Pikilyi Jupurrpaby Renelle Napanangka McCormick

Artwork: Pikilyi Jupurrpa
Artist: Renelle Napanangka McCormick

Pikilyi is a large and important waterhole and natural spring near Mount Dorreen station. Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming) tells of the home of two rainbow serpents, ancestral heroes who lived together as man and a wife. The woman 'rainbow serpent' was of the Napanangka skin group, the mean was a Japangardi. This was a taboo relationship contrary to Warlpiri religious law. Women of the Napanangka and Napangardi subsection sat by the two serpents, picking lice of them. For this service, the two serpents allowed the women to take water from the springs at Pikilyi. This was because the serpents were th 'Kirda', or ceremonial owners for that country. The spirits of these two rainbow serpents are still at Pikilyi today. This Dreaming belongs to the women and men of the Japanangka/ Napanangka and Japangardi/ Napangardi skin groups.