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