Rover Thomas

(circa 1926-1998)

Untitled (The Serpents - Juntarkal and Wungurr), 1987

Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Mary Macha, Perth
James Mollison, Canberra
Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Private collection, Perth

RELATED WORKS
Wungurr is the name for that Snake (No 5 in series of 10 paintings of The Krilkril Ceremony), 1983, Ngamarrin (The Snake near Turkey Creek), 1984, and The Rainbow Serpent that destroyed Darwin, 1983, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

In this work, Thomas intertwines the Rainbow serpents Juntarkal and Wungurr, two of the main protagonists of the Kurrir Kurrir cycle. Originating from different parts of the Kimberley - Juntarkal from the West and Wungurr from the east and into the Northern Territory - the serpents both feature prominently in the cycle 'dreamt' by Thomas in 1975, whereupon Wungurr manifested himself as Cyclone Tracy, causing roads to flood just south of Thomas' home in Warmun (Turkey Creek). As a result, Rover's classificatory mother was seriously injured in a car accident here. Whilst being airlifted to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctors she died on the journey as they were passing above Wungurr who had appeared in the form of a tidal whirlpool.

Will Christensen explains that "The part played by the Rainbow Serpent in the woman's death is made quite explicit in explanations of the Gurirr Gurirr [Kurirr Kurirr], as is its role in the destruction of Darwin. Each reference or allusion to the Rainbow Serpent underlines its continuing direct significance to Aboriginal people of the north-east Kimberley. Its existence and power, though not all its ritual and mythological particulars, are widely known. By common sentiment, the Rainbow Serpent played a major role in the distant transformative era often characterized as the Dreaming. Equally, its potency is seen as immanent, not confined to the past but a powerful and not entirely predictable factor in everyday living."1

According to Wally Caruana, Darwin "was regarded by Aboriginal people of the Kimberley as the centre of European culture and...elders interpreted the event [Cyclone Tracy] as the ancestors warning Aboriginal people to reinvigorate their cultural practices."2

1. Judith Ryan with Kim Akerman, Images of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 1993, p.33
2. Franchesca Cubillo and Wally Caruana (eds.), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: Collection Highlights, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2010, p.87