Wati-kutjara

Template:Short description In Western Australian Aboriginal mythology, the Wati kutjara (also Wati kutjarra or Wadi Gudjara) are two young lizard-men (totem: goanna) who, in the Dreaming, travelled all over the Western Desert. In English, their songline is often called the Two Men Dreaming.<ref name="Mudrooroo">Mudrooroo (1994) Aboriginal Mythology. Thorsons, London, p.167. Template:ISBN</ref> The Wati kutjara are ubiquitous in the mythology of the Western Desert;<ref name="Poirier">Poirier, S. (2005) A World of Relationships: Itineraries, Dreams and Events in the Australian Western Desert. Univ. Toronto Press, p.71-73.</ref> Their journey extends for thousands of kilometres, stretching from the Kimberley to South Australia.<ref name="Mudrooroo"/>

Narratives

Wati kutjara is one of the most important Dreamings around Balgo;<ref name="Poirier"/> in Kukatja narratives, the Wati kutjara are often likened to the wind, whose form they adopt when in danger.<ref name="Poirier"/> The men's first action is to sing about their names in order to establish their own identity.<ref name="Cowan">Cowan, J. (1994) Wirrimanu - Aboriginal Art from the Balgo Hills, Gordon & Breach Arts International, p.32. Template:ISBN</ref> Then they decide to travel about, and eventually decide to head south-east in order to enlighten the people there who do not possess the rituals known to the Dreaming heroes. As they travel, they sing of the animals, plants and geographic features that they encounter, naming them and calling them into being.<ref name="Cowan"/> Filled with magical power, these two unmarried brothers eventually travelled all over the Western Desert destroying many dangerous evil spirits.<ref name="Myers">Myers, F.R. (1986) Pintupi Country, Pintupi Self: Sentiment, Place and Politics among Western Desert Aborigines, Univ. California Press, p.239</ref> They also created sacred objects.<ref name="Cowan"/>

The Wati kutjara feature in innumerable stories, whose details vary from region to region. In one recension, they are credited with castrating the Man in the Moon by throwing a magical boomerang, Kidili, because he tried to rape the first woman.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In other versions, the Wati kutjara are the ones attempting to seduce the same group of women.<ref name="Poirier"/>

Art and literature

• Locations and events associated with the Wati kutjara are frequently the subject of Aboriginal Art from Balgo and its outstations.<ref name="Cowan"/>
• James Cowan's book Two men dreaming<ref name="Cowan2">Cowan, J. (1995) Two men dreaming: a memoir, a journey, Brandl & Schlesinger. Template:ISBN</ref> draws upon Wati kutjara narratives, although the place-names appear to have been disguised. (Note. This was done t protect the region, and the people concerned: author)

See also

• Tingari, another major song-myth cycle from the Western Desert
• Inma board