Djang'kawu

Last updated

The Djang'kawu, also spelt Djanggawul or Djan'kawu, are creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in Aboriginal Australian mythology, and concerns the moiety known as Dhuwa.

Contents

Background

The Djanggawul/Djang'kawu myth [1] [2] specifically concerned the Dua (Dhuwa) moiety of people, including about a third of the clans that lived in north-east Arnhem Land. The humans born of the two sisters are the ancestors of the Rirratjingu clan. [3] According to Milirrpum Marika (1983): "The base, foundation, culture, our Djang'kawu, the base of the Dhuwa moiety only, of the Dhuwa moiety and its various songs". [4]

Story

The Djang'kawu are three siblings, two female and one male, who created the landscape of Australia and covered it with flora and fauna. They came by canoe from the island of Baralku (Burralku) in the east at night-time, guided by the Morning Star (the planet Venus), landing at Yalangbara. [5] The sisters, Bitjiwurrurru and Madalatj, [4] were the custodians of ceremonial law, and carried with them their digging sticks, feathered headwear and sacred objects hidden in their basket and mats. The objects changed into various landforms along their route, and they created freshwater wells at Yalangbara by plunging their digging sticks into the sand, after which the digging sticks turned into a variety of plant species. [5] Their clap sticks (bilma) turned into rock formations. [4]

At a site known as Balma, high among the sand dunes, the Djang'kawu sisters gave birth to the first of the Rirratjingu clan, and performed the first ngarra ceremony, which is now one of the major ceremonies of the region. [5] [4]

The story includes a meeting with Makassans (Bayini) cooking trepang (dharripa) on the island of Wapilina in Lalawuy Bay. The siblings ask them to leave their land. [4]

The Djang'kawu continue westwards, producing more offspring which gave rise to other clans of the Dhuwa moiety. [4]

In art

A collection of bark paintings by Mawalan Marika entitled Djan'kawu story (1959) is held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. [6]

Major exhibition

The Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu touring exhibition, instigated by Mawalan Marika's daughter, artist Banduk Marika, and developed with the assistance of other family members and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory at Darwin, opened at the National Museum of Australia from 7 December 2010. This was the first major survey exhibition of the Marikas' work, and covers around 50 named sites in the Yalangbara peninsula that were traversed by the Djang'kawu journey. [5] It followed a 2008 monograph of the same name, edited by Margie West and produced in partnership with Banduk Marika and other members of the family. [7] The exhibition featured not only contemporary prints and other items, but also works produced at the Yirrkala mission in the 1930s, bark paintings dating from the 1950s, drawings in crayon commissioned by anthropologist Ronald Berndt, and the Djang'kawu digging stick, borrowed from its usual place alongside the Yirrkala bark petitions in Parliament House in Canberra. The exhibition also travelled to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin and the Western Australian Museum in Perth in late 2011 and 2012. [8]

Official recognition of significance

The significance of the story is recognised in the forthcoming (2022) assessment of Yalangbara for inclusion in the National Heritage List or Commonwealth Heritage List. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baralku</span>

Baralku, also written Burralku or Bralgu, is a place connected with creation ancestors in the mythology of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is referred to as island of the dead, and the place where the ancestors known as Djanggawul (Djan'kawu) originated, before travelling by canoe to Yalangbara, where they gave birth to the Rirratjingu clan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yirrkala</span> Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

Yirrkala is a small community in East Arnhem Region, Northern Territory, Australia, 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of the large mining town of Nhulunbuy, on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land.

The Yirrkala bark petitions, sent by the Yolngu people, an Aboriginal Australian people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, to the Australian Parliament in 1963, were the first traditional documents prepared by Indigenous Australians that were recognised by the Australian Parliament, and the first documentary recognition of Indigenous people in Australian law. The petitions asserted that the Yolngu people owned land over which the federal government had granted mining rights to a private company, Nabalco.

Raymattja Marika, also known as Gunutjpitt Gunuwanga, was a Yolngu leader, scholar, educator, translator, linguist and cultural advocate for Aboriginal Australians. She was a Director of Reconciliation Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. She was also a director of the Yothu Yindi Foundation and a participant in the 2020 Summit, which was held in April 2008. Marika advocated understanding and reconciliation between Indigenous Australian and Western cultures.

Wandjuk Djuwakan Marika OBE, was an Aboriginal Australian painter, actor, composer and Indigenous land rights activist. He was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, and the son of Mawalan 1 Marika.

Roy Dadaynga Marika was an Aboriginal Australian artist and Indigenous rights activist. He was a member of the Marika family, brother of Mawalan 1 Marika, Mathaman Marika, Milirrpum Marika and Dhunggala Marika.

Banduk Mamburra Wananamba Marika, known after her death as Dr B Marika, was an artist, printmaker and environmental activist from Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, who was dedicated to the development, recognition and preservation of Indigenous Australian art and culture. She uses her artwork to translate her ancestral stories through figures and motifs. She was one of the few Indigenous artists to specialize almost entirely in print making. She was the first Aboriginal person to serve on the National Gallery of Australia's board.

Wonggu Mununggurr (c.1880–1959) was an Aboriginal Australian artist and leader of the Djapu clan of the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Dhuwarrwarr Marika, also known as Banuminy, a female contemporary Aboriginal artist. She is a Yolngu artist and community leader from East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. She belongs to the Dhuwa moiety of the Rirratjingu clan in the homeland of Yalangbara, daughter of Mawalan Marika. Marika is an active bark painter, carver, mat maker, and printmaker.

Mithinarri Gurruwiwi (c.1929–1976) was an Aboriginal Australian painter of the Gälpu clan of the Yolngu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. His first name is sometimes spelt Midinari, Mitinari, or Mithinari.

Mungurrawuy Yunupingu (c.1905–1979) was a prominent Aboriginal Australian artist and leader of the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu people of northeastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He was known for his bark paintings.

Ishmael Marika is a Yolngu musician, filmmaker, director and producer. His installations have been exhibited in many of Australia's most important museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. He is currently the Creative Director for the pre-eminent Indigenous media unit in Australia, the Mulka Project, based at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre at Yirrkala in Northeast Arnhem Land. The Mulka Project seeks to preserve and disseminate the sacred languages and cultural practices of the Yolngu people by collecting and archiving photographs, audio and video.

Mawalan Marika (c.1908–1967), often referred to as Mawalan 1 Marika to distinguish from Mawalan 2 Marika, was an Aboriginal Australian artist and the leader of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is known for his bark paintings, carvings and political activism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre</span> Indigenous Australian art centre at Yirrkala, Northern Territory

The Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, formerly Buku-Larrŋgay Arts and also known as the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre and Museum, is an art centre in Yirrkala, Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is often referred to as Buku for short. It is one of many Indigenous art centres across Australia, which support their communities and make them self-reliant – an Australian invention. Many notable artists have worked or continue to work at the centre.

Rerrkirrwanga Mununggurr is an Australian artist renowned for her finely detailed paintings on bark. In some publications Rerrkirrwanga is referred to as Rerrki, which appears to be a nickname from her older sister Marrnyula Mununggurr. She is the youngest daughter of the artist Djutjadjutja Munungurr. Her husband, Yalpi Yunupinu, helped train Rerrkirrwanga in the traditions that he painted in addition to what she learned from her father. In the 1990s, Rerrkirrwanga finished many of his works even though they are attributed to her father. She now has authority to paint her own stories and her large-scale works on bark are in Australian and international collections.

Yalangbara is a coastal area in the East Arnhem (Miwatj) region of Australia's Northern Territory, around 35 km (22 mi) south of Nhulunbuy, the largest town in the area. It is on the country of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolŋu people, and is one of the most significant cultural areas for the Yolŋu because of its role in the creation story of the Rirratjingu clan, based on the Djang'kawu ancestors.

Mawalan Marika, also referred to as Mawalan 2 Marika to distinguish from his grandfather Mawalan 1 Marika (c.1908-1967), is a Yolngu artist and land custodian of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is the son of well-known artist and leader Wandjuk Marika, and nephew to Banduk Marika.

Milirrpum Marika, also known as Jacky and also referred to simply as Milirrpum, was a Yolngu artist and community leader from East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory of Australia. He was best known for his involvement in the landmark court case Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd (1971), aka the Gove land rights case, which was the first significant legal case for Indigenous land right and native title in Australia and led to the federal Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976.

Mathaman Marika (c.1920–1970) was an Aboriginal Australian artist and Indigenous rights activist. He was a member of the Rirratjingu clan of the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, and one of the well-known Marika family, brother of Mawalan 1 Marika, Milirrpum Marika, Roy Dadaynga Marika, and Dhunggala Marika. Mathaman was second oldest after Mawalan.

Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu was a senior Yolngu artist and matriarch, who lived in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia. She worked at the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, where her work is still held, and is known for her graphic art style, bark paintings and printmaking.

References

  1. ↑ Wells, A.E. (1971). This their dreaming. UQ Press, St.Lucia, Qld.
  2. ↑ Berndt, Ronald M. (2004). Djanggawul: An Aboriginal Religious Cult of North-Eastern Arnhem Land. Routledge. p. 1. ISBN   978-0-415-33022-0. (Originally published 1952)
  3. ↑ Oliver, Douglas L. (1989). Oceania: The Native Cultures of Australia and the Pacific Islands. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Djang'kawu ancestors". National Museum of Australia . Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 West, Margie (7 December 2010). "Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu". Western Australian Museum . Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Marika, Banduk; West, Margie (2008). Yalangbara : art of the Djang'kawu. Darwin, N.T.: Charles Darwin University Press. ISBN   9780980384673 . Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  7. ↑ "Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu". National Museum of Australia . 29 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Australian Government. Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (1 July 2020). "Finalised Priority Assessment List for the National Heritage List for 2018-19" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.