Betsy Napangardi Lewis

Napanangka and Napangardi women are collecting Jintiparnta (Elderia arenivaga) at Karnakarlangu. The area is also called Mina Mina. Ancestoral women travelled from here north through Janyinki and other places, then east through to Alcoota country. Mina Mina is a ceremonial place belonging to Japanangka, Japangardi men and Napanangka, Napangardi women and their associated land continues far to the west of Yuendumu in the sandhill country. There are a number of mulju (water soakages) at Mina Mina. A clay pan exists at Mina Mina and it is here that the women dances and performed ceremonies. As a result digging sticks rose up out of the ground and it is these implements that the women carried with them on their long journey east. They danced and sang the whole way with no sleep. The women collected many other types of bush tucker including Ngalyipi (Snake Vine), Yakajirri (Bush Sultana). In the painting the concentric circles represent the Jintiparnta that the women collected, the straight lines are Kurlangu (digging sticks).