Bill Harney

Gorrondolmi – he made the water and were the first people in the country. His 2 eyes make the spring bubble up and never go dry and he have 2 children Nayubun. He told them to go live in tree and watch the water. When they up top in the tree they sing the water to stay up because the song was passed down from his father and mother – those 2 there. Their headdress they got create the tide – cut a big gorge, made channel all over the country and there are many other children – Gunben – the fruit bats. Every afternoon he unwinds his ginun – dillybag – and he lets the flying foxes go out and feed all night – eat flowers of coolibah tree, paperbark and bloodwood. Breaking dawn he pick up didgeridoo – he blows that didgeridoo and make a very big large sound. The sound he make is like the floodwater running today. When the floodwater is running you can see all the whirlpool because old Rainbow is there moving inside and putting the wave in the water. When the sound of the didgeridoo the flying fox can hear him and they all come home to the camp in a big queue. They go around in circle like a number 6 and he goes into a funnel in the didgeridoo and he goes back to the camp to Ginun – dilly bag – and they space there all day and in the evening he lets them out again. If you bust the Rainbow eye the spring go dry. He looks after the tide and controls the water. “When I go fishing and see flying foxes in the tree we don’t fish there – we know Rainbow is there”. Bill painted this piece during his residency at Art Mob in January 2004. Further notes from Yidumduma Bill Harney: Bush Professor exhibition catalogue: When the Grey Falcon fatally speared Gorrondolmi to release the floodwaters, the Rainbow Serpent proceeded to Wirlin.gunyan at Price Creek in the Wurrgleni clan estate. Here he went into the rock in the form of paired male and female Rainbow Serpents who flicked their tongues and flashed lightning that was seen in the distance by the Lightning Brothers at Yirwarlalay (Delamere), who flashed lightning back at them. Those two p[aintings they’re at a place called Wirlin.gunyan at Yingalarri. They’re about four metres long and one’s three and a half metres long, maybe more. They’re there head-to-head like this, but because of the small frame I just curled them round for the exhibition. They’ve got the forked lightning, these two. These two puit the lightning up – this one at Wirlin.gunyan, Yingalarri. They all answer together with the lightning, that one flash then this one flash and make the rain. Ngayunggayug.ban, those two children, those two Lightnings in the rainy season when a big storm’s coming, they made the water coime up and decided to put the forked lightning out, the seed lightning. They put the lightning out and those other two answer. They made a big rain, the rain cloud meets them half way and down comes the rain. The land flooded and when the rain stopped the water goes down. There is a magnificent spring at Wirlin.gunyan way over in a cave. (Bill Harney 2015)