- Title: Wati Ngintaka lII
- Artist: Nura Rupert
- Region: Central Australia
- Art Centre: Ernabella Arts
- Medium: Etching
- Collection: Milpatjunanyi - Telling Stories in the Sand
- Dimensions: 37 x 40 cm
- Edition Size: 10
- Price ($AUD): $ 3960 - suite of 12 works
Artwork Story
Number III in a suite of 12 beautiful etchings by Nura Rupert. Printed at Basil Hall Editions Darwin in 2007 by Basil Hall, Natasha Rowell, Jo Diggens, Merran Sierakowski and Michael Roseth. Image size 37 x 40 cm, Edition 10. Suite of 12 etchings – $3960
Wati Ngintaka was having a good night’s sleep. He woke up to go to the toilet when he heard seeds being ground on a grinding stone. The sound was exceptionally smooth and soft – a very, very good grinding stone. At daybreak, he took his spears and followed the sound. He rested along the way, halfway to Wallatina.
Early the next morning, he walked around and found a lot of people. They were having a meal and had made damper. They offer him some to taste, but he found it wasn’t good enough to have been made on the special grinding stone. He left their camp and kept walking on.
Then one man came with a damper and gave it to him to taste – ‘Ai, this is beautiful food!’ That man said: ‘Brother-in-law, let’s go hunting!’ They went off together. But Wati Ngintaka hurt his foot on the way, when he stepped on a sharp stick. The man said to him: ‘This is still bleeding, you better go back home.’ So he went back to camp, pretending he needed a rest. But instead, he moved on to look for that special grinding stone. He found it in a tree near Wallatina.
He made a lot of tracks to confuse the people. He stole the stone and walked away. But a small boy was watching. When people came back from hunting, they discovered that the stone was gone. They were searching everywhere in vain. The little boy told them what happened. A search party set out. They found Wati Ngintaka and searched his body, as he was standing outstretching arms and legs. But they could not find the grinding stone.
He had hidden it on the tip of his tail. They let him go, and Wati Ngintaka went further west, carrying the stone on his tail. But people were still following him, hoping to find the grinding stone. Wati Ngintaka had to go to the toilet again. He put the grinding stone into a tree. Suddenly he heard noise – the stone had fallen down. The people who had followed him brought it down and it broke into pieces. They trampled all over it, breaking it up into even smaller bits and pieces. Wati Ngintaka saw the men and came running with his spear. But he was only one man against many, and he was killed.
Nura Rupert
© Ernabella Arts