Mer Angenty-warn alhem | Travelling to Angenty waterhole

Mer Angenty-warn alhem | Travelling to Angenty waterhole

Mer Angenty-warn alhem ‘Travelling to Angenty waterhole’

Angenty is a sacred waterhole in Anmatyerr and Warlpiri country in Central Australia. This project was about the stories and songs connected to this place.

Everyone camped in the riverbed and the elders told stories about the ancestral spirits of this country, including Mern amar ‘mulga apple’, Arrkerr ‘Barn Owl’, Arnamarwengk ‘spirit women’, Tywerrk ‘native fig’, and Alharrenty ‘the monster’.

Senior women painted up the young girls and taught them some songs, dances and body designs.

In 2014 April worked with CALL to produce a book and film about this place, and they were published by Batchelor Press in 2015.

Buy the book at Batchelor Press

You can watch the films about Mer Angenty here:

Watch Mer Angenty-akert | A film about Angenty

Watch Arrkerr | Barn owl | Page 32

Watch Kweter | Dancing stick | Page 39

Watch Awely Mer Angenty-areny | Women’s songs from Angenty | Page 41

Watch Arelh map nyent-irrem | All the women get together | Page 52

This project was supported by the Australian Government’s Indigenous Languages Support Program, and auspiced by Batchelor Institute’s Division of Higher Education and Research (http://www.batchelor.edu.au/research/).

Jenny Green‘s ongoing research on Central Australian languages and narrative forms is supported by the the Australian Research Council, through the Research Unit for Indigenous Language at the University of Melbourne.