Mina Mina Dreaming - Kitty Simon Napanangka

Mina Mina is an important site near Lake Mackay associated with the journeys of ancestral women and the ‘karrpanu’ (digging stick). The story is recorded within the Kanakurlangu clan group Dreaming songline, known to Warlpiri people as ‘Yupunju’.

In the Jukurrpa, the ancestral women travelled eastward from Mina Mina, eventually journeying into Anmatyerre Country. As they travelled, the women sang and danced elements of the world into existence. Sky and earth, night and day, rain clouds, waterholes and waterways were created through their actions, establishing features of the landscape and the knowledge connected to them.

The ‘karrpanu’ is central to this story. As a digging stick uncovers food hidden beneath the earth, it can also represent the uncovering and passing on of knowledge held within Warlpiri Country. The ultimate ‘karrpanu’ is associated with the Pointer stars near the Southern Cross. When the Pointer reaches the horizon, it signals the beginning of another Warlpiri learning cycle, connecting Country, Jukurrpa, the night sky and the continuing transmission of knowledge between generations.