Details of Baru at Yathikpa

Catalog Number : 26172
Size : 90cm x 30cm
Medium : natural earth pigment on bark
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Djambawa explains the elements of his painting which incorporates themes of fire and water and describes the ancestral events in which Baru, the crocodile , plays a central role.
The miny'tji, design, painted in the background of the painting, is a Mardarrpa clan design representing both saltwater and fire. Ashes from the fire are depicted in black.
Baru was camped at a fire when his wife , Dhamilingu, went hunting and got Manydun, snails. Baru was sleeping when his wife returned and eating the snails threw the shells on his head. Baru then got wild and threw his wife into the fire.
It was by being burnt by the fire following this argument, that Baru is said to have been scarred badly resulting in the characteristic skin of the crocodile. Baru, as an important ancestor of the Yirritja moiety, played a role in naming areas of land belonging to various Yirritja clans.
Baru said, "My tribe will be ..", and gave names to all the places and people. He also went to Maningrida - they have a story for him there but they have different language and different designs. They call themselves Madarrpa people. At Roper there are also people who call themselves Madarrpa. But here, in Baniyala, I am of the saltwater Madarrpa tribe - we have our own language and songs.
Hidden in the firey maelstrom is the following adjunct to the story: Two Ancestral beings Burrak and Garranatji of the ancient Yirritja took to sea in their dugout canoe fro the Blue Mud Bay coastline from Yathikpa to hunt. They prepared their objects of harpooning paraphernalia, manifestations of which are used today in secret ceremony. On seeing Dugong they persued it. In this area was a submerged rock surrounded by turbulent and dangerous water and it was here that the Dugong took shelter to escape the hunters. The action of the flung harpoon towards the Dugong, hence the rock, enraged the powers that be, causing these dangerous waters to boil from the sacred fires from underneath. The canoe capsized, drowning the Ancestral Hunters that were washed to shore with their canoe and hunting paraphernalia. The harpoon changing to the hollow log used for,in this case the first mortuary ceremony for the Madarrpa.
At the top of this work, the horizon, has the maternal anvil shape cloud Wangupini depicted.