Literature Review

Ngaanyatjarra-Ngaatjatjarra to English Dictionary

By Amee Glass and Dorothy Hackett

This dictionary is a by-product of the Warburton Bible Project. In order to complete the translation of the Bible, they needed a way to categorise all of the words of the language. Compiling their translation reference notes into dictionary was a substantial task on top of an already serious Bible translation project. This dictionary is a brilliant way to discover the bredth and depth of the Ngaanyatjarra Language for both beginners and more advanced students of this language and culture.

Too Long in the Bush and additional books from author Len Beadell on the construction of the roads of this region

Topic: History

Len Beadell's book series starts with Too Long in the Bush which details the construction of the Gunbarrel Highway from 1956-1958. The subsequent volumes: Blast the Bush, Bush Bashers, Still in the Bush, Beating About the Bush and End of an Era cover the construction of other roads in this region and related infrastructure projects.

Too Long in the Bush was the first and most popular in the series, but all of the books in this series are filled with great stories as well as occasional cartoons and illustrations by the author.

These books are an entertaining historical introduction to the region. All who knew Len Beadell speak of his humble and charming character which contrasts with his epic mission.
He is well liked by the Yarnangu of this region. Those who knew him when he was alive and working out here speak very respectfully of him. After reading these books, I'm sure you'll understand why he was so widely loved, admired and respected by all who met him.

The entire series is available for sale here.

(Disclaimer: I am not commercially associated with this site and receive no commission or payment for this link.)

"White Men are Liars: Another Look at Aboriginal-Western Interactions" 2006. Published by AuSIL Inc

By Margaret S Bain

The author describes the purpose of this book in the Preface:

Day by day, Aboriginals and Westerns attempt to communicate with each other, but the results are very uneven. [Communication] difficulties occur most often in cross-cultural dealings that involve traditional Aboriginals, that is, people for whom an indigenous language is their first language.

In the Western Desert region of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands and some of the adjoining areas to the north, south and east, they still grow up speaking an indigenous language such as Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjarra or Pintupi as their first language and pick up English later on, usually aged about 5+ years old.

In today's politically charged context, it is difficult to speak of 'differences' between peoples without inviting accusations of racism or prejudice [...]

However, [this type of] sensitivity discourages thinking and writing about real problems, real differences and their real effects on real people.

This book is primarily about difficulties in communication between two groups and taking a deeper look at how the desert people have a vastly different world view that impacts on their use of language.

Whether intentionally or not, this book is also a key to understanding some of the deeper mysteries of the Western Desert culture while being disguised as a book on communication between two groups of different people.

Because we are more interested in the deeper mysteries, let's keep moving in that direction and disregard some of her earlier chapters on how to communicate in the workplace and get to the interesting stuff.

World View
Space and time

Aboriginal concepts of both space and time are difficult for Westerners to grasp. In regard to space, how can a person be so closely associated with their totemic animal or other entity that they become identified with it? In regard to time, how can essential 'life' of a totemic being who was in the past also be currently present in certain people, places and things?

Pitjantjatjara [language] has no generic term for 'space'. To illustrate the nature of Aboriginal spatial concepts, Elkin describes a hero (his term for what other writers call 'Dreamtime being' or 'totemic ancestor') who is transformed into a rock here and wood there, or it may be only a part of him is transformed.

(Elkin, AP 1969, Elements of Australian Aboriginal Philosophy referenced above by Bain)

In every case, each of these geographically dispersed transformations is the hero himself, his complete self (Elkin, 1969: 88 referenced by Bain). Streholow (1947) says similarly that while a totemic ancestor may be transformed at more than one site, there is no suggestion that he has been fragmented; rather that he is fully present in each manifestation, whether it be a rock, tree or a sacred object.

(Strehlow, TGH. 1947. aranda Traditions Meblourne University Press, Melbourne, quoted by Bain, 2006)

Reading this passage by Bain that has references to other academics is a little tedious, but it's important to mention that Bain is referring to experts who spent their lives dedicated to this topic. I'll try not to overwhelm with quotes that are continually referring to other academic texts, but these concepts are difficult for me to explain, so I'm heavily relying on Bain's explanations:

"Such a conception, a conception of 'occupied space', is foreign to Western thought. Yet Aborignal concepts of space can also be specific: 'this' rock or 'this' pool of water is special because of a particular action that was carried out there by one or more heroes"

In addition, and importantly, each Aboriginal person has special relationships with specific sites and a special relationship with his/her 'country'. All of thse - geographical features, sites, country - are [called] tjukurrpa, eternal, true.

Tjukurrpa is a word you're going to see a lot from me and authors in the literature review. It's a word from the central and western desert regions that relates to creation stories, myths, but also things, events, actions, songs, dancing, rituals, ceremonies and even certain artifacts and decorations. It might seem like an extremely broad word, tjukurrpa being that it covers so many things, but I guess my intention is to explain how all of these things are connected. Admittedly, it's a job that is complicated by the limitations of the English language and the conceptual limitations of Western ways of thinking.

In sacred affairs, therefore, there appear to be two dimensions of space: space that is tied to a specific location and space that is associated with a number of specified locations. Context determines which concept is in focus.

As with the concept of space, Pitjantjatjara [language] has no generic word for chronological time, although words with a time reference are common, for instance kuwaripangka 'before (in time)'; malangka 'afterwards'; mungawinki 'morning'; mungartji 'afternoon, yesterday'; mapalku 'at once' and iriti 'long ago'.

Such terms tend to be descriptive, cover a short time span, and are not subject to measurement. They are more suited to social interactions that to an historical record. The word tjukurrpa [by contrast] has an eternal time reference.

One of the major issues associated with documenting things prior to contact with the outside world is their reference points for time don't include anything to allow for measurement.

With a great deal of prompting, it would be possible to measure in terms of generations ago. Such as "did that happen when your grandfather was a little boy?" but language around those who are deceased is quite tricky, because they cannot be named after they die. So you have to pick words such as tjamu ngyuntju (your grandfather) and make every effort not to name anyone who is presumed to be deceased when making these inquiries.

Up next is a review of an outsider's perspective of Central Australian cultural practices, by the English author Bruce Chatwin.

"The Songlines" by Bruce Chatwin, 1987, Vintage Books, London

Topics: History, Culture, Social Commentary

Note that this book is not a scholarly document, but it has plenty of insights and interesting anecdotes.

Continuing with ongoing beliefs relating to the creation myths, I will start by quoting a passage of Chatwin's book, this is actually Chatwin quoting a very rare book by Strehlow (1971) "Songs of Central Australia". This is a section of Chatwin quoting Strehlow:

In the beinning the Earth was an infinite and murky plain separated from the sky and from the grey salt sea and smothered in a shadowy twilight. There were neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars. Yet, far away lived the Sky-Dwellers: youthfully indifferent beings, human in form but with the feet of emus, their golden hair glittering like spiders' webs in the sunset, ageless and unaging, having existed for ever in their green well watered Paradise beyond the Western Clouds.

Chatwin's exploration of these ancient belief systems via text guides his search in the real world for further information. This information is closely guarded by the cultural custodians and a majority of this book contains his real life search for greater clarity on the descriptions in the quoted passage above.

"Two Sisters: Ngarta & Jukuna"

By Ngarta Jinny Bent, Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Pat Lowe & Eirlys Richards

Published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press. First published 2004.

For the first 150 years of European settlement in Australia the Walmajarri people of the Great Sandy Desert remained untouched by Western influence. The First World War came and went, and left no impression in the sandhills. The Second World War had faint reverbrations, but no one in the desert had heard of HItler or Churchill, nor even the Australian prime minister John Curtin. The Vietnam War, about which they had heard nothing, was still in progress when two sisters, Jukuna and Ngarta finally emerged from the Great Sandy Desert. It would be later still before they first heard the word Australia and learned they were not only Walmajarri, but also Australians.

This is their extraodinary story.

Although the Great Sandy Desert is geographically distant from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands and the Walmajarri people are culturally and linguistically a little different from the Yarnangu, the very recent and radical shift from ancient traditional life to modern Australian life is very similar, as there were several tribes across the Ngaanyatjarra Lands that had only just had their first experiences with the Western world around that same time. On a personal note, I know and have spoken at length with several people who call themselves "The Last Australians", meaning they were first and foremost Yarnangu or (in the case of this biography, Walmajarri) tribal people and only much later had the name Australian given to them once they encountered the outside world.