AustLit

'This paper explores issues around the representation of Indigenous cultural property, voices and images in two books of Warlpiri women's yawulyu song traditions that form part of a series published by Batchelor Press (Gallagher, C.N., et al., 2014. Jardiwanpa Yawulyu: Warlpiri Women’s Songs from Yuendumu. Batchelor: Batchelor Press and Warlpiri Women from Yuendumu. 2017. Yurntumu-wardingki juju-ngaliya-kurlangu yawulyu: Warlpiri Women’s Songs from Yuendumu [with Accompanying DVD]. Batchelor: Batchelor Press). These publications stem from collaborations between Indigenous knowledge holders and non-Indigenous researchers and involve long-term relationships between the team members. We draw out discussion of the motivations for making these books, and the agency within these intercultural teams, considering the colonising impact of academic research, the intercultural dimensions to Indigenous identities and the role of publications such as these in repatriation and reparation efforts. We demonstrate how Warlpiri women have directed the production processes and surrounding events so that these books not only represent forms of Warlpiri cultural knowledge but also contribute to the dynamic forms of cultural reproduction that ensure continued engagement with these song traditions into the future.'  (Publication abstract)

'Luise Hercus has always had a keen interest in Australian Aboriginal songs and collaborated with musicologists both in the field and in her analysis. Her examination of lyrics and the relationship between songs and the people who sing them encompasses a vast area of Australia. Her work on songs from the ‘Corner Country’ reveal performance as a culmination of social exchange, and her examination of the lyrics reveal Aboriginal people’s detailed knowledge of country (Beckett & Hercus 2009). Her work in the Simpson Desert region documents songs with ancestral themes as well as contemporary events (Hercus & Koch 1996, 1999; Hercus 1994: 91–101; 1995). In many parts of Australia where knowledge of Aboriginal languages is scarce, Hercus’s work on songs provides vital clues to the history, language and culture of such regions (Hercus 1992, 1997). Her linguistic documentation of Wemba Wemba in Victoria (Hercus 1969) finds songs that relate to the gender based totems of this area. How songs reflect and reproduce the beliefs, cultural practices and experiences of the people who sing them is a theme of Luise Hercus’ work that is explored in this paper.' (Introduction)

Beckett & Hercus (2009) present several ‘versions’ of a mura track narrative as told by five different senior Aboriginal people from the ‘Corner Country’ area where New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland come together. Mura track narratives, as Beckett & Hercus (2009: 2) explain, detail: ‘the travelling of ancestral beings also called mura – occasionally human but more often anthropomorphic animal – who form the country and name it as they go’, a concept similar to the Central Australian concept of the Dreaming (tjukurrpa in the Western Desert language). They show that the storytellers present individualised but nonetheless connected versions of these narratives that together produce a broader understanding of the story and demonstrate clear interconnections between the different but associated groups of people and their country.'  (Introduction)

'“Yawulyu have been passed down through many generations of Walpiri women. In this book, the juju-ngaliya ‘ritual experts’ from Yuendumu, present four yawulyu song series which follow the journeys of a number of ancestral beings across Walpiri country. … The book provides rhythms, sung words, translations and accompanying stories of 64 songs, alongside audio-links and photographs of the women in performance. The accompanying DVD contains footage of women from Yuendumu painting their bodies with red and white ochres and performing the four yawulyu song series and their associated dances. The juju-ngaliya of Yuendumu intend this book to be a new way to pass on these yawulyu to future generations of Walpiri women.”' (Publication summary)

'Angenty is a sacred waterhole in Anmatyerr and Warlpiri country, to the north of Alice Springs in Central Australia. This book is about a family visit to this place. Men, women and children camped in the riverbed and the elders told stories about the ancestral spirits of this country. ' (Source: Publishers website)

'The book presents 38 songs from the Jardiwanpa song line, which traverses Warlpiri country from south to north. It passes through three major dreamings, Yarripiri ‘Snake’, Yankirri “Emu’ and Ngurlu ‘Seed’. Owners from each of these ritual groups spoke at the launch, about the importance and value of the Jardiwanpa songs.' (Source: Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education website)