Esther Giles

Tjilkamarta (echidna) was camping between two groups of people the Yakarri mob and the Patjarr mob. He travelled down from the north by himself, a stranger and a rain maker. In the evenings he asked the Yakarri mob to share their food but they never shared anything with him. The young girls would hold out nyuma (seed cake) and then snatch it back constantly teasing the old man when he tried to take it with his short arms. In the mornings the old man would ask the Patjarr people for a feed and they would share their meat, bush tucker and nyuma with the old man. Eventually Tjilkamarta got really wild and he sang for a big cloud to come to Talala with hail and lightning. Everyone was killed, men, women, children and babies of the Yakarri mob. He destroyed them all in his rage. He took the bodies to Talala and cooked them in a big fire. Then he ate them all. Tjilkamarta was careful to make sure that the Patjarr people near by didn’t get hurt in the storm. He created a big fog that divided the good people who shared with him, from the rude people who had teased him so badly. Afterwards, Tjilkamarta walked away to where he finished up at Kurlpatjarra.Tjukurrpa – Physical feature or part of the countryside associated with a dreamtime story; Character from a dreamtime story. (From Ngaanyatjarra and Ngaatjatjarra to English Dictionary, Alice Springs, IAD Press)