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Yanpiyarti Ned Cox, Fitzroy Crossing, 2010:

My father and that old man Wirrali they brought that Majarrka [dance] with them. Those old people had big mob of dance then.
Colour photograph of a close up of a young man in costume with two other people wearing the same attire in the background.

Majarrka dancer at Ngumpan

Majarrka juju (song and dance) describes the true story of Wurtuwaya (Yanpiyarti Ned Cox’s grandfather) and Wirrali (Mayarn Julia Lawford’s grandfather).

While travelling near Paruku, they had discovered a group of men performing a ceremony with their stolen Majarrka totem. When the ceremony ended, Wurtuwaya and Wirrali crept in unobserved and retrieved the sacred totem.

Afterwards Wurtuwaya and Wirrali created a new dance, Majarrka juju. They adapted aspects of the song and dance they had seen the men performing, but used different paint and body decoration, dance moves and language.

Today, Majarrka juju is an important dance, performed by both senior and younger men; it has been credited with reviving the enthusiasm of young men for their ceremonial culture.

Dancers who depict the bosses Wurtuwaya and Wirrali wear kumunungku (square headdresses) and carry shields and wirlki (‘number 7’ boomerangs). The pukurti (tall headdresses) are worn by dancers depicting the thieves who stole the Majarrka totem.

Traditionally, paperbark headdresses are fastened with tungkul (hairstring), an important ceremonial material used by both men and women. After the death of close family members, certain kin relations who are in mourning cut their hair; women use this to make tungkul.

Singers perform Majarrka, Kurtal and Kaningarra juju to the rhythm of karli (boomerangs), which are used like clapsticks. The carved head represents one of the Majarrka dancers.

A tall conical headdress made of plant fibres attached to a firm circular ring at the base and covered with pigmented fluffy plant fibre with feathers at the top. The ring at the base is pigmented red and the plant fibre stalks are attached around it. The fibres are bunched together towards the top and wrapped with maroon coloured string. The plant stalks are covered with fluffy plant fibre which is decorated with red pigment in vertical stripes on the bottom half and cream at the top. At the top of the headdress is a bunch of fluffy and spiky brown, tan and grey feathers. - click to view larger image

Pukurti (tall Majarrka headdress) by Ned Cox
A tall conical headdress made of plant fibres attached to a firm circular ring at the base and covered with pigmented fluffy plant fibre with feathers at the top. The ring at the base is pigmented red and the plant fibre stalks are attached around it. The fibres are bunched together towards the top and wrapped with maroon coloured string. The plant stalks are covered with fluffy plant fibre which is decorated with red pigment in vertical stripes on the bottom half and red at the top. At the top of the headdress is a bunch of fluffy and spiky brown, tan and grey feathers. - click to view larger image

Pukurti (tall Majarrka headdress) by Ned Cox
A brown rough bark cylinder covered with an outer layer of cream downy fibre which has been decorated with a red brown pigment. The pigmented design is a horizontal band with eight evenly spaced vertical lines extending from the band to one edge. The inner bark surface has a patchy covering of red brown pigment. The cylinder is filled with light green leaves. - click to view larger image

Kumunungku (square Majarrka headdress) by Ned Cox
A brown rough bark cylinder covered with an outer layer of cream downy fibre which has been decorated with a red brown pigment. The pigmented design is a horizontal band close to one edge of the cylinder with five evenly spaced vertical lines extending from the band to one edge. The inner bark surface has a patchy covering of red brown pigment. The cylinder is filled with light green leaves. - click to view larger image

Kumunungku (square Majarrka headdress) by Ned Cox
A red pigmented and fibre decorated oval shaped shield, with a flat outer surface and a convex back with the handle carved in the solid wood. The flat surface has slight rounding at the edges, and is pigmented red and covered with fluffy cream plant fibre, which features a strip of red pigmented plant fibre down the centre. The back of the shield has outlines in black and white stripes at both ends in the shape of a duck bill, joined by a black and white stripe across the handle. The handle has a deep jagged crack at one side which does not appear go all the way through. - click to view larger image

Shield by Ned Cox
A red pigmented and fibre decorated oval shaped shield, with a flat outer surface and a convex back, with the handle carved in the solid wood. The flat surface has slight rounding at the edges, and is pigmented red and covered with fluffy cream plant fibre, which features a strip of red pigmented plant fibre down the centre. The back of the shield has outlines in black and white stripes at both ends in the shape of a duck bill, joined by a black and white stripe across the handle. - click to view larger image

Shield by Ned Cox
A hooked wooden boomerang decorated to look like a bird. The boomerang is painted red all over and is plain on the flat side. On the convex side the corner of the hook has a black circle with a white dot inside it plus white dots around part of the edge. There is an uneven indent on the hook. The point of the hook has a black stripe and a black curve outlined with white dots, while at the edge of the corner there is a wavy black line edged in white dots and a black semicircle. At the neck and base of the handle are two black stripes edged and divided by lines of white dots. - click to view larger image

Wirlki (‘number 7’ boomerang) by Ned Cox
A hooked wooden boomerang with a curved handle, decorated to look like a bird. The boomerang is painted red all over and is plain on the flat side. On the convex side the corner of the hook has a black circle with a white dot inside it plus white dots around part of the edge. The point of the hook has a black stripe and a black curve outlined with white dots, while at the edge of the corner there is a wavy black line edged in white dots and a black semicircle. At the neck and base of the handle are two black stripes edged and divided by lines of white dots. Below the neck of the handle there is a horizontal jagged crack in the wood. - click to view larger image

Wirlki (‘number 7’ boomerang) by Ned Cox
A carved and pigmented wooden bust of a human figure with a pointed hat and body decoration. The face and body of the figure are black-brown with the facial features deeply carved out of the wood, including an

Majarrka Pukurti by Pampirla Hansen Boxer
A carving of a nude female torso made from a solid piece of cylindrical wood and pigmented. Most of the carving is coloured black with the facial and chest features carved lightly in relief. The eyes have an outline of cream paint and the nose is flattened. The shoulder length hair is coloured orange brown, and is covered with short vertical grooves. - click to view larger image

Female head by Pampirla Hansen Boxer
An oval bundle of red brown and dark brown two ply hair string with red pigment and off white tufts of plant fibre mixed through it. One end has a string coiled and tied around it. - click to view larger image

Tungkul (hairstring) by Mayarn Julia Lawford and Putuparri Tom Lawford
An asymmetrical dark brown wooden boomerang with incised decoration on both sides. The boomerang is slightly convex on one surface and almost flat on the other. One end is semicircular while the other is a narrower rounded point. Both sides have three sections of parallel horizontal grooves. On the convex surface there are three grooves at the larger end, seven grooves at the centre and two grooves at the narrower end. On the flat surface there are three curved grooves at the larger end, six grooves at the centre and three grooves at the narrow end. - click to view larger image

Karli (boomerang) by Pampirla Hansen Boxer

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