Ormay Nangala Gallagher / Emu Dreaming (1A)

Artwork is accompanied by Warlukurlangu Artists (Yuendumu) Art Centre Certificate of Authenticity/Provenance

“I like painting my father’s and mother’s Jukurrpa, it makes me feel proud and happy.”

Ormay Nangala Gallagher was born in Alice Springs hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290km from Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. Her upbringing was mainly in Yuendumu where she attended the local Yuendumu School. In 1978 she attended Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding school in Alice Springs and between 1978 -1979 she attended Sadadeen College.

She then moved to Nyirripi where she worked at the Nyirripi store from 1986 to 1994. Between 1995 and 2004 she worked at Nyirripi School as a teacher. She did her teachers training through Batchelor College.

Ormay is married and has two children. She likes listening to country music, going bush hunting, enjoys watching TV, meeting friends and going on holidays around Australia.

“I started painting in the 1980’s and I am still painting today. I do dot painting and the dreaming that I paint is about Emu and Water, that dreaming is at Mikanji and that is my fathers dreaming. I also paint Pama-pardu and Emu, that dreaming is North of Nyirrripi at a place call Waylka and Wantungurru, which is also another of my fathers dreaming.”

Ormay travelled to Bahrain in 2008 and Delhi, India in 2009 with Warlukurlangu Artists.

This painting depicts a ‘yankirri Jukurrpa’ (emu Dreaming) from a place called Ngarlikurlangu, approximately 50kms north of Yuendumu. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men.

This Jukurrpa tells the story of a ‘yankirri’ (emu) and a ‘wardilyka’ (bush turkey). ‘Yankirri’ lived at a soakage to the west called Warnirripanu (or Walangkamirirri), while ‘wardilyka’ lived at a soakage to the east called Parirri. The emu and bush turkey used to go around the country picking ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisins) and mashing them into ‘kapurdu’ (fruit balls) to save in their nests for later. However, they were jealous of each other; the emu thought that the bush turkey was picking the best and juiciest ‘yakajirri’, and was leaving him with only the sour ‘yakajirri’.

The emu went to the bush turkey’s nest to the east while the bush turkey was out hunting and smashed up the ‘kapurdu’ that the bush turkey had saved there. When the bush turkey returned, he found his smashed ‘yakajirri’ balls and realized that the emu had destroyed them. He went to the west to confront the emu and when he found him, they got into a big fight. The bush turkey eventually flew away to the north, leaving behind the smashed ‘yakajirri’ balls.

This practice of making ‘kapurdu’ (fruit balls) is a traditional Warlpiri method of storing ‘yakajirri’; in the old days, people used to dry the ‘yakajirri’, grind them up with a rock in a coolamon, mix them with water and form balls from them, and cover the ‘kapurdu’ with red ochre so they would keep.

Today at Ngarlikirlangu we can see round, red rocks which are the ‘kapurdu’ that the emu smashed up. There is also a dance for this ‘yankirri’ (emu) Jukurrpa that is performed during mens’ initiation ceremonies. A number of other Jukurrpa are also located at Ngarlikirlangu, including ‘wardilyka Jukurrpa’ (bush turkey Dreaming), ‘yardijiinypa Jukurrpa’ (meat ant Dreaming), and ‘pirntina Jukurrpa’ (woma or Ramsay’s python Dreaming). Lots of ‘yakajirri’ grow around the Ngarlikirlangu area today.