Luunpa

Luunpa is the kingfisher woman of the Mala Tjukurpa at Uluru, an ancestral being who camped with the Mala hare-wallaby people during their ceremony on the northern side of the rock. When the devil-dog Kurpany, conjured by the affronted Wintalka men, came racing toward the camp to destroy the inma, it was Luunpa who saw it first and screamed out a warning, telling the Mala that an evil spirit was upon them. Though many Mala were killed and the rest fled south, Luunpa's cry is remembered as an act of loyalty and vigilance. She is now a large rock that keeps perpetual watch at the Ininti waterhole near Uluru, a permanent sentinel over the country. As the sacred kingfisher she is one of the several bird ancestors woven into the great Mala narrative.

Domains

• kingfisher totem
• vigilance and warning

Powers

• raise the alarm against danger

Epithets

• Minyma Luunpa — Luunpa Woman / Kingfisher WomanParks Australia, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 'The Mala story' (primary)

Relations

• enemy: KurpanyLuunpa cried out against the approaching devil-dog Kurpany to save the Mala.Parks Australia, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 'The Mala story' (primary)
• companion: ItjaritjariBoth are ancestral women of the Mala camp at the northern side of Uluru during the Mala ceremony.Parks Australia, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 'The Mala story' and 'Southern marsupial mole' (primary)

Sources

• Luunpa is the kingfisher woman of the Mala Tjukurpa who warned the Mala of the devil-dog's approach and now stands as a rock at Ininti waterhole.: Parks Australia, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 'The Mala story' (Anangu Tjukurpa) (primary); Layton, Robert (1986), Uluru: An Aboriginal History of Ayers Rock, AIAS, Canberra (secondary)