Namurre Boko

‘This is my first one, I’m really happy, I’m proud. It’s just a songline for everybody. This story is from my great great grandfather on my fathers side. The songline was made by my second father. The mimihs tell the story. The painting took a long time, a few weeks to finish.’ Jay Jurrupula Rostron

Mimih Definition – Thin spirits who live in the stone country inside cracks in the rock or caves etc. They are often mischievous and not particularly friendly. They do not venture outside of the protection of their rock environment as even a light wind can snap their fragile bones.

The brothers in the story are Mimih spirits who live in Kolorbidahdah stone country.

‘Mimih used to be a bird, all different kind if birds and then they would turn into mimih. That’s the old story from long time ago, before there were humans, when the dinosaurs were around.’ – Jay

You can see the beak of a bird on Jays illustrations of Mimih.

The two brothers were really strong leaders and good hunters, sharing animals with different tribes.
There was a lot of jealousy going on between tribes.
The little brother in the story went walkabout and heard the other tribe was talking about his tribe and how they were jealous.

He heard them say ‘ngarribin manre djed-djedme bokko’
(we will make spear for them)
‘Ngarrbin danj-bun, ngarrbinbun’
(We will spear them and kill them)

The little brother went back tell his older brother.
He said ‘Namurre bokko kadi marne djed-djedme Karre wonens, kardi-djal danjbun’
(They making spear for us, they are going to spear us)

A couple of months later they saw the other tribe once more.
They had changed their attitude and had brought lots of animals to share.

The family of the brothers quickly realised that the two brothers had been killed by the other tribe.

The tribe was jealous of the two brothers as they were talented hunters. This story is written on the rock art and it stays forever.’

Artworks with this story