunju (yellow and white ochre) and the man turned himself and all the Karnta into Wardapi. The ochre is still found on top of the hill and is still used today for love magic and for ceremonial decoration. This Dreaming belongs to the Napaljarri and Nungarrayi women and the Japaljarri and Jungarrayi men of Warlpiri skingroups. It also belongs to people from Mt. Theo of the Japanangka and Napanangka skin groups and the Japangardi and Napangardi skin groups.

In this Dreaming the Karnta or group of women are often represented as concentric circles and the U shapes typically are used to represent individual women. Concentric circles may also be used to illustrate the Wardapi holes and the droppings they leave behind. W shapes will often represent the tracks the Wardapi leave behind in the desert.

Aboriginal word glossary