Yanpiyarti Ned Cox, Fitzroy Crossing, 2010:
My father and that old man Wirrali they brought that Majarrka [dance] with them. Those old people had big mob of dance then.
Majarrka juju (song and dance) describes the true story of Wurtuwaya (Yanpiyarti Ned Cox’s grandfather) and Wirrali (Mayarn Julia Lawford’s grandfather).
While travelling near Paruku, they had discovered a group of men performing a ceremony with their stolen Majarrka totem. When the ceremony ended, Wurtuwaya and Wirrali crept in unobserved and retrieved the sacred totem.
Afterwards Wurtuwaya and Wirrali created a new dance, Majarrka juju. They adapted aspects of the song and dance they had seen the men performing, but used different paint and body decoration, dance moves and language.
Today, Majarrka juju is an important dance, performed by both senior and younger men; it has been credited with reviving the enthusiasm of young men for their ceremonial culture.
Dancers who depict the bosses Wurtuwaya and Wirrali wear kumunungku (square headdresses) and carry shields and wirlki (‘number 7’ boomerangs). The pukurti (tall headdresses) are worn by dancers depicting the thieves who stole the Majarrka totem.
Traditionally, paperbark headdresses are fastened with tungkul (hairstring), an important ceremonial material used by both men and women. After the death of close family members, certain kin relations who are in mourning cut their hair; women use this to make tungkul.
Singers perform Majarrka, Kurtal and Kaningarra juju to the rhythm of karli (boomerangs), which are used like clapsticks. The carved head represents one of the Majarrka dancers.
![A tall conical headdress made of plant fibres attached to a firm circular ring at the base and covered with pigmented fluffy plant fibre with feathers at the top. The ring at the base is pigmented red and the plant fibre stalks are attached around it. The fibres are bunched together towards the top and wrapped with maroon coloured string. The plant stalks are covered with fluffy plant fibre which is decorated with red pigment in vertical stripes on the bottom half and cream at the top. At the top of the headdress is a bunch of fluffy and spiky brown, tan and grey feathers. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0010/739621/nma.img-ci20092308-119-wm-vs1.jpg)
Pukurti (tall Majarrka headdress) by Ned Cox
![A tall conical headdress made of plant fibres attached to a firm circular ring at the base and covered with pigmented fluffy plant fibre with feathers at the top. The ring at the base is pigmented red and the plant fibre stalks are attached around it. The fibres are bunched together towards the top and wrapped with maroon coloured string. The plant stalks are covered with fluffy plant fibre which is decorated with red pigment in vertical stripes on the bottom half and red at the top. At the top of the headdress is a bunch of fluffy and spiky brown, tan and grey feathers. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0009/739620/nma.img-ci20092308-120-wm-vs1.jpg)
Pukurti (tall Majarrka headdress) by Ned Cox
![A brown rough bark cylinder covered with an outer layer of cream downy fibre which has been decorated with a red brown pigment. The pigmented design is a horizontal band with eight evenly spaced vertical lines extending from the band to one edge. The inner bark surface has a patchy covering of red brown pigment. The cylinder is filled with light green leaves. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/739625/nma.img-ci20092308-115-wm-vs1.jpg)
Kumunungku (square Majarrka headdress) by Ned Cox
![A brown rough bark cylinder covered with an outer layer of cream downy fibre which has been decorated with a red brown pigment. The pigmented design is a horizontal band close to one edge of the cylinder with five evenly spaced vertical lines extending from the band to one edge. The inner bark surface has a patchy covering of red brown pigment. The cylinder is filled with light green leaves. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0006/739626/nma.img-ci20092308-116-wm-vs1.jpg)
Kumunungku (square Majarrka headdress) by Ned Cox
![A red pigmented and fibre decorated oval shaped shield, with a flat outer surface and a convex back with the handle carved in the solid wood. The flat surface has slight rounding at the edges, and is pigmented red and covered with fluffy cream plant fibre, which features a strip of red pigmented plant fibre down the centre. The back of the shield has outlines in black and white stripes at both ends in the shape of a duck bill, joined by a black and white stripe across the handle. The handle has a deep jagged crack at one side which does not appear go all the way through. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0008/739619/nma.img-ci20092308-121-wm-vs1.jpg)
Shield by Ned Cox
![A red pigmented and fibre decorated oval shaped shield, with a flat outer surface and a convex back, with the handle carved in the solid wood. The flat surface has slight rounding at the edges, and is pigmented red and covered with fluffy cream plant fibre, which features a strip of red pigmented plant fibre down the centre. The back of the shield has outlines in black and white stripes at both ends in the shape of a duck bill, joined by a black and white stripe across the handle. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0007/739618/nma.img-ci20092308-124-wm-vs1.jpg)
Shield by Ned Cox
![A hooked wooden boomerang decorated to look like a bird. The boomerang is painted red all over and is plain on the flat side. On the convex side the corner of the hook has a black circle with a white dot inside it plus white dots around part of the edge. There is an uneven indent on the hook. The point of the hook has a black stripe and a black curve outlined with white dots, while at the edge of the corner there is a wavy black line edged in white dots and a black semicircle. At the neck and base of the handle are two black stripes edged and divided by lines of white dots. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0003/739623/nma.img-ci20092308-112-wm-vs1.jpg)
Wirlki (‘number 7’ boomerang) by Ned Cox
![A hooked wooden boomerang with a curved handle, decorated to look like a bird. The boomerang is painted red all over and is plain on the flat side. On the convex side the corner of the hook has a black circle with a white dot inside it plus white dots around part of the edge. The point of the hook has a black stripe and a black curve outlined with white dots, while at the edge of the corner there is a wavy black line edged in white dots and a black semicircle. At the neck and base of the handle are two black stripes edged and divided by lines of white dots. Below the neck of the handle there is a horizontal jagged crack in the wood. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0011/739622/nma.img-ci20092308-113-wm-vs1.jpg)
Wirlki (‘number 7’ boomerang) by Ned Cox
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