Kunawarritji (Canning Stock Route Well)

Kunawarritji is an important site in the Great Sandy Desert where multiple stories and histories intersect. Originally a spring water and major Martu pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) camping site, at the turn of the 20th century Kunawarritji was converted into a well along the Canning Stock Route. Each year throughout the 1930-50s, the well became a site of contact between the drovers, their cattle, and desert families.


Long before colonial history entered this Country, however, other stories dominated the site. Primarily, Kunawarritji featuresin the Minyipuru(Jakulyukulyu,Seven Sisters) Jukurrpa(Dreaming). Minyipuruis a central Jukurrpa narrative for Martu,Ngaanyatjarra,Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people that is associated with the seasonal Pleiades star constellation. Beginning in Roebourne on the west coast of Western Australia, the story morphs in its movement eastward across the land, following a group of women as they walk, dance, and even fly from waterhole to waterhole. As they travelled the women left markers in the landscape and create landforms that remain to this day. During the entirety of their journey the women are pursued by a lustful old man, Yurla, although interactions with other animals, groups of men, and spirit beings are also chronicled in the narrative. The Minyipuru travelled to Kunawarritji from Nyipily (Nyipil,Nibil,Canning Stock Route Well34), and transformed themselves into a distinctive group of trees that remain in the area between these two sites. From Kunawarritji Yurla followed the sisters to Pangkapirni,where he finally caught one of the women.


Today, Kunawarritji is a site of return, a place where people came back to continue their life in the desert with the formation of Kunawarritji Aboriginal community in the early1980s.The community’s cultural significance endures, with the population Martumili Artists was established in late 2006 and supports Martu artists in Kunawarritji,Punmu,Parnngurr,Jigalong,Warralong,Irrungadji(Nullagine)and Parnpajinya(Newman).Many Martu artists have close relationships with established atists amongst Yulparija,Kukatja and other Western Desert peoples and are now gaining recognition in their own right for their diverse, energetic and unmediated painting styles. Their works reflect the dramatic geography and scale of their homelands in the Great Sandy Desert and Rudall River regions of Western Australia. Martumili Artists represents speakers of Manyjilyjarra,Warnman,Kartujarra,Putijarra and Martu Wangka languages, many of whom experienced first contact with Europeans in the 1960s.The artists include painters, working in acrylics and oils, as well as weavers coiling baskets and sculptors working in wood, grass and wool. Martu artists proudly maintain their creative practices whilst pursuing social and cultural obligations across the Martu homelands.