The jila men

Charlie Wallabi (Walapayi) Tjungurrayi at Kaningarra (Well 48). Photo: Tim Acker, 2007

Of the 200 permanent springs in the jila Country, only about 30 are inhabited by the powerful ancestral beings known as jila or kalpurtu (rainbow serpents). Two of these springs, Kulyayi (Well 42) and Kaningarra (Well 48), became stock route wells.

Before they became snakes, however, these ancestral beings were men who made rain, shaped the features of the land and introduced practices of law into the jila Country. Many of the jila men were also companions who travelled the desert visiting one another, and creating the ceremonies and singing the songs still performed here today. One by one, the jila men ended their journeys at the springs that bear their names; as they entered them, they transformed into kalpurtu.

These are sites of profound importance to Aboriginal people, and are approached with great respect.

When you go there you have to light a fire, so that jila can know you're coming.

Jukuja Dolly Snell, Fitzroy Crossing, 2007

Jila such as Kaningarra, Kurtal and Wirnpa are formidable places, and can be dangerous if not approached properly. Aboriginal people enter Wirnpa, which lies west of the stock route, ritually, sweeping the ground with branches and approaching in single file. Wirnpa was one of the most powerful of the jila men and the last to travel the desert before becoming a snake and entering the spring, which bears his name. His adventures are celebrated in the songs and stories of many language groups. Today many of these people worry about proposals to mine the Country around Wirnpa.

Wirnpa the proper boss. Rich. Too many money. Kartiya can't get that. We got snake, jila. Can't touch.

Jawarta Donald Moko, Bidyadanga, 2007

These contemporary concerns are echoed in the history of the Canning Stock Route, where the sinking of the wells over jila had some catastrophic results.

They were looking for water at Kulyayi. They dug down and found that snake. Kartiya shot it. They killed him, poor thing.

Milkujung Jewess James, Ngumpan, 2007

At Kulyayi, which became Well 42, history and the Jukurrpa collided. During the excavation of the well the great rainbow serpent Kulyayi was killed, either by Alfred Canning's original party or his reconditioning team. Some accounts say Kulyayi was killed by explosives, while others suggest he rose up in anger and was shot dead. Recent accounts also stress the intimate and ecological impact of the cultural clash.

It's like an icon, like Sydney Harbour Bridge. If someone came and bombed that, blew it away, people would be devastated, empty. That place would be changed. Well, people felt empty when he [Kulyayi] was gone. They felt something not there anymore, they can't come back. They moved away. Animals moved away. People, animals, they're connected. Something valuable was lost, you can't replace it.

Lloyd Kwilla, Wangkatjungka, 2009

The white men who built or rebuilt the Canning Stock Route wells had no knowledge of beings such as Kulyayi, or of the complex desert world they inhabited. Kulyayi's death reveals the profound impact the Canning Stock Route wells had on the life of the jila Country.

Not all jila faced Kulyayi's fate. Either side of the stock route, jila such as Kurtal and Wirnpa live on at these sites. Their enduring power and importance is asserted in the songs, ceremonies and paintings of their people.

Jewess James, Ngurra Artists, acrylic on canvas, 118 x 103.5 cm

They killed that jila for that water Kulyayi. They found him at his own waterhole and killed him. My people always used to see him outside the waterhole. Long time ago. We went there lately and I saw that there was hardly any water. Only little bit, enough for birds to drink. Before it was big. Water was full. 

This is my mother's and grandfather's Country, Kulyayi. This is how they slept in the cold weather. They made windbreaks out of spinifex and trees, and fire in the middle in the cold season.

Wakartu Cory Surprise, Mangkaja Arts, acrylic on canvas, 119.5 x 118.6 cm

The snake that belongs to this jila cries for the people to come back to their Country. When people go back to visit, all the men dance around the jila to let the snake know they're coming.

This painting depicts one of the jila men, Wayampajarti, whose home lies west of the Canning Stock Route. The dance for this jila is sometimes performed at cultural festivals by Canning Stock Route collection co-curator Murungkurr Terry Murray.

David Downs, Mangkaja Arts, acrylic and ochre on canvas, 183 x 121.5 cm

Kurtal is shown here as the embodiment of miltijaru, a dramatic rainstorm that roars into the desert at the beginning of the wet season. Long rolling rain clouds called kutukutu, symbolised in Kurtal's headdress, herald the approach of these storms. Kurtal also wears a jakuli (pearl shell pendant), one of the sacred objects used in rainmaking ceremonies, which he stole from other jila men across the desert.

This excerpt from the 'Kurtal wanyjurla wanyjurla' song recounts Kurtal's journey from the saltwater Country to Kaningarra:

In the north-west I saw leaping fish
sparkling in the sunlight.
Carrying the sacred object I wade through the water.
The waves carry me down to the depths.
In the north-west I saw a seagull.
The seagull was speaking.
I saw lightning flickering in the north;
I was the rain cloud.
I am Kurtal.
I bring the game and make the Country fruitful.
The wind is wild, the lightning flickers above.
Up there Kaningarra is crying, the wind roars.
I am Kaningarra, the great rock.
Look to the south, that level ground is sloping now.
Who is that coming after me?
I am a maparn [magic man] but I'm losing my
powers.
Look to the west.
See his headdress.

 

Holmes à Court Collection

Spider Snell, Mangkaja Arts, acrylic on canvas, 119.5 x 89.5 cm

Spider Snell is the brother of Jarinyanu David Downs and the ceremonial boss for Kurtal.

I am jila. I am one of his lightnings.

I was a good hunter when I was a kid, killing all kinds of animals. I used to cook them and chuck bones in the waterhole. I was a good kid, looking after my own self. My mother and father went hunting sometimes for two days or more. At night I would say, 'Kurtal, I'm alone, my parents haven't came back yet. Can you look after me?'

Ngarralja Tommy May, Mangkaja Arts, acrylic on canvas, 58.5 x 89 cm

This [is a] story about Dreamtime people before Canning. Before whitefella come with a camel, Dreamtime people were there. These two blokes, Kurtal [right] and Kaningarra [left].

Before I been born, these two waterholes, they been looking after, cleaning all the time. Kurtal mob used to come down to Kaningarra mob, looking after Kaningarra. Keep it clean and sometime make it rain.

private collection

Kaningarra song

This song bring up big rain.

Jukuja Dolly Snell, Ngumpan, 2009

I am Kaningarra. Standing in my country, I look to the south.

What is this thing chasing me? I'm a maparn [magic man] but these devil dogs are frightening me. I hit them with my powers.

Streaks of lightning are flashing in the distance. A storm is gathering all around. Lightning is flashing on top of the hills like fire, I hide underground. A waterhole forms in the earth.

A storm cloud is raining in the distance but it is coming closer. Lightning strikes on the hill. Another waterhole is formed from the sky.

The storm is approaching from the north-west, sprinkling lightly like mist. It rains a little bit.

In the north, a Jangala man looks out, standing on one leg near the sea. He is painted up, carrying a spear and a boomerang. He drinks the rainwater and dances back and forth, bringing the song from the north.