Paddy Japaljarri Stewart

This Jukurrpa tells part of a long and complex story of the travels of a group of Dreamtime women, of all ages, who travelled thousands of kilometres from near the Western Australia/Northern Territory border through into Queensland. It is a journey about country, women’s business, ceremony and survival. On the journey from west to east they would stop and hold ceremonies. They stopped at a place just north of Yuendumu, where they held a ceremony and where they killed and ate wardapi or goanna before continuing on with their journey. This painting shows the women dancing and singing, and women with their digging sticks gathering tucker. You can also see the goanna they killed and ate. In this painting, U shapes represent karnta (women).