ITEMS 5.8, 5.9 and 5.10 are titles to land in the Laynhapuy, NE Arnhemland, which have contemporary currency in Aboriginal Australia. These are not the most important documentation of entitlement. The important 'documents' are kept in safe places, 'sacred sites', to be exhibited only to select people on significant Occasions which involve negotiations over the place of the unit of land in Yolngu society.
5.9
Photograph of Ritual String: associated with the investment of land in the Rirratjiŋu clan and related clans. These instruments and the song and dance which accompany their use re-create that time when title to the land was established (Rirratjiŋu clan; Dhuwa moiety; photograph by Ian Dunlop, Film Australia, 1975).
The song of Yirrkala They were all dancing together, including the people who really belong to this part of the land, and from over there, my sister, the Bararrŋu Bararrbararr clan, from Rarrakala. So they danced, and sat, spread right around, covering the whole area, and even extending as far as the open bush. In colonies they sat, heaps of Gamaḻaŋga people, along with Djambarrpuyŋu, the Gumurr-marrwalami people, you know, the ones from the salt plains, those ones. And also the Buyu-djarrakmi people, the seafaring people, just like us, the Buyu-djarrakmi from the deep, that is, from the salt water. Okay, so they were all there dancing, night after night after night, singing, singing, singing. That area, it used to be huge, a big space for them to dance, that area which is now deep water, up at Gunyipinya. That dancing area of theirs used to be completely dry, until they divided up the Merri string among the clan groups, and then it all flooded with water, That water came pouring in, like a tidal wave, from the sea, broke open the land, and rested there. Everything swept in, parrot fish, red emperor, sweet lip, and butter fish. The place was full of fish, it had coral on the bottom too, a lagoon with red emperors, it was like that long ago. They finished their dancing and they said to each other, 'Okay, finish, we've come to the end, Our ceremony is complete. So now we must divide up this sacred string', that's what they said to each other. 'Yours will be this long pan, with it you will encircle Baḏaypaḏay, Rarrinya, Ŋarriyuta, Ritharrmi, Bulumi, and Ŋangathiya. And you will circle the muddy waters of Dhäyulkul, Nopul and Dhäḻuḻu.' |
Ŋayi Balŋaṉa Mawurrku Yolŋu nyena, bukum Ṉuwulmi, Ŋayi yuṯthun ḻiyyun Gamarra, Rirranytjun yuṯthun warrakan birrwirryun boma ŋayi--- Djarrak. . . rrrr. . . rrrr. . . rrrr. . . Djarrak Warrakan nyena, bukum Ṉuwulmi, Ŋayi yuṯthun ḻiyyun Gamarra, Rirranytjun yuṯthun warrakan birrwirryun boma ŋayi--- Nhuŋgum Merri Baḏaypaḏaywuyŋun Ŋarriyuṯawuyŋun |