This project facilitated some of the last knowledge holders from the Tjukurla region to revisit ancient country and to share their stories, knowledge and songs of one of the most isolated places in Australia.
The trip was based out of Tjunukutjarra (Turkey Bore), and over 40 community members and staff participated. We were successful in locating over 20 remote sites, some had not been visited for over 50 years when some of the artists left their lands in the mid 1960s.
Participants spent the week flying in the helicopter to visit important sites, painting, hunting, recording stories, singing, cooking, and sharing many special moments, both funny and profound.
The mapping project
Project Lead Winston Green explains:
Twelve months ago I was handed recordings of interviews between my grandfather, Anatjari Tjakamarra, and Anthropologist Fred Myers, made in the 1970s. These recordings hold almost 30 hours of stories and other vital information relating to my grandfather's travels across the western desert prior to contact with the outside world. This data enabled us to create a picture of where many of the sites were located and over the past 12 months I've been researching and plotting the sites into a digital map.
However, we were still limited in truly understanding exactly where many of the places were. After discussions with my family and Tjarlirli Art, we decided we required a helicopter to locate many of the sites, travelling with those who were born and grew up on that country.
"[...] We were still limited in truly understanding exactly where many of the places were. After discussions with my family and Tjarlirli Art, we decided we required a helicopter to locate many of the sites, travelling with those who were born and grew up on that country."
— Winston Green, Project Lead.
We were successful in receiving funding from both DLGSC and Lotterywest, and with contributions from Tjarlirli Art Centre, were able to plan a major return to country trip. The trip was held between 10–15 July at Tjunukutjarra (Turkey Bore) near Tjukurla Community with around 40 community members and staff."
We were successful in locating many sites, some had not been visited for over 50 years when some of my relatives had left their lands in the mid 1960s.
With more sites mapped and points of reference, we hope to continue this project, locate many more places and give this country its true identity.
This project has inspired and invigorated artistic depictions of this country and well as facilitate intergenerational knowledge transfer. The value in being able to finally document the cultural landscape of this incredibly significant region as well as highlighting the importance of returning culture and history to the very people it has been documented from cannot be overstated.
