Yunala

This painting relates to the soakage water site of Yunala, west of the Kiwirrkura community in Western Australia. In ancestral times a large group of Tingari Men camped at this site before continuing their travels further east to Pinari, north-west of the Kintore Community. While at Yunala the men gathered the edible roots of the bush banana or silky pear vine Marsdenia australis, also known as yunala, which is plentiful in the region. Since events associated with the Tingari Cycle are of a secret nature no further detail was given. Generally, the Tingari are a group of ancestral beings of the Dreaming who travelled over vast stretches of the country, performing rituals and creating and shaping particular sites. The Tingari men were usually followed by Tingari women and were accompanied by novices, and their travels and adventures are enshrined in a number of song cycles. These ancestral stories form part of the teachings of the post initiatory youths today as well as providing explanations for contemporary customs.

 

Ray James Tjangala is the son of Anatjari Tjampitjinpa, one of the early painters of the Papunya Tula movement. He was born at Yunala rockhole west of Kiwirrkura in 1953. Jeremy Long, a Government Patrol Officer, encountered him and his family at the Wudungunya Rockhole, north-east of Jupiter Well, on one of his patrols in 1963. The family are mentioned in Douglas Lockwood’s book ‘The Lizard Eaters’. His family later moved to the Papunya Community. Ray lives and works in Kiwirrkura with his family today.