Rodney King Jungala / Mimi Spirits and Pets (A15068)

As a child, Rodney King Jungala lived with his mother and attended school in Katherine. He would spend his school holidays with his father in Ngukurr, east of Katherine. It was during these holiday visits that Rodney first began to paint, learning from artist Kenny Wark, who also taught him how to make didgeridoos.

Rodney spent his senior years of schooling in Adelaide and then spent two and a half years working as an apprentice carpenter. He returned to the NT to spend some time working in Bulman, Arnhem Land. He worked on building contracts and general maintenance, as well as working as a shop assistant in the general store. Rodney felt he could use his skills to help develop the community and this was a worthwhile time for him. In fact the time he spent there has influenced his style of painting today, as he paints the wildlife of the area, and the experiences which come with the bush lifestyle.

Rodney talks of having been brought up within a predominantly white cultural atmosphere. His mother didn’t want him to associate with traditional Aboriginal custom. He went to a ‘white’ school, and was encouraged to achieve his best within a white system. When Rodney was nine years old, he discovered that Aboriginal people were indigenous, which came as a big shock to a young boy who realised that he didn’t really know his own cultural background.

Rodney began painting seriously after he was encouraged by Bill Harney, an established Katherine artist and renowned didgeridoo marker, who taught him to paint and carve in the ‘old way’. He spent more time learning from older artists, Kenny Wark and also Jeffery Daly Waters.

Rodney has developed his own distinctive style, drawing from his determination to understand and follow the ways of Aboriginal tradition.

Mimis are the tiny, match-thin spirits, which Aborigines believe have lived in the escarpments of the Stone Country, (stretching for a distance of about 300 kms across Arnhemland), since the beginning of time, and are still living there today. In the Dreamtime they taught many skills, including hunting, weaving, fishing, painting on rock and on bark, ceremonial songs and dances to old medicine men (marrkidjbu), who in turn passed their knowledge on to the elders of the tribe so that they could teach other chosen men. Without a written language, painting was the only way in which the history and religion of the tribe could be passed down, thereby ensuring that future generations would know of the deeds of the Ancestral Beings who walked the earth in the beginning of time.

Mimis are so shy that they hide within huge boulders all day long. They only come out at night by blowing holes in the rocks and emerging with their weapons and pets. These pets include goannas, lizards, echidnas, rock wallabies and small rock pythons, which live in the rocks with them. The only time they really get angry is when an intruder kills or injures one of their pets. They are not against any other of these species being killed for food, but they become extremely upset if one of their own pets is harmed. All night long the Mimis hunt and fish, make love and hold ceremonies, then at dawn they go back into their homes and pull the rock doors shut after them. Aborigines respect the wishes of Mimi Spirits to have complete privacy, and are careful to stay well away from the escarpments at night.