p like the p in spit and the b in sober, e.g. parri (boy), yapa (child).
r like the r in rock and worry, e.g. makura (large coolamon).
rl like the rl in Carl (where the r is sounded, as in American English), e.g. turlurlu (traditional boys’ game).
rn like the rn in darn (where the r is sounded, as in American English), e.g. maparn (medicine man).
rr like the Scottish rolled r, e.g. kunyarr (dog); in the middle of a word may sound like a soft d), e.g. parri (boy).
rt like the rt in smart and bird (where the r is sounded, as in American English), e.g. kalpurtu (water serpent).
t like the t in stop and the dd in ladder, e.g. Tingarri (an important ceremony), pitipiti (girls’ traditional game).
w like the w in wash, e.g. yawarta (horse).
y like the y in yes, e.g. yani (went).
Note: In Walmajarri, the first syllable of the word is normally stressed.
GLOSSARY
age-mates two or more people born around the same time.
antbed a colloquial term for termite mound.
bore cattle station bore for watering cattle, with associated windmill and troughs; by extension, an outstation camp for people who tended the bore, and their families.
coolamon elongated wooden dish made from certain types of tree; people made coolamons of various sizes and shapes to serve different purposes; the term has been adopted into English.
cousin-brother father’s brother’s son; mother’s sister’s son. This term is a concession to mainstream terminology: amongst Kimberley and desert language-groups, a cousin-brother or cousin-sister is considered and referred to as a brother or sister.
cry to keen; people cry together following a bereavement, or when they have been separated for a long time.
hairstring length of cord spun from human or animal hair and used for headbands and hairbelts, or for tying or binding.
jaminyjarti fasting by a bereaved person. People who have lost a close relative abstain from eating certain types of meat.
jarriny conception totem. When a woman becomes pregnant, she and/or her husband has a dream that reveals both her pregnancy and the spiritual origin, or jarriny, of the coming child. The jarriny might be an animal, a plant or a feature of the land.
jila permanent underground waterhole or well, without which human life in the desert would have been impossible. During the dry weather, as the ephemeral waterholes and jumu dried up progressively, people congregated around the jila. Jila had to be dug out afresh when people returned after an absence.
jilji sandhill; seif dune; these dunes run in parallel lines, sometimes for many kilometres.
jumu soak; temporary source of undergound water.
jurnta bulb of a grass (Cyperus bulbosus); also known as bush onion.
kalpurtu water serpent or ‘snake’; a spirit being that inhabits certain jila. It has a personality, and may be dangerous or quiet. Dangerous kalpurtu, if angered, can cause high winds and storms.
kana digging stick; implement used mainly by women for probing animal burrows and digging for root vegetables.
kartiya ‘white’ person/non-Aboriginal person; a term widely used in the Kimberley and parts of the Northern Territory.
law ceremonial life; male or female secret/sacred business; young men undergoing their period of initiation are said to be ‘going through law’.
marnta edible gum of the turtujarti tree (Owenia reticulata).
ngamaji mother; mother’s sister.
ngarlka nut of the turtujarti tree (Owenia reticulata).
ngarrangkarni creation time, usually known in English as the dreamtime. During this period, the landscape features and life forms were created and named by heroic beings.
puluru edible grass seeds.
puturu type of edible grass seed.
rations station workers used to be paid in rations, which usually consisted of tea, sugar, flour, clothes, blankets and tobacco.
sing to sing someone is to heal or to harm a person, or attract a lover, through a powerful song.
woomera spear-thrower; the term has been adopted into English.
wurruwurru spirit child; these spirits live in certain places, waiting to be born as children.
yakapiri green bird-flower bush, (Crotalaria cunninghamii); sandals are made from strips of the bark.
yirnti thin stick, usually broken from a dead wattle tree, used to probe animal burrows and to move food around the fire during cooking.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to the following people who contributed in their different ways to making this book: Kim Akerman, Karen Dayman, Joyce Hudson, Nyangarni, the late Jimmy Pike, Fiona Skyring and the late Winingali.
Thanks to Belinda Cook and the Mangkaja Arts Centre for providing the images of the artworks from their archives.
Thank you to the team at Magabala Books, particularly our two editors, Rachel Bin Salleh and Rachael Christensen, for their dedication to this project.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ngarta Jinny Bent spent her early years in the Great Sandy Desert. After her courageous escape from peril in her early teens, she arrived at Christmas Creek Station in 1961. Ngarta was put to work but before long, with the aid of her family, she ran away to Cherrabun Station to join the man who had been chosen as her husband, and later raised a family. In middle age she learned to paint, and her work has been exhibited in Australia and overseas. In her later years Ngarta spent much of her time on her family’s outstation, Kurlku, on the edge of the desert, from where she made many journeys back to her country. She died in 2002.
Jukuna Mona Chuguna was a young woman when she walked out of the desert with her husband and members of his family. They worked on cattle stations, then in the early 1970s moved to the Mission at Fitzroy Crossing. Jukuna was among the first women to attend Walmajarri literacy classes. She was a keen student and began working with linguists editing and translating. When the Education Department implemented Indigenous language programmes, Jukuna taught Walmajarri at the Fitzroy Crossing School. She later studied at the Karrayili Adult Education Centre where she began painting the waterholes of her homeland. Jukuna travelled widely in Australia and overseas to exhibit her work. She died in 2011.
Pat Lowe was born in the United Kingdom and taught English in France and East Africa before studying psychology at Liverpool University. She migrated to Western Australia in 1972 and worked as a psychologist in Community Welfare and WA Prisons. In 1986 Pat joined Walmajarri artist Jimmy Pike at his camp in the desert and later moved with him to Broome. She collaborated with him on several books. It was through Jimmy that Pat met his nieces, Ngarta and Jukuna, and shared some of their desert journeys. Pat has published widely.
Eirlys Richards was born in Collie, Western Australia, and began her working life as a primary school teacher. In the late 1960s she moved to Fitzroy Crossing and began studying Walmajarri, a desert language, with the goal of promoting literacy and translating the Bible into Walmajarri. Now living in Broome, Eirlys maintains her link with Walmajarri people through language projects and her friendships. She has produced and contributed to a number of publications about the Walmajarri language, culture and ecological knowledge, and is the go-to person for Walmajarri translation into English.
New edition published 2016 (first published Fremantle Arts Centre Press 2004) Magabala Books Aboriginal Corporation, Broome, Western Australia Website: www.magabala.com Email: [email protected]
Magabala Books receives financial assistance from the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts advisory body. The State of Western Australia has made an investment in this project through the Department of Culture and the Arts in association with Lotterywest. Magabala Books would like to acknowledge the support of the Shire of Broome, Western Australia.
Two Sisters has been published with the support of private donors through the Magabala Books Literary Fund, including the J & C Stewart Family Foundation and the S
pinifex Foundation.
Copyright © Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Ngarta Jinny Bent, Pat Lowe, Eirlys Richards
The authors assert their moral rights.
All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher.
Designed by Tracey Gibbs
Printed by Scott Print, Perth
Front cover photograph courtesy of Steve and Alison Pearson
Article on page 53 reproduced with permission from West Australian Newspapers
Cataloguing-in-publication entry:
Bent, Ngarta Jinny, author.
Two sisters: Ngarta and Jukuna/Ngarta Jinny Bent, Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Pat Lowe, Eirlys Richards.
9781925360271 (paperback)
Walmajarri (Australian people)–Biography–Walmajarri (Australian people) –Social life and customs.
Other Creators/Contributors: Chuguna, Jukuna Mona, author. Lowe, Pat, 1941- author. Richards, Eirlys, author.
994.140049915
Two Sisters Page 10
