Description
The Yuparli Jukurrpa (bush banana [Leichhardtia australis]
Dreaming) is the story of a fruit bearing creeper that grows up
trees and produces fruit with many fine, winged seeds inside.
‘Yapa’ (Warlpiri people) like to cook them in the coals,
parcularly the young juicy ones that we call Yangardurrku.
‘Yapa’ also eat the small white flowers and the leaves, which
have a delicious nutty taste. One story for this Jukurrpa is of
two ancestral ‘karnta’ (women) of the Napangardi and
Napanangka skin groups who travelled south from Pikilyi
(Vaughan Springs, west of Yuendumu) through country near
Karrinyarra (Mount Wedge) to the south and re-emerged at two
‘mulju’ soakages) at Yinjirimardi, west of Yuendumu. They were
accompanied by a man of the Japangardi skin group. He would
somemes change himself into a ‘warlawurru’ (wedge-tailed
eagle) and fly behind them. Unknown to the Napangardi
women, her Japangardi classificatory brother and the
Napanangka were lovers. They travelled further north and
returned to Pikilyi where they entered the ground, creating the
large freshwater springs that are still there today. In
contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is
used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other
elements. A variety of images and signs are used to depict the
various elements of this story.
