Walytjitjata: Ngayuku ngunytjuku ngura

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Ngayuku ngunytjuku ngura (it’s my mother’s country). Titji tjuṯa (many children), this is part of the Minyma Kututja Tjukurpa of Walytjitjata. The Minyma Kututja and her husband had many children. They travelled to Umutju, east of Walytjitjata. The oldest boy, Wantama, was homesick for their birthplace, Kanpininy, near Walytjitjata. The children told their mother, ‘We’re going back home with our brother.’ The mother sang a song to send them away. At Umutju they turned into stone and are still there today.

Imitjala Curley was born in Pukatja (Ernabella) in 1953. Her parents moved with her to Kaltjiti (Fregon) when the cattle station was established in 1961. A senior woman, Imitjala holds cultural knowledge relating to the Ngintaka (Perentie lizard) and Ngapari (Sugar leaf) Tjukurpa at Watarru. Imitjala’s connection to the Kampurparpa Tjukurpa in the Walytjitjata region is through her mother, Puni Puni, this place is a small homeland just over the Northern Territory border approximately 46 km north of Kalka. Imitjala has been working with Kaltjiti Arts since it began as a craftroom in the early 1960s.