Cirrus@Austlit

'The Gurindji people of the Victoria River District in the Northern Territory are best known throughout Australia for the Gurindji Walk-Off, the landmark event of 1966 which precipitated the equal wages case in the pastoral industry and the establishment of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Gurindji history before the 1960s is less well known and is the subject of this book. For the Gurindji people, history is divided into Puwarraja, the Dreamtime, and Yijami, true stories. A number of accounts of Yijami come from historians,' political activists) police journals) and (auto)biographies of cattlemen and other local identities) Yet Gurindji voices are often understated in these versions of events, if they are present at all. Other anthropological description& and Gurindji-told stories capture the Gurindji perspective, but these first-hand accounts are often rendered in broken English and are limited in their scope of expression. As a result, these stories are often halting and fragmented, and require intense interrogation to understand.'
 

'The events described in this chapter occurred before the coming of the colonists. That was a time when land was clearly demarcated by different Aboriginal groups and, where conflict occurred, it was over women and resources rather than land, as described by Dandy Danbayarri in his story Waringarri (War Parties). The Gurindji characterise this time before European invasion as an unchanging but cyclical period of social and natural order, and predictability.' 
 

'Jawiji ngurnangku yurrk yuwarru yijarni nyawa-ma, yijarni, kula Puwarraja, nyawa-ma yijarni, nyila nyamu-rna-nga yurrk yuwani nyila-ma, Puwarraja, nyawa-ma yijarni-nyiyang. 
 

'Jawiji (Granddaughter), I'm going to tell you a story. It's a true story this one, not a Dreamtime . Other stories I've told you are from the dreamtime, but this one's from modern times. ' (Introduction)

'Such raids quite likely occurred several times in each generation and continued, though Much less frequently, into the early colonisation period. After recording this story Dandy commented that, once kartiya arrived, Aboriginal people stopped fighting each other because, with the new arrivals, they had bigger problems to deal with. Nonetheless, Banjo Ryan tells of other raiding and payback parties that came from the west when they were working on Limbunya Station into the 1950s and possibly even the 1960s. ' (Introduction)

'Tintapa-kari-warla ngurna-nga yurrk malu,  karukany-parningan nyamu warrkuj mani. Mani nyamu ngawa-ngka jintaku-lu ngumpit-tu. Yanani ngu nyila-ma ngumpit-ma manungka-ngarna, nyantu-wariny. Yanani ngu yangkayangkarrp kankula-parla yangkayangkarrp yanani ngu yangkayangkarrp parluk-parni, pamarra-ngarna wumara-la yangkarrp. Aaaa. Ngurra-ngkurra wart. Yalanginyi-ma tirrip as marntaj yangkayangkarrp-ma nyila-ma yangkarrp na. 

'Another story I am going to tell you, is about mermaids. It's about one who got taken from the water by a man. He was single and he used to go hunting by himself. One day he was out in the high country, looking around for rock wallabies first. Then he went back home. The next day he went hunting again. '(Introduction)

'Myila na karrawarra, kaarnimpa nyawa. Ngulu pani ngawa-ngka ngulu-rla lirritkarra manani yawu-ma. Paraj ngulu punya nyantu na ngarlaka-ma jik. Kata-nga nyampa-rla-ju, ngarin jartkarraaji, water-snake. Kata-nga nyantu-waju. Might be yapakayi lawirtawirta ngulu pani. Nanta-nginyi. Kampij-nginyi ngulu pani yapakayi.  

'The story starts on the eastern side. (Karrminyjarni is the name of the place.) They were hitting the water and dragging bushes through it to catch fish. Then they saw a head pop up out of the water. Maybe it was something they could eat — a water snake. They thought it was something like that anyway. But they had actually killed a baby rainbow serpent that had just hatched. '(Introduction)

'In the following stories, Ronnie Wavehill Wirrpngayarri, Pincher Nyurrmiari, Jimmy Manngayarri and Violet Wadrill describe the first brutal years of the kartiya (European) occupation of Gurindji and Maingin country. They tell of the massacres that occurred during the establishment of Wave Hill and Limbunya Stations. Readers are warned that Jimmy Manngayarri's eyewitness accounts from Limbunya Station are particularly harrowing. ' (Introduction)

'Nyawa-ma-rla ngurra karrinya ngumpit-ku-mi. Ngumpit-ku-rni wanyjiwurra jaru ngurla ngurra karrinya ngumpit-kari-wu ngumpit-kari-wu jaru-kari-wu jaru-kari-wu ngurla karrinya nyawa-ma. Kartiya-murlung-kula-rni kartiya-ma nyila-ma jalajalang yani ngumayila. Marlumarluka-ma karrinya murla-ma ngurra marnmarnkarra-ma kanyjurra-rni-ma. 
'This is Aboriginal land. It belongs to Aboriginal people from all different language groups and different tribes. There weren't kartiya here before. They only came later. Aboriginal people were the only ones who owned the land before. This land didn't hold horses or cattle in the past. There only used to be kangaroos, emus, fish and goannas here before. Now the horse has taken over. ' (Introduction)

Thi extensive story recounts massacres across Gurindji country. The sites include: Warluk (Seale Gorge), and Tartarr (Blackfellows Knob), which are both located north of Kalkaringi; Wirrilu (Blackfella Creek), Jurlakkula (Nero Yard), and Wanyi (near No. 2 Bore) on Wave Hill Station; and Yurruj (Burtawurta), which is in the Daguragu Aboriginal Land Trust area. (Introduction)

Today I'm going to tell a story from a long time ago. You know where I told the flood story (in 'Rainmaker Destroys the Homestead Chapter 4) , and where Jukurtayi (Dandy Danbayarri) talked about when the station shifted to Jinparrak (as told in Chapter 5), well all that's all more recent. This happened right at the start when kartiya (Europeans) found the place on the east side of the Victoria River (the site of original Wave Hill Station) and they made their camp. They came down from Darwin, maybe by boat, to Timber Creek and from there they continued on land, following the Victoria River all the way. They came all the way up here, up to this place on the east side of the river here where the old yards are.' (Introduction)

'Jintapa-kari-ma nganta wart na ngulu yanani nyawa kankulupal karlarnimpal karlarmin wanyjika-nga. Might be Seale Yard-mayin somewhere yalangka. Jintaku-lu-ma ngumpit-tu-ma nganta panani ngu nyampayirla ngarlu pirntirrpirntirrp. Kula-lu-ma ngu nganta ngumpit-ta kartipa-iu-ma paraj punya, paraj, nguyina paraj punya yalungku-ma ngumpit-tu-ma. Nyawa horse-jawung ngulu yanani. Nyantu-rni nguyina purlurluj waninya nyila-ma ngumpit-ma nganta aa. 
'Another happened up around Seale. west from here on the other side of Seale Yard, somewhat around there. One ngumpin was out, cutting bush honey. The kartiya travelling by on horseback didn't notice him, rather he sighted them.  He was all by himself but this man jumped out and surprised them.' (Introduction)

'After that, kartiya let all of the cattle loose and they bred up until there were a lot of them running around in the bush. On the northern side of Daguragu, there's a hill called Blackfellows Knob. There's an old fence line there on the eastern side where we used to have our midday dinner camp. Ngumpin used to spear cattle there, stealing from the kartiya. '(Introduction)

'Another took place here to the east. I was shown this place too. From Jinparrak homestead east there is Number 17 Bore. From Number 17 there's a fence line running south to Ngangi. Coming back west of there is Number 4, and from Number 4 there's a river. At the head of it is another place where they shot a lot of ngumpin. It was the same thing again; ngumpin were killing cattle. I was shown where kartiya had covered dead bodies with stones — Blackfella Creek just where the head of the creek is, west of that blacksoil plain. They came upon the ngumpin there. 'Look here! They must be stealing our cattle!' (Introduction)

'Yet another one was an ambush up at Nero Yard. From the run-gate at the Top,, looking south, you can see a single hill that is shaped like a tank. It's called Julakkurla. This hill is on the plain to the west of the others.' (Introduction)

Alright, another story they told me occurred here at Seale River. It's to the west on this side of the river. There, downstream past Burtawurta, at Yurruj, two ngumpin were looking for bush honey and they heard the ding, ding, ding of a bell. Horses had bells. 'Ding, ding.' Horses!' The two men got up. ' (Introduction)

'Further downstream from here, a large party of r kartipa ambushed a group of our people. What was the reason for that? There was no reason. They hadn't killed any cattle; they were just out hunting kangaroos. But the kartipa were killing people all around here in every direction; they used to ambush them. Like the story of how people were shot at Wirrilu, this was told to me and I'm passing it on. People went running for their lives in the same way as at Wirrilu — and they were good runners. (Introduction)' 

This story is about the south side of the cliffs at Weave Gorge. The place is called Ngima but kartiya call this place Neave Gorge. '(Introduction)

'Harry Reid shot my mother's mother's brother a long time ago when I was a good-sized boy. Yeah, Reid killed that Jangari (who was Murruwan Janama's father) and I witnessed it. I cried so much about that.' (Introduction)

'The bones in Seale Gorge are the bones of Gurindji people who were massacred by kartiya on horseback. They were going around hunting kangaroos, fish and the like. Then the kartiya spotted ngurnpit people. That's when they shot everyone. Their bones are there now. Ngumpin were shot all around here. There are bones scattered everywhere. These are our ancestors which is why we get sick at heart when we see these bones. They were our countrymen. They were shot on their own land. These bones now rest in a cave in Seale Gorge. (They were taken there from Tartarr when Gurindji walked off Wave Hill Station in 1967.' (Introduction)

'It is difficult to match any but a few killings with European accounts. Particulars of events are not reconcilable, although their locations are to some degree. Many of the massacres described by Gurindji historians are said to have occurred before Wave Hill Station was established; however, it is likely that many of the incidents described in the stories occurred during the early station times. ' (Introduction)