Triangular skirt made of pandanus palm. Garment, naytjin, Marrangu 2, Millierpilling, Darbilla Creek, Eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, 1900 - 1936

The distinctive triangular skirts are twined forms made by women from the split and dried leaves of the pandanus palm. They are painted and worn by women for ceremony and while many groups across Arnhem Land have these, their western limit appears to be the Liverpool River. The name given to these skirts is dependent on the language spoken by the group who make and use it, with ballara, dhirri dhirri, naytjin and jin-gubardabiya being examples.

This particular skirt was painted and worn during the final stages of the Ngulmark ceremony and as such relates to the events associated with the Wagilag Sisters. The Wagilag Sisters wore these skirts as they danced to stop the rain that fell when Wititj, the Olive Python, rose up into the sky after the Sisters disturbed him at the sacred waterhole at Mirarrmina in central Arnhem Land. The Sisters had camped there, unaware that it was forbidden to women. The younger Sister gave birth and the older Sister collected paperbark and fork sticks to build a shelter. Her menstrual blood fell into the waterhole as she walked into the shallows. This angered Wititj, the Olive Python and he emerged breathing vapour into the air that turned into clouds causing it to rain.

These triangular skirts are classically painted with broad stripes of alternate colours, their form and the strong bands of colour being symbolic of those worn by the Wagilag Sisters in this instance. This skirt was collected on 26 October 1936 by Donald Thomson and belongs to the Marrangu clan. Thomson noted that the people of Arnhem Land have a sound colour sense and appreciation of colour. He also recorded words for colours and patterns, 'mandirakdak' being one such term describing the horizontal stripes on 'a banded object'.