Raymond Nelson, a Pitjantjatjara tjilpi (senior man), was born around 1935 at Pukara. As he grew up he travelled extensively through the country of his birth and his father’s country. “Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (two men Dreaming). Wati wanapi (snake-men). My father, Natjapi, his country. My mother’s country is Blackstone. My father took me across from Pukara to Blackstone to Pukara. This is kangaroo country.”
From his father and uncles he learnt to carve woomera and shields from sections cut out of mulga trees and make the shaft for spears by straightening the thin branches of Tacoma bushes over coals. Raymond and several of the senior men at Irrunytju still make spears, spearthrowers and shields in the traditional way, using chewed kangaroo sinew and a gum made from spinifex or Xanthorrhoea grasstree collected by the women to attach the spearhead and secure barbs. Traditional men’s law, culture and medicine is still strong and contemporary technology has been adapted to strengthen traditional practices. Today when the men hunt malu (kangaroo), putji (feral cat), kalaya (emu), kipara (bush turkey) and rabbit they often use rifles and 4WD Toyotas. Toyotas also enable anangu to travel long distances to keep up obligations to family and country, visit sacred sites and maintain a strong engagement with traditional law and ceremony.
“Pukara, Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (two snake-men dreaming). They are father and son. Wati wanapi (water-snake men). Tjuratja tjuta (lots of nectar). Ngayuku mamaku ngura (my father’s place). They travelled from rockhole to rockhole.”
Raymond often refers to Pukara and the Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa in his work. In this tjukurpa two water-snake men, a father and a son, travelled from rockhole to rockhole across the country. On their way to Pirulungka they turned into snakes. The son had big eyes and looked a bit strange. His father left him at a rockhole to live, but the anangu there did not want him to stay. They did not share their food, made it awkward for him to get water and were cruel to him. When the father heard how they were treating his son he was furious and went back and took the son away. The son grew up hurt, angry and wanting revenge. When he was a man he went back to the rockhole and ate all the anangu there – men, women and children – killing everybody except one man who was hiding behind a rock. As he crawled away he was so full that he vomited blood, fat and hair. The wati that was hiding speared the snake in the side and it split open. The two men are embedded in the country and the route that they journeyed, and where the snake was sick and speared have become landmarks.
- Writers:
- Knights, Mary
- Date written:
- 2006
- Last updated:
- 2011
