REV-58

Lloyd Jackson

Papulankutja Artists

Title: Kuniya and wati Liru

Acrylic on canvas: 91.5 x 92 x 2.3 cm

The Mutitjulu Waterhole, Uluru was formed by the two ancestral beings Kuniya, the woma python, and Liru, the poisonous snake. The Kuniya and Liru story occurs on different sides of Uluru, but their deadly battle took place near Mutitjulu Waterhole. The Kuniya woman came from far away to the west to hatch her children at Uluru. There are land formations and underground caves said to be formed by Kuniya on her way through the Ngaanyatjarra Lands to Uluru. She carried her eggs strung around her neck like a necklace and brought them to rest at Kuniya Piti on Uluru’s north-east corner. There she left the eggs on the ground. Kuniya camped at Taputji and hunted in the nearby sandhills. As she left and re-entered her camp, she formed deep grooves in the rock.