Manggalili miny'tji

The base of the painting is the horizon from Djarrakpi looking over Blue Mud Bay where the mother clouds form and the turtle venture. These saltwaters are the estate of Milngiawuy where the ancestral hunters drowned from a capsized canoe, and their souls, through Manggalili ritual, ascended to the Milky Way (Milngiyawuy). This sacred area is separated from the top panel of the painting by the beaches of Djarrakpi. The cloud, wangupini, has rained over the sea and beach, and the turtle has come up and laid its eggs. Gunyun the sand crab also digs in the sand. The top panel relating to Djarrakpi has been depicted using the Manggalili miny'tji (sacred clan design) of flowing sand, flowing blood, spider webs, possum fur, and possum and maggot tracks, along with the imagery of snails, cicada, and the founders of Djarrakpi: the Guwak (koel cuckoo), the Marrngu (possum) on the sacred Marawili tree, the Nyapalingu (the ancestral creator woman), her baskets, and hunters with spears. The two elliptical shapes either side of the Guwak's roost are the sacred digging sticks that represent alternatively the deep-seated and varying knowledge of men and women – Yothu-Yindi.—Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre © Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory