Lorna Ward Napanangka

This painting depicts both the rockhole site at Marrapinti and women’s business associated with women’s concerns and Women’s Law. Marrapinti is a rockhole site west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. It is a place of cultural significance for Aboriginal tribes in this area, and particularly for women, as an important site for women’s ceremonies.

Aboriginal people believe that the nose bone ancestor lives in the ground at Marrapinti and while women camped at this site they would fashion nose bone jewellery to honour their ancestor – a practice that continues to this day. These nose bones are known as Marrapinti after the location, and they are a part of one of the most important Aboriginal ceremonial rites.​

The ‘nose bone ceremony’ marks an Aboriginal boy’s transition to manhood. The ritual begins with the painting of sacred symbols on the body, followed by piercing the septum. The nose is pierced with the bone of an animal or bird associated with a tribe’s Dreaming and the ancestral creator of their sacred site. These nose bones were originally worn by both men and woman, today they are usually only worn by the older generation on ceremonial occasions.

In the past, Marrapinti was an important site as the source of vital bush food. Dreamtime stories about the site tell of female ancestors stopping at this waterhole to collect water and harvest desert raisins that grow nearby. The presence of the berries and drinking water are likely the main reasons that the site was first considered sacred.