Shorty Jangala Robertson

The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are water soakages or naturally occurring wells. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. It travelled across the country, with the lightning striking the land. This storm met up with another storm from Wapurtali, to the west, was picked up by a ‘Kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) and carried further west until it dropped the storm at Purlungyanu, where it created a giant soakage. At Puyurru the bird dug up a giant snake, ‘Warnayarra’ (the ‘Rainbow Serpent’) and the snake carried water to create the large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation belonging to Shorty’s family. In this painting Shorty has used straight lines to represent the Ngawarra (flood waters) running through the landscape. The small circles are Mulju (water soakages) and the bars joining the long lines represent Mangkurdu (clouds).