Molly Nungarrayi is a Kaytetye woman from Jarra-Jarra. She told this story about her life to relative Emily Hayes who was working for CAAMA running a Kaytetye language show on air. It was recorded at Alekarenge in 1986 and transcribed and translated from the Kaytetye by Myfany Turpin and Emily Hayes in 1999. Molly passed away in 2000. Her daughters, Ena and Maureen, and Molly’s younger sister, Mona, live at Alekarenge.
Molly OKeefe Nungarrayi at Junkajji, 1981. Photo: Jane Lloyd
Nyarte ayenge Kngwarraye angkerrane, Tyarre-tyarre arenye, Lhalpentye arenye.
Akelye atyenge aperinenye atyeyengelepe, Errtywerlenyenge warle.
Kwerepenhartepe arlwene apertame atyenge aperninenye, Arnanpelengkwe-warle. ?
/Sheep/-lke arrtyeyayne /nannygoat/ arrtyeyayne, atyeyengelepe.
/Buggy/-akake tangkwerle apeyayne kamel-akakele eletnheyayne /load/.
/Naked/-rtame aynenanthe akely-akelye kwete apeyayne.
I?m a /Kngwarraye/ and my country is Jarra-Jarra, from the area /Lhalpentye/ (near Baxtor?s Well). When I was a child my mother took me around /Errtywerlenyenge/ (Greenwood station) with her; then she would take me back to Arnanpelengkwe (Whycliffe Well). My mother used to work shepherding goats then. This was in the days when rations were transported by camel wagons. Us children used to happily travel all around the place naked?we didn?t care.
Apite aynernanthe ayneyayne, anatye, karnaketye, elperalke arteyayne erlkwetyerlkwele aynekantheyengele, weye aytneyayne atnhelengkwe, aherre.
Errtyartele aytneyayne kengkarreyayne, kengkarreyayne, erlkwetyerlkwepe aynekantheyengele kengkarreyayne.
Errtyartele aytneyayne atnkwewarle.
Alarreyayne rternngelke alarreyayne rtenngelke aperineyayne apmerewarle.
Weyepe aynanthe ayneyayne akelye-akelyelepe.
We used to eat pencil yams (Vigna lanceolata var. latifolia), yams (Ipomoea costata)and bush fruit called karnaketye. The old men of our family chopped down sugarbag and speared emu and kangaroo (in the late afternoon). They would sneak up on the animals and kill them with spears while they were asleep. Then they would go up and hit them on the base of their skull and take them back to camp. Then all us little kids would eat the meat.
Apite-rtame lwenge-lwenge etnyeyayne.
Apitepe aneyayne kartnwenthe-rtame anatye-therrepe arlkerre-therrepe.
Nterrenge eyeyayne erlkwetyerlkwele elkwemene-elkwemenelepe arrtyeyayne aynernanthe-tyampe ayneyayne akelye-akelyelepe.
They would bring back pencil yams for us. Lots of pencil yams would be there all together under the cracks in the ground (We would tap the ground with yamsticks listening for the sound of when there are yams below). The old men and women would grind seeds and looked after everyone?us kids would eat that food too.
Mwernngarrel parrenhe ayenge erlkwetyerlkwel-arlenge aperleyel-arlenge atyeyengele aperleye.
Aperineyayne atyenge bush-angkwerrelke.
Apeyayne aynernanthe.
Ateralthe akelye-akelyelepe aynanthe areyayne ?Wantarte repe nhartepe arltere? Arltere nhartepe!?
Wele aynanthe kwene-kwen-arreyayne.
Naked one aynernanthe tyerte artnpeyeyayne aterepe arltere-ketye, arrentye-ketye-rtame.
?Wantarte?? Wele aynekanthe ahenele-rtame lolly-tyampe aynekanthe etnyeyayne showem-ayleyayne.
?Wantarte repe nhartepe?? ?Yekaye! arrentye-mpele!? Arrentye-ketye mpele.
?Wantarte repe nhartepe?? Showem-aylerantye aynewanthe, erlwarerrantye aynewanthe, wantarte?
Elepe aynewanthe awetyewetyewe (I?ll show you??) aharlaynterane.
Aynewanthe atnewewethe.
?Arrentye-rtame repe nyakerrarte lwepelayterane mpele arlterepe!?
Lolly-akerre atnarreyayne biscuit-akerre atnarreyayne aynanthepe tyewe! Rwengkelke apitelke aynelpayneyayne.
I followed all the old men, and all my father?s mothers around. Then they took me around through the bush. We travelled around. We saw something and us kids were scared. ?Whats that white thing, its really white!? We were crouched down, hiding. That was the time when we didn?t have clothes, we ran away, frightened because of that white thing which we thought was a devil (and dangerous). What was it? Well they weren?t bad, they showed us lollies and gave them to us. ?What sort of thing is that?? ?Oh no, it must be a devil?. We still thought it was the devil. ?What is it?? They showed us things. What sort of things? axes for us. ?I?ll show you? they called out. They were things to feed us. ?Thats a devil over there, that white thing coming out!? He put lollies and biscuits down, and we took off then. We didn?t know what it was. We ate pencil yams and kept going.
No aynernanthe apmeyayne anhartepe apitepe,
no ape aynernanthe errwelenge-penhe elketnheyayne,
wele aynanthe ayneyayne atherrke errwelenge-penhe mentye-rtame enye enyeyaynepe nharte apite-tyampe apmeyayne.
We didn?t dig right down for the yams, no, we only scratched around on the surface. We ate the stalks (Mona thinks ?seeds?) which were just above the ground, not the yams which you have to dig deep down for.
Alkenh-alkenhele-rtame tneyele katye apmeyayne, aynernanthepe errwelenge-penhe atherrk-aperte nhaperte ayneyayne.
Tyerte artnpeyaynelke.
Alkaperte.
?Wanteketyarte errwanthe tyerte-tyerte artnperrane??
Wantele errwewanthe rlwampele nhartepe etnyerrantye ngayele??
?Ee, nhartepe arrentye wanterteyange arltere? Wele mwetekaye-tyampe aynernantherre erlwareyayne.
Kameleketyepe aynernanthe ater-apertame. ?Wanterteyepe mpelartepe artepe-mpwerepe?? terethe-akake, tyerte aneyayne kwenetheye areyayne.
?Ngayel-akake-rtame nhartepe aperrane mpele!, ngayele aperinterantye.?
?Ee, nhartepe arleyale errpatye, artepe-mpwere, aynemere aynewanthe.? ?obobobobo? mpelarte angkerrane mpele.
Aynemere aynewanthe nthelarte.
Tyert-artnpeyayne aynanthe.
The bigger people dug the yams up later, we only dig up the green stalks (seeds) near the surface. So we ran away, back to the others. ?What are you running away from?? ?Who was that white man that gave you food?? ?No that was some kind of white devil.? Well then we saw a motarcar too. We were scared of camels too. ?Hey whats that hump-back thing?? And there was something with clothes on, we could see from where we were hiding. ?Thats got food with it, its carrying a load of food.? ?Oh no that looks like a nasty thing, that hump back, it could eat us.? It made a noise like ?ob-ob-ob-ob. No, we thought, it could eat us, so we ran away.
Naked-inenge aynanthe artnpeyayne.
Ayengepe apeyayne arleyale-rtame errpatye-rtame elepere ltyeltyerre-rtame ilwekere.
?Wantewarte errwanthe angayele aterele arerrantye?
Nhartarrewe waylpelele arrelayteyayne? Wele ngayelelkertame aynernanthe ?yewe-yewe?.
Might re anteyane nthepelaperte angkwetye aynanthe arewene.
Plain tangkwerle enweyayne atnakakerre nhartepe Wauchope-apenye.
Plain enweyayne no arteye apeyake renhelarte-ee aynernanthe areyayne rwengke-theye-apertame alker-aperte-theye. Yewe-yewe.
Peyakelelke kwere?
Might nhaperte tank-le tyerte anteyane.
Mwernakeletheye.
Mwetekayepe kngwere tangkwele rlwayteyayne. No wante. No tube.
Tube-wananye arrmalye-arrmalye-wanenye.
Wante tangkwele atanthe arreyayne?
Tyre-we. Athe.
Renhakake tangkwerle apeyayne.
Kngwere tangkerle wenhe take-take.
Wele nhartepe rlwayteyayne take-takepe rlwaytenye,
alkenhelke ayengepe artntewarle aynernanthe wantewarle? Karlwe-karlwe-warle atntheyaytenye Devils Marbils.
Arenherrelke aynernanthe.
?Wantarte nyarte erlwaytenyengerne??
Nharte makwerlele.
We ran away, naked (and feared they might grab us). I was a poor skinny thing, not much good for running. ?Why are you scared to look at that food, that stuff that the whitefella put down for you mob?? Well we were hungry ?Alright?. It might be still there so we went to have a look. A long time ago there was a big plain there at Wauchope (Now its all scrub). There was no road then. We watched it from a long way away. ?Theres nothing there now.? He might be hidding behind the tank, on the other side. Another car came up then. It didn?t have any tube, no soft part. (They were wooden wheels.) What did they put on for a tyre? Grass. They used that first. The other one was careful, he came up carefully. Then I climbed up the rocks, the Devils Marbles. We looked from there. ?Whats that thing thats arrived?? There were lots of them, (whitepeople).
thangale
Wantarte nharte erlwaytenyengerne??
yekaye!!!
Nhartepane arrentye lwem-lwem-anteyane mpele.
Anthetheyapertarte ahalkwerre-theye might be, aharlkwerre-theye nthetheyaperte lwemanenhe.
?Mpe, tyerte artnpewerne.?
Arntwewarle pwelpe, arntwengelke pwelparreyayne.
Atherrkelke ayneyayne atherrkelke ayneyayne, atherrkelke ayneyayne, atherrkelke ayneyayne.
Arntwarenye atherrke. I bin naked-le.
Atnkwe-tyampe aynernanthe athenge-rtame enweyayne (no blanket).
comeout from there, from the middle of the ground. ?Let?s run away?. They (who??) went into the water then. They ate lots of grass, they ate and ate - they ate plants that grow in water. (Mona thinks that they were eating the water grass where you chuck half away and eat the white part.) Thats when I was naked and the days when we just slept on grass with no blankets.
They might have
Alkenhelke ayengepe.
Altemarlelke ilelpilenye atyengepe.
Aperleye atyingele, nyanyele atyeyengele, tyatyele atyeyengele, apenhe aynernanthe.
Eeee Wantewarlepe Elyenenye. Enwenhe aynanthe.
Nthelarte atewenhanthe erlkwety-erlkwele ahenge alarreyayne.
Erlkwety-erlkwele atewenhanthe alarreyayne, nthakerrewarlarte.
Emayelepe.
Atyeyengele nyanyele kerlepwenhe kwere nyanye kngwerepe.
Diane-arenge kwereyenge mother.
Kwarrengkwe kwereyenge Diane-arenge.
Pwenhe atyeyengelepe emayele, nyanyelepe tyatyel-angenepe.
Awenyerrelaperte atewanthe akarrineyayne etnyeyayne atewenhanthe,
Meykamparenyelepe etnyenyerre atyeyengewe tyatyewe,
wele atanthe kwere twerarte ilpewilpewakenhe.
Atherrakakelke aneyayne atyeyenge tyatye.
Twerarte atanthe ilpewilpewakenhe arleyak-arleyake-tyampe.
Mpwenye atanthe entyerrenenhe.
Tyatyepe atyeyenge Errwelty-arenye.
Wantepe Errweltyarenye.
Apeyayne akelye rarte re akarntenge atyeyengepe tyatyepe.
Then when I was bigger we went out west. My father?s mother took me, and my my mother?s mother (nyanye) and my mother?s father (tyatye) all went. We went all the way to Elyenenye (north of Murry Downs). We camped there. Thats where there was a big fight between the old men. They had a big jealous fight at that place there. My nyanye burnt her sister, that was Dianne?s mother, in the fight. My nyanys all fought each other over my tyatye. The wives were gathered together in one place. You see that old man from Meykampe gave lots of his daughters as wives to my tyatye and then other people snatched his wives off him. He only had two left then. Others all pinched his young wives. They disappeared going off with other husbands (because there were so many of them, there were too many jealous fights). My tyatye was from Errweltye, he was a short stocky fellow my tyatye.