Ngurrju-mayi?
One of the first sentences one comes across when attempting to learn Warlpiri is Ngapa ka wanti-mi (Water is falling i.e. it is raining).
In Luritja and Pitjatjantjara the word for water is Kapi. The indigenous band ‘Coloured Stone’ has a song ‘Kapi pulka’ (Big Rain) …. “ rain, rain, rain on my ngurra”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC5EerCaiTc
Not surprising, water has a deep cultural quasi religious importance to the people of the Central Australian Desert.
In 1964 as a student I was ‘assistant geologist’ on Planet Oil’s Casterton No.1 exploration well. At the time the well was being drilled, the annual APPEA (Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association) conference had just been held in Adelaide. Casterton is half way between Adelaide and Melbourne. My boss, Jim Cundill, a very placid likeable man, was the perfect host to the significant number of conference delegates who took the opportunity to call in at the rig. To my great surprise, I witnessed Jim suddenly go apoplectic and banish two characters from the site. What was that all about, I asked …. (“didn’t you see the forked stick one of them was carrying?”).
Turns out that some speculators had hired the pair as “oil diviners”. “You’re drilling on the wrong side of the road, the oil stream is over there” one of the characters defiantly shouted as he hightailed it off the lease. For those that don’t know there is no such thing as underground oil “streams” and if you miss an oil field by less than 100m, it isn’t worth finding.
When West Australian Jim started his Geology career in Canada, he was seriously ribbed by his Canadian colleagues. Apparently Queensland has the highest number of water diviners/dowsers in the world. The fact that much of the Great Artesian Basin is in Queensland may have something to do with that.
Geologists in general have little time for the mumbo jumbo of the “electricity in the elbow” or whatever. Jim’s circumstances manifested itself in a far more extreme reaction to these snake oil salesmen.
Before I get accused of (heaven forbid) having a dogmatic view on water diviners, let me make clear that I much respect people’s right to believe whatever they choose to, provided that in so believing they do no harm. I was told that the U.S military did a thorough study on water divining sometime after WWII. What they found was that on “home ground” water diviners had a better than average success rate. When practicing their trade in unfamiliar ground, their success rate was no better or worse than random probability.
Underground drinkable and abundant water isn’t easy to find. There are too many variables. Myself I’ve upset a few hydrologists in my time, by asking them where they kept their dartboard! (all with a big grin on my face- of course).
Bruce Farrands, the now retired owner/operator of Rabbit Flat Roadhouse, has been assigned the Jangala “skin name”. The Jangala/Jampijimpa father/son pair are the rain-makers. In the middle of a several year drought, Bruce complained to an old Warlpiri man that he’d been dancing and dancing and he only managed to raise clouds of dust. “Were you wearing trousers when you danced?” asked the old man. “Yes of course” “Well, that explains everything. To have any chance of success you need to dance naked!”
Don’t know if Bruce ever followed this advice, but the drought continued.
The bore field Yuendumu derives its reticulated water from is about 10Km to the south-west. The reservoir is in the Carboniferous Mt. Eclipse Sandstone which usually is what in the industry is colloquially known as “as tight as a fish’s arsehole” ( i.e. watertight). Groundwater at Yuendumu’s bore field occurs in ‘fracture porosity’ which makes it all that more difficult to find and measure. The Power and Water Authority are seriously worried about the aquifer’s future, and are making a serious effort at reducing consumption and waste and attempting to find additional supply.
One of the steps they’ve taken is to replace all water meters on the community with ‘smart meters’. Before drawing long-bow parallels between these ‘smart meters’ and the ‘smart bombs’ that have rained and continue to rain over the Middle East, (and I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain?- Clarence Clearwater Revival…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5zZKawkcBU
I will make some enquiries. How will the ‘smart meters’ help to reduce consumption and waste, or add to the supply of water? I want to know…
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain? – Clarence Clear Water Revival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUjT5Yt6TbU
As I’m penning these musings a nice steady rain has begun to fall, and I haven’t even taken off my trousers! But then, in any case, it would have been to no avail… I’m a Jungarrayi.
Ngaka na-nyarra nyanyi,
Frank