Yajukurlu Jukurrpa (Bush Cabbage Dreaming)

The Yajukurlu Jukurrpa (bush cabbage [Cynanchum floribundum] Dreaming) relates to a small shrub that grows in sandy soil near creeks and can be eaten raw when ripe or cooked in the hot ashes of a fire. ‘Yajukurlu’ are eaten raw or cooked. The story of this Dreaming tells of an old Jungarrayi that left to travel west through Wakurlpa where he drank at a water soakage, to Yutuwarri where he passed away. The country for this Dreaming is a place known as Yirdikapuurta or Yijiwanji near Mt Allan, to the east of Yuendumu. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Paintings of this Jukurrpa usually show the plant spreading from its ‘ngarna’ (centre) along the path of the Jukurrpa. In the time of the Jukurrpa, the wind blew the flowers and seeds from Yirdikapuurta to many places, the most significant of them being Jilip-Jilip, Yakurlpa (a big water hole near Mt. Allan) and Wilpiri (near Mission Creek) to the west of Yuendumu. The custodians for these sites are Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men, along with their Napaljarri/Nungarrayi classificatory sisters. Near to Mt Doreen the Yajukurlu Jukurrpa belongs to a different skin group: the men of the Japanangka/Japangardi subsections and the women of the Napanangka and Napangardi subsections.