WALBIRI RITUAL AT GUNIADJARI

RA60 Col. 30 mins.
Director: Roger Sandall
Anthropological consultant: Nicolas Peterson
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies

This film ‑ with Emu Ritual at Ruguri and Walbiri Ritual at Ngama ‑ provides an outstandingly sensitive and vivid account of traditional Australian Aboriginal ritual in the Central Desert.

At Gunadjari, where the lands of the Walbiri and Pintubi tribes meet, there is a remarkable painted rock shelter which is a major ritual site 'owned, by an aged political leader and renowned warrior who participates in the ceremony.

During the three‑day ceremony the rock shelter is repainted while sacred songs are sung. Large sacred emblems representing a penis, a bird and a snake are constructed. The bodies of the participants are decorated with elaborate red and white patterns made with plant down, dyed with red ochre and mixed with blood. ~Jore sacred songs are sung and then four ritual acts are performed. In one of these a Pintubi man takes on the role of Wadaingula, a hero of legendary sexual prowess. Another shows a mythical bird ornamented with 'bones of the dead' represented by long feathered stems on a headdress.

W.E.H. Stanner, 1970. Review of the film. American Anthropologist, Vol. 72, pp.202‑203.

For other references see list under Emu Ritual at Ruguri.