Fire Dreaming of Warlu

Acrylic Aboriginal dot painting on canvas in brown, blue, green, yellow, black and white. The image depicts a long sinuous branching path, surrounded by numerous geographical locations. In the centre is a depiction of two Jungala clan men armed with shields, spears and bull roarers. In the fire dreaming of Warlu, 2 Jungala men have are banished from their clan as punishment for a crime, but everywhere they go a fire follows them. Eventually, both men are killed by the vengeful fire.

The handwriting on the back of the canvas and lack of reference number indicates this was a private sale, not made through the arts centre. ‘This Dreaming belongs to Warlukurlangu, country South-West of Yuendumu, which is in the custody of Jampijinpa/Jangala subsection. An old man Lungkarda, a blue-tongued lizard ancestor, (Jampijinpa), lived on the hill with his two sons, (Jangala). The old man would feign blindness and send the two boys hunting in search of meat. While they were gone he would hunt and eat anything that he caught before they returned. One day his sons returned with a kangaroo that they had caught after much tracking. Unfortunately the kangaroo was sacred to Lungkarda, unbeknown to the boys. In his anger he decided to punish them. The next time they went out, he put his fire stick to the ground and sent a huge bush fire after them which chased them for many miles at times propelling them through the air. Although the boys beat out the flames, Lungkarda's special magic kept the fire alive and it re-appeared out of his blue-tongued lizard hole. Exhausted the boys were eventually overcome by the flames.’

Collection Information

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