Liwirringki Jukurrpa (Burrowing Skink Dreaming) – Walangkarni

The custodians of the Liwirringki Jukurrpa (burrowing skink Dreaming [Lerista spp.]) are men of the Jakamarra and Jupurrurla subsections. The Liwirringki Jukurrpa comes from the country near Walangkarni. The story is about an old Jupurrurla man who was living at Yajarlu, a soakage west of Yuendumu. A number of men where camped at the site. The old men were looking for young men and went to dig yams to feed them. Once they were fed, the young men went hunting for ‘liwirringki’ and kangaroo to give as ritual offerings. They hunt the ‘liwirringki’ spreading out fire with ‘ngiji’ (fire sticks). The fire chased the ‘liwirringki’ out of their burrows. The ‘liwirringki’ were clubbed by the men with ‘mutu’ (small clubs). Then they came back to Yajarlu and put the meat in the fire to cook it and eat it. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa men are depicted as ‘U’ shapes with ‘ngiji’ (fire sticks) beside them and can be shown lighting fires beside ‘mulju’ (water soakages). ‘E’ shapes represent the tracks of the ‘liwirringki’ and the tracks left by the ‘liwirringki’s’ ‘ngirnti’ (penis) on the ground are often shown as long lines. Large concentric circles may indicate the burrows where the skinks lived.