Jerry Jangala Patrick, 2012:
That time the government was doing all that shifting now ... shifting all the Warlpiri people from the Tanami Desert, from the bush.
Ancestral journeys through Warlpiri country
In 1946 the settlement of Yuendumu was established for Warlpiri people on the southern edge of the Tanami Desert. In 1952, precipitated by conflict, overcrowding and insufficient water supply, government authorities transported 130 Warlpiri people by truck from Yuendumu to the newly established settlement of Hooker Creek on Gurindji land.
Racked by homesickness, some Ngalia (southern Warlpiri) families walked back hundreds of kilometres across the desert to Yuendumu to be close to relatives and their own countries.
Those who stayed at Hooker Creek pursued a vigorous ceremonial life to establish order and make themselves at home. It was in this context that the men made drawings for Mervyn Meggitt of their now distant ancestral countries.
In the years that followed, more people walked back to Yuendumu but further relocations to Hooker Creek continued into the 1960s. In time, many Warlpiri families came to regard Hooker Creek — known from the late 1970s as ‘Lajamanu’ — as home.
Directed by Warlpiri men
Warlpiri men directed the layout of this part of the exhibition. The drawings track ancestral journeys through Warlpiri country, commencing in the south and concluding in the north. The first eight drawings depict important places and Dreamings associated with the Warlpiri ceremony, Jardiwarnpa.
Drawings
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