Yirrkala and a boy called Gongu

My photo diary from Nothern Territory in February 2016.

 

found chips of Macassan claypots at Bawaka beach in Yirkkala, NT

Monsoon. Makassar sailors hunt the trepang then sheltered at this beach. Some of them got married with Yolngu people and protect the land.

the living witness of the long history of the brotherhood. a 350 years old tamarind tree. Djamba in Yolngu. Camba in Makassar. Cempa in Bugis. Yes. It was planted by Mangatthara then the tree fell down when hurricane hit NT three years ago.

Timmy Djawa Burrarwanga, my Yolngu brother. Leader of the clan who rule around the Bawaka beach.

Siena Ganambarr-Stubbs, Nanukala and a Yolngu brother. They’re the future of Yirrkala. The protector of the knowledges.

I couldn’t imagine when the young Bayini, the protector of the land, decided to feed people for the whole land while she had to survive. Selfless. Such a pure sacrifice. Millenials later, her body still feed the land. Her necklace became the shore, her jewelries turned into stones, her breath created winds that blows waves so people could sails and fishing, her eyes turned into sunrise and sunset.

my Mamla, Merrkiyawuy Ganambar-Stubb. A proud woman-leader-intellectual from northeast Arhem Land. she feed us with the stingray that I shoot.

with Yolngu brothers cutting a branch from the bark tree to make my own yidaki/didgeridoo.

don’t go too far. there usually a crocodile swimming here, said Mamla. I was a bit nervous but my curiousity bigger than mister croc right now. under the knee-high water, I saw this stingray, I throw my spear twice, I hit him twice but it did’t stop. the third throw stop it. my Yolngu dad helped me to pick out the stingray-blade. that was the first time I hunt fish with spear and thrower.

a year later, two young story tellers; Safira and Arief and Askar, an actor from Makassar, turned this story into performance

Gongu. A little boy with spear on his right hand and the thrower in his left hand, staring the glassy ocean. his Mamla watch him while she walked on the beach. A stingray hit. That was the first time he hunt the fish with spear. The first time he land his feet on that beach. The stingray is a sacred animal in Yolngu. The spirits welcome him. The boy from Mangatthara, travel back to Marege after centuries. Separated by 1600 miles distance. The land still recognised him. The legacies still remained. brother from another world, Naiki, a 17 years old crocodile appeared from the Under World. The Dingo sung. The fire flamed. Five Yolngu brothers sung and played yidaki. Far back in the ocean, Bayini, the Motherland, smile at him. Welcome back. They sing and dance under the stars; silele…lele…silele…lele…hamma…Allah….bayini…..