Rictor was born around 1940 at Yampil rockhole, south-west of Irrunytju. He grew up with his family who belong to the Pitjantjatjara language and cultural group but identify as belonging to the arid Spinifex country located south of Ngaanyatjarra Lands.
To survive in the desert, knowledge of water sources was essential. The location of permanent rockholes and the places where water is likely to be found, depending on recent rainfall and seasonal variations, is integrated into tjukurpa. Rictor learnt where and when he could find pinangu (transient pools of surface water); tjintjira (claypans); warku, (rainwater collected in rocky hollows and crevices); and hidden sources such as tjurnu (soakages in dry creek beds) and yinta (wells). Water can also be sourced from certain plants, including the roots of ilpara, a grevillia, when it grows in creek beds, and nganngi, a water-bearing frog which burrows in creek beds and the damp side of tali (sand dunes).
For a while Rictor went to school at Warburton Mission. He then worked on a station in Kalgoorlie, farming sheep, fencing, mustering and branding cattle. At Cundalee, a mission settlement where many Spinifex People moved to in the 1950s and 60s, Rictor cut sandelwood which was processed and freighted to Perth for sale. He also worked on the construction of the road which runs from Irrunytju to Tjunjuntjara. “It is flat country with sand dunes a long way away. No trees on the Tjuntjunjara road.”
Rictor lives in Tjuntjunjara. “I really want to paint my country, my parents’ country, and the dreamtime stories they always told me” . He has intimate knowledge of the Spinifex Lands and the tjukurpa that traverse it. He paints the Wati Paninka Tjukurpa (Hawk Man Dreaming) in which the wati paninka flew south with the wati itatura (fork-tailed kite man) to a camp called Ngalkuritjarra; Tjala Tjukurpa (Honey Ant Dreaming) and the Wati Kipara Tjukurpa (Bush Turkey Dreaming), one of the most important for the Spinifex People. Scott Cane notes in Pila Nguru: The Spinifex People that many features in the land are associated with the spirit of the wati kipara which “involves excruciating physical punishment, murder, betrayal, sex, deceit and intrigue, but the details of these events remain secret and privy only to senior men .”
The wati kipara (bush turkey man) travelled through the desert and stole all of the waru (fire) then ran away with it. He journeyed south through the flat treeless country, stopping occasionally to dig up honey ants with the firestick, then continuing until he reached the ocean. All of the anangu were anxious as they had no waru to cook with or to keep them warm at night. The wati kipara’s two sons were watching from the night sky. They chased after the old man and snatched the firestick from him before he drowned it in the sea, then they dragged him back to the Spinifex country where he was killed. They brought the firestick back to the desert and threw it around causing some fires. Everyone was very happy to see the fires burning.
- Writers:
- Knights, Mary
- Date written:
- 2006
- Last updated:
- 2011
