Story:<BR> This painting is the Dreamtime story for the Nungarrayi and Napaljarri skingroups. In this Dreaming the women are taking part in a Women ceremony. While women are dancing they are singing about the bush turkey which travels from water hole to water hole feeding along the way. The long straight lines represent the travelling lines, the dots inside the travelling lines depict that a ceremony is taking place. The circles represent waterholes. The arrow-looking shapes represent the bush turkey's tracks and show how they travel in all directions in search of water and food. This Dreaming story takes place at Duck Ponds, which is in the Northern Tanami Desert area, which is in the Northern Territory of Australia.<BR> <BR> LAJAMANU<BR> <BR> Lajamanu, an Aboriginal community, lies about four hundred kilometres north of Yuendumu and some five hundred kilometres north of Alice Springs. It is a very isolated place in the desert. Both Yuendumu and Lajamanu are populated by Walpiri, the Aboriginals people who live in this area.<BR> <BR> In 1948 the Yuendumu settlement was overpopulated. The government decided to forcible relocate a group of 25 Warlpiri to Lajamanu to establish a settlement there. In 1951 another group of 25 Warlpiri from Yuendumu were taken against their will by truck to Lajamanu. Many people walked back to Yuendumu , but were subsequently deported by truck back to Lajamanu. This occured several times.<BR> <BR> Since then children have been born in Lajamanu, meaning that their Dreaming (place) is connected there. The area today has a strong sense of cultural identity probably for reasons of its remoteness. The school is bilingual English and Warlpiri. The area has an effective Aboriginal Town Council. Many of the inhabitants of Lajamanu prefer to live in small family groups on outstations, moving regularly between these outstations and the town.<BR> <BR> The Warlpiri artists of Lajamanu do not use naturalistic motifs, nor do they use depictions of spears, boomerangs, trees or human footprints. The backgrounds of then paintings consist of dots in one colour to emphasis and heighten the strong lines and forms. These lines and forms often represent the paths walked by the mythological ancestors. As nomadic people in the old days, the Warlpiri used to travel these ancestral paths.<BR> <BR> Among the major Dreamings painted by men are water, rain, clouds and thunder. The backgrounds of these paintings are often done in white dots. Strong wavy lines represent the rainbows, lightning and thunder.<BR> <BR> The women's free and lively designs have the immediacy of body paintings and sand drawings. There is no need for symmetry or filling in of space. Each Warlpiri woman has a strong understanding of the Dreamings. They manage their own affairs and secret ceremonies. Women's rituals enshrine their role as nurturers; of people, land and relationships. They often paint to instruct their children in the Dreaming.<BR> <BR>