Ngatijirri Jukurrpa (Budgerigar Dreaming)

Kershini Napaljarri Collins

The Jukurrpa site shown in this painng for Ngajirri (budgerigar [Melopsiacus undulates]) is at Yangarnmpi, south of Yuendumu. ‘Ngajirri’ are small, bright green birds nave to central Australia which are common around the Yuendumu area, especially aer the summer rains. Men would hunt for ‘ngajirri’ nests, robbing them of eggs and juvenile birds, which are both considered delicacies. The men would also go out hunting for adult, flying ‘ngajirri’, which they would kill by swinging branches, killing scks or ‘karli’ (boomerangs) to hit the birds in flight. The ‘ngajirri’ travelled to Yangarnmpi from Parlirri, near Willowra to the east of Yuendumu and travelled

further on to Marngangi, north/west of Mount Dennison and west of Yuendumu. Each me the flock of ancestral ‘ngajirri’ lands, they perform ceremonies, singing and dancing as they fly and roost in the trees. The sites of these ceremonies are depicted in this painting as concentric circles, while cross-like shapes depict the footprints of the birds on the ground and give an indictiaon of the large flocks of ‘ngajirri’ that can be found near Yangarnmpi and other sites close to Yuendumu. After good rains ‘ngajirri’ can successfully breed several mes, resulting in an explosion of the population in a short me. Custodians for the Ngajirri Jukurrpa are Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women and Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men.