View source for Djang'kawu

{{Short description|Yolngu Aboriginal Australian creation myth}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2020}} 
The '''Djang'kawu''',  also spelt '''Djanggawul'''  or '''Djan'kawu''', are [[creator being|creation ancestors]] in the mythology of the [[Yolngu]] people of [[Arnhem Land]] in the [[Northern Territory]] of Australia. It is one of the most important stories in [[Aboriginal Australian mythology]], and concerns the [[Aboriginal moiety|moiety]] known as [[Dhuwa]].

==Background==
The Djanggawul/Djang'kawu myth<ref>{{cite book| author = Wells, A.E. | title =This their dreaming | year =1971 | publisher= UQ Press, St.Lucia, Qld}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author =Berndt, Ronald M. |author-link= Ronald Berndt | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=a3WrtxazTRkC| title =Djanggawul: An Aboriginal Religious Cult of North-Eastern Arnhem Land | publisher =[[Routledge]] | year =2004 | page =1 | isbn =978-0-415-33022-0 }}  (Originally published 1952)</ref> specifically concerned the [[Dhuwa|Dua]] (Dhuwa) [[Australian Aboriginal kinship|moiety]] of people, including about a third of the clans that lived in north-east Arnhem Land. The humans born of the two sisters are the ancestors of the [[Rirratjingu]] clan.<ref>{{cite book| author = Oliver, Douglas L. | title = Oceania: The Native Cultures of Australia and the Pacific Islands |year=1989 | publisher= University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu }}</ref> According to Milirrpum Marika (1983): "The base, foundation, culture, our Djang'kawu, the base of the Dhuwa moiety only, of the Dhuwa moiety and its various songs".<ref name=nmaancestors>{{cite web | title=The Djang'kawu ancestors | website=[[National Museum of Australia]]  | url=https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/yalangbara/djangkawu-ancestors | access-date=20 July 2021}}</ref>

==Story==
The Djang'kawu are three siblings, two female and one male, who created the landscape of Australia and covered it with [[flora and fauna]]. They came by [[canoe]] from the island of [[Baralku]] (Burralku) in the east at night-time, guided by the [[Venus in culture#Other cultures|Morning Star]] (the planet [[Venus]]), landing at [[Yalangbara]].<ref name=wam/> The sisters, Bitjiwurrurru and Madalatj,<ref name=nmaancestors/> were the custodians of [[Australian Aboriginal law|ceremonial law]], and carried with them their [[digging stick]]s, feathered [[headwear]] and [[Australian Aboriginal artefacts#Sacred items|sacred objects]] hidden in their basket and mats. The objects changed into various [[landform]]s along their route, and they created [[freshwater]] wells at Yalangbara by plunging their [[digging stick]]s into the sand, after which the digging sticks turned into a variety of plant species.<ref name=wam>{{cite web | title=Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu|first=Margie |last=West | website=[[Western Australian Museum]] | date=7 December 2010 | url=http://museum.wa.gov.au/whats-on/yalangbara/background-essay | access-date=17 July 2021}}</ref> Their [[clap sticks]] (''bilma'') turned into rock formations.<ref name=nmaancestors/>

At a site known as Balma, high among the [[sand dune]]s, the Djang'kawu sisters gave birth to the first of the Rirratjingu clan, and performed the first [[ngarra ceremony]], which is now one of the major ceremonies of the region.<ref name=wam/><ref name=nmaancestors/>

The story includes a meeting with [[Makassan contact with Australia|Makassans]] (''Bayini'') cooking [[sea cucumber|trepang]] (''dharripa'')  on the island of Wapilina in [[Lalawuy Bay]]. The siblings ask them to leave their land.<ref name=nmaancestors/>

The Djang'kawu continue westwards, producing more offspring which gave rise to other clans of the Dhuwa moiety.<ref name=nmaancestors/>

==In art==
A collection of [[bark painting]]s by [[Mawalan Marika]] entitled ''Djan'kawu story'' (1959) is held by the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]].<ref name="Art Gallery of NSW">{{cite web | title=Works from the collective title Djan'kawu story | website=Art Gallery of NSW | url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?group_accession=IA64.1959%20-%20IA68.1959 | access-date=18 July 2021}}</ref>

===Major exhibition===
The ''Yalangbara: art of the Djang'kawu'' touring exhibition, instigated by Mawalan Marika's daughter, artist [[Banduk Marika]], and developed with the assistance of other family members and the [[Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory]] at Darwin, opened at the [[National Museum of Australia]] from 7 December 2010. This was the first major survey exhibition of the Marikas' work, and covers around 50 named sites in the Yalangbara peninsula that were traversed by the Djang'kawu journey.<ref name=wam/> It followed a 2008 monograph of the same name, edited by Margie West and produced in partnership with Banduk Marika and other members of the family.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Banduk| last1=Marika |last2=West |first2=Margie |title=Yalangbara : art of the Djang'kawu |date=2008 |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press |location=Darwin, N.T. |isbn=9780980384673 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8ZdPgAACAAJ | access-date=18 July 2021}}</ref> The exhibition featured not only contemporary prints and other items, but also works produced at the Yirrkala mission in the 1930s, bark paintings dating from the 1950s, drawings in [[crayon]] commissioned by anthropologist [[Ronald Berndt]], and the Djang'kawu digging stick, borrowed from its usual place alongside the [[Yirrkala bark petitions]] in [[Parliament House, Canberra|Parliament House]] in [[Canberra]]. The exhibition also travelled to the [[Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory]] in [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]] and the [[Western Australian Museum]] in [[Perth]] in late 2011 and 2012.<ref>{{cite web | title=Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu | website=[[National Museum of Australia]] | date=29 July 2019 | url=https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/yalangbara | access-date=20 July 2021}}</ref>

==Official recognition of significance==
The significance of the story is recognised in the forthcoming (2022) assessment of Yalangbara for inclusion in the [[National Heritage List]] or [[Commonwealth Heritage List]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/8ac00639-6069-454e-a191-e6b8a3eed9a2/files/fpal-nhl-2018-19.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419154815/http://environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/8ac00639-6069-454e-a191-e6b8a3eed9a2/files/fpal-nhl-2018-19.pdf |archive-date=2019-04-19 |url-status=live| title= Finalised Priority Assessment List for the National Heritage List for 2018-19| author=[[Australian Government]]. [[Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment]]| date= 1 July 2020| access-date=20 July 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Baijini]], a mythical or historical people mentioned in the Djang'kawu songline
* [[Djanggawul Fossae]], a feature on the planet [[Pluto]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Australian Aboriginal deities]]
[[Category:Creator deities]]
[[Category:Nature deities]]
[[Category:Sky and weather deities]]
[[Category:Underworld deities]]
[[Category:Yolngu]]